Figure of Brahma with a hamsa, or goose
Details
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Title
Figure of Brahma with a hamsa, or goose
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Associated place
India (place of creation)north India (possible) (possible place of creation)Madhya Pradesh (possible) (possible place of creation) -
Date
10th - 11th century (AD 901 - 1100) -
Material and technique
stone
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Material index
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Technique index
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Object type
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Dimensions
43 x 32 x 15 cm (height x width x depth) -
No. of items
1
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Credit line
Transferred from the Indian Institute, University of Oxford.
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Museum location
Museum department
Eastern Art
Accession no.
EAOS.62
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Catalogue text
This small stele shows the god Brahmā standing in abhaṅga (or samapada), a pose in which neither leg is bent and consequently no flexion is imparted to the body. Behind him is a haṃsa (goose). The little figure with his hands in the gesture of respect or salutation (añjali) is presumably a devotee and possibly the donor. The two small figures on either side at the top in the flying position are iconographic markers, like the parasol in other instances; celestial creatures of no individuality, they simply reflect the divine stature of the god and the respect due to him. Their hands are also in añjali.
The god is three-headed; the hair of the central head is arranged in three tufts (triśikhā). In his upper hands he holds a staff and, almost certainly, the long narrow rectangle of a palm-leaf manuscript (pustaka). Unfortunately the lower hands are damaged or missing. This is particularly unfortunate since the identification of this image is uncertain because of iconographic ambiguities and contradictions, and it has been suggested that it represents Skanda (Kārttikeya), the son of Śiva. Skanda’s vehicle is a peacock, which the bird portrayed here might well be and, as a young prince (Kumāra), he is often shown as triśikhin. On the other hand, his multiple heads, when shown, number six, having been nurtured by six mothers. The book moreover, as symbolising the Vedas, is not one of his attributes, whereas it is definitely associated with Brahmā, who is usually depicted with three heads.
The slight iconographic uncertainty attending this image may be due to the fact that while Brahmā had a commanding position in the Vedas, the sacred hymns composed c.1250 B.C. upon which the early Brahmanical religion was based, and, as the Creator, is still considered a member of the traditional Hindu trinity of Brahmā, Viṣṇu and Śiva, most of his attributes were usurped in time by the other two divinities and he never became the object of a cult. Temples dedicated to Brahmā in India are so rare as to be virtually non-existent.In: Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987)
Further reading
Harle, J. C., and Andrew Topsfield, Indian Art in the Ashmolean Museum (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1987), no. 41 on p. 34, p. 12, illus. p. 34
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