Maurya and Shunga Art c16.1

c16.1

Fig. 1. Basarh-Bakhira Column. Lion-crowned. Compared to other known Maurya columns this is heavy and shorter in proportion, clumsy in execution and coarse in feeling and appearance. Mark the square and unadorned plinth or abacus on which rests the lion with its rump and tail jutting out. Though a free and independent figure, the lion is not only rough and crude in execution, but has not yet evolved the form and appearance so as to make of itself an integrated whole with the abacus, capital and the shaft. Perhaps of pre-Asokan date. Photo : A. S. I.