The Mathura Herakles is a famous statue found in the city of
Mathura
Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located approximately north of Agra, and south-east of Delhi; about from the town of Vrindavan, and from Govardhan. ...
,
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
, thought to represent the Greek hero
Herakles
Heracles ( ; grc-gre, Ἡρακλῆς, , glory/fame of Hera), born Alcaeus (, ''Alkaios'') or Alcides (, ''Alkeidēs''), was a divine hero in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Alcmene, and the foster son of Amphitryon.By his adoptive ...
fighting the
Nemean lion.
History
The statue was discovered at the end of the 19th century by
Alexander Cunningham
Major General Sir Alexander Cunningham (23 January 1814 – 28 November 1893) was a British Army engineer with the Bengal Engineer Group who later took an interest in the history and archaeology of India. In 1861, he was appointed to the newl ...
in Mathura. It depicts a defaced male strangling a lion. It has been interpreted as a sculpture created by a foreign artist that shows Herakles strangling the Nemaean lion. However, the male is wearing lion's skin, the legs of which are tied around his neck, which has been interpreted as proof that the foreign artist lacked full knowledge of the Greek mythology, because he is shown already wearing the skin of the lion he is fighting.
The man fighting the lion in the scene is very generally considered as being Herakles, but some authors have suggested that an Indian sculptor, influenced by western art, could have meant to represent
Krishna
Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...
for example. It may also be connected to the cult of
Vasudeva
According to Hindu scriptures, Vasudeva (Sanskrit: वसुदेव, IAST: ''Vasudeva''), also called Anakadundubhi, (''anakas'' and ''dundubhis'' both refer to ''drums'', after the musicians who played these instruments at the time of his ...
, who is thought to have been corresponded to the legend of Herakles.
The statue is now in the
Indian Museum in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
.
Significance
The statue is similar to statues of the
Lycian Apollo
The Apollo Lyceus ( el, Ἀπόλλων Λύκειος, ''Apollōn Lukeios'') type, also known as Lycean Apollo, originating with Praxiteles and known from many full-size statue and figurine copies as well as from 1st century BCE Athenian coinage ...
.
[The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfiel]
p.9
/ref> On its discovery, Cunningham wrote that the statue must be of Herakles and the Nemaean lion, that there is high probability that this was sculptured by some foreign artist for the use of the Greek resident of Mathura. It is generally considered as an example of influence from the Greek art on ancient Indian art. According to James Harle, there is "no Gandharan sculpture whose source can be so directly traced" to Greece as the Mathura Herakles.[The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, James C. Harle, Yale University Press, 199]
p.67
/ref>
Gallery
File:Silver drachma, Indo-Greek Kingdom, Lysias Aniketos, 130-125 BC (Helmet).jpg, Herakles on the reverse of the Indo-Greek
The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent ( ...
coinage of Lysias
Lysias (; el, Λυσίας; c. 445 – c. 380 BC) was a logographer (speech writer) in Ancient Greece. He was one of the ten Attic orators included in the "Alexandrian Canon" compiled by Aristophanes of Byzantium and Aristarchus of Samothrace i ...
, 130-125 BCE.
File:Buddha-Vajrapani-Herakles.JPG, Herakles as Vajrapani
(Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi, meaning, " Vajra in ishand") is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of Gautama Buddha and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power.
Vajrapāni is also ...
, protector of the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism.
According to Buddhist tradition, he was born in L ...
.
File:Met, gandhara, hercules and the nemean lion, 1st century.JPG, Herakles with the Nemean lion, Gandhara.
File:The Buddha and nude Vajrapani at Jamal Garhi.jpg, Herakles as Vajrapani
(Sanskrit; Pali: Vajirapāṇi, meaning, " Vajra in ishand") is one of the earliest-appearing bodhisattvas in Mahayana Buddhism. He is the protector and guide of Gautama Buddha and rose to symbolize the Buddha's power.
Vajrapāni is also ...
File:Vajrapani with Heraklean club.jpg, Herakles/Vajrapāni with the Buddha, holding the Heraklean club.
File:TheBuddhaAndVajrapaniGandhara2ndCentury.jpg, The Buddha with his protector Vajrapāni. Gandhara, 2nd century CE.
File:VajrapaniAndMonks.jpg, Herakles/Vajrapāni with a group of Buddhist monks. Gandhara
File:Dinar, Kushan Empire, Depiction of Hercules, 152-192 AD.jpg, Herakles on the reverse of a Kushan
The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...
coin of emperor Huvishka
Huvishka (Kushan: Οοηϸκι, ''Ooēški'', Brahmi: ', '; Kharosthi: 𐨱𐨂𐨬𐨅𐨮𐨿𐨐 ', ') was the emperor of the Kushan Empire from the death of Kanishka (assumed on the best evidence available to be in 150 CE) until the successio ...
(140-180 CE).
See also
* Mathura art
The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Bud ...
* Megasthenes' Herakles
* Bhutesvara Yakshis
The Bhutesvara Yakshis, also spelled Bhutesar Yakshis, are a series of yakshi reliefs on a railing, dating to the 2nd century CE during the time of the Kushan Empire. The reliefs were found in the Bhuteshwar mound, around the remains of a Buddh ...
References
External links
The Mathura Herakles in the Kolkata Indian Museum
{{Mathura Museum
Mathura art
Hellenistic art
Heracles
Indo-Greeks
Sculptures in India
Statues in India