The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16.s2.38

v2.c16.s2.38

In the ceiling of the porch of the great Brāhmanic temple, Kailāsa, there are some layers of painting which may be contemporaneous with the original cutting of the temple, about the middle of the eighth century A.D., or a little later. In one of them a Brāhmanic deity is represented in the act of adoration (Plate LII *b*). He is riding on a *śārdula*, a mythical monster with the head, mane and paws of a lion, and the horns of a bull or a buffalo. The head of this god bears a striking resemblance, both in conception and treatment, to the heads of the Bodhisattvas in the earlier paintings at Ajanta, but the other figures of this painting have been shown in such ugly attitudes that the beauty of feature and the religious expression conveyed in the delineation of the heads have lost their effect owing to the uncouthness of the poses. The treatment of the limbs further exhibits a disproportionate attenuation; and the conventional forms of clouds, though copied from Ajanta, add in this subject to the general crudeness of the scheme. The colours also do not show a refined taste and the deterioration of the artistic sense is felt in every feature of the painting.