Vishnu Nicolo Seal
The seal depicts a four-armed deity, probably Vishnu or Vāsudeva, being prayed by a royal devotee. The deity holds Vishnu's classical attributes: the gada club, the chakra discus, the wheel and the lotus. There is a two-line inscription and a monogram by the worshipper's feet.
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 (?)".
It was found in what was then the North-West Frontier Province of British India, now Khyber Pakhtunkhwa of Pakistan.
Interpretations
The seal was first reported by Alexander Cunningham in The Numismatic Chronicle of 1893. Cunningham, saw in the devotee the Kushan emperor Huvishka, who reigned about 140-180 BC, based on the similarity of the headdress.
More recently Roman Ghirshman proposed that the text on the seal was in the Kushan script and mentions three major Hindu gods:
"Miarka Yasna Oezo" meaning:
"Mihira, Vishnu, Shiva"— Text of the Nicolo seal.
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.
This recent research also identified the devotee, not with Huvishka, but with a Huna king. The devotee could also be a Kushano-Sasanian or a Kidarite prince.
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. However, the British Museum in 2019 gives a different reading of the inscription.
Line | Original (Greco-Bactrian script) | Transliteration | English translation |
---|---|---|---|
1 | σασο ρηο ιαþτoo | saso reo iastoo | "Sas-re(w) the leader of worship (?)" |
2 | αλγo | algo |
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Vishnu, with similar attributes, Udayagiri Caves (c. 5th century).
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The devotee in the Vishnu Nicolo Seal (detail).
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Vishnu Nicolo Seal, as first reported by Alexander Cunningham in 1893.
Notes
- ^ British Museum page
- ^ King, Charles William (1866). Antique Gems: Their Origin, Uses, and Value as Interpreters of Ancient History; and as Illustrative of Ancient Art: with Hints to Gem Collectors. J. Murray. p. 11.
- ^ "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.
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(help) - ^ 1893 Numismatic Chronicle 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
- ^ For English summary, see page 80 Schmid, Charlotte (1997). Les Vaikuṇṭha gupta de Mathura : Viṣṇu ou Kṛṣṇa?. pp. 60–88.
- ^ "South Asia Bulletin: Volume 27, Issue 2". South Asia Bulletin. University of California, Los Angeles. 2007. p. 478:
A seal inscribed in Bactrian, fourth to fifth century AD, shows a Kushano - Sasanian or Kidarite official worshipping Vishnu : Pierfrancesco Callieri, Seals and Sealings from the North - West of the Indian Subcontinent and Afghanistan.
References
- "BM": British Museum page
Further reading
- Callieri, Seals and Sealing, 1997, Naples (p. 190)