Indian Sculpture c8.48

c8.48

23. The Dream of Māyā Devī, portion of pillar relief, East gate, Sāñcī. Second half, first century B.C. Māyā sleeps in the open and on the second floor of the palace. The surface of the bed is less tilted than in Fig. 21, and the body of the queen, with oversecting limbs, is given a full volume. She is surrounded by a railing in front, a fortified turret on the left, and a rooflet above, treated as a small house, with a railing.184 On its left corner a parrot is perched, on top to the right the elephant sallies forth out of the ground of the relief (cf. Fig. 74).