Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s2.1

c7.s2.1

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.