Indian Sculpture c5.s1.t9: South India (Veṅgī and Guḍimallam)
Indian Sculpture c5.s1.t9
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South India (Veṅgī and Guḍimallam)
c5.s1.t9.1
Marble slabs of the stūpas and railings of south India, from Jaggayapeṭa (Fig. 38) and some from Amarāvatī belong to the second and first centuries B.C. respectively;⁵⁵ yet, in spite of the stylistic connectedness of contemporary form, their linear sensitiveness is more highly strung and their modelling, with a minimum of means, is generous. Not unlike, however, to figures on the ground balustrade, stūpa II, Sāñcī, those of Jaggayapeṭa frequently stand on boulsters, with their feet as if dangling, and this impression is further intensified in their case by an extraordinary length of limbs, drawn out to an unearthly slenderness. The bodies themselves, however, are as sturdy as any in Madhyadeśa. Yet stilted limbs, scarves fluttering away from the figures in thin and sharp diagonals, angular movements with sustained power and a self-assurance of outline, speak of energies ethnically different from those in Madhyadeśa and assignable to the Drāviḍian element.
c5.s1.t9.2
The marbles of Amarāvatī, of the first century B.C., are already of a slightly deeper cut relief, with a predilection, too, for a fuller modelling of the body.⁵⁶ Yet never hitherto has the lotus creeper been so delicately burdened with ingenious flowers, nor were men or beasts given such tough elasticity and elegance. Subtly passionate faces carried by a delicately modelled but forcefully built body, that steps out lightly on legs with an unearthly tread, these are peculiar to Amarāvatī from now onward.
c5.s1.t9.3
Outside the school of Veṅgī, the Śivaliṅgam from Guḍimallam (Fig. 36), North Arcot district, occupies a position of its own. Vehement in its sturdy presence, the figure in front of it has but little in common with those of the Veṅgī marbles, except that there, too, the body was shown as vigorous; but this was minimised by a decisive outline and the delicacy of the flat modelling. Nor is it on the same level with the milder version of Yakṣa and allied figures from central India of the same phase. On the whole it belongs to ‘ancient’ sculpture in India, and shows one of its possibilities. With the firm pressure in the resolute manner of standing, with its tight modelling and the sightless grin, replete with the savour of its own juice, it sums up an aspect of ancient Indian art not preserved in any other monument.