The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.72

v2.c16.72

The sixth tableau is even more defective and blurred than the last (A. 6, Plate XI). It represents three groups; first a man and a woman seated on separate chairs, and engaged in pleasant converse with their hands resting on each other; in the second the woman, having left her own chair, takes her seat on the left thigh of the man; in the third they are both seated on the bare ground. The last compartment repeates the running figure of the first—a *jawāb*, or counterpart, to mark the completion of the frieze. It has the tray of flowers and garland on the left hand, but, instead of a bunch of lotus stalks in the other, it carries in its right hand a large roll of wavy ornamental cord, or a monster garland, for the decoration of a *chaitya* or some other sacred shrine. This roll frequently occurs in the bas-reliefs of both Sāñchi and Amarāvati, but made on a much larger scale, so as to require the services of many men to carry it. Mr. Fergusson thus describes it in his *Tree and Serpent Worship*: “Nothing can well be better, as architectural ornament, than the wavy flow of long roll, borne by animated figures, and interspersed with emblems appropriate to the dedication of the tope ..... Like the last described features, it seems to be of Bactrian origin. Some thing at least very like it occurs among the sculptures at Jamālgiri near Peshawar and there so mixed with classical details as to make it appear very ancient.⁹ Something very like it is still used, I am told, in Burmah. On the occasion of the funeral of the late High Priest at Rangoon, long rolls, made as lightly as possible of paper, and bound round with rags and coloured decorations, were borne by men on each side of the procession in precisely the same manner as here represented, and probably the same practice will be found elsewhere when looked for. At Amarāvatī the roll is not only most elaborately, but also very tastefully, ornamented, and so interspersed with emblems as to give it all the variety requisite for architectural embellishment."¹⁰ The representation of the roll on the Jamālgiri stone is imperfect, and does not adequately portray the magnitude of the Amarāvati specimen. In either case, however, the object may be taken to be a monster garland designed for decorative purposes; and if so, with every deference to the opinion of so great an authority as Mr. Fergusson, I must confess my inability to perceive its Bactrian origin. Garlands of flowers or other materials have been known and used for decoration alike by civilised and uncivilised races in all parts of the world, and large and lengthy specimens of them are made when required to be festooned on bulky objects, and we know they were so made for ornamenting large topes; they have invariably been met with in Buddhist sculptures, and there is nothing in these premises to necessitate a resort to Bactria to trace the origin of such garlands. At first sight, the garland in the Udayagiri frieze may be mistaken for a serpent, but its uniform thickness throughout the whole length and the ornamental carving on it, forbid such a conclusion.¹¹