TARA SCULPTURES FROM GOPALPUR AND JABALPUR: RECENT DISCOVERIES AND COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

Gopalpur village is situated around 8 kilometers west to Jabalpur city on the bank of River Narmada (Lat. 23.115763°, Long. 79.824082°). This place contains a huge number of temple remains scattered in a radius of around 500 meters. The majority of the temple sites are related to Kalachuri’s of Tripuri. Gopalpur village has a number of Gond period structures in which most number of these structures are made over the earlier temples, Lakshminarayan Temple, Panchmatha, Pashupatinath temple etc. are the ideal examples of it. From Gopalpur, Tewar, Kudhan, Bheraghat a number of Buddhist sculptures have already found which are kept in Rani Durgawati State museum Jabalpur. In these sculptures notable sculptures are of Buddha, Tara, and of Yakshi’s. In recent excavation of Tewar as per the media reports three sculptures of Tara is revealed which are not published yet. An important Tara Sculpture is also kept in the Gauri shanker temple of Chausath Yogini Bheraghat1 (Plate.1). This paper will deal with the newly found Tara sculptures from Lakshminarayana temple of Gopalpur.