Bhumara

Author: Laxman Burdak IFS (R)

District map of Satna

Bhumara (भुमरा) is an ancient village in Unchehara tahsil in Satna district in the Madhya Pradesh.

Variants

• Bhummara (भुमरा)
• Bhumra (भुमरा)
• Ambalauda (अंबलौद) (AS, p.6)
• Ambaloda/Âmblôda (अंबलोद)

Location

It is situated at a distance of 10 km from Unchehara Railway Station.

Bhumara Shiva temple

There is a Shiva temple here. This temple was discovered by R D Banergy in 1920. This temple is 35 feet in length and same in width. This is made of red sand stone found in Kaimor hills. The Bhumara Temple is significant for introducing two smaller shrines on the flanks of the entrance steps. Its dado, door-frames, pillars and beams display exquisitely carved scrolls, dwarfs and kirttimukhas.

the elephant headed God Ganesha or Vinayaka is a non-Aryan divinity adopted in the brahmanocal pantheons not much earlier than the third or fourth century AD. The earliest images of the deity are supposed to be those found in Sankisa mound (Etah U P) and Bhumara (Satna M P), both of about fifth century AD.

A Stone Pillar Inscription of the Maharaja Hastin and Sharvanatha has also been pbtained from here. This is undated but according to Fleet it is probably of the year 508-09 AD. The objective of this inscription is to establish the boundary of states belonging to these rulers at village Ambloda.

Bhumara Stone Pillar Inscription of the Maharaja Hastin and Sharvanatha

• Hail! In (the boundary of) the kingdom of the Mahârâja Hastin, who meditates on the feet of (the god) Mahâdêva; at (the village of) Âmblôda; (and) in (the boundary of ) the bhôga of the Mahârâja Sharvanâtha,— (this) boundary-pillar has been set up by Shivadâsa, the grandson of Indana, and the son of the Grâmika Vâsu;— in the Mahâ Mâgha samvatsara; the month Kârttika; the day 10 (and) 9.

• From: Fleet, John F. Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum: Inscriptions of the Early Guptas. Vol. III. Calcutta: Government of India, Central Publications Branch, 1888, 111-112.

Notes

• Ambloda (आम्ब्लौद) - Dr Fleet identifies Ambloda with Bhumara itself but Dr Kanhaiya Lal Agarwal has identified it with village Amdol situated near Bhumara on Parasmaniya hillock.
• Amloda (आमलोदा) - We have informations about two villages named Amloda (आमलोदा) in Bairat tahsil and Shahpura tahsil in Jaipur district. (See Bhumara)

• Bhumara temple Sun images - Bhim Singh Dahiya writes that as regards sculptures and images of gods, the 'Guptas were in direct line of the earlier Jats. The so-called 'Gupta style' of art, is but a progressive form of Gandhara, Mathura and Sanchi styles. ...The most important symbol of the sun-god images, and have shown that the paramount god of the Jats in Central Asia was the sun, which retained its position even in India where the images of this god were made in the same form and dress as these people themselves wore. Many such images have been found from Mathura to Bengal and the famous Bhumara temple of the 'Guptas' is well known. Surya images found in the niche of the Gupta temple of Bhumara. This kind of dress is also seen in the Kusana images and is evidently a dress of Jats of Central Asia.

• Temple style - Dr Naval Viyogi considers the style of temple of Bhumara to be that of Bharsiva Nagas.

• Indana - The boundary-pillar was set up by Shivadâsa, the grandson of Indana, and the son of the Grâmika Vâsu. It is to be noted here that Inana (ईनाणा) or Indana is a village in Nagaur district in Rajasthan. The village is place of origin of Inania gotra of Jats.

Jat History

Bhim Singh Dahiya writes... Even in the matter of sculptures and images of gods, the 'Guptas were in direct line of the earlier Jats. The so-called 'Gupta style' of art, is but a progressive form of Gandhara, Mathura and Sanchi styles. We have already mentioned the most important symbol of the sun-god images, and have shown that the paramount god of the Jats in Central Asia was the sun, which retained its position even in India where the images of this god were made in the same form and dress as these people themselves wore. The long coat or tunic, the sword, the boots, and the sunflower (as against the lotus flower of the traditional Brahmanism) were used on these images of their gods. Many such images have been found from Mathura to Bengal and the famous Bhumara temple of the 'Guptas' is well known.²⁶ There too the Surya image has 'foreign symbols'

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Bhim Singh Dahiya writes....After the arrival of the Scythians and the Kusanas in India, we find the sunflower in the temples of the sun-god in India. Sankrityayana has duly mentioned this fact in his MAKI. A very important instance of this type has been described by Kalidasa.¹⁷² Datta has described the finding of two sun images from the district of 24 Pargana (Bengal). Figure No.1 is definitely an image of tha sun-god and it was found by a vil1ager in the course of excavation of a tank at Kashipore,a village under Jaya Nagore Police Station of Alipore subdivision. The figure is about 2½ ft. high and made of basalt -stone of bluish colour. In this figure, "the sun-god, wears a cap like head dress, from underneath which curls of hair are descending on each shoulder; a short necklace, apparently of beads with a rectangular bar in the centre, plain bracelets and a long tunic, similar to that of the Surya images found in the niche of the Gupta temple of Bhumara."¹⁷³ This kind of dress is also seen in the Kusana images and is evidently, the Udicya, northern dress, which Varahamihira assigned to sun-god jn his Brihatsamhitti.¹⁷⁴ In each of the two hands there is a lotus stalk, rising just about the shoulders and terminating in a bunch of lotuses, unlike a single lotus as depicted in the later images. The waist is tied round by a belt with two hanging tassals from the stud in the centre. Alongwith the left side, there is a sword kept in position by means of a strap".¹⁷⁵

Now admittedly the Image is of the fourth/fifth century A.D., but Mr Datta is definitely wrong in stating that the flower is the lotus. Even a layman can tell that it is not lotus flower but a sunflower. Firstly, the lotus flower is not represented in bunches and secondly, the lotus flower has only petals and a stalk. The seed producing middle portion of the flower stamen is very prominent in the case of sunflower and is practically absent in the case of lotus which has only petals. Our point here is to show

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172. Datta in IHQ, 1933, Vol. IX, p. 202.

173. Plate XIV, MASI, No. XVI.

174. Plate XII, catalogue, Museum of Archaeology, Sanchi,

175. op. cit,

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[p.64]: that this sun image which is duly shown with a belt and sword is not of Indian origin but was made during the Kushana period or early Gupta period, by the Central Asian immigrants. The sword is never shown in this manner in Indian images of gods and of course the cap like head-dress again points to its Central Asian origin. Obviously the image was made under direct instructions from Central Asian people, most probably the Kushanas who had their empire up to Orissa and Bengal and perhaps Assam, too. J.N. Banerji mentions a similar figure of sun-god from Gandhara¹⁷⁶· It has boots, and other such things. The fact that the Bhumara temple image of the Gupta period shows the same dress of tunic, goes in favour of the fact that the so-called Guptas themselves were immigrants from Central Asia. It is important to note that the first Gupta emperors, are shown on their coins, wearing coat, pant and boots -a Central Asian dress. But we shall come to this point in a separate chapter about the Guptas.

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176. Development of Hindu Iconography, 1936, p. 434.

भुमरा

विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर ने लेख किया है....भूमरा (AS, p.673) (मध्य प्रदेश): जबलपुर-इटारसी रेल शाखा पर उचेहरा स्टेशन से 6 मील है. 1920 ई. में यहां स्थित एक गुप्तकालीन मंदिर का पता लगा था जिसकी खोज का श्रेय श्री राखालदास बनर्जी को है. मंदिर 35 फुट लंबा और इतना ही चौड़ा है. इसमें शिखर का अभाव है और छत सपाट है. मंदिर के सामने 13 फुट चौड़ी कुर्सी दिखाई पड़ती है जिस पर प्राचीन काल में मंदिर का सभा मंडप स्थित रहा होगा. इसमें आगे सीढ़ियां हैं और दोनों और दो अन्य छोटे मंदिरों की कुर्सियां. मंदिर का गर्भ ग्रह 15 फुट लंबा और इतना ही चौड़ा है. यह कैमूर में प्राप्त होने वाले लाल बलुआ पत्थर का बना है जिसमें चूने का प्रयोग नहीं है. छत लंबे सपाट पत्थरों से ढकी है. मंदिर की भित्तियों तथा छत के पत्थरों पर भी सूक्ष्म नक्काशी का काम है. भुमरा से एक महत्वपूर्ण स्तंभ अभिलेख भी प्राप्त हुआ था. इसका संबंध परिव्राजक महाराज हस्तिन तथा उच्छकल्प के महाराज सर्वनाथ से है. फ्लीट के मत में यह तिथि-हीन अभिलेख संभवत: 508-509 ई. का है. इस लेख का प्रयोजन अंबलोद नामक ग्राम में इन दोनों महाराजाओं के राज्यों की सीमा पर स्तंभ बनवाने का उल्लेख है. यह स्तंभ ग्रामिक वासु के पुत्र शिवदास द्वारा स्थापित किया गया था. अंबलोद भुमरा का ही तत्कालीन नाम जान पड़ता है.

भुमरा परिचय

मध्य प्रदेश के सतना ज़िले में स्थित एक ऐतिहासिक स्थान है। इस स्थान पर पांचवीं शताव्दी के मध्य का निर्मित शिव मन्दिर है। इस मन्दिर का अब केवल गर्भगृह विद्यमान है। इस गर्भगृह के चारों ओर का चबूतरा प्रदशिक्षा-पथ का अवशेष है। गुप्तकालीन मन्दिरों के प्राय: सभी लक्षण इसमें हैं। द्वार स्तम्भ के दायें-बायें गंगा और यमुना की मूर्तियाँ अंकित हैं। मन्दिर में एकमुखी शिवलिंग की मूर्ति स्थापित है। इसके गर्भगृह का प्रवेश द्वार और मण्डप प्रारम्भिक गुप्त मन्दिरों की अपेक्षा अधिक अलंकृत हैं।

External links

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Monuments_of_National_Importance_in_Madhya_Pradesh/East

References

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