The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.116

v1.c9.116

**Eyebrows:** Ordinarily no eyebrows are chiselled in the larger statues, but where they are shown, they are generally arched so as to represent a bow, and so drawn out as to appear the front co-extensive with the ears. They are also joined at the root of the nose, a point of beauty which though praised by Theocritus, and attributed to Ulysses, Brisois, Augustus, Julia, daughter of Titus, and others, was never generally approved, and a Greek epigram takes it to be an indication of pride and bitterness of spirit. The *Viṣṇu Purāṇa* condemns it sharply. The rule on the subject of eyebrow is thus laid down in the *Garuḍa Purāṇa*: eyebrows, "when high and thick, predicate a life of enjoyment; when uneven or shaped like the sacrificial sword (*Khāṇḍā*), poverty; when long and unconnected with each other, affluence: good eyebrows are high and (arched) like the new moon".⁴⁷ And the *Sāmudrika* copies it almost literally.