The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16.15

v2.c16.15

For the specimens of sculpture also, it will be convenient to refer to the above monuments again, although in the second century B.C. the art of carving seems to have reached a high-water mark all over the Deccan, and the sculpture of the eastern zone as shown in the statuary of Amarāvatī (Plate III *a*) is as vivid and graceful as that of the central and western zones. Among the sculptures at Beḍsā and Koṇḍāṇe, which will be described in some detail later in this chapter, the *Yakṣa* and *Yakṣiṇī* riding on horses in the *chaitya*-cave at the former place are so bold in conception and so life-like in expression that they can be placed with advantage side by side with the best specimens of sculpture in the world (Plate III *b*). As the art is purely indigenous, it must have had its origin many centuries earlier in order to attain such perfection of technique and force of style. In the *chaitya*-cave at Koṇḍāṇe the dancing figures are not only delightful because of the grace of their pose but they also show an exuberance of spirit based on a fuller significance of life (Plates IV–V). The intellectual and technical qualities of these specimens represent a highly developed art, suggesting long practice and continuous progress of thought.