The Hindu Temple v2.c12.194

v2.c12.194

With sword raised high, shield close to the body and serpent's tail coiled, the image is poised on the tip of its tail and supported by the flat coil with its deep shadow in the centre. It is balanced by the circular shield with its full centre, and which is curved into depth. Thus the volume of the image is fixed, between its canopy and the pedestal. Its energies are pent up in the contracted curves of the chest; arm and head, held high, stolidly and with a crude power, are set against the plane of the dagger cutting into the depth between wall and figure, a horizontal, top-heavy accent. Cf. also the Ṛṣi, on the left; and the matted hair or the diadem as also the total shape of each face, on Pl. XL.