Rock Engravings and Sculptures of North Guwahati, Assam

• Main Authors: Dwipen Bezbaruah, Geetanjali Devi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ubiquity Press 2016-02-01
• Series: Ancient Asia
• Subjects: engraving,sculpture,motif,site,shrine

Evidences of rock engravings and sculptures, in Assam, are predominantly found to occur in the vicinity of the temples. Incidence of images of Gods and Goddesses, faunal and floral motif are invariably more. Apart from these, some geometric designs are also perceived. Such tangible archaeological heritages are considered important evidences for understanding the past in a more meaningful way. Therefore, it is pertinent to systematically document these sites and the remains before natural and anthropogenic obliteration. The objective of the present paper is to record and document the rock engravings and sculptures observed in the archaeological sites, namely Dirgheswari, Aswakranta, Manikarneswar, Rudreswar and Kanai Boroshi bowa of North Guwahati in Kamrup district, Assam, which are protected and preserved by the Directorate of Archaeology, Assam and to understand the archaeological context of the sites and their remains. The data for the present paper have been collected through field visit and Exploration was conducted in dry and winter season. The findings of the present work comprises of some sculptures of Ganesa, Yama, Sage, Kali, deities, bull without head, human figures, broken piece of a tiger, remains of door frame or pillar and shrines. Series of dot marks, cut marks, inscription, image of Shiva, foot impression, chess board, square, bow, signs, female figurine, and elephant engravings constitute the rock engravings observed in the area.