The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16.s2.57

v2.c16.s2.57

In the excavations carried out at ancient religious sites in the Deccan terracotta figurines have been found in great abundance, notably at Kondāpur, a village some forty-three miles west-north-west of Hyderabad. It was apparently one of the thirty walled towns to which Pliny has referred in his work, because coins and other relics showing a well-developed culture have been discovered there in very large numbers. The number of terracotta figurines alone amounts to several hundred. These statuettes represent Bodhisattvas, *yakshas*, *yakshinis*, and other religious or semi-religious beings (Plate LIV *a-d*). Animals are also represented, and they include the bull, the horse, and the ram among tame animals, and the lion among wild ones (Plate LV *a-c*). The figure of a parrot has also been found. Among other articles discovered are pieces of pottery with ornamental designs. They are very slender in manufacture with artistic shapes and fine polish. Some pieces on examination show that they were made of kaolin, while others are of fine reddish clays. The ware was coated with slips of varying thickness, the colours of the slips being cream or light pink. The designs worked out on the ware are very pleasing; besides ornamental motifs, there are several religious symbols, one of them being a half-opened lotus shown at the left hand in the third row on Plate LVI. Another represents the sacred wheel, to be seen in the fourth row, second from the right, and another the fully opened lotus blossom which occurs so frequently on the sculpture of Amarāvatī, with which the antiquities of Kondāpur seem to be contemporary.