Page 184 - Himalayan Art Macrh 19 2018 Bonhams

3081 W
A LARGE SANDSTONE STELE OF SURYA
NORTHERN INDIA, CIRCA 11TH CENTURY
60 in. (152.4 cm) high

$150,000 - 200,000
Identified by his characteristic boots, breast plate, and tall cylindrical crown, while
wielding a beaming lotus in each hand, the stele is devoted to the Sun God Surya,
whose cult at one time rivaled that of Shiva and Vishnu, and who became prominently
incorporated into the iconographic program of the latter’s temples.

Surya is dressed according to traditional conventions that depict him as a king. His
‘northern’ garb is thought to resemble that of Indo-Scythian tribesmen, like the Kushans,
who ruled Northern India in the first centuries of the common era. It is also thought to
reflect the influence of Iranian religious ideas on Indian sun worship. (Rosenfield, The Arts
of India and Nepal, Boston, 1966, p.43.)

The near-complete stele depicts a full entourage accompanying the solar deity, with
his wife, Ushas (the Dawn) immediately before him as the herald of each new day.
Either side of his feet are Surya’s clerk and measurer, Pingala and Danda, standing with
complementary tribhangha poses. Immediately flanking them are two further wives of
Surya, possibly the shapelier Sarenu, daughter of Heaven, and her shadow, Chaya
(although his wives Rajni and Nikshubha are also possible). They are flanked by a pair
of anthropomorphized horses, carrying Brahmanic waterpots and offering gestures of
reassurance: possibly ayudha-purushas of his chariot’s steeds.

As Dye once deftly noted, Surya’s bold lotus blossoms and crisp lotus halo, “suggest
both the sun itself and the boundless life it nurtures.” (Dye III, The Arts of India,
Richmond, 2001, p.136.). By Surya’s elbows are Usha and Pratyusha, two archers
defending dawn and dusk from the darkness. Framing his radiant lotus halo is a triangular
arrangement of seated figures, possibly Surya’s charioteers, with the central figure at
the apex being Arjuna. He is flanked by eight standing diminutive figures, resembling the
attributes and dress of Surya, perhaps a reminder of the Sun God’s radiance throughout
the eight cardinal and intermediate directions. A stele of Vishnu in the Norton Simon
Museum has a similar radiating band of figures representing the planets along the top;
see Pal, Art from the Indian Subcontinent, Pasadena, 2003, p.130, no.88.

The softly modeled facial features with lightly arching brows and narrow prominent lips,
harkening back to Gupta prototypes, point to the regional style of Uttar Pradesh in
Northern India. So too does the buff-to-reddish colored sandstone, the less extravagant
array of necklaces and regalia (in comparison with neighboring Rajasthan and Madhya
Pradesh), and the treatment of the lotus halo with broad, plain leaves arranged in a circle,
bordered by a rim with an intermediary beaded band. Compare these various idioms with
examples attributed to Uttar Pradesh in Desai & Mason (eds.), Gods, Guardians, and
Lovers, New York, 1993, pp.187-8, 244-7 & 262-3, nos.28, 62, & 70. Also see a Vamana
in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (acc.#25.260)

Provenance
Rudi’s of New York, Bloomington, Indiana, 1971
Private Collection
Carlton Rochell Asian Art, 21 March 2014
The Elizabeth and Willard Clark Collection, California

182 | BONHAMS