Studies in Indian Art c11.s2.4

c11.s2.4

The term प्राकारवप्रे as the qualifying epithet of an ear ornament was used in a technical sense as the name of a particular kind of kuṇḍalas. This type of kuṇḍala is common in the ears of the male and the female figures at Bharhut (Fig. 57) and Sanchi and in other places where specimens of early Indian art are preserved. This ornament consists of a prominent square plaque seen in front of the ear, to which a projection with two spiral turns is attached at the back and worn in the earlobe. Its front portion is adorned with the design of a four-petalled flower. Clear examples of such ear ornaments (Fig. 58) can be seen in Cunninstatues in India. Some of the city-walls incidentally shown in sculpture possess a coping decorated with a band of four-petalled flowers exactly similar to that decorating the kuṇḍalas. This can be seen in the representation of the city of Banaras at Amarāvatī illustrated by Dr. Coomaraswamy in his *Early Indian Architecture*, I Cities and Citygates, Fig. 13.