The complex initially consisted in a twin temple dedicated to Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa, and guarded by the 13 meter Garuda pillar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eran
Temples[edit]
A group of ancient Hindu temples are located to the west of the Eran town. These are not aligned to the east or any cardinal direction, but to 76 degrees, or about 14 degrees off towards north from east. This suggests that they likely date to the Gupta period. According to Cunningham, this deliberate shift for all the temples and some other Gupta era Hindu temple sites may be to match the one nakshatra measure (lunar movement in one day), or one twenty-seventh part of 360 degrees.[12]
All the temples have a rectangular or square plan and they are in a row.[12]
Pillar[edit]
Pillar: It is exactly 75 feet (23 m) in front of the line of temples. The 43 feet (13 m) high monolith pillar stands on a square platform of 13 feet (4.0 m) side. The bottom 20 feet (6.1 m) of the pillar are of square cross-section (2.85 feet side), the next 8 feet (2.4 m) is octagonal. Above it is a capital in the shape of a reeded bell of 3.5 feet (1.1 m) height and 3 feet (0.91 m) diameter. On top of the capital is an abacus of 1.5 feet (0.46 m) height, then a cube of 3 feet (0.91 m) and finally 5 feet (1.5 m) double statue of Garuda holding a snake in his hands, with a chakra wheel behind his head.[9] Garuda, the vahana of Vishnu, is depicted as two fused people, sharing the back, each looking over their 180 degree space, one with the temples, the other towards the town.[12] Near the platform, on the side facing the temples, is a Sanskrit inscription. It mentions the year 165 and the Hindu calendar month of Ashadha, and dedication to Vishnu-Janardhana. The Gupta year 165 implies that the pillar was dedicated in 484/485 CE.[12] The pillar is sometimes referred to as the Buddhagupta pillar or Bhima pillar.
Varaha temple[edit]
The most unusual and remarkable temple is dedicated to the Varaha avatar of Vishnu. Typically, Varaha is presented in Hindu temples as a man-boar avatar. In Eran, it is a colossal theriomorphic representation of the Varaha legend, which Catherine Becker calls an "iconographic innovation".
The boar is made of stone, but the intricate carving of the surface of its body, a goddess hanging by its right tusk, inscriptions and other details make the statue a symbolic narrative.[14] The Eran site is in ruins, but there is enough remnants that suggest that the site was far more complex and developed. Currently, the boar stands in open, but the foundation and stumps around it confirm that around it were walls and mandapa that formed a complete temple. Scholars debate what the shape of the temple would have been.[14] Cunningham, the first archaeologist to write a systematic report, suggested a rectangular shrine.[13] Later scholars such as Catherine Becker suggests that it was likely larger, more along the lines of one found in Khajuraho shrine for Varaha.
The Colossal Varaha at Eran is the earliest known completely theriomorphic iconography for the Varaha avatar of Vishnu.[14] The scene shown is the return of Varaha after he had successfully killed the oppressive demon Hiranyaksha, found and rescued goddess earth (Prithivi, Bhudevi), and the goddess is back safely. The Eran Varaha statue is significant for several reasons:[14]
- it shows the importance and popularity of Vaishnavism and its legend of Vishnu avatars
- the statue includes goddess earth hanging by the boar's right tusk; she has a tidy hairdo bun, has a turban that is bejeweled, her face calm
- the floor is carved to depict the ocean (samudra) with serpents and sealife, a reminder of the oppressive demon who attacks dharma legend
- on the body of the Varaha are carved sages and saints of Hinduism identified by their simple robes, pointy beards and hair knotted up like sadhus, by they holding kamandalu water pot in one hand and with a yoga mudra in the other, symbolizing knowledge needing protection and god's benevolence when attacked by the oppressive demon Hiranyaksha
- the Varaha's tongue is sticking out slightly, on it is standing a small goddess who has been interpreted as Saraswati (or Vedic goddess Vac)[14]
- in his ears are shown celestial musicians
- he wears a roundels garland on his shoulders and neck, these add up to 28 matching the 5th-century astronomy that used 28 major stars to divide the night skies into constellations; each of the roundels has miniature carvings with male and female figures
- the artists made the teeth of the boar humanlike, his eyes too are made to depict compassion
- on its front chest is the Toramana inscription which confirms that the Hunas has invaded the northwest, displaced Gupta Empire authority, and their brief rule over the northwest and central India had begun in early 6th-century
- below the inscription are more Hindu sages, further below is ruined fragment that probably was an anthropomorphic carving of Vishnu to explicitly link the Varaha's underlying identity, states Becker.[14]
The temple was built by king Dhyana Vishnu. Cunningham and others found it in ruins with pillars broken that suggest its destruction at some point rather than natural erosion. The boar stood on. It is 13.83 feet (4.22 m) long, 11.17 feet (3.40 m) high and 5.125 feet (1.562 m) wide. It was inside a sanctum. Cunningham states that there was also a mandapa in front because of the ruins of pillars he saw. He found two carved 10 feet high pillars which were "remarkably fine specimens of Hindu decorative art".[13]
About 33 feet (10 m) in front of what is now the Varaha platform, there is another stone 6 feet by 3.5 feet. It is aligned with the temple alignment and set into the ground. On it is a large shell script inscription that remains undeciphered. It is probably the stone that formed the original temple's entrance. About 15 feet (4.6 m) in front of this entrance stone is the ruined leftovers of a torana (Hindu arched gateway). The gateway pillars are broken, but one of them survives and it is ornamented ("G" in the plan drawings). Cunningham searched for broken parts of the pillars, but only found a few broken statues and most of the torana pillars gone.[13][14]
Next to the Varaha temple remnants are two terraces, one to the south that is 13 feet (4.0 m) sided square, another 13.5 feet (4.1 m) by 9.25 feet (2.82 m). These were likely temples too, but they are lost.[13]
Vishnu temple[edit]
The Vishnu Temple is to the north of the Varaha temple. It has a damaged colossal statue of Vishnu that is 13.17 feet (4.01 m) high.[15] This temple is also mostly ruined, but shows signs of having a sanctum, a mandapa and all the elements of a Hindu temple. Just like the Varaha temple, the Vishnu temple had intricately carved pillars, but with a different design.[15] Parts of the door jamb before the sanctum have survived, and these show the traditional river goddesses Ganga and Yamuna as flanking the sanctum entrance, but they are positioned nearer to the floor like late Gupta era temples. Cunningham dated this temple as probably built in 5th or 6th century, about two or three centuries after the neighboring early Gupta era Varaha temple.[15] The remnants of the entrance, wrote Cunningham, are "lavishly decorated", with the surviving reliefs showing daily life and rites-of-passage scenes.[15] Near the temple are ruins of a gateway and other monuments, including one which was likely a Vamana temple. According to Cunningham, one of the smaller shrine monuments had a man-boar sculpture which he located in the town of Eran.[15]
Narasimha temple[edit]
The Narasimha Temple is the northernmost substantial structure ruins in the group, though there were additional temples according to excavations by Cunningham. The Narasimha temple was a single room of 12.5 feet by 8.75 feet with a mandapa in front on four pillars. These pillars are now missing, but the remnants on the plinth confirm that they once did. The broken pillars found at the site among the ruins, and who dimensions match the leftover plinth profile, show that the pillars were intricately carved. The sanctum had a 7 feet (2.1 m) high Narasimha statue, the man-lion avatar of Vishnu.[16]
Hanuman temple[edit]
Old Temple of Lord Hanuman, About 750 CE.
Eran Garuda Stambha, sometimes also referred to as the Buddhagupta pillar or Bhima pillar.
Monidipa Bose Dey
ஈரன் கருட ஸ்தம்பம், சில நேரங்களில் புத்தகுப்த தூண் அல்லது பீம தூண் என்றும் அழைக்கப்படுகிறது.
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