Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.68
Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.68
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c9.s3.68
10. *Sūrya*, riding in a chariot of four horses, originally a Vedic motif with alternative number of horses as seven. On Bodh-Gayā railing the earliest figure of *Sūrya* is depicted in a car of four horses. In Bhājā cave (2nd cent. B.C.) there is a figure seated in a chariot of four horses moving on the back of corpulent demons who is often taken as *Sūrya*, but is really Māndhātā on his visit to Uttarakuru. At Mathura in Kuṣāṇa art *Sūrya* is shown with two or four horses, a tradition continued in Gandhāra and Sassanian art, as in the image from Khair Khaneh (near Kābul); but from Gupta period onwards *Sūrya*’s car was drawn by seven horses as in the Vedic and Purāṇic traditions. [Fig. 33].