Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s2.141

v2.c74.s2.141

Dr. J. N. Bannerjea's remarks on this compound are worth quoting (vide D. H. I. p. 210). "This mode of the preparation of clay, however, shows that the material thus prepared was used for making images far more durable than ordinary clay ones, some of its constituents being powdered iron and stone. This compound is much similar to the material known as stucco which was so copioulsy used by the Hellenistic artists of Gandhāra from the third to the fifth century A. D. if we are to understand that lime stone is meant by the word pāṣāṇa, than the similarilty becomes greater. This seems to be the substance which was so frequently used in making many figure sculptures on the towering gopuras of many of the South Indian temples."