A SANDSTONE SHIVA EKAMUKHALINGA, CENTRAL INDIA, POST-GUPTA PERIOD, 7TH-8TH CENTURY
Lot 204 - FAS1025

The cylindrical surface smoothly polished and carved to one side with an image of Shiva which is meticulously carved with fine facial features, heavy-lidded downcast eyes under arched brows, a broad nose, and pursed lips forming a gentle smile, flanked by ears adorned with large earrings. The hair is exquisitely modeled into a tall jatamukuta adorned with a central diadem and secured by a thick band incised with geometric motifs.

Provenance: R. M. Collection, Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, Belgium, acquired between 1979 and 2009, thence by descent to his wife Marie-Anne Lefevre in 2023.
Condition: Very good condition, commensurate with age. Expected wear, obvious losses, chips, nicks, few minor fissures, signs of weathering and erosion, encrustations.

Weight: 23.1 kg (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 43 cm (excl. stand), 52 cm (incl. stand)

Mounted on a modern metal stand. (2)

The present lot relates closely to a celebrated Shiva Ekamukhalinga discovered in 1919 at Bhumara, a 5^th or 6^th century Gupta era Hindu stone temple dedicated to Shiva near Satna, Madhya Pradesh. The jatamukata and especially the tiara with similar geometric band and foliate panels are of very similar design. Yet, the present head distinguishes itself through a slightly later refinement of form: the coiffure rises in a less rounded arrangement, while the face is fuller and more sensuous, with softly modeled cheeks, heavy-lidded eyes, sinuously arched brows, and a gently smiling mouth. This combination of grace and monumentality suggests a moment of stylistic transition and a slightly later date than the Bhumara linga.

The archaeologist Alexander Cunningham visited the Bhumara site to confirm local reports of Thari pathar (standing stone) during his 1873-1874 tour of the Central Indian region. He found the stone and the important Bhumra inscription which he published, but he missed the temple that was then mostly covered by forest of shrubs and mango, haritaki and amalaka trees. John Faithfull Fleet translated the inscription in 1888, and it mentioned two kings named Hastin and Sarvanatha. The pillar inscription also described the boundary between their kingdoms and gave an inscription date per ancient Indian calendar that equals 484 AD.

Decades later, between 1919 and 1920, the Archaeological Survey of India sent a sketch artist named Wartekar and a photographer named Joglekar together to revisit the site. They aimed to check out the local villager claims of many temple ruins on the plateau and the northern face of the hills. The dense forest limited the extent of their search, but they found the Bhumara temple. They reported it to be small single cell structure with a slab roof near an unusual soil mound, and that the temple's door was "magnificently carved".

Bhumara Temple has a square plan with a sanctum and Mandapa. While much of it is in ruins, enough of the temple structure and works of art have survived for scholarly studies. Many of the ruined parts of Bhumara have been moved to museums, especially the Kolkata Museum and the Allahabad Museum. The temple is notable as one of the early examples of an architecture that included an enclosed concentric pradakshina-patha (circumambulation path).

Ekamukhalinga is the symbol of a cosmic pillar that connects heaven and earth, and is the focus of worship within a Shaivite temple. Ekamukhalinga are linga represented with a single anthropomorphic image of Shiva. The linga is a phallic symbol representing the regenerative force of this god. Although Shiva is known as the destroyer, he manifests the divine trinity in his form as the linga.

Literature comparison:
Compare a closely related post-Gupta-style sandstone Shiva Ekamukhalinga, 42 cm high, dated c. 800, in the Museum aan de Stroom, Antwerpen, object number AE.1990.0032.0020. Compare a related, slightly earlier Shiva Ekamukhalinga from Madhya Pradesh, 49.3 cm high, dated c. 6^th century, formerly in the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection and now in the Art Institute of Chicago, reference number 2021.241.