Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c6.36

c6.36

3RD AND 4TH SERIES—The cultural scene changes from primitive hunters to well-armed warriors and mounted horsemen in battle scenes where archers and swordmen are engaged in fierce action. Armed cattle raiders are also seen. Besides the homelife of the people is also depicted, e. g. a man playing on a harp; a woman pounding roots and grinding grain; huts with women inside; men and women dancing in groups and pairs; men playing drums and a double pipe, entertained by a performing monkey and a dancing bear. Cattle and birds of various kinds including goose and peacock and also pigs and dogs are represented—virtually a cross-section of the life of the people. In the Adamgarh Quarry near Hoshangabad one of the rock-shelters shows a very large elephant which is the oldest and may belong to the late 2nd series. In the late 3rd and early 4th series of the Mahadeo Hills we find bun hair-dressing, loin-cloth ending in a tail between the legs, bow and quiver of arrows, straight swords, leaf-shaped dagger and round shield. The Mahadeo Hills paintings are mostly in difficult rocky jungles far from the main lines of communication and so also the Singhanpur paintings. The people there were using microliths, pottery and metal-headed spears. There are a few mythological figures—a heroic personage in a *vimāna* or sky-chariot and a gaint who leads a tiger with a rope like a pet dog (found in a shelter in the Mahadeo Hills group). [Fig. 5]. Another subject shows a male person resisting a lion or tiger on one side and a wild bull on the other while the cattle thus protected are moving below. No religious purpose seems to underlie the paintings which depict scenes of encounters with wild beasts, dances, domestic life and battle.