A Vegetable Motif in Central Indian Art [Part 3]

In the present section we shall consider not only “Central India“ but the entire Northern belt. The first sites to the considered will be Nālanda, Paharpur, Mainamati and Muṇḍeśvarī.

Photographs taken by Cl. and J. Bautze show that the banana plant occurs repeatedly on the panels above the plinth of a structure at Nālandā known as “Temple Site 2“. See Asher Ea 72-75; Ghosh Nā, plan; our figs. 3-4. Cl. and J. Bautze have noticed the motif on six panels. All the figures in the six panels are seated.

1. Panel with pot-bellied figure. A banana plant is shown to the proper left. A.S.I, no. 61 (numbers painted by the A.S.I, on the slabs, numbering anti-clockwise).
2. Fragment of a panel, portion on our right. The piece shows a banana plant. A series of prongs is incised on the stem (cf. fig. 12). No number, but the next panel (on our right) bears the A.S.I, number 123.
3. Panel with mother-and-child. The banana plant appearing to the proper right is an early specimen of the abstract type (see § 5 and fig. 5). A.S.I, no. 167.
4. Panel with teacher-and-disciple. A banana plant (with palm-like tuft) is shown between the two figures. The teacher and the disciple carry books in their left hands while their right hands seem to perform gestures 6f conversation. Our fig. 3; A.S.I, no. 168.
5. Panel with teacher. The figure is flanked by two banana plants (the one to the proper left being partly covered by the raised hand). The teacher carries a book in his left hand and obviously a rosary in his right hand. An alms-bowl is depicted by the side of his left knee. Our fig. 4; A.S.I, no. 213.
6. Panel with unidentified (corpulent) figure. A banana plant is shown between the animals on our left (obviously two cows) and the human figure on our right. A.S.I, no. 214.

There is a good deal of variety in the rendering of these banana plants, and this is partly due to the limitations of the narrow panels. The two panels with the teacher motifs (figs. 3-4) are early non-Jaina prototypes of the familiar ācārya panels of medieval Jaina art in Madhya Desha (figs. 11-12 etc.).

The stone panels at the base of the Paharpur temple represent different trends in the development of the banana plant motif. A Keśivadha panel at Paharpur (Dikshit Pa pl. 28a, p. 47) shows banana plants - following the pillar formula - to the left and to the right. However, the motif on our right can only be recognised with difficulty and a closer examination on the spot would be useful. A vegetable motif representing some other botanical species is shown above the fighting figures. A figure “with crescent moon on head“ (Śiva? Moon?) is likewise flanked by two banana plants following the pillar formula (Dikshit Pa 30b). A figure “holding rosary and manuscript“ (Brahma? Śiva?) is depicted along with two realistic renderings of the banana plant motif (Dikshit Pa 30c). A third figure (“Śiva as an ascetic“) has a realistic, though damaged, banana plant to the proper right and a banana plant with, palm-like tuft to the proper left (Dikshit Pa 30d). The problem of the “palm-like tuft“ can also be studied in connection with the terracotta panels on the same structure which have their own peculiar iconographic programme. K.N. Dikshit illustrates two panels (55a, 55b), both presenting a palm-like motif. On p. 70 he identifies the former motif as “plantain tree“ and the latter as “cocoanut palm“. - The evidence at Mainamati is limited but should also be considered in the present context. Amongst the “terracotta plaques at the basement of the Central Shrine“ we notice two panels, both showing a single seated ascetic with a banana plant to his proper left (Khan Pa p. 153).

To the Patna Museum belongs an image of a Devi from the Muṇḍeśvarī Temple. See Weiner Gu p. 171, fn. 15, Weiner Gu 16, and Ghosh Tā 36. The goddess is represented with a banana plant on her proper left (early specimen of the calyx formula).

In Western India, we have to concentrate on Osian and Abaneri. The motif occurs on two entablature panels of Harihara Temple 1 at Osian: once in a Kāliyadamana scene (Desai Vi 92, to the proper left of Kāliya) and once in a Dadhimanthana scene (Meister Wa, Pl. 15, fig. 9; stem of a banana plant used as a post to keep the churning rope in position).

A Keśivadha panel from Abaneri (Desai Vi 93) shows two banana plants with palm-like tufts. A panel from the same place shows a “Devi dressing herself“ (Sivaramamurti Na 16) and a banana plant to the proper right of the goddess. - A single banana plant appears between the two main figures of a Jaina relief cut into the rock of Gwalior Fort (ARG 1928/29, Pl. 10b; JID 18-18A). The relief shows the Jaina form of the god Kubera on our left and the Jaina goddess Ambikā on our right.

A recent publication (ITA) demonstrates that the banana plant motif occurs also farther South (Aihole, Badami). However, the material published so far does not suffice to obtain, a clear idea of the Situation.