History of Orissa from the Earliest Times to the British Period v2.c47.33

v2.c47.33

In the “A” period there are certain characteristics which a Coomaraswamy or a Ganguli would have styled “Gupta”; the expression of the face, the modelling of the torso and the schematic arrangement of the locks of long hair over the shoulders of the Vajrapāṇi, all indicate the highest stage of plastic art which Orissa attained in the mediaeval period. Let us compare the face of Vajrasattva with that of the Tārā of period “C”; the expression on the face and the moulding of the torso would vividly express the difference between the “A” period and the “C” period in the plastic art of Orissa. Consequently, if the Buddha in the *Bhumisparśa Mudrā* of the Ghosh collection (3ft. 10ins. by 2ft. 7ins.) belongs to the earlier part of the 10th century, all “A” class images, both in the Udaygiri-Lalitagiri-Ratnagiri group and at other places can be safely assigned to the middle of the 8th century or its beginning. In certain periods there is a concurrence between Buddhist images in two different centres of Orissa. The fine Mārichi from Khiching¹ bears a generic resemblance to the equally fine *Trailokya-Vijaya* in the collection of Mr. A. K. Ghosh (3ft. 2ins. by 1ft. 8ins.).