It is highly recommended to visit the Indian Museum, Kolkata to discover the roots of our ancestors. Below are some highlights from my visit in August 2023. I hope this will encourage you to study and research about these archaeological sites and get to know more history.
Kolkata's Indian Museum was first to be established in India. It holds extremely valuable heritage. These sculptures requires dedication to study and introspect in our life alongside evolution of history. The sculptures did not just carve them, they were visionaries, leaving us with clues of the past for future generations to embrace.
I am very delighted to have taken the time to visit this museum aside from my work. I want to thank the archaeologists for their dedication in bringing these rich heritage to us.
All credit goes to archaeological team. Photos are from my journey to the museum. If you are sharing this article, please credit the rightful owners. The purpose of this short article is to bring to you some of the most captivating rich heritage sculptures for those that can't travel to this place.
This is my final sequel article towards exploration of the Kolkata's Indian Museum or we shall see if I get to do another visit in the near future.
The lion on top of elephant on both sides of Vishnu is a recurring trend in most of the important temples. In some temples, they are shown separately and in other temples, they are built as pillars or on the walls.
Specifically, the elephant is on the doorways or lintels and in others before the Sannathi (meaning like an arch before the deity). It has deeper history to these icons. In my recent visit to the Madurai Meenakshi Sundereswarar temple, there were two elephants carved as an arch before the lingam. Madurai was the oldest city and was ruled by the Pandya dynasty but their icon was fish as in the name of Goddess Meenakshi. Shiva is always seen with Nandi. Thus, the elephant has significant influence during the ancient history. Elephant is always associated with great memory, royalty and was revered (worshipped) before it was more known as Ganesha (God of Elephant). In addition, a White Elephant (Airavata) was the mount or vahana of God Indra. For this article, let us just admire the sculpture from the lens of the sculptor.
