Maurya and Shunga Art c16.26

c16.26

Figs. 23 & 24. Patna Two Yakshas standing. These are almost identical in form and appearance, conception and treatment, dress and ornament ; both have each on the scarf of their shoulder a line of Brāhmī inscription that has palaeographically been dated round about the beginning of the Christian era. The heaviness, the almost archaic stolidity and weighty appearance, the conflict between fully rounded and modelled volume as seen in the arms, breasts and abdomen on the one hand and flat surface at the back on the other seem to suggest that they have a close affinity with the huge, heavy and ‘primitive’ Bodhisattvas of the Mathura school. On the other hand so far as general shape and appearance of the upper part of the body and the quality and character of the modelling are concerned, a kinship with the art of the bigger figure reliefs on the eastern gate of the Great Stūpa at Sanchi seems to be admissible. Life-size. Beginning of the first century A. D. Patna Museum. Photo A. S. I.