The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.44.3

v1.c33.44.3

in addition to which there are chambers of irregular plan in the wings, to right and left of the verandahs. In both storeys the façades of the cells are enriched with pilasters and highly ornate friezes illustrating episodes connected with the Jain religion, of which unfortunately the interpretation has not yet been established. The friezes resemble each other closely, so far as their general treatment is concerned, but the style of the sculptures in the two storeys is widely different. In the upper (cf. Pl. XXVIII, 78) the composition is relatively free, each group forming a coherent whole, in which the relation of the various figures to one another is well expressed; the figures themselves are posed in natural attitudes; their movement is vigorous and convincing; and from a plastic and anatomical point of view the modelling is tolerably correct. In the lower, on the other hand, the reliefs are distinctly elementary and crude. The best of them, perhaps, is the group reproduced in Pl. XXVIII, 77, but even here the figures are composed almost as independent units, connected only by their tactile contiguity; their postures, too, are rigid and formal, particularly as regards the head and torso, which are turned almost direct to the spectator, and in other respects the work is stiff and schematic. At first sight, it might appear that in proportion as these carvings are more primitive-looking, so they are anterior to those of the upper storey;