An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology v1.c17.s1.3

v1.c17.s1.3

The species of the birds in the bird-shaped amulets cannot be distinctly identified. Such amulets have been reported from many sites in n. India. Simple amulets, akin to those in use today, also occur. A rectangular specimen from KONDAPUR is decorated in the middle with a lotus flanked by small circles in dotted pattern. But the most interesting are the human-shaped amulets. The *yakṣa* in an amulet from NEVASA is stylistically similar to the Pitalkhora *yakṣa* (*AI*, 15, 1959, pl. 56) who is shown wearing two human-shaped amulets in his necklace. A specimen from AHICCHATRĀ showing a pregnant woman in squatting position with bent legs was possibly used as a charm against difficult labour. Human-shaped amulets decorated with dot-in-circle or `eye' pattern may have been used to protect the wearer against smallpox since the decorated pattern resembles pustules. Such figures are usually found in the early historical levels but their antiquity goes back to the PGW [4.15] period.