Indian Sculpture c5.s3.t2.11

c5.s3.t2.11

With this attitude the physique of the figures is also somewhat different, not so much in the case of the male as of the female figures. The male figure, with elongated torso, is supported by long legs, its broad shoulders are still conspicuous. (See Veṅgī, p. 49.) But otherwise the form has become superhuman, with its slim waist and without any allusion to the nervy modelling of the broad chest of the Veṅgī type (Figs. 71, 73). The shoulders and chest of the female figures, moreover, have become narrow, and the breasts small. When standing, their bodies rest submissively, and in a curve almost concave on firm hips. In keeping with this comparative slightness is a sparing use of jewellery and apparel (Figs. 73, 74). These, in fact, in the case of woman, are reduced to a minimum. Yet the crowns they wear are as variegated and elaborate as of the male figures (Figs. 71, 73). In their case, loin-cloths, girdles and scarves are simplified to narrow and flat bands or pads. When the figures, according to their inscriptions, are intended to be portraits, and even portraits of royalty,¹³¹ nothing shows this except a greater ease of attitudes than in the case of the figures of gods. The long oval of the face remains unaltered in cast and expression. The eyes, as the case may be, look with defiant frankness or modestly at the world. But when suggestive of a meditative mood they are just half-closed or else fully-closed. But they never look inward (Figs. 71–74; see, however, p. 63).