Gwalior Fort Pancagni Tapa Parvati

[Manu Francis]

You are right, this is not the image from the Caturbhuja Temple of the
Gwalior Fort.
This one is displayed in the Museum of the Gwalior Fort.

The rudrākṣa in upper left hand is clear to me.
The vararadamudrā would be shown in lower right hand.
As for the darbha, maybe it was in the upper right hand.

For other Pārvatīs with lion and stag/dear/buck
outside Tamil Nadu, see, as indicated to me by Charlotte
Schmid, fig. 202, 245, and 247 in "Discourse on Śiva" ed.
W. Meister.
On fig. 245, lower right hand varadamudrā is clear and
rudrākṣa is in upper right hand.

I would not correlate these images to the Tamil "Durgās."
Lion and stag are vehicles of the Tamil Koṟṟavai.
In the case of our ascetic Pārvatīs, I see them as the usual elements
of a peaceful āśrama, as in the images of the preaching Buddha or of
Dakṣiṇāmūrti.

With best wishes.

--
Emmanuel Francis
Researcher, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture, Universität Hamburg
Associate member, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
(EHESS-CNRS), Paris


On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 6:28 PM,  <palaniappa at aol.com> wrote:
> Thank you very much!
>
> I am translating a note in Tamil by Dr. Dayalan of Archaeological Survey of
> India. "There is a temple carved out of a monolith in the Gwalior fort. This
> temple is called Caturbhuja temple. In the four agni kuṇḍas in this temple
> two contain the sculptures of Pañcāgni Tapa Pārvatī. These four kuṇḍas along
> with the sun are together called pañcāgni. In the North Indian region in the
> temple art of the Mauryas and Pratihāras, this type of Pārvatī figure will
> be shown in sitting or standing postures. Near the Pañcāgni Tapa Pārvatī
> figure in Gwalior, a lion and a blackbuck are shown as her vehicles. It is
> noteworthy that this tradition is  shown in many places in Tamil Nadu
> especially in the Durgā sculptures in Mahabalipuram. Shown with the four
> hands with varada mudrā, rudrākṣa string, kamaṇḍalu, and darbha grass, this
> figure is related to the agni kuṇḍa." (Aruḷmiku Periyanāyaki Ammaṉ Eṉṟa
> Vayalnācciyammaṉ Tirukkōyil Tirukkuṭa Naṉṉīrāṭṭu Viḻā Ciṟappu Malar, 2009,
> p.97)
>
> It is nice to see the lion and blackbuck clearly in the sculpture. I can see
> the kamaṇḍalu clearly too. Is her upper left hand holding the string of
> rudrākṣa beads? Is her lower right hand holding the darbha grass? Is her
> broken upper right hand supposed to show the varada mudrā?
>
> This sculpture clearly parallels the Tamil Nadu figures showing lion and
> blackbuck and the date is shown on the picture to be 10th century AD. Since
> is Suhaniya in Morena District is some distance from Gwalior, I am assuming
> this sculpture is one that is similar to the Gwalior fort sculpture but not
> identical. This is indeed very valuable. I am still interested in the
> Gwalior fort sculpture and its date.
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Regards,
> Palaniappan
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Manu Francis <manufrancis at gmail.com>
> To: palaniappa <palaniappa at aol.com>
> Cc: INDOLOGY <INDOLOGY at liverpool.ac.uk>
> Sent: Sun, Apr 1, 2012 5:30 am
> Subject: Re: [INDOLOGY] Gwalior Fort Pancagni Tapa Parvati
>
> ṉṉThat's it, I guess.
>
> This picture has been taken by Anne Casille and sent with her permission.
>
> Best wishes.
>
> --
> Emmanuel Francis
> Researcher, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture, Universität Hamburg
> Associate member, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
> (EHESS-CNRS), Paris
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 1, 2012 at 2:09 AM, Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan
> <palaniappa at aol.com> wrote:
>> Dear Indologists,
>>
>> It has been reported that there is a Pancagni Tapa Paravati sculpture in
>> Gwalior Fort temple in which Parvati is shown with a lion and blackbuck as
>> in many Durgā sculptures in Tamil Nadu. I would appreciate very much if
>> anybody with a picture of the same could send me a scan online or offline.
>>
>> Thanks in advance.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Palaniappan
>
>



-- 
Emmanuel Francis
Researcher, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture, Universität Hamburg
Associate member, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud
(EHESS-CNRS), Paris