Page 5 - Jul-Sep 2017

VOl. 14 No. 2

teLL A tALe

The stones in sculptures, temples and monuments, what do they tell?
They talk of great kings and emperors or those who lived with great honour and pride or God as well !
Krishnika Khemka, Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls’ Public School, Jaipur
STONE CHARIOT OF THE GODS
DESCENT OF THE GANGA
The Stone Chariot of the Vittala Temple in hampi,
Karnataka is an ancient structure built in the 16th The ‘descent of the ganga’ also called arjuna’s Penance
century, during the sculpture of Mahabalipuram,Tamil Nadu depicts the myth
Vijayanagara empire. of the descent of the river ganga from heaven to earth.
interestingly, the locals The legend depicted here is of sage bhagiratha perform-
at hampi believe that the ing penance to lord brahmā
world will be destroyed for 1000 years, hoping to
the day the stone Chariot bring the purifying waters of
of the Vittala Temple the heavenly ganga to earth,
moves from its place. to cleanse the souls of his
ancestors.
Vaishali B., XH, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Public School, Jubilee Hills,
Hyderabad

RAMAYANA STORY
TALE OF THE MONkEY
The panel in the southern wall of the Kailash Temple in
ellora, Maharashtra portrays a number of scenes from The reliefs of the sanchi stupa located in Madhya
the epic, the ramayana. The panel depicts various Pradesh form the most important visual record of
scenes like lord rama’s departure from ayodhya, the life of lord buddha in the sunga period. One of the
depiction of the sita’s abduction by ravana; rama stories carved on the toranas of sanchi stupa is when
meeting hanumana; hanumana crossing the ocean to siddhartha decides to give up his severe ascetic life,
reach lanka. and a monkey brought honey for him to eat. The relief
work shows siddhartha’s realization that denying
nourishment to
his physical body
would weaken his
body and mind.
SCULPTURE STUDY he needed full and
positive health of his
what information can you get by looking at the object mind to concentrate
below? This sculpture is from sarnath, uttar and meditate best.
Pradesh.
Q. What do you think the object is?
a. The object is a buddha head from the ACTIVITY: WRITE THE STORY
gupta period. The half closed eyes
indicate self-absorbed contemplation. write the story depicted in
Q. What material is it made of? this panel called the Queen
Q. Can you guess how the sculpture was Maya’s Dream from bharhut.
made? (bharhut sculptures are best
seen in the indian Museum,
Name your favourite sculpture from a local museum Kolkata).
and write about it.

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