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Originally Posted by Jim McDougall
The remarkably early and quite simple example shown in the book on Orissan antiquities is indeed compelling, but the inevitable question is of course, can this iconographic evidence be relied upon in the estimated date of the context ? Can we be sure of the date/period suggested for these friezes? or is it possible they are work entered later? In India I believe that temples and their associated works are essentially a constantly vibrant and dynamic feature, so it seems possible this could be a later rendering or addition.
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Jim,
This is a very interesting question, and I do understand why you ask it.
I have in none of my books ever seen mentioned, replacements with newer statues or reliefs, they may have been repaired, but I doubt that reliefs or statues have been replaced by newer ones - had there been replacements, I am sure it would have been mentioned. You should also keep in memory, that should the relief where the katar is shown, have been newer than the temple, lets say with two centuries - how would the artist have known, what the katar two centuries earlier would have looked like?
Rajendralala Mitra who wrote the book about the temples in Orissa, was at the time a very well known as well as a very respected historian, and I am sure he would have mentioned it, had the relief been newer. While writing about the temples, he has seen a lot of them, and was able to compare the different reliefs and statues and their age.
I have just finished reading Jonathan Scott's book. In fact he was an 'editor' collecting old manuscripts to publish. Manu of the contributers, had lived at the time of Aurangzeb and later, they had also lived at court, so they knew many of the 'historical' names well. To read about warfare then is something of a parody - not always, but often.
The katar shown below is from Hamza and shows a fully developed katar in the 16th century. Hamza illustrates and old Persian story, and was made for Akbar around mid 16th century.
Notive the very 'sharp' 'V' base. This base was used for centuries.
Jens