Pura Sri : Beauty and Wealth of Ancient India

Contents: Preface. I. Art and architecture section: 1. A unique statuette from Sanchankot. 2. A unique Vishnu image from Malhar. 3. Lalabhagat Kukkutadhwaj: a fresh iconographic study. 4. Basic form and concept of Srivatsa symbol. 5. Buddhist icons from Newal. 6. A unique Tirthankara image from Sanchankot (Dist. Unnao). 7. Goddess Bhagwati on the newly discovered copper-plate of Bhoja-I. 8. Concept of Indian temple and its evolution. 9. Gupta temples and their importance in the evolution of medieval temple styles. II. Terracotta art section: 1. A priceless gem of the Sunga Terracotta Art. 2. A unique terracotta-Kushana Royal figure. 3. A terracotta head from Sanchankot. 4. Siva in terracotta art tradition of Unnao district. 5. A unique terracotta head from Sanchakot. 6. Newal terracottas depicting Ramayana scenes. 7. Five thousand years of terracotta art. III. Numismatics section: 1. Four punch-marked coins from Chandrikakheda. 2. Two silver punch-marked coins from Sanchankot. 3. Two unique punch-marked coins from Bhagwantpur Gotpali. 4. Prakasaditya--In the light of a unique gold coin. 5. A newly discovered gold coin from Newal. 6. A rare copper coin of Kumargupta (I). 7. Some gold coins from Sanchankot. 8. The antiquity of coinage in India. Index.

"The Ganga-Gomati-Sai Valley is the cradle of human civilization. The first divine instinct in Man (Homo Sapiens) is love for the mother. So the first evidence of Mother Goddess worship came from Newal in the Ganga Valley in the form of a stone-torso representing the lower parts of the Mother Goddess with emphasis on her pudenda, the source of all creation. Another figure of the Divine Mother was found from Belan Valley in the form of a bone statuette belonging to the Upper Palaeolithic Period. A site in Madhya Pradesh, Baghor by name, has also yielded a similar evidence. The Upper Palaeolithic engraved core found at Chandravati; Rajasthan supports the symbolic representation of a Mother Goddess and fertility rituals. All these evidences go to suggest that Man had the ability to think over abstract things apart from those related to mundane life and culture.

This light of learning and spiritual knowledge had emanated from the East. It is rightly said that \'Purva Visvasmaad Buvanadbodi\' (Rv. I. 123.2) the glow of knowledge and culture rose from the East and it awakened and enlightened the whole world.

Here an attempt has been made to show that the art in the Ganga Valley had reached its full flower and fruition by the ingenuity and imagination of the people inhabiting its fertile plains. Certain specimens of the Maurya-Sunga Art of this region are unique and outstanding in the whole repertoire of Indian art.

The readers would like to go through the book and evince further interest in the study and understanding of the different aspects of Indian art, history and archaeology." (jacket)