Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c14.54

c14.54

The Gandhāra artists also tried the Woman-and-Tree motif showing a female figure standing under a tree in Śālabhañjikā pose. [Fig. 198]. But both the figures are extremely weak and the experiment remained without any success. On the other hand freizes with garlands on the shoulders of nude Yaksha figures, Erotes of Classical mythology, are bold and freely carved. The Atlas figures are also successfully treated. The one from Sikri (Lahore Mus. No. 218) is the most impressive. [Fig. 199]. The winged ichthyo-centaur (kinnara machehha) and the female hippocamp or human bust joined to the lower portion of a horse are depicted to fill tringular spaces in an ingenious manner. Similarly the marine bull (go-machehha), winged dragon (aśva-machehha) and tritons (mahorāga) seem to be counterparts of similar Mathura motifs. When the artists were called upon to handle purely classical themes they were in their best form, e.g. in the statue of Athena or Roma (Lahore Museum) holding a spear and wearing a helmet on the head and chiton on the body depicted as a true divine patroness of the city showing vigour and benignity combined with strength and grace associated with the cult of city-goddesses. [Fig. 200]. A similar deity wearing a helmet and holding a spear inscribed as Roma is found on a coin of Huvishka. [Fig. 201].