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Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s2: Sculpture

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s2

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English

Sculpture

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They had developed a lithic industry of making stone statuary, of which only a limited number of eleven pieces were found besides the two fine torsos from Harappa. The highlight is the bearded head and bust of a male figure wearing a scarf with a tre-foil decoration originally filled with red paste. [Fig. 12]. One of the eyes had shell-inlay when it was found. A hole on each side of neck was meant probably to hold a necklace. The tre-foil pattern had an international background being found in Mesopotamia, Egypt and Crete where it is associated with a religions character which makes it probable that the Mohenjo-daro bust was intended to portray a deity or perhaps a priest. In the Indus Valley itself the tre-foil pattern occurs on beads of steatite or of steatite paste. The head is covered with closely cropped wavy hair held by a fillet (patra). It has narrow half-closed eyes, low receding forehead and a face disproportionate to the head making it distinct from the contemporary sculpture of Mesopotamia. But there are certain common features also, e. g. the shaven upper lip, use of inlay for the eyes and a sturdy neck. The half closed eyes indicate a Yogi in contemplative pose with the gaze fixed on the tip of the nose. This may not be surprising since the Yoga cult is seen in the pose of a figure seated with cross-legs. But it may be noted that the same kind of eyes have been noticed in some very early clay figurines from Kish and Ur.

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The other stone heads from Mohenjo-daro also show some noteworthy features as follows:—

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1. A weathered limestone head; 5½" high; showing shell-shaped ears and white stone inlay in one of the eyes.

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2. Limestone head; nearly 7" high; short cropped hair gathered in a bun at the back held by a fillet; a shaven upper lip; shell-shaped ears; inlaid eyes; modelling of the cheeks and lips shows feminine sensitiveness but the short beard makes it certainly a male figure.

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3. Seated alabaster male figure with the head broken; 11" high; arrangement of the lower clothing shows it to be a *tahmad* or "a thin kilt-like garment secured round the waist, covered by a thin shawl over the left shoulder and under the right arm". On the back is a long lock of braided hair similar to the feminine *Veṇī*; of poor modelling; the squatting posture is somewhat similar to that of Wema Takshama statue.

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4. Limestone head; 7¾" high; hair gathered in a bun (*Chūḍā*) at the back having three strands; ears are shell-like; eyes inlaid at one time; chin without beard; face large out of proportion.

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5. Alabaster statue of a squatting man; 16½" high; right knee raised; hands resting on the knees; bearded face but details worn out; once had inlay in the eyes; a fillet round the head tied at the back with ends hanging down.

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6. Fragmentary limestone figurine; formerly polished; with a crude hand on a knee.

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7. Fragmentary squatting or seated figure in limestone; 8½" high; hand on knee; a series of holes drilled above the ankles for anklets.

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8. Unfinished limestone figure of a man in squatting posture; 8½" high; hands on knees. Its special feature is the kilt-like garment spread between the legs; indications of fillet round the head.

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9. Another limestone figure of a composite animal (10" high) had the body of a ram with horns and an elephant's trunk which probably had some religious character. Similar animals of composite types are depicted on the seals.

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The modelling of these figures is stereotyped and decadant and they are said to have come from later levels.

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HARAPPA TORSOS— Two statuettes from Harappa, which many scholars have accepted as genuine finds, give an idea of the naturalistic human sculpture of which the Harappan artists were capable. The sensitive modelling of the body foreshadows the spirit of historical Indian sculpture as in the Yakshī figure from Didarganj, Patna. Both are torsos (just under 4"), one of red sandstone and the other in grey limestone. The first has a frontal treatment, realistic with sensitive muscular form both on the chest and the back. The treatment of the heavy line of the abdomen is very much similar to that of statues of Kushāṇa time. It had inlaid nipples and discs on shoulders and a separate attached head. (Fig. 13).

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The sculpture in grey limestone is a lively dancing figure with head originally affixed separately, the arms and legs designed in more than one piece were similarly attached and the nipples were inlaid. (Fig. 14). The contour of the body and the heavy hips show it to be a female figure, the several features pointing to an ideal feminine beauty (cf. *madhye saṅgrāhyā, paśchād-varīyasī, pṛthuśroṇi*, Śatapatha Br. 1.2.5.16.). The drilled holes on the back were intended for affixed hair. The narrower region between the shoulders (*vimiṣṭāntarāṃsā*, ŚB. I. 2.5.16, 3.5.1.11)¹, and the soft effeminate built as well as the delicate pose of balancing the body on the right leg while the left is thrown to the right in a rhythmic sweep hardly leave any doubt that it was a female dancer either human or divine.

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¹ एवमिव हि योषां प्रशंसन्ति पृथुश्रोणिः विमृष्टन्तरांसा मध्ये सङ्ग्राह्या । श० १।२।५।१६ पश्छाद्वरीयसी पृथुश्रोणिरिति वै योषां प्रशंसन्ति । श० ३।५।१।१७

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The identification of the two figures should draw our attention. The male adipose stoutly built youth seems to be rather extraordinary. It represents the type of Nude God referred to in the Atharva Veda as Mahā-Nagna, the eternal Nude Man. Rudra-Śiva as *Digambara* (sky-clothed) typifies the same conception. Happily the female consort of Mahā-Nagna, Nude Lord, is described in the same verse as Mahā-Nagnī, the Female Nude or the Eternal Woman both striding one after the other as a pair (AV. *Mahā-Nagnī Mahānagnaṃ dhāvantam anudhāvati*, 20.136.11). The rendering of the two primeval Nudes in such an emphatic form is consistent with what we know of other Harappa sculpture. For example, the conception of the Male Deity Rudra-Paśupati was certainly known in that culture, and even more so that of the Great Mother Goddess is seen in many clay figurines. It seems as if the artist, an unusual genius, tradscended in one sweep the diversified formality of repretenting male and female figures and visualised of the primal Man and Woman without intervening ornaments and drapery. Of the two figures one is static showing high concentration of physical power as in the later Yakshas; whereas the female dancer shows a spirit of movement and vivacity which typifies the characteristic movement and dynaminism associated with the female half of the Creator's energy and such figures of later times. That the figures are of divine import seems to be writ large in the lines of their body.

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