A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s5.t1.15

c13.s5.t1.15

Another and smaller relief of Pallava age at Trichinopoly (Fig. 158) seems to be of earlier date and is in a better style of art. This group, consisting of five large figures, in addition to the crouching dwarf on whose hand the central deity, apparently a form of Siva, rests his right foot, is symmetrically composed, due prominence being given to the god, who stands in a natural and easy attitude. He has four arms, but only two are prominent, and all the other figures are quite free from monstrosity. The kneeling worshippers are excellently modelled and pleasing in appearance. The style, in fact, is much more akin to that of the Gupta age in Northern India than to the sculpture commonly seen in the South, and is so restrained that I am disposed to refer the group to the earliest possible date, about the beginning of the seventh century, and to suggest that it *may* be the work of a northern artist.