The Hindu Temple v2.c12.20

v2.c12.20

The group of the Lion and man, a three-dimensional composition in curves, is to be seen laterally; a triangular shape domed by the sweep of the Lion’s head and shoulders, springs from a base charged with resilient power; there one globular shape is balanced on a higher level, the other touches the base; these two weights, the haunches of the animal, and the man are also turning points of movement. The group is rich in such pivotal points, in knees, hips, shoulders, elbows and necks. Between those centres of rotation a see-saw balance of poise and active energy is produced by volumes sharply outlined within parallel curves. The economy of the flowing lines of scarf and ornaments on the figure of man, the different patterns of hair, mane and whiskers, closely follow and intensify the modelled shape of which they form part. The beading on the animal’s legs and round its neck is cognate in its effect with the cogged rim of the Āmalaka of the temple in the background; it is subordinated to the several large single globes in the group, those of the head, eyes and nose of the lion, and face, head, chignon of the man—the club which he brandishes and also his small shield (they are seen only on the left side of the group). By the response of their physiognomies and heroic bodies, the animal and the man are confronted in similar arcs of breathing chests; while the frame of man yields it by an extreme effort in which is power, defiance and submissiveness, agony, in its literal sense,—it holds the outlines of his back in its grip,—the curve of the animal’s front has quiet power and the deep saddle of its back curve, dignity. The Lion but raises its paw while man throws forth his whole weight in the fight by which he wins the monster’s protection. Thus the two creatures form part of one group; it has its springiness in their lower limbs which form the balance of its wide base; the actual contest is wrought at the peak of the inner triangle of the group by the meeting of paw and arm; these limbs and the legs have the effect of elastic links in a triangular chain fixed in space.