Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c16.56

c16.56

The available data do not justify precise identification, but obviously some form of the Great Mother Goddess seems to be indicated. At Ahichchhatrā a couple of similar specimens fragmentary in character were obtained from levels indicating the period c. 200 B. C., the earliest ones coming from the lowest Startum No. VII, datable to 300-200 B. C. The Ahichchhatrā specimens appear to be imports from Mathurā, but unfortunately Mathurā itself does not provide records of systematic excavation that would throw light on the relative age of this important group, although upwards of a thousand specimens have been found at the place. [Figs. 235-6]. We may tentatively place the type as Mauryan, extending also into the Śuṅga period, when a transition from it to the secular figurines took place. Their clay is finely kneaded and fired to stone-like hardness. The colour with few exceptions is grey and it seems that after making the figurines were covered with a thin slip containing flux to produce shining glaze during heating. The black colour is due to the figurines being smoke-fired in closed oven. These features seldom appear after about the first century B. C. Two specimens, one (ht. 5") in the Mathurā Museum and the other (6½") in the Indian Museum illustrate this type. The latter wears a lotus stalk in the ear-lobes with a big flower (mṛṇāla-kuṇḍala), a torque, a short necklace, a pendant necklace passing on the breasts and shoulders, a tight waist-band with hanging fish-symbol, and a double girdle, the upper one decorated with applique *chakra* symbol.