Eternal India Encyclopedia

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-

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

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.