Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s3.19

c13.s3.19

The figures are shown standing on crouching dwarfs (avānmukha guhyaka) by which the artists wished to indicate that the older tradition of these female figures being Yakṣhīs was still accepted in popular belief. Sometimes the female figure is shown presenting flower basket or garlands to their male companions. An interesting new motif is that of aśoka-dohada in which a graceful young woman stands under an aśoka tree and bending low its branch with her left hand touches its stem with the left foot. (J. 55, 2345).