A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s5.t1.1

c13.s5.t1.1

The arts of sculpture and decorative carving in stone continued to be practised in India to the south of the Narbadā under the patronage of many dynasties throughout the mediaeval period, and even to this day are cultivated with considerable success whenever encouragement on an adequate scale is offered. But, excepting certain Chola statuary of the eleventh century, which is pre-eminently excellent, the Southern figure sculpture does not often attain high quality. In quantity it is enormous, the gigantic temples and halls characteristic of the Dravidian kingdoms being commonly overloaded with sculptured ornament on every member. Mythological subjects from the Puranas and Tantras are the favourites, and the tendency is to treat the conceptions of a luxuriant mythology with exuberant fancy, insufficiently [Figure: Plate XLV. Durgā and Mahishāsura relief, Māmallapuram.