Pala Sculpture  During more than four hundred years of Pala rule (8th-12th century AD), many centres of sculptural art flourished simultaneously in different regions of the extensive empire of Bengal and Bihar. The products of these centres were not only varied but also numerous. Thousands of sculptures of this period have been discovered and they now form part of the collections of a number of museums in Bangladesh and India. Many of them have also found their ways into a number of museums in Europe and America.

Pala sculpture derives its origins from the late Gupta style, but later on deviated from it. One of the main reasons of this deviation was the fusion of classical mannerism with the indigenous style of Bengal. The mixed style that was an experiment in the mid-7th century continued through the 8th century and culminated in a specialized idiom of art in the early 9th century. As the sculpture derived its strength and inspiration chiefly from the exigencies of religious need, they exhibited a sincere reflection of the idea of beauty and physical charm laid down in religious texts. The figure in any image, whether male or female, combined spiritual and mundane suggestions. All the figures, whether female or male, are marked by sensuousness. The female figures of the period thus invariably have heavy round breasts and bulging hips. This overemphasis on female sensuousness is balanced in the male figures as their broad shoulders gradually attenuate to a narrow waist accentuating the their masculinity and are equally suggestive.

A few exceptionally well carved reliefs such as Krishna killing Kesin, Krishna uprooting the twin Arjuna trees, and a young woman identified by some scholars as a celestial dancer are not only of pleasing quality but also remarkable for their expressiveness, lively action, and dynamic movement. Among the independent representations of divinities, which are marked by a comparative heaviness throughout, an image of Padmapani, fixed in the middle of the southern basement wall of the temple, seems to be specially made for the temple. The sculpture also clearly shows an advance in style over the other specimens.

The stylistic qualities of late 8th century sculptures were retained to a great extent in the 9th century sculptures. The general tendency is one of the fullness of figures. The images, mostly carved in black stone, are modeled in a delicate manner so as to give the impression of soft-textured flesh and skin. The dated sculptures of the 9th century include an image of Surya on the Bodh-Gaya lintel dated to the 26th regnal year of Dharmapala, a miniature Vishnu, and a image of Buddha taming the Elephant from the reign of Vigrahapala.

Among other well-known sculptures of the 9th century, mention may be made of the stone image of Tara from Sukhabashpur, Dhaka, and of Buddha from the Comilla region now in the bangladesh national museum (Dhaka), the stone image of Surya in the Rajshahi Museum, and of Vishnu from Mangalbari, Dinajpur.

Towards the close of the 10th century, the first renaissance of the Bengal School of Art took place when Mahipala I succeeded in establishing the second Pala empire. At this point the artists of Bengal broke away from the shared traditions with Magadha. The revival of political power led to renewed artistic activities and the tempo was maintained throughout the 11th century.

There are two other dated stone sculptures - Surya from Kulkarni, Faridpur, and Vishnu from Paikpara, Dhaka. In the light of these dated sculptures some undated specimens have been assigned to the 11th century AD. The first image of note is the stone image of Vishnu from north Bengal, which is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. Both iconographically and stylistically, this image is similar to the above-mentioned Vishnu image from Baghaura. In both images, the face is full of grace but the lower portion, particularly the legs, seem stiff and devoid of elasticity.

Some of the sculptures of the 11th century reveal a great advance in the elaboration of composition. The best example of such a sculpture is the stone image of Buddha from Sibbati, Bagerhat, now preserved in the Kamlapur Buddhist Monastery, Dhaka. In it one can see beside the figure of Buddha, shown seated on a full-blown lotus in the bhumisparsha mudra inside a shikhara temple, several other deities and incidents of Buddha's life, depicted in different registers. Only two other sculptures showing similar compositions are known. One was discovered from Bihar and is now in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, and the other was fished out from the Karnafuli river and is preserved in the Ratnakur Vihara at Betagi in Chittagong.

A fairly large number of 11th century sculptures depicting peculiar tantric Buddhist images such as Heruka, Marichi and Manjuvara etc have been discovered from various regions of Bangladesh and are now preserved in the National Museum, Dhaka; Mainamati Museum, Comilla; and the Rajshahi Museum. The black stone image of Sadaksari Lokeshvara from Niyamatpur, now in the Rajshahi Museum, is a remarkable piece of sculpture depicting a new type of Boddisattva.

However, the most interesting sculpture of the 11th century is the black stone image of Buddhisattva Manjushri, now in the Rajshahi Museum. The image apparently looks like the representation of Vishnu. It is fact that there are several examples of parallels and opposites in Indian iconography and in the anthropomorphic representations of these images. So the sculpture may be regarded as an example of a conscious attempt to produce a sculptural representation of a Buddhist deity parallel to that of a Brahmanical one, either with a view to bring harmony among the devotees of the two religions or to show the superiority of the Buddhist deity over the Brahmanical God.

A number of Pala sculptures representing Buddhist gods and goddesses dated to the 12th century have been discovered from various regions of Bangladesh, but their number is insignificant in comparison to the overwhelming number of Brahmanical images, indicating that Buddhism as a religion was on the wane by this time.

The body form became overelongated, movement was affected, faces became pointed and were instilled with an expression of enjoyment, dress and jewellery became frivolous, and the pointed stele became overcrowded with a multitude of figures and elaborate decoration. Except for a few noble examples, however, the Pala sculptures of the late 11th and 12th century period are mostly stereotyped and may be regarded as products of a decadent phase. [Shamsul Alam]

Bibliography  NK Bhattasali, Iconography of Buddhist and Brahamanical Sculptures in the Dacca Museum, Delhi, 1929; JC French, The Art of the Pala Empire of Bengal, Oxford, 1928; Susan L Huntington, 'Some Aspects of Bengal Stone Sculpture in Bangladesh', Lalitkala, Dhaka Museum; Stella Kramrisch, 'Pala and Sena Sculpture' in RUPAM, No. 40, Calcutta, 1929; SK Saraswati, Early Sculpture of Bengal, Calcutta, 1962; Fredrick M Asher, The Art of Eastern India, Calcutta, 1984; AKM Shamsul Alam, Sculptural Art of Bangladesh, Dhaka, 1985.