Page 7 - Jul-Sep 2017

VOl. 14 No. 2

enCHAntinG eASt SCULPtUre: DiDArGAnJ YAKSHi

The Chunar sandstone sculpture of didarganj
SUN STORY Yakshi dating back to 3 century bC was
rd
The 13th century Sun Temple found in 1917. a group of washermen used
in Konark, Odisha resembles the to wash their clothes on a stone slab on the
chariot of the sun god, surya. in banks of the ganga in Didarganj, Patna. One
mythology, lord surya is said to day the stone slab slipped into the water. upon
travel around the world in a seven- digging a marvellous statue of the 2300 year
horse driven chariot creating day old Yakshi was discovered. The statue’s nose
and night. On the chariot there was severely damaged during an exhibition,
are musicians depicted along with ‘The Festival of india’, held in the united states.
the sun god.To make it look like a Aryan Saini, VII B, PKR Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Ambala
chariot, the artists carved 24 giant
wheels and seven prancing horses, made of stone. The BEAUTIFUL BELUR
horses are believed to represent the seven days of the
week or the seven colours of the light. Belur Math has a beautiful sri ramakrishna Temple made
Vanshikha Kapil, IX, Sanskar School, Jaipur; Lavanya Joshi,VIIIA, Army in Chunar stone. The temple is notable for its architecture
Public School, Secunderabad with hindu, Christian and islamic motifs. The carved
panels on this temple reveal the indigenous style and
SHIVALINGAM STORY creativity of bengal artisans.
There are similar stone
world’s largest shivalinga was discovered in a town called carving centres in simulpur
Ziro. The Shivalingam of the siddheshwar Nath Temple and burdwan.
was discovered in 2004. The mystery of this lingam has Sumaiya Kabir, VIIIA, Gokhale
been recorded in the shivapurana (17th chapter, 9th Memorial Girls’ School, Kolkata
section). it mentions that the tallest shivalingam will
appear at a place, lingalaya and the whole area will be MIGHTY MEGALITHS
known as arunachal.
The word ‘megalith’ is derived from
Anubhuti Raje, Air Force Bal Bharati School, Lodhi Road, Delhi
two greek words ‘megalithos’
meaning huge and ‘litho’
meaning stone. even today, Illustraion by: Nikita Rohilla, XD, All
UNAkOTI TALE a ‘living megalithic culture’ Saints School, Ajmer

an ancient shaivite shrine with huge rocks reliefs of lord exists among tribes like the gonds of Central india and the
shiva dating back to 7th-9th century Ce and is located in Khasis of Meghalaya. They erect single-standing stones
Tripura. according to hindu mythology, when lord shiva (menhirs) in honour of the dead.
was travelling to Kashi Can you name any other megaliths found in India?
along with other deities,
shiva asked all gods to AWESOME ASVATHAMA
wake up before sunrise.
however no one woke The asvathama rock located on Dhauli hills is a figure
up on time, so shiva of the fore part of an elephant, carved on sandstone. it
cursed them and turned is said to be a symbolic representation of the buddha.
them into stones. The inscriptions are one of the oldest sculptures in
Anjali Yadav, VIIA, Suditi Global bhubaneswar. This rock got its name from asvathama, the
Academy, Etawah; Malika elephant who was mentioned in the epic Mahabharata.
Chaddha, IXG, Greenwood
Senior Secondary School, Saishree Pattanayak, IX, DAV Public School, Unit-8, Bhubaneswar
Rampur; Dhurv Agarwal, IXE,
Gwalior Glory High School, Illustration by: Nabhya Kathuria, VID,
Gwalior Sri Sankara Sr. Secondry School, Adayar, Illustration by:Jyotishman Mohanty, VIIIB,
Chennai
DAV Public School, Unit-8, Bhubaneswar
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