Amongst the various ruling dynasties in India, the Pala dynasty has been dated through various evidence such as inscriptions, manuscripts and archeological. The Pala dynasty ruled mainly northeastern India, namely Bengal and Bihar, from about 750 to 1200 AD. The Pala dynasty was born at a time when the population worshipped several religions such as Buddhism, Hinduism and even Jain. Sculptures related to all these religions have been found in the regions of the Pala dynasty's reign.

The successor of a king did not always follow the same religion. King Gopala believed in Buddhism, but his latter successors followed Hinduism, which explains the wide range distribution of the religions, the various deities, and an extraordinary collection of sculptures. "The four centuries of Pala rule has bequeathed to us a very large number of images now sheltered in the different museums of Bengal and scattered in villages, temples, markets and private houses. Every year stray explorations (by governments or universities), digging of tanks, mounds, etc. yield profuse new material by which a rough sketch of the process of evolution can be drawn" (Bagchi, 127). The stone sculptures of this period are idols of gods and goddesses. Sculptures that show or narrate actual connection to the society or the practical life of the people are not present at all. Rather, the sculptures reflect the religious experience of the past centuries.

The sponsoring of most types of sculptures have been by rich individuals of the society, and a very few by the court. "This affluent class in order to earn religious merit by donating images depended on its making wholly on the artists. These artists in turn were believed to be guided by the iconographic canon, by the living tradition as also by the common heritage of the artistic conception" (Bagchi, 127). During their reign, the Pala kings sponsored the construction and decoration of various Buddhist and Hindu temples during their stable and prosperous dynasty.

The featured sculpture is the image of the Hindu god, Vishnu. The sculpture or the slab was originally thought to have adorned the walls of temple complexes in the Pala reign. The date of this sculpture is predicted to be somewhere around the 12th century AD in reign of king Govindachandra, his 23rd year specifically. The sculpture once stood attached on the walls of a temple in Betka (Paikpara) in the Decca district of east Bengal. The sculpture exhibits the characteristics generally ascribed to the image of the 11th and 12th centuries in Bengal, thus providing more evidence for its date. The background occupies space in for the necessary iconographic elements of vidhyadharas, halos, attendants, and architectural constructs. Many more similar images of Vishnu have been found in this region. "It may be surmised that workshops were given to almost factory like production if sculptures following the now codified formulae of both style and iconography" (Huntington, 64).

Most sculptures of the Pala epochs are carved out of black-stone on Kastipathar, either fine or coarse-grained. Most images of Vishnu were carved out of a big stone with the main deity in the middle and the other accompanying gods and various designs in the outer back slab. On creating a sculpture, only the half of a depth of the images was carved out of the stone in the beginning. Gradually, the whole depth of the image would obtain its form and for this reason, a portion of the back slab would be cut out. It was believed that the artists, governed by their respective cults determined the attitude and the movement of the individual figures in these sculptures. Various animals and mythical creatures such as an elephant, a lion and makaras are shown on the background of the sculpture. The mask-like, "face of glory" on the top of the image signals spiritual security for the devotee.

Written By: Ranjeev shre

Sources:

Baghi, Jhunu. The History and the Culture of the Palas of Bengal and Bihar. New Delhi, 1993.

Desai Vishaka N. and Derielle Mason, eds. Gods, Guardians and Lovers: temple Sculptures from North India, AD 700-1200. New York: Asia Society, 1993.

Goswamy, B.N. Essence of Indian Art. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1986.

Huntington, Susan L. The Pala-Sena School of Scultpture. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984.