Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s4.3

c13.s4.3

hold on the minds of the people that they could not be eliminated and we find them transferred to the interior decoration of the Maṇḍapas in the royal palaces, where the poets like Kālidāsa and Bāṇa actually described them. Later on they were transferred to the exterior of the temples on their Śikharas and most of the motifs and poses described above are found in the temples of Khajuraho, Bhuvneshwar and western India. The Matsya Purāṇa mentions them as Devarāmā celestial women or Apasarsas, heavenly nymph and the same are translated in the later art as Devāṅganā, Deva-kanyā, Sura-sundarī, Madanikā, Prekṣaṇikā, etc. accommodated on the Jaṅghā, Vitāna or Stambha or pillars of temples. In Orissan art we get a list of 16 Alasa Kanyās, e.g. Alasā, Mugdhā, Padmagandhā, Chāmarā, Guṇthanā, Nartanī, Śuka-sārikā, Nūpurapadikā, Mardalā, etc.