Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.37
Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.37
- Language
- English
c16.37
The Mithuna or “Man and Woman” standing side by side, is the leading type in the Śuṅga figurines of Ahichchhatrā. [Fig. 234]. The plaques are moulded and must have followed the moulded-cum-modelled figurines of the Mother Goddess type, marking a transition from the religious to secular types. The female figure wears sacred symbols in her head-dress, and necklace, but her male companion is dandily dressed and carries a harp (Ahichchhatrā)¹. The Mithuna or ‘Man and Woman’ type was followed somewhat later by a sub-type designated as the Dampatī or “Husband and Wife” type in the plaques from Ahichchhatrā². The Mithuna and the Dampatī types may be thus distinguished :