Indian Sculpture c5.s3.t2.13

c5.s3.t2.13

Although the figures are carved on a flat ground, its surface is not intended to act as such. Some of them seem to pierce through it as if it were a thin membrane, and to emerge from behind the surface into the light of day (Fig. 74). So brimful is the mass of the un-formed rock with life and figures that it cannot contain them. They burst its surface, and the scene of the relief appears pushed forth by the un-bounded mass, ceaselessly productive, of which the body of mother earth is built. Out of and in front of it myths are formed, avatāras appear, and human figures are meant to be portraits.