Hoysaleswara Temple
Maize-like muktaphala objects
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===Maize-like ''muktaphala'' objects=== |
===Maize-like ''muktaphala'' objects=== |
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[[File:Halebid Muktaphala 19.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Attendant on Halebid outer wall holding maize-like ''muktaphala'' object]] |
[[File:Halebid Muktaphala 19.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.7|Attendant on Halebid outer wall holding maize-like ''muktaphala'' object]] |
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Geographers Carl L. Johannessen and Anne Z. Parker identify distinctive objects held by several figures at Hoysala temples, including those at Halebid, Somnathpur, and Belur, as maize ears. Since maize is a New World crop that could only have been brought across the sea by humans, they argue, controversially, that these sculptures are evidence of pre-Columbian contacts between India and the Americas.{{sfn|Johannessen |
Geographers Carl L. Johannessen and Anne Z. Parker identify distinctive objects held by several figures at Hoysala temples, including those at Halebid, Somnathpur, and Belur, as maize ears. Since maize is a New World crop that could only have been brought across the sea by humans, they argue, controversially, that these sculptures are evidence of pre-Columbian contacts between India and the Americas.{{sfn|Johannessen|Parker|1989}} |
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Plant geneticists M.M. Payak and J.K.S. Sachan deny that these sculptures depict maize ears. Instead, they identify the objects as ''muktaphala'' (literally pearl-fruit), which they interpret as an imaginary fruit made of pearls. {{sfn|Payak |
Plant geneticists M.M. Payak and J.K.S. Sachan deny that these sculptures depict maize ears. Instead, they identify the objects as ''muktaphala'' (literally pearl-fruit), which they interpret as an imaginary fruit made of pearls. {{sfn|Payak|Sachan|1993}} |
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Ethnobotanist and Indologist Shakti M. Gupta concurs with Johannessen and Parker that the objects in question are maize ears: |
Ethnobotanist and Indologist Shakti M. Gupta concurs with Johannessen and Parker that the objects in question are maize ears: |
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