Studies in Indian Art c12.s10: 24. A Syrinx-Player in Mathura Art
Studies in Indian Art c12.s10
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24. A Syrinx-Player in Mathura Art
c12.s10.1
The head and bust of a female figure in the Lucknow Museum, No. B215(e) is reproduced here as it is more than of ordinary interest. The statue is in the spotted red sandstone of Mathura and was found in one of the mounds at the famous site of Kankali Tila, Mathura. It shows a young woman playing on a syrinx which is made of reeds fastened together in a row and tuned to produce varying notes. This wind instrument is said to have been the invention of Pan, the god of shepherds in classical mythology and therefore known as Pan pipe or Pandean pipe. In the present illustration the number of reeds is eight. They are all of equal length. In the classical pan-pipe they are gradually lessening in length. (Fig. 101).
c12.s10.2
The representation of the pan-pipe in the Kushana art of Mathura is not within cultural interest. Being a foreign musical instrument its introduction at Mathura points to cultural intercourse between Indian and the Greek world. The Parthians seem to be the agents of this exchange.
c12.s10.3
In the terracotta figurines from Seleucia also there are similar specimens of Syrinx players. This can be clearly seen on one of the Seleucia figurines, No. 579 (photo 2921) published by Wilhelmina Van Ingen.
c12.s10.4
Seleucia was an important centre of the culture of the Parthians (Pahlavas), under whom Greek forms fused not only with the Iranian but also Indian themes and motifs of classical art and life.
c12.s10.5
Points of contact between Parthian (Pahlava) and Indian art are noticeable in more ways than one, and especially in the domain of terracottas. Such influences found free scope during the reign of the Kushanas. The present figure also belongs to about the 2nd century A.D.
c12.s10.6
¹ Terracotta figurines from Seleucia on the Tigris by Wilhelmina Van Ingen, Oxford University Press.