Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s3.29

c13.s3.29

Dancing also formed part of merriment scenes. In one figure No. 562 we see a young woman elegantly holding a scarf above her head. In the balcony above the artist has accommodated a scene of a Garuḍa seizing a Nāga. On more than half a dozen pillars we see a young woman unloosing her girdle or under-garment, a subject which is treated both in Śuṅga and Kuṣāṇa art. Probably she represented the Mahā-nartakī. It should be remembered that nudity now a common feature on these railing pillars was originally concealed by suitable painting. Kālidāsa has furnished sure indication that the female figures on pillars were once decorated with various paints¹. The subject of some other pillars shows a youthful woman holding a sword (J63 & 2575, 152, J275, B 79, 278). In later art this subject was styled as Urvaśī or Menakā but the exact references in early art are wanting. Perhaps they were meant to depict amazonian guards in royal palaces. A theme which appeard to be somewhat uncommon, a delectable motif is that of a young girl engaged in Kaṇḍuka krīḍā or playing with a ball (J 61). Several pillars also show male and female donors standing with their hands in adoration (añjali-mudrā) and sometimes holding bunches of lotus flowers. These obviously represent the tradition of the figures of the donors carved on the sides of the doorways in the rock excavation. [Fig. 137].