Vishnu Nicolo Seal
The Vishnu Nicolo Seal is a "finely engraved" oval agate seal (1.4 inches by 1.05 inch) from the far north of the Indian subcontinent, dated to the 4th century CE. Since 1892 it has been in the British Museum.[1]
The seal depicts a four-armed god, probably Vishnu or Vāsudeva,[2] being prayed by a royal devotee. Vishnu holds his classical attributes: the gada club, the chakra discus, the wheel and the lotus.[3][4][1] There is a two-line inscription and a monogram by the worshipper's feet.[1]
The British Museum describes the inscription as "Bactrian", transliterating it: "(1) saso reo iastoo (2) algo", translated as: "Sas-re(w) the leader of worship (?)".[1]
It appears to have been found in what was then the North-West Frontier Province of British India, now the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan, leading to the border with Afghanistan.[1]
Interpretations
The seal was first reported by Alexander Cunningham in The Numismatic Chonicle of 1893.[3][5] Cunningham, saw in the devotee the Kushan ruler Huvishka, who reigned about 140-180 BC, based on the similarity of the headdress.[4]
More recently Roman Ghirshman proposed that the text on the seal was in the Kushan script and mentions three major Hindu gods:
A more recent interpretation suggests the divinity is Vāsudeva, an early deity whose attributes were later reused in the iconography of Vishnu with the addition of an aureole.[7][8]
This recent research also identified the devotee, not with Huvishka, but with a Huna king.[5][4] The seal also suggest that a composite cult of the three deities Surya (another name for Mihira, meaning "Sun"), Vishnu and Shiva was current in India circa 500 CE.[5] However, the British Museum in 2019 gives a different reading of the inscription.[1]
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Vishnu, with similar attributes, Udayagiri Caves (c. 5th century).
The devotee in the Vishnu Nicolo Seal (detail).
Vishnu Nicolo Seal, as first reported by Alexander Cunningham in 1893.
Notes
- British Museum page
- "A much better known «syncretistic» image is the one depicted on a well-known «nicolo» seal (....) Ghirshman thought of a composite deity (Mihira-Visnu-Siva, Ibidem: 55-58), although an identification with the god Vasudeva is perhaps more likely (Mitterwallner 1986: 10)" "Silk Road Art and Archaeology: Journal of the Institute of Silk Road Studies, Kamakura". The Institute. 1996: 170. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - 1893 Numismatic Chonicle p.126
- Śaivāgamas: A Study in the Socio-economic Ideas and Institutions of Kashmir (200 B.C. to A.D. 700) V. N. Drabu, Indus Publishing, 1990 p.201
- Buddhism in Central Asia, by Baij Nath Puri, Motilal Banarsidass Publ., 1987, p.131-132
- Religion and Society in Ancient India, Pranabananda Jash - 1984, p.304
- "A much better known «syncretistic» image is the one depicted on a well-known «nicolo» seal (....) Ghirshman thought of a composite deity (Mihira-Visnu-Siva, Ibidem: 55-58), although an identification with the god Vasudeva is perhaps more likely (Mitterwallner 1986: 10)" "Silk Road Art and Archaeology: Journal of the Institute of Silk Road Studies, Kamakura". The Institute. 1996: 170. Cite journal requires
|journal=(help) - For English summary, see page 80 Schmid, Charlotte (1997). Les Vaikuṇṭha gupta de Mathura : Viṣṇu ou Kṛṣṇa?. pp. 60–88.
References
- "BM": British Museum page
Further reading
- Callieri, Seals and Sealing, 1997, Naples (p. 190)
