Indian Sculpture c5.s3.t1.28

c5.s3.t1.28

While the first half of the fifth century still prefers a solidly built body and a stern mien bent upon inner conquest (Fig. 59),⁹⁸ after the middle of the century this conquest is taken for granted. The rounded countenance and fuller limbs contain an appearance of ease, resting for a while on its own perfection. In the second half of this century the limbs and body retain their roundness, but become elongated with an elegance aloof from worldly allurement. The head accordingly becomes relatively small, while the face, with ever more rounded features, is a receptacle of bliss.⁹⁹ This difference, compared with facial cast and expression of preceding images (p. 62), results from the slightest variations in angles and sizes of the features. These again depend upon the spiritual as well as the artistic capacity of the craftsman. At the end of the fifth century a perfection, unbearable almost in its flawlessness, is attained.¹⁰⁰ The sixth century endows the slender body with a highly-strung sensitiveness of modelling and outline, mollifying here, petrifying there, the entirely delicate surface of the image (Fig. 62). These changes in the appearance of the image are accompanied by more momentous changes of its formal qualities.