Dear list members,

Our next seminar will be held on Tuesday 29th of April 2008 at 6.00-7.30.  The presenter will be Dr Osmund Bopearachchi who will be presenting on the topic of 'Numismatics and the earliest representations of Hindu divinities in India'

This month the seminar will be hosted at University of Sydney in the Woolley Common Room, Woolley Building.  Please refer to Map (Ref 12E) for details.

We do hope you can attend
AABS Executive

'Numismatics and the earliest representations of Hindu divinities in India'
“The Rabatak inscription from Afghanistan solved many questions regarding the genealogy of the Kushan kings who were the successors of Kujula Kadphises. The recent discovery of a large coin hoard in Peshawar also throws new light on the chronology of the early Kushans. Further to new data on chronology of the early Kushans, this hoard also brought to light new evidence on the earliest depictions of Hindu gods, very particularly of Shiva, Brahma, Indra and Vishnu. The naked Shiva, without erect linga depicted on one of the series is modelled on the image of Heracles portrayed on the coins of Kujula Kadphises, grandfather of Vima Kadphises. However, the divinity depicted on this series is meant to be Shiva. He seems to be three-headed. The head on the left appears to be that of mrga (antelope) and the one on the right is human. What is more fascinating in this iconography is the trishula (trident) adorned with vajra (thunderbolt), parasu (blade axe), and cakra (wheel). We are in front of a syncretic deity, before the polarization and codification of symbols which take place at a later stage in the Hindu iconography where each god is equipped with stereotyped attributes. He has the kamanalu (water pot) of Brahma, vajra of Indra, and cakra of Vishnu. Much emphasis will be given in this talk to study hitherto unknown forms of syncretic deities in India. The new discoveries - most of them still unpublished - enable us to demonstrate the evolution of the iconography until their popularization”.

Dr Osmund Bopearachchi, Director of Research and Director of «Hellenism and Oriental Civilizations » of the French National Centre for Scientific Research; Member of the École Doctorale and Professor of Central Asian and Indian Archaeology and Numismatics of the University-Paris IV Sorbonne.