Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.15

c16.15

The clay-figurines of the historical period although separated from those of the Indus Valley by an interval of about twenty centuries, nevertheless show links of styles and subject-matter. On the technical side the earliest figurines from Pāṭaliputra, Ahichchhatrā and Mathurā are all hand-modelled like those of the Indus Valley. The use of moulds appears for the first time in the late Maurya or early Śuṅga period about the third-second century B. C. Definitely datable Maurya material is yet scanty, its main reason being the absence of accurately recorded excavations. However, clay-figurines from the Patna sites like Patna City, Bulandibagh, Kumrāhār, Buxar etc., may be ascribed to the Maurya age. Stylistically there are several distinct types which must have preceded in time the known types of the Śuṅga period. The most remarkable are those unearthed in the excavations at Pāṭaliputra, consisting mainly of a type of female figure with elaborate head-dress and panniered skirt somewhat oversized and spread out on the two sides of the legs like wings. A remarkable specimen comes from the Patna Museum (ht. 11.5"). On the technical side the figure is entirely modelled by hand except for the head pressed out of a mould, later on a good number of applique decorations were attached; for example, a couple of falling locks on the protuberance of the head-dress, surmounted by a full-blown lotus, another disc or lotus in the centre of the two projections, a cylindrical ornament in the right ear and a disc in left, a bangle on the fore-arm, a necklace round the neck and a festooned girdle with pendant bells on the waist. The right arm is flexed at the elbow and the hand, now lost, pointed upwards in an appropriate gesture. The entire pose is obviously that of a female dancer. [Fig. 227]. About the identity of these figures nothing can be definitely made out, but they undoubtedly show a distinctive ethnic type different from the more usual female faces on the plaques of the Śuṅga period.