The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.170

v1.c9.170

Col. Stacy took the portly, seated figure to be “Silenus inebriated”, and the whole to be “a scene in the Bacchanalian festivals”. James Prinsep supported the conjecture by observing that “there can be no doubt as to the personage represented by the principal figure; his portly carcass, drunken lassitude, and vine-wreathed forehead, stamp the individual; while the drapery of his attendants pronounces them to be at least foreign to India”. He had grave misgivings, however, about the costume of Silénos himself, which he thought to be “certainly highly orthodox and Brāhmanical”. General Cunningham does not notice the *dhuti* of the principal figure, but is disposed to side with Col. Stacy and Prinsep. Of the figures on the reverse, he says: “The Greek-clad male figure may possibly be Silenus, but I am unable to offer even a conjecture as to the figure in the tunic”.⁷⁴