The Antiquities of Orissa v2.c16.77.3

v2.c16.77.3

Near to the crest of the arch in seen a Brāhmaṇī goose running away. The second compartment was never completed. Through a stupid blunder, the artist chiselled the rail border on the top, and not at the bottom as in the first compartment and at Rāṇi Naur, and, on his discovering his error, left the pannel uncarved. The third (C. 3, Plate XVI) opens with a body of kilted soldiers with drawn swords chasing the ravisher, who is shooting arrows at them from the top of his elephant. The lady, seated behind him, is leaning backwards to deliver to one of her rescuers a bag or bundle, containing some of her effects. The chase proves ineffectual; the soldiers are routed; and the ravisher, further on, makes his elephant sit down, dismounts himself, and leads the lady on in an endearing manner; but she is inconsolable, and is seen sitting at the end of the tableau amidst a group of unfriendly attendants, in a desponding mood, with her head resting on the palm of her hand. The identification of the male rider on the elephant with the ravisher of the first compartment might be objected to on the ground of the former being dressed in a tunic with a fringed skirt, whereas the latter is dressed in a plaid (*dhuti*) without any tunic on the body; but it is evident that the artist did not much mind unity of costume in his composition, for the ravisher, or whoever he be, appears again in a *dhuti* descending from the elephant. The kilt of the rescuers is worthy of note.