Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s2.14

c7.s2.14

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.