Thank you, Manu, for providing exactly what I needed! The piece is confirmed to be in Andhra Pradesh, dated from 12th century AD. At least one similar specimen is kept in the Telangana State Archaeology Museum in Hyderabad. The frieze on the side depicts the aṣṭadikpālas. Thus the iconography of both time and space (with possible correlation) are combined in this piece. 

Thanks also to Nagaraj for the comments, and to Matthew Kapstein and Corinna Wessels-Mevissen for providing me additional materials and remarks offline.

From what I can tell so far, modern Indian languages (Hindi, Telugu, Tamil) adopted the dhanus (bow) reading rather than the one of dhanurdhara/dhanvin (bowman).

Best,

Bill

-- 
Bill M. Mak

Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW)
New York University
15 East 84th Street
New York, NY 10028
US

Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto 606-8501
Japan
〒606-8501 京都市左京区吉田本町
京都大学人文科学研究所

Tel:+81-75-753-6961
Fax:+81-75-753-6903

copies of my publications may be found at:
http://www.billmak.com

On Nov 18, 2016, at 3:37 PM, Manu Francis <manufrancis@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Bill,

The image you have found is illustrated in:

Desai, Kalpana. With contributions by B.V. Shetti and Manisha Nene. Assisted by Vandana Prapanna. (2002). Jewels on the Crescent. Masterpieces of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya formerly Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. Mumbai: CSMVS, in association with Mapin Publishing, Ahmedabad.

Item 49, page 56. See here.
Discussed page 250.With reference to a contribution by B.V. Shetti, "Saura-Pitha or the Solar Alatar in Indian Numismatics", pp. 335-339. In: Gupta, P. L., MacDowall, D. W., Sharma, S., & Garg, S. (1992). Indian numismatics, history, art, and culture: Essays in the honour of Dr. P.L. Gupta. Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan.

And see The Madras Tamil Lexicon about Sagittarius here.

With very best wishes.

--

Emmanuel Francis
Chargé de recherche CNRS, Centre d'étude de l'Inde et de l'Asie du Sud (UMR 8564, EHESS-CNRS, Paris)
http://ceias.ehess.fr/
http://ceias.ehess.fr/index.php?1725
http://rcsi.hypotheses.org/
Associate member, Centre for the Study of Manuscript Culture (SFB 950, Universität Hamburg)
http://www.manuscript-cultures.uni-hamburg.de/index_e.html
https://cnrs.academia.edu/emmanuelfrancis

2016-11-18 18:13 GMT+01:00 Bill Mak <bill.m.mak@gmail.com>:
Dear colleagues,

A colleague of mine is looking for a high-resolution image of dhanus/dhavin (Sagittarius) in Indian sculpture, mural or manuscript. I came across an image from the internet which gives the description: "C. Saura Sect of Hinduism. Zodiac Wheel. Dolerite. Andhra Pradesh, India”:

Could anyone confirm the provenance of this piece or any other similar object?

Textually, I am also curious about the variants dhanu/dhanvin. Sphujidhvaja in his Yavanajātaka gave dhanus, dhanurdhara and dhavin. Varāhamihira in addition gave the Sanskritized greek term taukṣika (from τοξότης). I am curious which form the modern Indian languages took - the bow, the archer/centaur or both?

Best regards,

Bill

-- 
Bill M. Mak, PhD

Visiting research scholar
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW)
New York University
15 East 84th Street
New York, NY 10028
US

Associate Professor
Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University
Yoshidahonmachi, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, Japan 606-8501
〒606-8501 京都市左京区吉田本町
京都大学人文科学研究所

email: mak@zinbun.kyoto-u.ac.jp
Tel:+81-75-753-6961
Fax:+81-75-753-6903

copies of my publications may be found at:
http://www.billmak.com


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