The Indus Civilization (Cambridge History of India, Supplementary Volume) c17.3

c17.3

1 (pl. XVI). The head and shoulders of a bearded man, the whole fragment 7 ins. high, carved in steatite.¹ It was found at Mohenjo-daro in the DK Area at a depth of only 4½ ft., and may therefore be of late Harappan date, a supposition with which its exaggerated stylization (for example, in the hair) would be consistent. The head is bearded, with the upper lip shaved; the eyes are narrowed to an extent which has been thought without much reason to indicate a state of *yogī* or mystical contemplation; the nose is (or was) long, the lips thick, the forehead subnaturally low and bound with a fillet, the ears conventionally rendered and suggesting the cross-section of a shell. A hole bored on each side of the neck may have been intended to hold a metal necklace. Across the left shoulder is a cloak carved in relief with trefoils which were originally filled with red paste. When found, one of the eyes retained its shell-inlay, and the whole work was covered with a fine smooth "slip" which will be described in connexion with the seals (p. 76).