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the Buddha in the dharma cakra-pravartana mudra. It was not unusual on the part
of the sculptors, who had previous experience of executing Buddhist images, to
attribute Buddhist characteristics to the Brahminical temples. It was also found
their entry into the temple walls. K.C. Panigrahi identifies such Buddhist images
on the mukha艣膩岣纺� of the Si艣ire艣vara temple. They are Amoghasidhi, Jambh膩la and
Avalokitesvara, it could be possible in the atmosphere of religious toleration,
which prevailed at that time. The carving of so many Buddhist images on the
艢i艣ire艣vara temple make it belonging to Bhauma epoch, which witnessed the
glorious days of Buddhism and to which belonged some of the finest Buddhist
images, now preserved in the Orissa State Museum and when the Buddhist vih膩ra
at Ratnagiri acquired prominence. In a pidha mundi niche of the upper j膩ngha of
the b膩岣峚 of the vim膩na of Jagann膩tha temple at Puri, contains an image of Lord
Buddha, one of the avat膩ras of Lord Vis峁噓. Achutarajpur in Puri district has
yielded a large number of images, which are of outstanding importance from the
point of iconography and art. Although the Buddhist images are noticed in the
different sites of Orissa but they are comparatively rare in the walls of the temple
like Jaina images.
Vai峁ａ箛avite Images
The Vi峁ａ箛u images discovered in Orissa can be divided into three groups
viz standing, seated and reclining types of which the standing images are the most
numerous in Orissa. The Vi峁ａ箛u images usually hold 艣ankha, cakra, gad膩 and
padma. Such images are worshipped in temples at Gandhar膩岣峣 in Phulb膩峁噄
district, Gane艣varapur near Chhatia in undivided Cuttack district, Kanti岣穙 in
Nayagarh district. Besides, one of the corner shrines of the pacayatana temple at
Ku膩岣穙 in Dhenk膩n膩岣穉 district is dedicated to Vis峁噓. From this it appears that
Vai峁ａ箛avism did not have that much importance as 艢aivism had. Therefore, the
images of Vi峁ａ箛u and his incarnations have not received prominence on the
temples. These images rarely occur on the Saiva temples of the early period. It is
only on the Simhan膩tha 艢iva temple that we notice substantial number of
Vaisnavite sculptures. The northern wall of the mukha艣膩岣纺� is embellished with the
images of various forms of Vi峁ａ箛u. It is difficult to explain this unusual feature of
temple sculptures. The Prachi valley has yielded numerous M膩dhava figures of
outstanding importance.
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