The Lohanipur torso is a damaged statue of polished sandstone, dated to the 3rd century BCE ~ 2nd century CE, found in Lohanipur village, a central Division of

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

, ancient

Pataliputra Pataliputra (IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, Bihar, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE, as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliput ...

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

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 ...

. There are some claims however for a later date (not earlier than the Kushana period), as well as of

Graeco-Roman The Greco-Roman world , also Greco-Roman civilization, Greco-Roman culture or Greco-Latin culture (spelled Græco-Roman or Graeco-Roman in British English), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and co ...

influence in the sculpting.The Lohanipur torso is thought to represent a Jaina

Tirthankara In Jainism, a ''Tirthankara'' (; ) is a saviour and supreme preacher of the ''Dharma (Jainism), dharma'' (righteous path). The word ''tirthankara'' signifies the founder of a ''Tirtha (Jainism), tirtha'', a fordable passage across ''Saṃsā ...

. K. P. Jayaswal and M. A. Dhaky have regarded this to be the earliest Jain sculpture found. The Didarganj Yakshi is another polished statue from Patna whose date is disputed, with the possible range between the

Mauryan The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

and Kushan periods.

Finding

The 2-foot torso is one of the two found in 1937 in an area of Patna. The smaller torso is one foot tall. Historian K.P. Jayaswal reported that the excavation of the site revealed a Mauryan coin and a number of Mauryan bricks from a square shaped temple, suggesting the torso is from the Mauryan period.

Description

The Lohanipur torso is thought to represent a Jaina

. The statue is an outstanding example of

Mauryan polish Mauryan polish describes one of the frequent characteristics of architecture and sculptures of the Maurya Empire in India (325 to 185 BCE), which gives a very smooth and shiny surface to the stone material, generally of sandstone or granite.The roo ...

, an advanced polishing technique essentially characteristic of the

Mauryan Empire The Maurya Empire was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in South Asia with its power base in Magadha. Founded by Chandragupta Maurya around c. 320 BCE, it existed in loose-knit fashion until 185 BCE. The primary sourc ...

, which almost fell out of use after that period, although, if it is of a later date, it might suggest that polishing techniques survived the Mauryan era.

Comparison with the Harappa torso

The Lohanipur torso bears a striking resemblance with the Harappan jasper torso excavated in the 1928/29 season by Madho Sarup Vats, to the south of the "Great Granary" at

Harappa Harappa () is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan, about west of Sahiwal, that takes its name from a modern village near the former course of the Ravi River, which now runs to the north. Harappa is the type site of the Bronze Age Indus ...

. This ought to belong to the Mature

n period based on the dating of the site strata, but its date is questioned or disputed by scholars such as the British archaeologists

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour, CH Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire, CIE Military Cross, MC Territorial Decoration, TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeolo ...

John Marshall John Marshall (September 24, 1755July 6, 1835) was an American statesman, jurist, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the fourth chief justice of the United States from 1801 until his death in 1835. He remai ...

, who suggested a historical period, probably Gupta (circa 500 CE). In 2002, the anthropologist

Gregory Possehl Gregory Louis Possehl (July 21, 1941 – October 8, 2011) was a professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, United States, and curator of the Asian Collections at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology an ...

commented that "it seems reasonable" that the piece belongs to the Mature Harappan period, exhibiting "the heights to which Indus artists could reach". In that case, the Harappa torso would date to 2300–1750 BCE.

References

Citation

Sources

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External links

* {{Authority control Patna Sculptures from Bihar Jain sculptures History of Jainism Mauryan art Statues in Bihar Ancient Indian sculptures