The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.102.2

v1.c9.102.2

58, 59 and 60, also represent human figures, executed without much reliance on the rules of the *Śilpa Śāstra*, which may be taken to be average examples of the condition which the art of sculpturing such subjects had attained in Orissa. Generally speaking, the forms of Orissan human figures are light and natural, and their action easy and lively. There is also manifest in them a knowledge of anatomy, a study of the organic contexture of the body, of the contour of its different members, a sense of the laws of gravity and motion operating on the body under different circumstances, and an excellence of imitation, carried to such a degree of truth as to give convincing proofs of an advanced step, and a higher stage in the development of art than are to be met with in Egypt or Assyria. The outlines, instead of being hard, stiff, and rectilinear, as in Egyptian, Assyrian, Etruscan, and Daedalean sculptures, are everywhere rounded, soft, graceful, and in admirable repose. There is scarcely a single sharp angle, or a rigid straight line, in the whole composition to disturb its beauty; and the execution throughout, though deficient to a certain extent in chiselling and finish, is such as to give the palm of superiority to Orissa. Even in small bas-reliefs, the easy grace of the king or the queen, the respectful attitude of the attendants, the versatility of the story-teller, and the gravity of the musician, are represented with considerable success.