Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c7.s6.3

c7.s6.3

PILLAR ON THE UNICORN SEALS—The most frequently represented ox-like beast with a single horn, usually described as unicorn (*Ekaśṛiṅga*) may be identified with *Śṛiṅga Vṛisha* (RV. VIII. 17.13, AV.20.5.7). In front of the animal is a curious object which seems to be a standard, or banner with a religious significance. In almost all examples the banner consists of three distinct parts, viz. (i) a round tapering shaft, (ii) a bowl-like top which is either pimpled like the seed-vessel of a lotus or with fluted ribs, and a square or round *Vedikā*. The bowl-like object may be a *Kuṇḍa*, from which the deity symbolised as the unicorn (*Śṛiṅga-Vṛisha*) quaffed his potions of an exhilarating drink. The shaft is extended further from the centre of the bowl and on the summit is a round or square object very much resembling the early railings, consting of two or three cross-bars and upright posts. In the illustrations to volumes by Marshall, Vatsa and Mackay these details are of undoubted certainty. For example, Vatsa plate 86. 20 shows the railing with three cross-bars; 86.25 with two cross-bars; 86.29 with a single row of cross-bars; 86. 16 and 34 only with uprights and no cross-bars. These variations may be detected in many other examples. In Vatsa, plate 88.68 the upper-most projection of the shaft is better shown. In some examples the railing is dome-shaped. In others the pillar shaft does not project above the railing. In still others the railing and the capital of the pillar are contiguous as in Mackay, plate 95.474,486. In some cases the posts of the domed upper portion are curved or tilted, showing clearly that the railing was a bamboo construction as it should have been in that early stage (Mackay, plate 95.578, 585, 588 and many other examples). This is truly the shape of a thatched hut or *Parṇaśālā*. In one case there are about half a dozen rows of cross-bars between two pillars only (Marshall, 105.641). In some clear examples the height of the lofty column is quite well marked (Marshall, 105, 55 3).