Studies in Indian Art c7.s2.33

c7.s2.33

The tension of the Buddha image would not accord with an art feeling of such universal consciousness. The Yakshas stand out pre-eminent in their own right; they are not yet the puny subordinated and accessory attendant figures that they become in Kushana art. The problem of Sunga art apart from its proper stylistic evaluation, concerns itself mainly with the detailed investigation of all the art forms and decorative motifs with special reference to their folk symbolism, their exposition from literary sources, specially the *Jātakas*, the Epics and the Jaina canons, and the restoration of their technical names. Much useful work was done in this line by Dr. Coomaraswamy in his essays on early Indian iconography and on ancient Indian architecture dealing with cities, city-gates and palaces. But there is still a vast amount of material in the Jaina sources, specially rich in this respect is the text called the *Rayāpaseniya*, in which we find an account of an ancient stūpa of the mythical Alkappa city, which seems to be a detailed, eyewitness description of one of the ancient Jaina stupas of Mathura built at the Kaṅkālī Ṭīlā site in the 2nd century B.C. The terminology is extremely rich and the account of the *Padmavara Vedikā*, the Lotus Railing round the stūpa with the voluptuous female figures carved on the pillars is exceptionally true to facts taken from actual architecture. This study, I am glad to say, has been undertaken by my friend, Dr. Moti Chandra, with remarkable results.