65. 65W STÈLE DE SURYA EN GRÈS BEIGE INDE DU NORD, VERS XE SIÈCLE 68.5 cm (27 in.) high A BUFF SANDSTONE STELE OF SURYA NORTH INDIA, CIRCA 10TH CENTURY 印度北部 約十世紀 砂岩太陽神石碑 Provenance: With Claude de Marteau, Brussels, by 1970s Identified by his characteristic boots, breast plate, and tall cylindrical crown—as well as by the two disc lotuses he wields—this stele is devoted to the ancient Vedic sun god Surya, whose cult at one time rivaled that of Shiva and Vishnu. Surya became prominently incorporated into the Vaishnavite tradition in northern India. He is dressed according to traditional conventions that depict him as a king. His 'northern' garb is thought to resemble that of Central Asian Indo-Scythian tribesmen, such as the Kushans, who ruled northern India in the first centuries of the common era. It is also thought to reflect the influence of ancient Iranian religious ideas, where the worship of the sun occurs through a personified form (Rosenfield, The Arts of India and Nepal, 1966, p. 43). This near-complete composition includes Surya's wife, Ushas, the goddess of dawn, standing immediately before him as the herald of each new day. At either side of his feet are Surya's clerk and measurer, Pingala and Danda, carved in complementary tribhangha poses. Behind them are two further wives of Surya, possibly the shapelier Sarenu, daughter of heaven, on the right, and her shadow, Chaya, on the left (although his wives Rajni and Nikshubha are also possible). As Dye noted, in his discussion of a closely related example, Surya's bold lotus blossoms and crisp lotus halo, "suggest both the sun itself and the boundless life it nurtures." (Dye III, The Arts of India, Richmond, 2001, p.136). As with the present lot, the Virginia Surya has a prominent sash suspended from each elbow to form a broad flat arch across the shins which terminates with subtle pleats over the retinue figures on each side. The ornamentation of the miter follows the convention popular in the Central Indian in the 10th century as seen in a closely related head with a prominent triangular crown leaf and similar high-arching brows (Heeramaneck, Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture, 1979, no. 84. Also compare with a closely related Vishnu attributed to Uttar Pradesh in Desai & Mason (eds.), Gods, Guardians, and Lovers, 1993, p. 263, no. 70. Also see a Vamana in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore (25.260).