Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s3: Bronze Sculpture
Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s3
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Bronze Sculpture
c7.s3.1
The figure of a dancing girl in bronze found at Mohenjo-daro (height 4½") is an exquisite figure with the same sensitive feeling as seen in the two Harappa figures. Its feet and ankles are missing. (Fig. 15). The right hand rests on the hip in the *Latāhasta* or *Katyavalambita* pose. The arms are loaded with bangles which seem to be the same as *Khādayaḥ* of the RV. The head is slightly tilted, and covered with curly hair gathered at the back in a coiled knot. The eyes are large and half-closed. The pose of the long legs and the elongated arms and slender bust all suggest an exceptional mastery in capturing the livelinss and rhythm of a female dancer long practised in her art. The reference to *Nṛitu* in the RV. seems to indicate a figure of this type.
c7.s3.2
This and other figure in bronze are proof of the technique of casting metal by the *cire perdue* or lost-wax (*Madūchehhiṣṭa*) process, a technique having a continuity of abovt 5000 years on the Indian soil by which some of the greatest plastic art of India like the *Naṭarāja* bronzes and the Sultanganj copper Buddha were produced. Copper was the chief metal used in the Indus Valley for which the Vedic name was *Ayas* (अयस्). Iron was not known to them. They mixed ten percent tin with copper and wrought the alloy of bronze.
c7.s3.3
A late bronze foot with an anklet found separately is more artistic corresponding to the missing portion in the bronze dancer. Amongst the number of bronze animals the figure of a buffalo and a ram are much more realistic giving evidence of mastery of naturalistic modelling.
c7.s3.4
It should be observed that the human statuary from the Indus Valley has a distinctive type of its own. In the Sumerian statuary, both early and late, the eyes are round and full but in Harappa they are long and narrow with half-closed lids. Inlaid eyes are found also in Babylonia and Egypt but in lesser numbers, The sturdy neck of Mohenjo-daro statues is much more emphasised than in Babylon. The low receding forehead and the high narrow nose are features common to both India and the West. In the treatment of the ears which resemble an oyster shell or saucer the Indian artist followed his convention. Although the number of statuattes and figurines is limited it is enough to show that an individual style had been evolved.
Linked texts (1)
- Ṛgvedasaṃhitā — Sanskrit