The Mathura Herakles is a famous statue found in the city of

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, thought to represent the Greek hero Herakles fighting the

Nemean lion The Nemean lion (; ; ) was a mythical lion in Greek mythology that lived at Nemea. Famously one of the mythical beasts killed by Heracles (Hercules) in his 12 labours. Because its golden fur was impervious to attack, it could not be killed with ...

History

The statue was discovered at the end of the 19th century by

Alexander Cunningham Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Sappers who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newly crea ...

in Mathura. It depicts a defaced male strangling a lion. It has been interpreted as a sculpture created by a foreign artist that shows Herakles strangling the Nemaean lion. However, the male is wearing lion's skin, the legs of which are tied around his neck, which has been interpreted as proof that the foreign artist lacked full knowledge of the Greek mythology, because he is shown already wearing the skin of the lion he is fighting. The man fighting the lion in the scene is very generally considered as being Herakles, but some authors have suggested that an Indian sculptor, influenced by western art, could have meant to represent

Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...

for example. It may also be connected to the cult of

Vasudeva Vasudeva (; Sanskrit: वसुदेव ), also called Anakadundubhi (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his birth), is the father of the Hindu deities Krishna ( ...

, who is thought to have been corresponded to the legend of Herakles. The statue is now in the

Indian Museum Indian Museum (formerly called Imperial Museum of Calcutta) is a grand museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India. It is the ninth oldest museum in the world and the oldest, as well as the largest museum in Asia, by size of collection. It ...

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

Significance

The statue is similar to statues of the Lycian Apollo.The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfiel
p.9
/ref> On its discovery, Cunningham wrote that the statue must be of Herakles and the Nemaean lion, that there is high probability that this was sculptured by some foreign artist for the use of the Greek resident of Mathura. It is generally considered as an example of influence from the Greek art on ancient Indian art. According to James Harle, there is "no Gandharan sculpture whose source can be so directly traced" to Greece as the Mathura Herakles.The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, James C. Harle, Yale University Press, 199
p.67
/ref>

Gallery

File:Silver drachma, Indo-Greek Kingdom, Lysias Aniketos, 130-125 BC (Helmet).jpg, Herakles on the reverse of the

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, also known as the Yavana Kingdom, was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of modern-day Afghanistan, Pakistan and northwestern India. The term "Indo-Greek Kingdom" ...

coinage of

Lysias Lysias (; ; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a Logographer (legal), logographer (speech writer) in ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrac ...

, 130-125 BCE. File:Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG, Herakles as Vajrapani, protector of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

. File:Met, gandhara, hercules and the nemean lion, 1st century.JPG, Herakles with the Nemean lion, Gandhara. File:The Buddha and nude Vajrapani at Jamal Garhi.jpg, Herakles as Vajrapani File:Vajrapani with Heraklean club.jpg, Herakles/Vajrapāni with the Buddha, holding the Heraklean club. File:TheBuddhaAndVajrapaniGandhara2ndCentury.jpg, The Buddha with his protector Vajrapāni. Gandhara, 2nd century CE. File:VajrapaniAndMonks.jpg, Herakles/Vajrapāni with a group of Buddhist monks. Gandhara File:Dinar, Kushan Empire, Depiction of Hercules, 152-192 AD.jpg, Herakles on the reverse of a Kushan coin of emperor Huvishka (140-180 CE). File:Mathura statue of Herakles strangling the Nemaean lion.jpg, Mathura Herakles.

References

External links

The Mathura Herakles in the Kolkata Indian Museum
{{Mathura Museum Mathura art Hellenistic art Indo-Greeks Sculptures of men in India Statues in India Sculptures of lions Sculptures of Heracles

History

Significance

Gallery

See also

References

External links