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ART
Afghanistan, have been found beautiful silver cups and other ob-
jects. These are believed to be the products of the Greek Kingdom
of Bactria and date from the 3rd and 2nd centuries B.C. There is a
copper vase from Kulu, dating to the Guptan period.
From the Gupta dynasty a number of bronze and copper figures
have been found. The most impressive is the 7’/
2
ft. high copper
Buddha found in Sultanganj, Bihar. It is now in the Birmingham
museum. There is also a bronze Buddha, now kept in the Boston
museum. The image of Brahma in the Karachi museum is also
another specimen of Gupta art.
A big collection of metal images has been found at the small
village of Akota, near Vadodara. The earliest specimens of Gupta
sculpture include an image of Jivanta Swami (C 550 A.D.) and an-
other of Rishabhanalba belonging to the same period. The bronzes
found in the Nalanda excavations demonstrate the existence of an
independent school. The bronze Buddha of the 10th C from Nalanda
is very important.
Metal sculptures were profusely produced under the Pala
Kings. They were exported to South East Asia, Nepal and Tibet.
The standing Buddha with attendants, in the Kukrihar hoard, now in
the Patna museum, is a typical Pala specimen of about 800 A.D.
The early bronzes of Nepal are less ornate, but are gilded and
set with semi-precious stones. The art of casting bronze images
also flourished in Chamba and Kashmir. A brass image of the
Buddha from Kangra is a fine specimen.
The art of Nepalese metal images began in the late Gupta age.
A gilt Avalokiteshwara in the Boston museum (9-10th C) is an im-
portant specimen.
The Tamils were masters in casting metal images used in
temple and domestic worship. The Chola dynasty in the south
produced the greatest Indian works of art in metal South Indian
bronzes. They vary in size, but many of the best specimens are
large and heavy. The figures produced are of great beauty. They
represent gods, goddesses, saints, kings and queens.
The Chola images were made of bronze with an unusually high
percentage of copper. The Chola emperor generally encouraged
Saivaite images since they were staunch Saivites themselves.
Various versions of Shiva Nataraja are the most popular figures
cast in bronze.
The Shiva Nataraja from Tiruvarangulam (National museum,
New Delhi), dancing in the
Chatura
pose, dates from the 10th c. It is
one of the beautiful creations of Indian art, symbolising the proc-
esses of creation and dissolu-
tion in terms of the dynamic
dance of the divinity. Shiva is
encircled by a halo of flames, he
sounds his drum with the right
hand while supporting the con-
suming fire with the left. An-
other right hand is held in
abhaya
mudra
and the remaining left
hand is thrown across the chest
in the
gajahasta
pose as the
symbol of his energy. His right
foot tramples on the demon of
ignorance
(apasamana purusha)
and the left is poised in the air as
a sign of deliverance.
the animal sculpture of
the Tang dynasty of
China.
The colossal statue
of
Gomateshwara
or
Bahubali at Sravanabe-
lagola is 57 ft. high. It
was cut out of a single
piece of rock.
The famous sculp-
tors of the period were
Baladeva,
Changamha,
Dronaditya,
Nagar-
varma, Sri Bagavar-
makrita Pratima, Ravi, Revadi Ovajja, Sohila and Sovarasi. Bal-
adeva created the guardian figure that is one of the most beautiful
sculptures in the portico of the Virupaksha temple at Pattadakal.
Changamha worked on the sculptures of the Papanatha temple at
Pattadakal. Dronaditya was an 8th century sculptor whose name is
known from an inscription on a statue in a Buddhist temple in Sirpur.
Nagavarma was the sculptor of the Yaksha Mathanga and the
Yakshi Ambika, masterpieces of Cave 32 at Ellora. Ravi was a
celebrated sculptor who built the Tiruvottiyur temple during the
reign of Rajendra Chola. Sohila was a sculptor whose name is men-
tioned on the base of a sculpture from the assembly hall of Cave 32
at Ellora. Sovarasi was a 11th century sculptor noted for his calli-
graphic skills. He incorporated animal forms in the letters he carved.
METAL SCULPTURE
An important branch of Indian sculpture is that classed under
bronzes. The art of metal casting is of very great antiquity. Metal
images were cast by the lost-wax process, so called from the fact
that the wax model, which served as the basis of the operation was
drained out by heating to form a mould for the actual casting. The
subject was first modelled in wax and the model coated with clay.
After the wax had been melted out, the liquid metal was poured into
the mould. This was the method used in making beautiful solid
images of bronzes or brass.
The earliest Indian bronzes were produced in the Indus Valley.
The figure of a slender dancing girl with a lot of bangles is a
prominent one. The small figure of a buffalo from the same place is
also important.
At Taxila, a number of small bronze figures of the Saka and
Kushana periods have been discovered. An example is the figure of
Hippocrates from Sirkap.
Several works of art in metal, Greek in style, have been found in
the north-west, dating from the early centuries of the Christian era.
For example the lovely little golden and jewelled reliquary from
Bimaran and Kanishka's relic box. Both are small shaped boxes
with relief carving around the side. The lid of the Bimaran reliquary
has not been preserved but Kanishka's relic box is complete and
topped by three free standing statuettes, the Buddha in the centre
with Indra and Brahma on either side. The drum of this reliquary has
figures around, standing in niches formed by classic columns and
topped by pointed arches reminiscent in form of the Chaitya win-
dows. There is a great difference between the two in craftsmanship.
Kanishka's relic box is crude in contrast to the refinement of the
Bimaran reliquary. In the former Soviet Central Asia and Northern