Bhita Lingam

Large stone sculpture found at Bhita, near Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh, northern India, dated to the first century BCE and considered among the earliest known specimens of lingam statues. The shaft bears an inscription in Brahmi that names the devotees who commissioned and dedicated the statue to Shiva. Despite significant damage to the sculpture, most scholars identify this lingam as a panchamukha lingam, carved with five faces of Shiva in low relief on the shaft. It is housed at the Lucknow Museum at the time of writing.