The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.89

c9.89

The peculiarly fashioned pillars or pilasters of the Gupta period are to be found in all three schools as well as in Central India. The earliest examples of such pillars or pilasters discovered during the Mathurā excavations of the previous century were brought to public notice by the late Dr. V.A. Smith.² The principal characteristic of such pillars and pilasters is that the lower half or third is generally square in section and quite plain. This plain portion ends in four single or double projections, one on each face, one set containing arabesques or some other ornaments, and the second half or three-quarters circular panels also containing ornaments. Above this portion the shaft is octagonal or hexagonal and round and bears on it one or more projections bearing either ornaments or arabesque. In the majority of cases such pillars or pilasters emerge from the wide mouth of a low vase with foliage at the corners. In many cases there is a round band ornamented with a twisted rope of pearls or other ornaments, which acts as a cushion for the abacus. In the case of the Mathurā pillars, the square projections, immediately above the plain portion, contains panels with grotesque animal figures emerging out of a mass of exquisite arabesque and the semicircular panels above contain lotus rosettes. Between these panels and the cushion ornamented with the twisting-rope pattern there are two heavy projections, one bearing gaṇas alternated with Kīrttimukhas and another with horned-lion Kīrttimukhas. Many Sarnath specimens show the vase with foliage at the corners at the bottom while many others show the foliage and the vase near the top.¹ The stilted style of expression of Rai Bahadur Dayaram Sahni, the compiler of the Sarnath catalogue, makes it extremely difficult to understand the details of the ornamentations on any of the sixty pillars which he has attempted to describe. A fine example, D(f)31 has been dismissed with a few words but a fuller description is certainly needed. One can feel the touch of the learned editor of this catalogue in footnotes where the affinities between the Mathurā and Sarnath style in Gupta pillars are discussed and pointed out.²