Mangalartha (Monument 487)

MONUMENT 487

This sanctuary, very briefly mentioned by M. de Lajonquière and according to Lieutenant Ducret (Inv. III. p. 75) deserves a more exact and concise description, also called for by its moldings, sculpture, and the inscription which was just discovered.

This small sandstone monument has a square plan, with a forepart forming a porch on the eastern facade, the only one that is open, the other three sides being made up of solid walls decorated with false doors (fig. 2). It is on the southern doorjamb of the only access door that the inscription is found: a termite mound, which had to be removed in order to be able to take the stamping, covered it almost entirely; it is unfortunate that the surface of the stone is heavily scaly as a result of its stay in the dampness of the earth making reading the characters still visible quite difficult.

The sanctuary rises on a double base with the usual molding profiles: bands, concaves and median torus, with decoration of foliage, lotuses, and rosettes whose relief, especially in the lower parts, suffered a lot of the vegetation (pl. V and VI). The lower basement, buried almost entirely, measures about 1 m. 50 in height; the second (fig. 3) has a total height of 0 m. 92: an access staircase with escutcheon pedestals interrupts this basement in front of each of the faces.

The base of the wall of the sanctuary bears decorated moldings similar to those of the basement walls: the cornice which crowned this wall only remains on the SE corner. The entire upper part has collapsed, with the exception of the fragment of the vault which surmounts the eastern entrance, and the interior is largely obstructed by rubble.

False doors are simply made up of a frame and two panels without decoration. separated by a mullion with square buttons: the side pilasters are no longer indicated except by their bases; finally the columns with rings remain only in the entrance porch to the east. The exterior N. and S. faces of the sidewalls of this porch are decorated with the motif of false windows with balusters, the lower third of which alone is visible under a lowered blind, a motif so often repeated and probably invented by a sculptor who was repelled by the difficulty of carving a round baluster in solid stone, impossible to turn like those of open bays.

Among the collapsed stones, piled up around the foundations, a certain number present sculptures of mythological subjects and come from the pediments that decorated the facades above the doors and false doors. One of them (pl. VII A) represents a four-armed Vishnu whose head has been covered, holding a club in front of his chest and stepping over a quadruped with an elongated body; a woman kneeling before him supports his right foot; other squatting figures, barely visible, because the stone is quite deteriorated, and a celestial dancer complete the scene. We distinguish below the upper part of a row of small worshippers.

On another fragment of a slightly better preserved pediment (pl. VII B), we see a divinity-perhaps Shiva-dancing while holding his shakti on one knee; he wears a cylindrical hairstyle and has his loins girded with a loincloth. Around him dancing figures of different sizes are framed in the trefoil arch of the pediment. At the foot of the steps, a rather damaged bas-relief represents Vishnu with four arms lying on the serpent Ananta; a woman holds her legs; below is a row of heads probably belonging to prayers. Also noteworthy is a bodhisattva with four arms seated Indian style; her cylindrical bun bears a figurine; one of his hands raises a necklace in the air; another rests on his knee, the open palm showing the chakra; another is holding a sort of narrow board; the fourth is broken. There are still some remains of unimportant statues as well as antefixes carved with dvarapalas.

Finally, there remains to be noted a curious stone, in the form of a bollard, bearing a bas-relief on each side and surmounted by a stele also decorated with bas-reliefs; the set has a total height of 1 m. 46 (pl. VIII). It seems dedicated to the avatars of Vishnu.

On the faces of the terminal, measuring 0 m. 40 wide on 0 m. 75 high, the following subjects are represented:

1st side – Two standing figures with animal heads and wearing a cylindrical bun: the bodies have almost disappeared in the cracks in the stone; one with a lion’s head is probably Narasimha.

2nd side – Vishnu reclining on Ananta: from his navel rises the stem of the lotus whose blossoming flower encloses a four-armed Brahma.

3rd side – A figure (Vishnu?) standing, with eight arms, wearing a cylindrical bun, holding a club; the lower half of the body is badly damaged.

4th side – Vishnu with four arms on the shoulders of Garuda: on his left, we see a boar (Varaha) and above it a small figurine floating in the air (Earth ?).

The stele, which measures 0 m. 36 wide by 0 m. 71 in height, represents on one side Krishna, wearing the three-pointed mukuta, raising his right arm above his head to support Mount Govardhana: he is dressed in a simple langouti. On each side of his feet are seen a quadruped and a crouching figure (cattle and shepherd?). The other side represents Vishnu in Rama, standing, wearing the cylindrical mukuta and wearing a langouti; he holds a bow in his right hand. The Vishnuic character of the monument seems to emerge from all these sculptures: the inscription, more legible, could perhaps have clarified this point. Here and there are several small pedestals with ablution basins of quadrangular shape of the ordinary type.