TheGardez Ganeshais a statue of theHindugodGanesha,discovered inGardez,nearKabulinAfghanistan.It is considered as "a typical product of the Indo-Afghan school".[1]It was dedicated by a king namedKhingal.
D.C. Sircarhas dated the statue to the 6th-7th century CE, and more precisely 7th century CE based on the paleography of the inscription on its base.[1]Some authors have attributed the statue to the transitional period betweenKushan arttoGupta art,to the 5th or even 4th century CE.[1]The statue of Ganesha from Gardez is now attributed to the period ofTurk Shahisin the 7-8th century CE, rather than to their successors theHindu Shahis(9th-10th century) as formerly suggested.[2]The datation is essentially based on stylistic analysis, as the displays great iconographical and stylistic similarities with the works of the Buddhist monastery ofFondukistan,which is also dated to the same period.[2]
The statue of Ganesha is also considered as contemporary to the famousHindustatue ofSuryain tunic and boots discovered inKhair Khanehnear Kabul, also attributed to the Turk Shahis in the 7-8th century CE.[2][3]Archaeologically, the construction of theKhair Khanehtemple itself is now dated to 608-630 CE, at the beginning of the Turk Shahis period.[4]Brahmanismseems to have flourished to some extent under the Turk Shahis, who were primarily supporters of Buddhism, with various works of art also attributed to their period of the 7-8th century CE.[2]
After its discovery in Gardez, the statue was transferred to the Hindu temple ofDargah Pir Rattan Nathin Kabul, near the Pamir Cinema.[1]
The inscription appears on the base of the statue. It is written in theSiddhamatrikascript, a development of theBrahmi script,[5]or in proto-Sharada script:[6]An analysis of the writing suggests a date from the 6th or 8th century CE.[7]
On the thirteenth day of the bright half of the month of Jyestha, the [lunar] mansion being the Visakha, at the auspicious time when the zodiacal sign Lion was bright on the horizon (lagna), in the year eight, this great [image] of the Mahavinayaka was consecrated by the supreme lord, the great king, the king of the kings, the Sri Shahi Khiṃgāla, the king of Odyana..
— Inscription of the Ganesh Ganesha (Translation: Hideaki Nakatani).[8][1][5]
A coin ofKhingilawith the titleDeva Shahi Kinghila("God-King Khingila" ), 440-490 CE
The identity of this Khingala is uncertain.[1]A famousKhingilais known from the dynasty of theAlchon Huns,and one of his coins has the legend "Deva Shahi Khingila"("God-King Khingila" ), but he is dated quite earlier, to the 5th century CE.[1]
Given the stylistically probable mid-8th century date for the Ganesha, theŚrī Ṣāhi Khiṃgālaof the inscription may have been identical with theTurk Shahiruler of Kabul known in Arab sources as Khinkhil orKhingala,who, according toAl-Yakubhi,gave his submission toAl-Mahdiin 775–785.[9]The Khinkhil of the Arabs may also be identical with the Turk Shahi Bo Fuzhun ( bột bặc chuẩn ) of the Chinese sources, which mention that he was the son ofFromo Kesaroand acceded to the throne precisely in 745 CE.[9][10][11][12]
^abcdKuwayama, Shoshin(1976)."The Turki Śāhis and Relevant Brahmanical Sculptures in Afghanistan".East and West.26(3/4): 405-407.ISSN0012-8376.JSTOR29756318.It is not therefore possible to attribute these pieces to the Hindu Shahi period. They should be attributed to the Shahi period before the Hindu Shahis originated by the Brahman wazir Kallar, that is, the Turki Shahis. According to the above sources, Hinduism and Buddhism are properly supposed to have coexisted especially during the 7th-8th centuries A.D. just before the Muslim hegemony. The marble sculptures from eastern Afghanistan should not be attributed to the period of the Hindu Shahis but to that of the Turki Shahis. "
^Thiên Bảo bốn năm, lại sách này tử bột bặc chuẩn vì tập kế tân cập ô trường quốc vương, vẫn thụ tả kiêu vệ tướng quân. "Kesar's son Bo Fuzhun succeed him on the throne as the king of Jibin and Wuchang. He was conferred the title General of the Left Stalwart Guard" inBalogh, Dániel (12 March 2020).Hunnic Peoples in Central and South Asia: Sources for their Origin and History.Barkhuis. p. 104.ISBN978-94-93194-01-4.
"God-King Khingila" ), 440-490 CE
