War in Ancient India c6.s6.t2.23

c6.s6.t2.23

Rāma to Sītā and slaying the Māyā Sītā before Rāma are life-like. There are two figures of the heads of Bhīmasena in Central Java. The heroic splendour and manly grace of the born fighter are wonderfully depicted. Havell aptly remarks: ‘We recognise a young Alexander, a fighter who knows his own strength and revels in it. All his desires and aims are human yet there is nothing low or brutal in his nature. He is a great natural hero and war-lord fit to lead and command a noble free-born race. To compare these with the head of the Buddha shows how far the artistic skill has advanced in Java and therefore in India. This figure has a lovely appearance, the portrait type of all that is pure, spiritual and holy in Indian thought and religion’. ¹⁶³ Again, in Ankhor Vat we find in a bas-relief straight two-handed iron swords worn by foot-soldiers. Students conversant with Alexander’s invasion of India know that these were in use in India in the fourth century B.C. We may add that this weapon was used as a sword of state by the kings of Siam. It justifies Ruskin’s words: ‘Whole eras of mighty history are summed and the patience of dead myriads are concentrated in the existence of a noble (national) art.’