The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.146

v1.c9.146

**Colour :** In figures of gods and goddesses, in Orissa, as well as in other parts of India, the eyes, eyebrows, and sometimes the lips, are the parts which are generally painted; the colour of the rest of the body being left to be represented by that of the material of which the figures are made. In metallic figures painting is also limited to the same extent; but in wooden statues the whole is very thickly painted, or gilt, so as entirely to cover the original material. To what extent this rule was followed in the setting off of ornamental sculpture, it is impossible now to determine. A *basso-rilievo* horseman in the Dancing Hall of the Great Tower at Bhuvaneśvara is painted all over, so are some figures in the Dancing Hall of the Puri Temple. But with those exceptions, there is nothing to show that the lavish profusion of sculptured ornaments which are to be met with in every part of Orissa, ever had any painting on them. I carefully examined every nook and cranny—the deepest recesses of niches to find traces of pigments, but found none; and the surfaces of finished statues, whether placed indoors or on the outside, bear no mark of ever having been painted. It may be presumed, therefore, that architectural and ornamental sculptures were not set off with paint. It should be added, however, that the bulk of those sculptures have been exposed to tropical rains for near twelve hundred years, and it is futile now to expect any trace of paint on them even if they ever had any.