Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c5.8

c5.8

The other capital from Rampurva, though smaller in size, and not so well preserved, is the bull capital. It represents a bull statant in the prime of life. Though immersion in sub-soil water, for centuries, has almost removed all the wonderful polish for which the sculptures of this particular period are well known, this specimen is one of the best representations of a bull in India. Figures or images of bulls are very common in mediæval and modern sculpture in all the different schools of India, with the exception of that of the Gandhāra; because the bull is the vehicle of Śiva and an image of it whether statant or couchant must necessarily be present in a temple of that deity. It will be difficult to find throughout India the figure of a bull, so vigorous in outline and at the same time so faithful to nature as that discovered at Rampurva. Attention may also be drawn to the magnificent capital of the inscribed pillar discovered at Sarnath in 1905. This specimen, though found outside the eastern provinces proper, as has been already stated, is really a specimen of Magadhan Art.² The preservation of its wonderful polish is due to its having been buried for centuries in drier soil.