Indian Sculpture c5.s2.t6.11

c5.s2.t6.11

In the second half of the second century A.D. the school of Veṅgī is at its height. Linear composition now has not only become more flexible, but has grown in the same direction and to the same degree as the movement of the single figures. From the days of Bhārhut onwards an ever-increasing use was made of the joints of the body in their pliability: as in the fettered shyness of Bhārhut postures (Fig. 27), in the slow sway of the Bodhgayā figurines (Fig. 19), in the vivacious experimenting with new movements and angles of posture in Sāñcī (Figs. 33, 34). These, by the end of the first century A.D.⁸² (‘Loṇaśobhikā’ relief, Mathurā), are rounded off into one sweeping boldness, that bends head against shoulders, shoulders against waist, supported by legs reciprocal in their crossed attitude to the body and surmounted by arms that continue the pattern of the body-rhythm (see also Fig. 42).