Vastu-shastra (Vol. I: Hindu Science of Architecture; Vol. II: Hindu Canons of Iconography and Painting) v2.c74.s8.8

v2.c74.s8.8

(i) *Drapery*—Śilaparatna (P. L. p. 55) enjoins that in the allotment of different kinds of vastras (the clothes), kauśeya (made of silk), kārpāsa (made of cotton), the cīra (?) and carma (the skin), the sculptor has to use his own descrimination. "The early Indian artists attained much success in the treatment of drapery which, in the case of male figure is made up of a loin cloth (dhotī) whose folds were very tastefully arranged in parallel rows in the early and medieval periods and long scarf thrown loosely on the upper part of the body. In the early figures of Maurya—Śuṅga period and even sometimes afterwards, the excess of the long loin-cloth is gathered together and shown hanging in a long tapering fold or folds in front. This form is common to both the male or female figures (cf. the figures of Parkham Yakṣa and Besnagar Yakṣiṇī in H. I. I. A., Pl. III Figs. 8 and 9). Thus there was not much difference in the dressing of male and female figures in early Indian art especially in the lower part of the body. But the long scarf shown on the upper half of the male figures is usually absent in the female, the upper part of the latter remaining mostly uncovered"—D. H. I. p. 293.