Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c6.90

c6.90

Next in order are the specimens, which on account of the inscriptions on them can be definitely referred to the reigns of the early Pāla Emperors. The dated sculptures of this period are very few in number. The basrelief, dedicated in the 26th year of the reign of Dharmmapāla, is not an object of art at all. An oblong slab of stone has been divided into three niches by means of two plain square pilasters, some space being left at each end. These three niches contain images of Sūrya, Śiva and Viṣṇu. The sculptor has finished his work in a very crude fashion and the specimen cannot be said to possess any artistic merit. Three dated sculptures of the reign of Devapāla have been discovered, one at Hilsā⁴ and two at Nālandā.⁵ We possess two specimens dedicated in the third year of Sūrapāla or Vigrahapāla I. One of these images represents the incident of the taming of the mad elephant, Nālagiri or Ratnapāla, by Buddha, while the second represents the descent of Buddha from the Heaven of the thirty-three gods, attended by Brahmā on the left and Indra, holding an umbrella over his head, on the right. Both images appear to be the work of the same artist and possess various characteristics in common. Now, in these two images the older looped form of the palatal sibilant has been used in one case while a second transitional form, which will be discussed below, has been used in the majority of cases. They therefore are certainly later in date than those in which the looped form has been used invariably. Among inscribed images of the second class, i.e., images which bear inscriptions not containing the name of the reigning sovereign and the date, specimens, in which the looped form or the older form of śa has been used, are quite different from the degenerate specimens of the 7th century A. D.