The Antiquities of Orissa v1.c9.42

Language: English

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**Sculpture** : The great strength of the architects, however, lies in the most sumptuous floral scrolls which they have designed on all their leading bands or fascias. They are as well designed, as skilfully executed, and they reflect the highest credit on the artistic taste and ingenuity of the designers. In arranging them on the temples, the main object of ornament has been very carefully borne in mind, and their disposition appears the most appropriate. Instead of forcing architecture to subserve the purpose of “a mere frame-work for the setting of delicate sculpture”, the latter has everywhere been made to retain its subordinate position as ornament designed to set off the former. It certainly is in some places very florid, elaborate, and over-crowded, but still it appears subordinated to an end and not rendered itself the end. The diversities in the style, character, proportions and arrangements of these sculptured scrolls are so great, that it is scarcely possible to do more here than point out a few of the leading characterstic varieties. Their general outline is often alike, a winding or undulating scroll, enclosing more or less rounded spaces for flowers, leaves and animals. The flowers and foliage are of various kinds, and some of them are evidently fanciful, for they cannot be compared to anything living that I know of. Illustration, No. 11, is a characteristic specimen of a carved scroll.

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It is formed of a gigantic pothos branch, enclosed by two rows of pellets, with a row of lotus petals below, and the characteristic crest above, shaped like a seated human figure. It occurs frequently in the Mukteśvara and the Bhagavatī temples. The drawing has been taken from a specimen in the Mukteśvara. No. 12 from the last named temple is a variety of it of common occurrence, and No. 13, the most ornate form, is from the Paraśurāmeśvara temple. The vine is still the pothos, but the foliage appears arranged in a very graceful style, and is remarkable for the skill and taste with which it has been developed. As a specimen of scroll-work it will stand comparison with the finest sample of the kind of mediaeval or ancient times. Illustrations Nos. 14 and 16, from the Great Tower, and 18 from the Rājarāṇī temple, show the same creepers, but the foliage is scant, and the loops formed by the stalk enclose men and animals of various kinds, such as antelopes, deer, hogs, bulls, buffaloes, rabbits and the like; cranes, hogs and deer prevailing. In the first two, the pellet occurs on one side only. No. 20 from the Bhagavatī temple exhibits the same vine and foliage, but encloses, within the rounded folds of the stalk, little pigs and heads of elephants. The leaves in No. 21 from the Sārideül are different; the plant appears to me to be a succulent Cucurbitacea, but the style is very much the same. In general character, No. 22 from the same place, corresponds with the preceding;

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but it includes leaves and flowers of several kinds, as a tiger, an animal of rare occurrence in Orissan sculptures. These are all employed for both horizontal and vertical bands, and used principally round door-ways and niches. No. 15, from the Paraśurāmeśvara temple belongs to this class, but the foliage is altogether different, and it is intended only for vertical mouldings. It may well pass for a scroll under a Roman frieze. No. 24 from Mukteśvara does not show the pothos, nor make a creeper twine into loops, but masses the foliage in a rich, florid style. Its lancet crest bears on its face an emaciated hermit and his disciple, engaged in a game of chess over a folding table. The scroll is of rare occurrence, and is never carried to any great length, occurring only on brackets, capitals, of pilasters, and tops of niches, supplying in the last position the place of a dripstone moulding. No. 19, from the Great Tower is a variety of this style, and on its crest is seen a monkey engagd in picking out lice from the head of a neighbour. In No. 23 from the Rājarāni temple the scroll is formed of a creeper issuing from the tail of a peacock. The foliage is entirely fanciful, but most elaborately and richly executed. Round a lattice frame in the Mukteśvara porch, No. 28, the foliage of the creeper is reduced to a minimum, and two stalks from opposite sides are made to form loops wherein gambol a number [47] of monkeys and crocodiles in great delight.

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A monkey has got his tail caught in the fork of a branch, and is hanging down in pain, while another with an anxious look is coming forward to release him. One is happy, having mounted on the back of a crocodile, which is darting forward to escape from the unusual load. This frightens two juveniles, one of which is climbing up a branch in great haste, while the other, having got to a safe distance, is grinning at the sight of the fun. In a third group there is a domestic scene. Mater familias is seated at her ease with a young hopeful in her lap, while one kind neighbour is busy picking out lice from her head, and another is occupied in the, to her delightful, task of eating them. In a fourth group a crocodile has caught a monkey by the tail which wriggles in great pain, while some good-natured companions crowd around, anxious, but unable, to help it. Altogether there are about two dozen groups of this kind, some including deer, elephants and other animals and they have been designed and executed with a degree of skill, vigour, and fanciful spirit that makes them look more like the work of a modern French caricaturist than that of an old Uriyā of the 7th or 8th century. The original has suffered much from long exposure, and my sketch of it is an exact fascimile taken with a *camera lucida*, and must therefore appear rough ;

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but as it is, were one to put it in a portfolio of Gustave Doré, or in Griset's " Grotesques, " it would, I fancy, be easily mistaken for the handiwork of one of those humorous artists. No. 25, from Paraśurāmeśvara, drops the twining vine altogether, and is formed of a series of lozenges tied to each other by ribbons, and enclosing curly petalled flowers, apparently a kind of *passiflora*; the spaces above and below the knots are filled up with curled petals or stamens of the same species of plant. On the lower side it has a row of pellets, and below it a string of lotus petals supported on a hatched zigzag moulding. It is neither very rich, nor common. It is used only for horizontal fascias. No. 31, from the same place, discards the festoons of creepers altogether, and takes a line of pitchers, bearing unknown or fanciful tendrils, leaves and flowers. The lower half of the pitcher is ribbed, and a garland of beads or flower-buds encircles its neck. This fascia has a fillet for its lower, and a corbel table for the upper, edge. The corbels are formed of three square tiles each, the smallest occupying the lowermost place; no parapet or continuous covering is placed over them. A very florid example of the pitcher band occurs in No. 32, from the same locality. No. 26 is entirely different from the last. It has a corbel table of carved ornaments, supporting a deep continuous projection above. The projection has a cable moulding enclosed in a winding band of ornamented lace.

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Above the last, and enclosed by two rows of fillets, occurs a line of cruciated four petalled flowers, evidently the golden jasmine (*Jasminum fruticans*): the top is surmounted by a number of ornamented lancet-heads placed at short intervals. This moulding is of rare occurrence, and the only specimen noticed, was seen on the Mukteśvara temple. No. 17 from the Rājarāṇi temple is even more singular. It is formed of a range of either cucurbitaceous, or solenaceous, pyri-form ribbed fruits, or perhaps some flower buds strung together. No. 27 from Paraśurāmeśvara exhibits a combination of billets and pellets in a string-course. It has for its crest a peacock with a foliated tail similar to that in No. 23.