The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.102.3

v1.c9.102.3

The bas-reliefs of Udayagiri, though coarser and very much decayed, are even more full of life, action, and energy, and display a considerable amount of artistic conception. The bas-reliefs of Sāñcī and Amarāvatī are inferior to the last in this respect, but they are nevertheless superior to those of Egypt and Assyria. In some examples the poetical hyperboles of exceedingly slender waist and large hips are attempted to be represented in stone at a sad sacrifice of truth; but they are by no means the most finished samples of Uriyā art. The breasts are generally more protuberant than in Europe, Egypt, and Assyria, and are to some extent offensive to European taste; but this is probably due to a faithful representation of Orissan life, and not to a defect of art, or to a vitiated taste of the people reflected on the artists. The female breasts are generally much more developed in India than in higher latitudes; and in Orissa and Bengal they are particularly so, leading to early pendulosity to an extent unknown even in the North-Western Provinces. In the Panjab their size is generally not so large, nor does the declination commence until after the fortieth year, whereas in Bengal and Orissa it commences almost at the close of the teens, and the artist here, who would follow life, could not but produce something less beautiful than his brethren in Europe.