Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.s1.29

c11.s1.29

(5) There is also a tendency to depict the figure as slightly protuberant or pot-bellied as in the case of the Parkham Yaksha and Māṇibhadra Yaksha from Pawāyā. These images are marked by the distinctive style which is the earliest in the history of Indian sculpture as known from historical sites. We have no earlier specimens to connect this style with preceding traditions or to throw light on the origin of this art. But its dominant character and almost country-wide extension, as for example from Mathura to Orissa and Pāṭaliputra to Bombay, furnish certain proofs that this art must have had a long history, most probably rendered in perishable material like clay or wood. As regards their position in the evolution of Indian art the most natural suggestion is that they were executed during the Mauryan period (third century B. C.). It was just the time when stone was being used for architecture and sculpture under the direction of the Mauryan emperors Chandragupta and Aśoka. The polished specimens of Mauryan art represent a court style whereas the Yaksha images are examples of folk art.