The Hindu Temple v2.c11.s1.49

v2.c11.s1.49

Garments, jewellery and coiffure of the images are a selection and enhancement of those worn in the respective country where the temple was built. The preference of the sculptor however is for the bare body and he makes sparing use only of garments; worn in the shape of a ‘dhotī’, the cloth clings to the body and is recognisable, as a rule, only by such patterns as are engraved on the modelled shapes of the limbs (Pls. XVIII, XIX, XXIII, XXXIII); and by carving the hem of the cloth, petal-like (Pl. XXX) or as if it were one more ornament of the smooth limbs (Pls. XXI, LXII). Thus all forms of apparel accentuate and accompany the smooth roundness of the figures and their movement; only the headgear and coiffure are additional volumes of sculptural consequence; the high crowns (mukuṭa) of the greater gods, add height to the image (Pls. LXVII, LXX) whereas the chignons which the lesser gods and goddesses wear at the back of their heads add their globular or horn shaped bulges as required in each particular instance, to the balance or the linear composition of the image (Pls. XIX, XV, LX). Coronets, chaplets, diadems, matted hair, etc., add to the breadth or the height as required and to the adornment of the egg or globe shape of the head (Pls. XXXIII, XXXVIII, XL). Straight or aquiline but always powerfully salient noses are thus balanced (Pls. XVII, LXI).¹⁵