Indian Sculpture c5.s1.t7.2

c5.s1.t7.2

The ground balustrade of stūpa II, Sāñcī (second century B.C.), almost exclusively decorated with low reliefs in ‘plant style’ (Coomaraswamy), is the most logical effort in this line during the early classical period (Figs. 29–31). The lotus-creeper is vegetative life visualised. Its rhythmical sway is also peculiar to stems of trees, as shown in Indus art. Stem of tree and stalk of lotus in Indian sculpture are channels which the recurring movement of vegetation bends according to its own rhythm. The stalk of the lotus issues and rambles through the reliefs, and from its own fertility, like a diver from the deep sea, brings forth unexpected treasures—flowers in abundance and spirits too, animals, human figures and symbols. The animal, too, even if shown by itself alone, takes part in this rhythm (Fig. 14). An angular reticence of the postures of some of the human figures ill-fits the heaving, sprouting luxuriance of the theme. The craftsmen seem to have subdued modelling by a linear scheme, that allowed a seeming quiet where wilder forces and more powerful handling appeared to be out of place. Primeval Indian folk art is overlayed by rhythmical discipline.