Maurya and Shunga Art c16.28

c16.28

Fig. 26. Parkham (Mathura, U. P.), Yaksha standing. Inscribed. The lightly bent knees and the comparatively thin legs have some kinship with those of the Maṇibhadra Yaksha statue from Pawaya, near Gwalior, while the frank and unconditional frontality, attaching little or no importance to the back, reminds one of ‘primitive’ Bodhisattvas of the Mathura school. Doubtless here too, we have a clear expression of the weighty and imposing earthiness that traditional Indian imagination connects with its Yakshas and Yakshiṇīs. It is one of the first and earliest of Mathura primitives and forms the initial chapter of the Mathura school of sculpture. C. 50 B. C.—50 A. D. More than life-size. Mathura Museum. Photo : A. S. I.