Essay name: History, Culture and Antiquities of Tamralipta
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Affiliation: University of Kerala / Faculty of Oriental Studies
This Study deals with the History, Culture and Antiquities of Tamralipta: an ancient city-port and important Trade centre with a rich history of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Tamralipta corresponds to the modern Tamluk, situated in West Bengal (India) and witnessed prosperous times during the Gupta dynasty.
Chapter 5.1 - Life and Culture of Tamralipta (Introduction)
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125
The Asutosh Museum also possesses one mutilated standing image
-
of Lakshmi on a slate-stone plaque (T. 3428) collected from Tild膩h.
The head of the image is mutilated but the elegant physical
appearance of the image throws light on the artistic exuberance.
133 44)
Besides these specimens, there are other specimens of the
same period found from Tamluk and preserved in Private collections. 132
An iconographic representation of Gaja-Lakshmi on a fragmentary
portion of an earthen vessel with knob designs (Acc. No. Pottery
of the Gupta period deserves special mention here. The goddess
holding a lotus in her left hand and an indistinct object in her
right hand is depicted frontally and the portion below the waist
is mutilated. In this form of Lakshmi, elephant is associated with
the goddess. Here also we notice an elephant with uplifted trunk
pouring water on the head of the goddess from either side. This
is the abhisekha form of Lakshmi. This form of worship was popular
to the mechant class in ancient India. The antiquity of this form
of worship may be traced back to the 2nd century B.C. or earlier.
The representation of various forms of Gaja-Lakshmi have been found
on the terracottas, coins, seals and in the early reliefs of Bh膩rut,
Sanchi, Budhgaya, Manmodi and Orissa. The merchant community used
to worship this form of Lakshmi with the prayers to the goddess
for safe-journey of their boats carrying merchandise on the sea.
134 132.
For details Ibid. p. 19
133.
134.
Ghosh N, op.cit., p. 75 Majumdar R.C., History of Ancient Bengal,.
p. 542
Ghose, N., op.cit. p. 75
