Studies in Indian Art c12.s13.53

c12.s13.53

The number of horses later on is increased to four (cf. Sūrya image D. 46, in which the solar orb is also shown), and subsequently to seven. We have an interesting variety of Sūrya images in the Gupta art of Mathurā, showing Sūrya dressed like a Sassanian king. One soapstone statuette (1258; *Fig. 110*) in which the two acolytes Piṅgala and Daṇḍa also occur, has a beard and a round apron style tunic fringed with pearls like the solar image from Khair Khaneh discovered by Hackin, by which it appears to have been inspired. Its age should coincide with the reigns of Shapur II and his successors Ardashir II and Shapur III, i.e., between 309 and 386³ A. D. Another bust in the Mathurā Museum representing the Sun god (D. 1 of Dr. Vogels *Catalogue*) is even more marked by Sassanian influences, bearing the ‘sun and moon’ *Chandra-divākara* symbol on the *kulah* cap. He has frizzled bushy hair as in Gupta figures, a bearded chin (*śmaśrula mukha*) of the honey-comb design (cf. ‘*saraghāvyāpta kṣaudrajaṭala*’, *Raghuvamśa*, IV. 63), knotted scarf and pinafore like cuirass (*Fig. 111*).