Studies in Indian Art c12.s12.1

c12.s12.1

It will be profitable to study the preceding head from Mathura with its strong Indo-Scythian features, in comparison with another head (ht. 17.3. c.m.) which also originated from some ancient site in Mathura, but has now found its way to the Budapest Museum. I am indebted to Dr. Zoltan de Takac of Budapest for the excellent photograph reproduced here. The Budapest head wears a cylindrical tapering cap with ornamental parallel patterns and is adorned in front with a rosette enclosing an unopened bud in the centre which is typical of the head-gear decoration during the Kushāṇa period. The ears without extended lobes, the eyes and the facial expression confirm this dating. The Mathura head on the other hand should be assigned to the early Gupta period, and not to 1st century A.D. as stated by Mr. Nagar, the frizzled locks (vellita keśa) and the distended ear-lobes (pralamba-karṇapālikā) pointing to its Gupta affinities.