|
|
Sculptors Delight
It may sound unbelievable, but on a hill called Raghunandan in a corner
of the state, a whole hillside is carved out into figures and history
watches silently as one makes conjectures about how and when these figures
were carved out.
All along northeast India, one finds such surprises waiting in the most
unexpected places. In Mizoram, for instance, there are paintings of their
folk hero, 'Churra'. His whole life story is told, again on the walls of
mountains along its easternmost border. If one reaches up the heights of
Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh, one will find huge sculptures of the Buddha
once again using the mountain as material. What is amazing is that the
place where these sculptures are found is so cold that it must have taken
more than effort to sit there and complete chiselling such wonderful
objects d' art.
In Tripura, the awe is very much palpable. The reasons for this are
simple. Firstly, these sculptures are much older. According to the
Archeological survey, they date to the period somewhere between the 9th
and 14th century. Secondly, on a hill called Raghunandan, which is a name
for Lord Vishnu, one finds sculptures of Lord Shiva and his consort. How
and why the two come together need further investigating.
Kailashahar
But all investigations can at best lead to conjectures for there is no
written evidence about Unakoti. The site itself is about 10-km from a
place called Kailashahar. This place carries the name of Shiva's
mythological abode - Mount Kailash.
As one goes on from Kailashahar, one comes across hills with inaccessible
forests. Within and on the periphery of the forests along the stone
boulders and rocks, you find innumerable sculptures. The largest is one of
Lord Shiva. Only his face has been chiselled out and the sculptor
obviously felt no size was big enough to present the charm of this deity
and therefore worked over a span of 40 feet in length!
Devi Cult
All over the northeast, the Devi Cult as some call it, or "Shiva-Shakti"
worship is very popular. Shakti is Shiva's consort. Derived from this cult
are Tantric practices for which the northeast is famous. In fact, an
ancient text called the Kalika Purana says that there are more than 1,000
Lingas in the northeast, part of which forms Tripura. The Linga is the
phallic symbol of Lord Shiva. So it was not surprising to find these
sculptures devoting all their energies to Shiva and Shakti.
What is interesting is their representation. Many of the figures lack the
finesse that one would find in sculptures belonging to the same period,
even in the nearby state of Orissa. These figures seem to be tribal
representations of stylized thought! That is, mythologically the people
seem to be Saivites (also spelt as Shaivites), but their representation is
tribal or folk. Today, many of the figures have been damaged either due to
erosion or due to earthquakes.
The Two Categories
Experts divide the remaining sculptures into two categories. Those
sculpted on the walls of mountains and those cut on rocks. Both of them
are dominated by the Saivite (also spelt as Shaivite) traditions with
images of Shiva, Ganesha, the Elephant God, Uma Maheshwari, the consort of
Shiva and so on. The Shiva image is called "Unakotiswara" or the
Lord of Unakoti. There is one image of Shiva as "Chandrasekhara Shiva",
showing him with the moon on his head. Yet another one shows Goddesses
Ganga and Parvati both by his side. There is also a charming panel of
Shiva's wedding scene.
A Legend
Story goes that Parvati, in love with Shiva asked cupid (Kama) to aim his
arrows at Shiva. Kamadeva was a little nervous but could not refuse the
lady. When Shiva opened his eyes he was struck by the arrows of love. He
immediately identified Kamadeva as the root cause. He fell in love with
Parvati all right, but not before turning Kamadeva into a pile of ashes!
There is a panel that shows this scene in Unakoti.
It is also interesting to notice that there are a few sculptures of Lord
Hanuman, "the Monkey God" and of Lord Vishnu, after whom the
hill has got its name. Vishnu in his incarnation of Lord Narasimha is one
of the more easily visible sculptures. There is also one image of the
'lotus feet' of Lord Vishnu.
Unakoti - The Archeologist Destination
As the government of Tripura is working towards popularising Unakoti, it
will be of interest if scholars are able to sketch out the lifestyle of
the people of that time and period in the region through these sculptures.
For there are dances, good, garments and ideologies, all represented in
this bounty of sculptures.