Relief Sculptures in 18th century Ahom Hindu temples: Folk elements make them distinct from those in Brahmanical temple structures in rest of Indian subcontinent

Artwork sculpted on monumental buildings (sculptural reliefs) have kept preserved rich art history of different cultures. The stone sculptural reliefs of the Ahom Hindu temples or Douls built around 18th century in Assam show certain stylistic features which are rarely to be seen in the Brahmanical temple sculpture of any other part of the Indian subcontinent.

Of all the existing temples of the Ahom period, the Joysagar Vishnu Doul and the Gaurisagar Devi Doul in Sivasagar district of Assam have the largest and richest number of relief sculptures on stone on its outer walls and deserve special importance. The relief sculptures of the Joysagar Doul and Gaurisagar Devi Doul are remarkable for their intricacy, variety, and an element of folk simplicity that pervades their forms.

The sculptures of these temples were probably carved out or sculpted by the village sculptors or artisans under the supervision of a royal officer of the Ahom court known as Silakuti Baruah¹. Their forms clearly suggest that they were constructed on a folk aesthetic scheme. Most of them had their prototypes in the wooden icons seen in the Sattras, Naamghars and Thaans across Assam. Most of the anthropomorphic figures of deities also have formal features resembling the wooden totemic objects used by the ethnic Karbi, Tiwa and Naga communities.

The village sculptors were not well versed in handling stone as a medium for sculpting. But still, they expertly employed their well-versed technique of wood carving in carving out forms in stone. They selected varieties of stone called Lothiya Sil or Gutiya Sil ² for carving the temple reliefs, because these varieties of stone split easily like wood and could be worked upon easily. The artisans employed the same type of stylizations in the stone sculptures of the temples like that of the wooden ones. As a result, the temple images also gave appeal equal to their wooden prototypes.

The bodies of the figures of deities, are seen to be mostly depicted in sharp frontal view. Their facial features are plain, wide and heavy. The noses of the figures are flat with flared nostrils and do not fully stick out of the facial lines. The eyes are made small and deep and ears made larger than their actual natural proportions. The torsos of the figures have body volumes and body planes smooth, muted and not suggesting any tension. Certain bodily features are shown more pronounced and emphasized in relation to the others. Each of the deities and other iconic figures are seen decked with local varieties of costumes and jewelry. The details of the costumes and jewelry of the figures, in contrast to their bodies are seen to be more sensibly and adeptly worked upon by the sculptors, thereby implying their profound cultural sensibility towards textile and jewelry designing.

Talking about the other anthropomorphic figures on the temple walls, they comprise of figures like winged beings (which may be Persian or Christian imports as pointed out by Foster), figures of common people indulged in several activities, figures of the royal court, dancing male and female figures, portrait figures of kings and queens, figures of ascetics and monks and royal figures indulged in hunting and recreation. All of them are shown to be depicted in different manners. They are usually kept single or in combination with one another in niches framed by elaborately carved foiled or cusped arches in most cases, or form part of narrow horizontal rectangular panels portraying secular subjects like hunting, excursions and sport. These types of narrow panels are seen in abundance in the lower pedestal or base of the Visnu Doul at Joysagar.

The figures of animals are excellently modeled, and their body features and movements are realistically attempted at. Though their bodies are stripped of the naturalistic depiction of muscular and nerve bulk, they portray nearly their exact behavior and bodily constraints. The animal figures, mainly in the panels depicting hunting scenes bear a sense of vital turbulence and a tensed vivacity almost like the animal figures of the contemporary Mughal and Rajput miniature paintings.

The details of the floral images on the temples are seen to be worked upon with great delicacy and minuteness. A majority of them might be modeled on the forms of flowering trees seen in the Rajput and Mughal style art. Especially in the Gaurisagar Devi Doul, the forms of the flowering trees and plants bear a great degree of affinity with the painted floral compositions by Mansur, one of the remarkable painters of the Mughal court.

The figures of deities and other iconic figures generally are arranged or framed in rectangular panels or niches with cusped arches for the top. The arches are seen to be supported or flanked on both sides by ornate partitions of varying designs. The partitions make up the overall frame and distinguish or separate one figurative panel or niche from the other when arranged one after the other in a pattern or band along the same horizontal line, giving a visual impression of a cut out of separate inhabited chambers or compartments of a palace. Intricately carved floral motifs, geometric and pseudo- geometric shapes are combined in several manners and arranged in continuous symmetric linear patterns on the surfaces of the above temples at neat intervals. Their forms seem very simplified and terse in their aspects, and they are not seen matching up to that careful calculated evenness found in the relief cut floral and geometric patterns of Indo-Islamic style monuments.

As mentioned earlier, the base of the Joysagar Vishnu Doul temple contains several narrow rectangular horizontal panels with scenes of predation, royal hunting expeditions, excursions, royal processions, animal fights and ceremonial activities like dancing and frolicking. The most striking thing noticed in the relief cut figurative scenes, particularly in the hunting scenes is a suggestion of a receding three-dimensional space with a well attempted distinction of foreground, middle ground and background. Though a depiction of a calculated linear perspective is not attempted, still our eyes move in a direction from the front to the back of the relief. Just like in the natural landscapes painted in water and pastel colours, a wonderful sense of distance and atmosphere is tried to be shown in these reliefs, here on the rigid stone surfaces of the temple. In these reliefs, the figures or objects in the foreground or seeming nearer are made large, they are carved out with greater intensity, with greater precision and their cut edges are very sharply defined and are more raised up from the stone surface than the figures portrayed at a distance. The faraway figures are smaller; their cut edges are blunt and seem as merged with the stone surface. Their forms appear faded with less details, giving the suggestion of a subtropical cloudy atmosphere.

The figures of the horses here, have a lyrical charm almost equating that of the figures of horses in the miniature paintings. The presence of animal figures, exotic to Assam like caravanning or parading camels along with human figures and horses in one of such narrative scenes is quite a unique feature. The depiction of camel caravans in relief here, gives us an idea of the mass influx of Mughal and Rajput entities into the socio- cultural realm of Assam during that time. The forms of the camels are no doubt lively, but they are seen rendered with a sense or a feeling of uncertainty and by the force of assumption. Unlike the camels, the figures of elephants, in all their moods, have sensuous, fleshy forms almost equating them with the figures of elephants seen in the Hadoti, Mughal and Deccani miniature paintings.

Coming again to the human figures, they exhibit certain shades of stylistic influences, which are mostly South East Asian. The style of the Ahom temple icons can be equated with the styles of the temple icons of Himalayan cultures which bear traces of Tibetan stylistics in their forms. The Mohras or the ritual bronze casted masks of Himachal Pradesh also bear a sharp Mongoloid ascent in their facial structures and their appeal is somewhat seen to be similar with the faces of the figures of deities cut in relief on the walls of Ahom temples. The presence of Mongoloid and Austric elements in Assamese wood and stone figurative sculptures can be attributed to the presence of a vast majority of people of Indo- Mongoloid and Austric stock in the greater Assamese society. The mannerisms of these cultures got imbibed and contributed to shaping the unique character of Assamese art. Influences of the forms of relief sculptures of temples like the Angkor Wat, Banteay Srei, Angkor Thom, Siamese and Burmese Buddhist temples3 mainly, in a profound manner began to affect the artisans’ or the sculptors’ creative force in making of the forms of human figures like that of the deities in these reliefs.

Siddhant Medhi

(The author is Dr. Bhupen Hazarika fellow at the Centre for Assamese Studies, Tezpur University in Assam. Views expressed are the author’s own)

Photo- Siddhant Medhi

Notes and References-

1.Gogoi, Anima. (2009). Rudra Simha: a review of historical activities of Ahom king Rudra Simha, Guwahati: Asom Lekhika Sanstha

2.Ibid

3.Dasgupta, Rajatananda. (1982). Art of Medieval Assam, New Delhi: Cosmo Publications

4.Sarma, Pradip. (2012). Asomor Sesh Madhyajugiya Mandir Sthaapatya, Guwahati: Asom Prakashan Parishad