Mother Goddess in Central India (An Old & Rare Book)

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About the Author Dr. Om Prakash Mishra, Son of Sh. Baij Nath Misra, was born in 1954. He took his B.A. Degree from Gorakhpur University in 1974, where he did his Post-graduation in Ancient Indian History, Archaeology and Culture in 1976. A Year after, in 1977 he obtained his P. G. Diploma in Museology from Bhopal University. In 1984, Bhopal University awarded him Ph.D. on his thesis "A Critical Study of Sakti sculptures in the Museum of Madhya Pradesh." In 1979 he has joined the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Govt. of Madhya Pradesh, Bhopal.

The Present book is the author's Ph. D. thesis. He is the author of two other books: "Prachin Bharatiya Mudrayan" and "Iconography of Saptamatricas" both in press. He has contributed a lot of research papers to reputed research journals and various National Seminars. He has to his credit the experience of exploration works on river valley projects. Many times he took part in several excavation works conducted by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums, Bhopal. In 1984, under his guidance, a documentary film on 'Monumental Madhya Pradesh' was prepared for Film Division, Govt. of India, Bombay.

Preface It is my pleasant task of acknowledging the help I received in the execution of my thesis. First and foremost, I record my deep sense of gratitude to my revered guru, Dr. Rahman Ali, Head of the Deptt. of Ancient Indian History, Prachya Niketan, under whose affectionate, scholarly and painstaking guidance I completed this work.

I am deeply indebted to Prof. R.K. Sharma, Head of the Deptt. of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, who helped me in various ways as a guardian from the very prime of my higher studies and in all financial matters, besides the scholarly help in refining my thoughts and presentations of the material. My deep sense of gratitude are due to Shri Maheshwari Dayal Khare, Director, Monuments, Archaeological Survey of India, New Delhi, who has given me various help including the necessary facilities for my studies.

I am grateful to the eminent scholars in this field, like Prof. K.D. Bajpai, Tagore Prof., Sagar, Sri Krishna Deva, American Institute of Indian Studies, Varanasi, Dr. Vishnu Sridhar Wakankar, Ujjain, Dr. (Miss) Sushila Pant, Vikram University, Ujjain, Dr. Shail Nath Chaturvedi, Gorakhpur University, Gorakhpur, who helped me in various ways and encouraged me for higher researches and also supplied informations with their suggestions on different problems of research. My thanks are also due to my colleagues Shri A.P Singh, Raja Ram Singh, Chandra Krishna Bhatta and friends like Shri Shasi Kant Shukla, Shri S.K. Dixit who helped me considerably in the execution of this work. Mr. K.N. Krishnan Kutty has typed the manuscript correctly and helped me in completing the work within the prescribed schedule. I thank him for his co-operation.

Introduction The present work is in fact a modified version of my Ph. D. thesis on the topic A critical study of Sakti sculptures in the Museums of Madhya Pradesh' approved by the Bhopal University, Bhopal. In this work an effort has been made to present the systemetic study of Sakti sculptures preserved in the Museums of Madhya Pradesh.

The modern jurisdiction of Madhya Pradesh had been an important and central region of India and played significant role in the past history, culture and different religious systems of the country right from the dawn of civilization. The prehistoric culture flourished in this region. Later on, during the historic period, the famous centres like Avanti, Ujjaini, Dasarana, Kosal have their glorious role in ancient Indian history and cultures. Many cultural centres flourished at various places in this region in different phases of history of the past. The Sakti worship, a part and parcel of Hindu Religious Philosophy, too, is routed in this particular region. It has a deeper impact on the religious life of the people of India. It also reflected the religious systems of the neighbouring regions. Scholars like R.D. Banerji, O.C. Ganguly, D.C. Sircar, N.K. Bhattasali, have contributed significantly in bringing out the authentic texts on Sakti worship in India and a considerable Sakti sculptures have been published by R.D. Banerji, Ganguli, Bhattasali etc. which confirm us that the deities were displayed in different forms in the temples. We are really indebted to the pioneer scholars like A.K. Coomaraswamy, Stella Kramrich, Bhandarkar, and V.S. Agrawal, etc. who have been constantly focusing light upon the history and philosophy of the Sakti worship, the Sakti cult and its impact on the contemporary society. After indepen dence the writing of these scholars have undoubtedly attracted the attention of the scholars concerned. It was Dr. D.C. Sircar who wrote on the authentic monograph by other research works, viz., that of S.K. Dixit, Banerji, V.S. Agrawal, Pushpendra Kumar, H.C. Das, B.N. Sharma, M C.P. Srivastava, and a good monograph by Chakravarti, which appeared in 1963. Obviously the works of these scholars have been a source of authentic information regarding the history, philosophy and development of the Sakta-pitha, the impact of tantra cult etc., but these works cannot be claimed as final because there is always scope for new discoveries, interpretations and suggestions. Besides these, a new trend of regional studies has also scholars attracted, more than the general study. After independence many rew sculptures of yoginis, mother-goddesses, have been brought to light and also the remains of Sakta-pitha were located in different parts of the country. Madhya Pradesh stands first in such discoveries as several sculptures of Sakti and the remains of Sakta pithas were brought to notice in Madhya Pradesh. Most of the Sakti sculptures are still preserved in different museums of Madhya Pradesh, which invite the attentions of scholars. The work of R.K. Sharma on Chaushatha-yogini temple at Bheraghat proves that such attempts may be taken on other centres of yoginis like Khajuraho, Hinglajgarh, Gopalpur, etc. but it has not been done so far. Besides these, numerous sculpture of Saktis in the museums and at sites are significant.

No serious attempt has been made, so far, to study the sculptures of the museums except Shri R.S. Garg who wrote a small monograph on the Saktis of Central Museum, Indore, and also a guide book on these deities of Dhubela Museum by S.K. Dixit. Encouraged by these works we have made a humble attempt to study the Sakti sculpture of museums of Madhya Pradesh. For a significant study the present work is divided into different chapters dealing with all social and religious aspects of the contemporary society in general and Madhya Pradesh in particular.

Chapter-I deals with historical and religious background of Madhya Pradesh in detail. We have tried to focus light upon the religious life of the people from pre-historic times. The artifacts from Hoshangabad, Bhimbetka, Raisen, Shahdol, Raigarh etc. have been taken into consideration. The paintings of rock-shelters have also been subjected to the study of Sakti worship in this region. The discoveries of Chalcolithic sites and their excavations, viz., Maheswar Navadatoli, Vidisha, Kaytha, Dangawada, Runija Piplyalerka and Atudkhas have yielded ample material, The historic period has yielded numerous sculptural reliefs, sculpture-inscriptions which are also taken for discussion. Our comprehensive field work has confirmed that several Saktapithas were established under the ruling dynasties of this region.

**Contents and Sample Pages**