Chapter Four. Àyàgapatas: Defining The Framework

Abstract

An analysis of the bas reliefs and inscriptions on the group of about twenty-nine extant carved sacred plaques called as āyāgapaṭas is essential for evaluation of Mathura sculpture. The group of āy āgapaṭas discussed in this chapter represent a spectrum of styles spanning about four hundred years, from as early as ca. 150 BCE to 226 CE. Among the surviving group of āyāgapaṭas, four date to the second century BCE; ten are attributable to the first century BCE; about eleven date to the first century CE; and three seem to have been made during the second and third centuries CE. The earliest āyāgapaṭas of the second century BCE are both pictorial, as seen in the Śimitrā āyāgapaṭa, and diagrammatic, as seen in the Okaraṇa āyāgapaṭa. The two latest examples, probably of the third century CE, are the pictorial Kaṇa plaque and the diagrammatic Koḷiya Gaṇa āyāgapaṭa.Keywords: Śimitrā āyāgapaṭa; Kaṇa plaque; Koḷiya Gaṇa āyāgapaṭa; Mathura sculpture; Okaraṇa āyāgapaṭa