The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c10.92.6

v1.c10.92.6

Taking the facts here noticed into consideration I am led to the conclusion that as regards [ 88 ] dress, the prevailing character of the bas-reliefs is due, not so much to ethnic, or social causes as to the exigencies of art. No doubt, the scantily clad Tamulian aboriginal races formed the great bulk of Buddhist congregations, and were more freely and plentifully represented on the monuments of their co-religionists than the Aryans, but their presence alone does not suffice to account for all the peculiarities noticed above. It is probable, therefore, that a conventional rule of art, such as has made the sculptors of Europe prefer the nude to the draped figure; ⁶¹ or a prevailing desire to display the female contour in all its attractiveness; or the unskilfulness of early art; or the difficulty of chiselling drapery on such coarse hard materials as were ordinarily accessible in this country; or a combination of some or of all those causes, exercised a more potent influence on the action of the Indian artist than ethnic peculiarities, in developing the human form in stone. There were, likewise, it is to be presumed, a sense of humour which manifested itself in oddities, caricatures, and grotesque representations, a longing for a display of variety, and a pruriency of imagination which made the males appear in dresses of diverse kinds, and the females in a state of nature.