Indian Sculpture c8.53

c8.53

The Gahapati Jātaka tells of the intrigue of a woman with the village headman, and how, when her husband unexpectedly came home, she climbed up to the granary and sat in its door, crying that there was no rice with which to pay in kind for the ox which the village headman had given the villagers during the time of famine. But as this payment was due only two months after the transaction had been made, and actually not half a month had elapsed by then, the villager saw through their game, and treated the two lovers as they deserved. The granary, out of which the figure of the woman emerges, has the shape of a cone, its rooflet is taken off, so that the granary can be entered from above. Granaries of similar shape may be seen in villages even now. The granary stands in the courtyard, between two houses with gable roofs. The threatening gesture (tarjanī hasta) of the two men—the one pretending to insist on the payment, and the other warning the two of the consequences of their intrigue—tell their tale.