Note 13 — BHINMÁL.

Jaikop.On the north bank of the Jaikop or Yaksha Lake,13 leaning against the stem of a pilu or jál Salvadora persica tree, is a massive stone about 4′ high by 2′ 6″ broad and 1′ thick. The block is carved with considerable skill into the seated figure of a king. The figure is greatly damaged by the blows of a mace. The nose and mouth are broken off, half of the right hand and the whole of the left hand and leg are gone and the feet and almost the whole of the seat or throne have disappeared. The figure is seated on a narrow lion-supported throne or sinhásan the right hand resting on the right knee and holding a round ball of stone about six inches in diameter. The left foot was drawn back like the right foot and the left hand apparently lay on the left knee, but, as no trace remains except the fracture on the side of the stone the position of the left hand and of the left leg is uncertain. The head is massive. The hair falls about Appendix III. Bhinmál. Objects. Jaikop. two feet from the crown of the head in four long lines of curls on to the shoulders, and, over the curls, or what seems more likely the curled wig, is a diadem or mukut with a central spike and two upright side ornaments connected by two round bands. The face is broken flat. It seems to have been clean shaved or at least beardless. A heavy ring hangs from each ear. A stiff collar-like band encircles the neck and strings of beads or plates hang on the chest too worn to be distinguished. On both arms are upper armlets, a centre lion-face still showing clear on the left armlet. On the right hand is a bracelet composed of two outer bands and a central row of beads. A light belt encircles the waist. Lower down are the kandora or hip girdle and the kopul or dhotar knot.14 In spite of its featureless face and its broken hands and feet the figure has considerable dignity. The head is well set and the curls and diadem are an effective ornament. The chest and the full rounded belly are carved with skill. The main fault in proportion, the overshortened lower arm and leg and the narrowness of the throne, are due to the want of depth in the stone. The chief details of interest are the figure’s head-dress and the ball of stone in its right hand. The head-dress seems to be a wig with a row of crisp round curls across the brow and four lines of long curls hanging down to the shoulders and crisp curls on the top of the head. The mukut or diadem has three upright faces, a front face over the nose and side faces over the ears joined together by two rounded bands. At first sight the stone ball in the right hand seems a cocoanut which the king might hold in dedicating the lake. Examination shows on the left side of the ball an outstanding semicircle very like a human ear. Also that above the ear are three rolls as if turban folds. And that the right ear may be hid either by the end of the turban drawn under the chin or by the fingers of the half-closed hand. That the front of the ball has been wilfully smashed further supports the view that it was its human features that drew upon it the Muslim mace. The local Bráhmans contend that the ball is either a round sweetmeat or a handful of mud held in the right hand of the king during the dedication service. But Tappa a Bráhm-Bhát, a man of curiously correct information, was urgent that the stone ball is a human head. Tappa gives the following tale to explain why the king should hold a human head in his hand. An evil spirit called Satka had been wasting the Bráhmans by carrying off the head of each bridegroom so soon as a wedding ceremony was completed. The king vowed that by the help of his goddess Chamuṇḍa he would put a stop to this evil. The marriage of a hundred Bráhman couples was arranged for one night. The king sat by. So long as the king remained awake the demon dared not appear. When the hundredth marriage was being performed the king gave way to sleep. Satka dashed in and carried off the last bridegroom’s head. The girl-bride awoke the king and said I will curse you. You watched for the others, for me you did not watch. The king said to his Luck Chamuṇḍa, What shall I do. Chamuṇḍa said Ride after Satka. The king rode after Satka. He overtook her fourteen miles out of Shrimál and killed her. But before her Appendix III. Bhinmál. Objects. Jaikop. death Satka had eaten the bridegroom’s head. What is to be done the king asked Chamuṇḍa. Trust me said his guardian. The king rode back to Shrimál. As he was entering the city the goddess pointed out to him a gardener or Máli and said off with his head. The king obeyed. The goddess caught the falling head, stuck it to the bridegroom’s neck, and the bridegroom came to life. Thus, ends the tale, the local Bráhmans are known as Shrimális that is men with gardeners’ heads. This meaning-making pun and the likeness of the stone-ball to a human head may be the origin of this story. On the other hand the story may be older than the image and may be the reason why the king is shown holding a human head in his hand. On the whole it seems likely that the story was made to explain the image and that the image is a Bhairav holding the head of a human sacrifice and acting as gatekeeper or guardian of some Buddhist or Sun-worshipping temple.15 The appearance of the figure, its massive well-proportioned and dignified pose, and the long wiglike curls, like the bag wig on the figure of Chánd on the south-west or marriage compartment of the great Elephanta Cave, make it probable that this statue is the oldest relic of Shrimál, belonging like the Elephanta wigged figures to the sixth or early seventh century the probable date of the founding or refounding of the city by the Gurjjarás.16 According to the local story the image stands about twenty paces east of the temple where it was originally enshrined and worshipped. The lie of the ground and traces of foundations seem to show about fifty paces west of the present image the sites of an entrance porch, a central hall or mandap, and a western shrine. The surface of what seemed the site of the shrine was dug about two feet deep on the chance that the base of the throne might still be in site. Nothing was found but loose brickwork. Mutilated as he is the Yaksha is still worshipped. His high day is the A’shad (July-August) fullmoon when as rain-mediator between them and Indra the villagers lay in front of him gugri that is wheat boiled in water and milk, butter, flour, molasses, and sugar.