Sculpture of Panchayan Deities of National Museum: An Illustrative Stone Work of Nepal

Historical evidence proves the history of sculpturing art is as old as the history of human beings. The findings of stone sculpture and other forms of art from the different prehistoric sites of Europe, Africa and Asia have strongly supported the above mentioned acquaintance. It means the tradition of sculpturing stone art has evolved from the pre- historic culture in the world. Likewise, the tradition of creating stone sculpture and other forms of stone art also existed from the pre- historic age in Nepalese society. It is justified through the findings of hand axes and other different art objects which are being displayed in the National Museum. There are some noteworthy illustrations of Nepalese stone art in different museums abroad and in Nepal as well. Out of Nepalese stone sculptures, Panchayan deities of the national museum are considered an important specimen through religious, cultural, style, skill and technological perspectives. In this stone panel the figures of Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Ganesh and goddess have been depicted. In Nepal, there are plenty of sculptures and paintings of these gods and goddess in single and with their families as well. But such a sculpture of this kind which has been exhibited in the stone work section of the national museum is very rare. Therefore, it is claimed that the panel is one of the important sculptures of Panchayan gods of Nepal. In this article, regarding the different issues of such sculptures going to be examined.


Introduction
Shaivism, Vaisnavism and Shaktism are the main religious pantheons which are strongly rooted in Hindu society and culture. Although, within these sects, there are many religious sub-cults that seem to exist. They have been practiced from the very earliest up to present in the Indian subcontinent especially in Hindu religion. Among them the practice of Panchadevopasana i.e. the cult of Panchayan gods is known as one of the most important traditions. In the Kusan period, the Panchayatana form of worship was developed including the five divinities. In this tradition five deities such as Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and Ganesh or Skandaor Kumar are worshiped (Singh, 1980, p. 74). They represent the five elements Vayu (wind), Aakash (sky), Prithivi (earth) Agni (fire) and Jala (water) respectively.
For fasting and other related rituals, the Panchopasak follows the Smarta Tradition. Panchdeva Puja is believed to help in attaining happiness, progress and peace. Good thoughts emerge in the mind and divine energy is manifested in the body and the behavior experiences a sense of freedom by which the mind is easily directed toward Brahmaan. The different devtas are the manifestations of Brahmaan who is actually unthinkable, unmanifested, unlimited and without a form. Brahmaan can only be known by those who are free from worldly ties and have no expectations from society. It is very difficult to achieve such a state and to visualize the image of any person or a devata without first seeing him is all the more arduous.
In the Indian subcontinent including Nepal, the tradition of Panchayan puja seems very popular among the Hindu followers. From the 11 th to 12 th century CE the tradition of constructing sculpture of five deities and Panchadeval in a group came into existence in this region. Among the images of Panchayan deities, the stone sculpture collected and displayed in the national museum is considered a noteworthy one, which is going to be discussed in this article. It is an example of such types of sculpture which displays an excellent craftsmanship of artists. Despite all its amusing qualities this sculpture is yet to have been the subject of research and study. The researcher hopes that this paper entitled Sculpture of Panchayan Deities of National Museum: an Illustrative Stone Work of Nepal will address and fulfill the partial research gaps and problems regarding the issues.

Problem of Study
The worship of Panchayan cult is an important tradition in Hindu culture. This tradition has been practiced among the people of Hindu in the Indian subcontinent from the ancient period. Likewise, archeological findings suggest that this custom was also popular as the forms of Panchayandeuta in Kathmandu valley and western Nepal as well. Plenty of sculptures, paintings and temples of Panchayandeuta have been created during the different periods. Among them, the sculpture of the national museum is considered an important one. But, the detailed study regarding its iconographic perspective has still not been conducted properly which is the research gap of this field. Therefore, with raising the following three questions, this paper has tried to fulfill the research gaps: • What is the Panchayan cult and which gods are associated within this doctrine?
• What are the iconographic features of the panel of Panchayan gods?
• What are the major features of stone sculpture of Panchayan gods of National Museum Nepal?

Objectives of the Study
Normally, this study has focused on fulfillment of two types of objectives i.e. simple and complex. Simple or general objectives lay on the study of worshiping tradition of Panchayancult whereas the specific objectives of this study are as following: • To study about the Panchayan cult and the different gods associated within this doctrine; • To explore the iconographic features of the panel of Panchayan gods; and • To examine the major features of stone sculpture of Panchayan gods of the national museum of Nepal. ISSN 2332-5518 2022

Methodology
This paper is based on descriptive and analytical research design. Both primary and secondary data have been used. Essential primary data and information have been collected by doing frequent surveys of National Museum in Chhauni. The secondary data and sources have been collected through the published and unpublished previous research work. Regarding the panel of the Panchayan deities, some studies carried out by different scholars can be found. No doubt, all the studies and publications concerning this panel help to provide the description and artistic appeals of the sculptures. But there is still a lack of specific research as it's the perspectives of iconographic features. Hence, realizing a strong need for the study, an effort has been made to respond to aforementioned research gaps. In this respect, this paper is expected to address the need to some extent.

Findings and Analysis
During field surveys, the researcher has applied observation and interview methods for gathering primary data. What is the Panchayan cult? Which are the main deities associated within it? When did it come into existence in the Indian subcontinent and Nepal as well? These are the questions which have been addressed by searching appropriate literature. Likewise, regarding the specific study of the panel of Panchayan deities of the national museum, the researcher has frequently conducted field work. After collecting the data and information regarding the issues this paper has been prepared. Finally, the findings and discussion of this paper have been presented including the Panchayan cult, Panchayan cult in Nepal and the sculpture of Panchayan gods of the national museum in chronological order.

Panchayan Cult
Panchayan can also be addressed through the different terminologies such as Panchayana, Pancayan, Pancayana, Pāñchāyan, Pāñchāyana, Pāñcāyan or Pāñcāyana. The worship of Panchayana is practice of paying honor to the five Hindu deities such as Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and Ganesh or Skandaor Kumar and any personal divinities (Flood, 1996, p. 17). It consists of the worship of five deities set in a quincunx pattern (Harle, 1994, 140). Sometimes the Ishta Devata is the sixth deity in the mandala (Gudrun, 2003, p. 60).This tradition is based on the culture of Panchodebopashana i.e. worshiping to the five deities (Dulal, 2061, p. 31).
In this sect the above mentioned deities worship as the representation of the five elements, such as Agni (fire), Jala(water), Vayu (wind), Aakash (sky) and Prithivi (earth). According to the religious texts Devi represents to the Agni (fire), Ganesh to the Jala(water), Aaditya or Surya of the Vayu (wind), Vishnu to the Aakash (sky) and Shiva represents the Prithivi (earth). There is another specific puja where deities representing the five elements of nature, earth, water, fire, air and ether are worshiped daily. This is to be performed in the morning. In this puja above mentioned five deities are venerated, this is called Panchayatana puja. In the Mandala five deities are presented as the following arrangement: Arrangement of five icons in Pancayatana puja.

Main deity
International Journal of Culture and History ISSN 2332-5518 2022 Panchayana puja is a system of worship in the smartism sect, which is one of four major religious sampradaya of Hinduism (Gudrun, 2003, p. 60). Smarta is an adjective, derived from Smriti, composed of written texts that were constantly revised. It was different from Shruti which was to be orally transmitted. The Smarta are the followers of Smrities (Rana, 2017, p. 87). Philosophically, the Smarta tradition emphasizes that all idols are icons of saguna Brahman, a means to realizing the abstract Ultimate Reality called nirguna Brahman. The five or six icons are seen by Smartas as multiple representations of the one saguna Brahman (i.e., a personal God with form), rather than as distinct beings. The ultimate goal in this practice is to transition past the use of icons, then follow a philosophical and meditative path to understanding the oneness of Atman (soul, self) and Brahman.
In the Pancham Atharvasiris of Atharvbed, there is a description of Ganapati Atharvasiris, Shiva Atharvasiris, Devya Atharvasiris, Vishnu Atharvasiris and Surya Atharvasiris (Khemaka, 1987, p.15). This indicates that the cult of worshiping Panchayan god has been practiced from the Vedic Period in the Indian subcontinent and its culture (Gurung, 2067, p. 233). But, Indian philosophers believe that this practice has been attributed to Adi-Sankaracharya in the 8 th century CE in Hindu society and culture (Pandey, 1988, p. 380). During the period Pancharatra, Pashupata and Shakta sects were the main religious cults that seemed to popularly practice. Sankaracharya unified these in a single doctrine and introduced it as the Panchayan cult, which is also known as the Smarta puja system (Khatiwada, 2074, p. 652). Kane (1980, 394) also gives the credit of introducing Panchayan cult to Sankarcharya. Later on it became popular in the medieval period in India (Gudrun, 2003, p. 60).
However, archaeological evidence suggests that this practice long predates the birth of Adi Shankar. Many Panchayatana mandalas and temples have been uncovered that are from the period of Gupta Empire, and one Panchayatana set from the village of Nand (about 24 kilometers from Ajmer) has been dated to belong to the Kushan Empire (pre-300 CE). The Kushan period set includes Shiva, Vishnu, Surya, Brahma and one deity whose identity is unclear (Frederick, 1981, pp. 1-4).
Depending on the tradition followed by Smarta households, one of these deities is kept in the center and the other four corners of a square surrounding it. Either an iconic idol(s) or an iconic representation(s) or a combination for each deity is used (Gudrun, 2003, p. 60). The five may be represented as simply as five kinds of stones called a Pancayatana puja set, or just five marks drawn on the floor. This arrangement is also represented in Smarta Pancayatana temples found in India, with one central shrine, and four smaller shrines at the corners of a square (Gudrun, 2003, p. 60). According to James Harle (1994, 140-142) major Hindu temples from 1 st millennium CE embed the pancayatana architecture very commonly, from Odisha to Karnataka to Kashmir; and the temples containing fusion deities such as Harihar (half Shiva, half Vishnu) are set in Panchayatana worship style.
Panchdevata is the concept of five gods in Hinduism. They are Vishnu, Shiva, Ganesha, Shakti and Surya. The concept of Panchdevata is more popular within Hindu communities in North India. The five gods are worshiped daily in homes. Those people who worship the five gods are known as Panchopasak. Panchayatana puja has predominantly been a tradition within Hinduism. However, the Udasis-a tradition that reveres the Guru Granth Sahib of Sikhism also worships the five panchayatana deities (Singh & Fenech, 2014, p. 376).

Panchayan Cult in Nepal
The concept of Panchdeva was developed by teachers of Santana Dharma to help common people who are not able to understand the concept of Brahman. The Panchdevtas are International Journal of Culture and History ISSN 2332-5518 2022 manifestations of Brahman who are actually unthinkable, unmanifested, unlimited and without a form. The Panchayan is a group of five most popular deities worshiped in Hindu religion. During the medieval period this spiritual practice became popular and developed as a folk tradition as well as separate religious cult in India and Nepal.
The people of Western Nepal follow Hinduism and worship five deities such as Surya, Vishnu, Siva, Shakti and Ganesh, who are called Panchayana. The ancient temples of Western Nepal mostly stand in a group of five of which the central temple is always bigger in size than the corner ones. These temples of Panchayana deities further prove the popularity of these divinities in the region in the past. Beautiful harmony of this form and conception is explicit through the Thalara group of stone temples and their sculptures. The temple of such type is called Panchadeval. Although the concept of Panchadevala evolved in the eight century, the Panchadeval of Western Nepal were built only in the fourteenth century (Pandey, 1997, p. 582&641).
There are some Panchadeval in Kathmandu Valley as well. Panchadeval of Thapathali, which was constructed by Shree Teen Junga Bahadur, is one of the important examples of this kind (Rana, 2017, p. 87). Similarly, in the southern part of Kathmandu Valley, there is another Panchadeval which was built by Trailokya BirVikram Shah (Regmi, 2050, p. 257).In Nepal, Panchadeval are observed to construct into two designs which are longitudinal and Mandala structural forms. The temples of Debalhat of Baitadi have been constructed on the longitudinal platform whereas the temples of Bhurti of Dhailekh seem to be ofMandala forms (Pandey, 1997, p. 641-644).
The temples of Panchayan deities are addressed with different names on the basis of their structural forms and worshiping system. The deities established in the middle are known through the shrine with the name of the deity. For example if Lord Shiva is dedicated into the middle then that is known as the shrine of Shiva Panchayan. Similarly, others are known as the Surya Panchayana, Vishnu Panchayan, Devi Panchayan and Ganesh Panchayan.
In Nepal Shiva Panchayan seems more popular among the devotees than the other ones. One can observe the images of lord Vishnu, Devi, Surya and Ganesh in the niches on the four corners of the small Saivite temple. In the case of the huge structural Shiva temple, the images of four deities seem to have been depicted into the separate small shrines on the four corners. The temple of Indreswor of Panauti and Mahadeva temple of Tripureswor are known as the best illustrations of this kind (Gurung, 2061, p.167). According to Kane while constructing the Panchadeval and establishing the images of Panchayan gods the following architectural and iconographic features should be adopted.
The above mentioned table and figures show that there is a certain criterion for the construction and establishment of Panchadeval and Panchayan gods. If Vishnu depicts in the middle as the main deity, there will be Shiva and Ganesh on the right and left on the top, while Devi and Surya on the bottom respectively. Similarly, if there is Surya in the center there will be Shiva and Ganesh on the right and left on the top whereas, Devi and Vishnu on the bottom respectively. If Devi depicts in the middle, there will be Vishnu and Shiva displayed on the right and left of the upper part, while Surya and Ganesh depict on right and left on the lower part respectively. Likewise, while Ganesh keeps in the center there will be Vishnu and Shiva in the right and left on the top whereas, Devi and Surya on the bottom respectively. Similarly, if there is Shiva in the center there will be Vishnu and Surya on the top whereas, Devi and Ganesh in the right and left corner on the bottom respectively.

Sculpture of National Museum
There is an image of Panchayan god in the stone art section of the national museum where you can observe very beautiful five figures in a panel. In this panel there is an image of Devi in the middle, therefore this is named as the Devi Panchayana. According to the record of the

Sculpture of Goddess depicted in the middle
The main deity Devi is depicted in the middle. Devi is also worshiped as one of the five deities in the Smarta tradition. She seats on the lion and demon. Her right leg is on the lion while the left one is on the demon. The seating posture of the goddess looks like the pralabapadasan. Devi has ten hands. Among the ten, one upper hand holds the skull and the other exposes a fearless gesture. Remaining others hold the attributes carried by the goddess. There is a simple nimbus with flame and decorated triangular shaped head crown on her head. Similarly, flower shape earrings on the ears, two layer simple necklace and long garland on the neck, tika on his forehead, bangles and armlets on the wrists and arms, and drapery on the lower part of the body and simple anklet on the ankle are the major ornaments and dresses seem to have been used on the figure of goddess.
Sculpture of Vishnu depicted in the right side of upper part International Journal of Culture and History ISSN 2332-5518 2022 Viahnu is one of the five deities considered as equivalent aspects and means to realize Brahman in the Smarta tradition. There is an image of lord Vishnu on the right side of the upper part of the panel. The foremost Lord in the Shrutis is Vishnu. In this panel Vishnu sits on his mount Garuda. The seating posture of Vishnu is padmasan. He has four hands and holds different attributes which he carries generally. The right hands hold the Chakra i.e. flaming wheel and shankha i.e. conch whereas; the left hands are carrying gada i.e. mace and padma i.e. lotus. Decorated triangular crown on the head, flower shaped earrings on the ears, simple necklace and garland on the neck, tika on his forehead, and armlets on the arms, belt on the waist and drapery on the lower part of the body are the major ornaments and garments seemed to use on the figure of Vishnu.

Sculpture of Shiva depicted in the left side of upper part
Likewise, there is an image of lord Shiva on the left side of the upper part of the panel. Shiva is one of the five deities worshiped in the Smarta tradition. This inscribed image of Shiva is seated on his mount nandi (bull) with touching the nandi and raising the knee through right and slightly bent on the nandi of the left one. This seating posture is called sukhasan mood in iconographic science. There are four hands. Among them, the right one is holding a double drum while the other one is presenting a fearless gesture. Likewise, there are trident and rosary beads on his left hands. Simple nimbus with flame, triangular shape crown on the head, serpent earrings on the ears, simple necklace and beads on the neck, tika on his forehead, serpent bangles on the wrists, armlets on the arms, belt on the waist and drapery on the lower part of the body and simple anklet on the ankle are the major ornaments and garments seem to have been used on the figure of Shiva. Surya is also worshiped as one of the five deities in the Smarta tradition. Surya's iconography is often depicted riding a chariot harnessed by horses, often seven in number which represent the seven colour rays of the rainbow. But there is a lack of a chariot and seven horses in this sculpture which is mentioned in the iconography. This inscribed image of Surya has seated on the peer of a horse in kamalasan posture. Horses are beautified by different things and stand facing the opposite direction. There are four hands. Among them, the right and left lower hands are holding the lotus flower while both upper hands are showing fearless gestures. The head of the Surya is also decorated by the head crown whereas; there is simple garland of his neck.

Sculpture of Ganesh depicted in the left side of lower part
Likewise, there is an image of lord Ganesh on the left side of the lower part of the panel.
Ganesh is also worshiped as one of the five deities in the Smarta tradition. Ganesh is the most popular deity in both Hindu and Buddhist religion in Nepal. From the very beginning Ganesh has been worshiped in different forms and names in the Indian sub-continent and several other countries from the very earlier. In Nepal the cults of Ganesh were very popular during the Lichchhavi and medieval period as well. During the reign of Malla dynasty plenty of religious monuments, sculptures and paintings concerned with Lord Ganesh have been constructed by the Kings and others. Nowadays, this tradition of worshiping Lord Ganesh is also widespread and has become popular in the Nepalese society.
This inscribed image of Ganesh has him seated on the peer of a mouse with his right leg slightly bent and touching the mouse and with an erect left knee. This seating posture is exactly opposite to that of Shiva, which is also known as the sukhasan mood. The physical features and attributes found in the other images can also be found in this image too. There are four hands which hold what the things Lord Ganesh traditionally holds. The upper left hand is holding an axe and the lower one is carrying some sweets whereas, the upper right is holding rosary beads and the lower one is holding an ankush i.e. hook. Simple nimbus with flame, triangular shape crown on the head, serpent earrings on the ears, simple necklace and beads on the neck, tika on his forehead, serpent bangles on the wrists, armlets on the arms, and drapery on the lower part of the body and simple anklet on the ankle are the major ornaments and garments seemed to have been used on the figure of Ganesh.

Finding Features
This panel is known as the masterpieces of Panchayan gods of stone sculpture of Nepal. Unfortunately, due to the absence of date and inscription, it is difficult to provide the absolute date of its creation. This is regarded as the illustrative example of stone work which reveals the high classed and well trained workmanship of artists. The round facial structure, elasticity and flexibility of body, dynamic and alive nature, use of simple head crown, different types of beads and ornaments are the common characteristics of the sculptures whereas, the specific features are as following:

•
The whole figure is shown under a canopy of seven serpent hoods.
• It is a panel of Devi Panchayana where there is an image of Devi in the middle.
• Goddess Kali appears to be seated at the center, Vishnu and Shiva are displayed on the right and left of the upper part and Surya and Ganesh are depicted on the right and left on the lower part.

•
The images of Devi, Vishnu, Shiva, Surya and Ganesh look similar through the perspectives of carving skill and style, physical appearance and features as well.

•
It is an important stone sculpture belonging to the 17th century CE.
• One can observe a slightly tantric influence in these art objects.
• Finding features of art objects indicates that during the sculpturing the panel artists seemed to follow the direction of iconographic science.

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It is an image which presents high religious tolerance between the devotees of Shaiva, Vaishnav, Shakta, Ganaptya and solar cults.

Dating Issue
Creation of sculpture is one of the oldest traditions in the history of mankind. On the basis of findings of archaeological evidence from the prehistoric caves of France, Spain and other parts of the world the antiquities of sculpturing art objects can be traced back to the prehistoric culture and civilization (Burkitt,. Findings of art objects of the period suggest that people of prehistoric culture were skilled to create beautiful and wonderful art specimens as the form of sculpture arts. The art and images were started to be made in this sub-continent from the Indus Valley Civilization i.e. 2500 BC, where we find figures of bearded man of limestone, dancing figure and bull in bronze, the terracotta or steatite seals with Pashupati and other figures. There are terracotta figurines depicting a wide range of subjects of human, animal and plant life. The earliest figures of the flat hipped mother goddesses from Lauriya Nandangarha, Piprahawa stupa and some of the excavated sites in India, prove the continuity of art traditions during the first millennium before Christ. The Naga, Yaksha and Yakshini figures were carved at different places in this sub-continent around the 4th century BC (HMG, 1996, p. 100).
In Nepal, where you can observe the different types of prehistoric artifacts and tools are well preserved and displayed in the National Museum, which were made by stone. This evidence suggests that from the prehistoric period the stone work existed as the forms of art in Nepalese territories. Apart from this, sculpturing the images were started here in Nepal during the 1 st century AD, but in the beginning, the image in Nepal had been imported from Mathura and very soon a Nepalese school of art was started here during the 1 st century after Christ. This school had heavily borrowed the main characteristics of Mathura art school in the early stage; later on; it developed its own style and features (HMG, 1996, p.100). In this respect, we can mention the images like Mother Goddesses of Haugal Bahal, Bagalamukhi in Patan and Ganesh temple, Kirtipur, Gajalaxmi of Chyasaltol, Patan, Shri-Laxmi of Handigaon as the best illustrations of early stone sculptures of Nepal.
There is a lack of date and inscription associated with this illustrative panel, so it is a very difficult task to identify the exact date when this piece of stone work was created. In archaeology, there are two types of dating methods which are absolute and relative. Due to absenteeism of date and inscription, we can go through the relative dating method to determine the date of these works of art. No doubt, the tradition of creation of sculpture had come into practice from very early in Nepal, but it is a very difficult task to determine the absolute date of origin. Finally, on the basis of above mentioned discussion, judging physical appearance, finding features, craftsmanship and technology, analyzing skill and style, quality of stone, use of beads and ornaments and other evidence, the date of this art object is estimated to be about 17 th century CE.

Conclusion
Panchayana is an integrated worshiping system of five deities such as Surya, Vishnu, Shiva, Shakti and Ganesh. It belongs to the smartism sect, which is one of the four major religious sampradaya of Hinduism. The followers of Panchdeva Puja believe that it helps to attain happiness, progress and peace. Some scholars view this tradition as an attribute to Adi-Sankaracharya in the 8 th century CE. But archaeological findings suggest that this practice came into existence during the Kushan Empire (pre-300 CE). Similarly, according to the description found in Pancham Atharvasiris of Atharvabed the antiquity of this tradition can be traced till to the Vedic Period.
However, in the Indian subcontinent including Nepal, the tradition of Panchayan puja seems very popular among the followers of Hindu. In this region the tradition of constructing sculptures of five deities and Panchadeval in a group has come into existence from 11 th to 12 th century CE. Meanwhile, there were plenty of images and Panchadeval created and constructed in this subcontinent. In Nepal, especially from the Far and Mid Western regions several shrines and images concerning this cult have been discovered. Among them, the image displayed in the stone art section of the national museum is an important one. In this panel there is an image of Devi in the middle, therefore it belongs to Devi Panchayana. Similarly, Vishnu and Shiva are displayed on the right and left of the upper part, while Surya and Ganesh are depicted on the right and left corners on the lower part respectively. The whole figure is shown under a canopy of seven serpent hoods.