Minerals and Metals in Ancient India v1.c28.s1.2

v1.c28.s1.2

A Harappan masterpiece is a tiny 9.3 cm nude male torso of red sandstone, with a pendulous belly, exhibiting in the words of Sir John Marshall, ‘refined and wonderfully truthful modelling of the fleshy parts’. The two tubular drill holes on the front of the shoulders may have been intended to take an inlay. The second Harappan figure of similar size is made of a grey stone. It is a nude dancing figure, also male, with twisting shoulders and one raised leg. Marshall proposed its similarity with the much later icon of Śiva as Naṭarāja. We would refer to the famous cast bronze dancing girl from Mohenjo-Daro and the Dāimābād bronzes at a later stage in this chapter.