Indian Antiquary Vol 60

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, S Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarka
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 109

MAY, 1931)
A STONE RELIEF FROM A KALINGA RAILING
A STONE RELIEF FROM A KALINGA RAILING.
BY DR. STELLA KRAMRISCH. STONE railings and fragments of stone railings, carved with figures are known from the early Sunga period and have been found in Bihår, Central and Southern India, in the United Provinces (Patna, Bodh Gaya, Bhårhut, Sañci, Jaggayapeta, Någårjunikonda, Gumadi. durra, Amaravati, Mathura, Amin) and also in Orissa. Another fragment recently found in Bhuvanesvar distinctly proves that it was part of a railing. It is the upper half of one of - the two main sides of a corner pont, broken off the entire post of buff-coloured sandstone, and measures 13 inches in height, 74 inches in breadth and 3 inches in thickness. It is carved in very low relief and shows a male figure, the hands in añjali mudra. The head portion is modelled in higher relief than the body; the height of the relief there is almost inch, whereas the rest of the relief does not exceed inch in height. This is achieved by an ingenious technical device. The background is made slanting into depth away from the two sides of the slab, so that a lower level is prepared for the modelling of the head, of which the relief, although actually much higher, yet does not exceed the upper level of the exceedingly flat treatment of the body.
Although the stone is weathered and battered (root of the nose on the left, right eye, right nose wing and to a slighter degree the left eye, the chest above the finger-tips, navel, arms and wristlets), and the top of the coiffure is broken away, yet what remains is peculiar enough to distinguish it from railing sculptures known hitherto, and to assign to it a definite place amongst the early sculptures of India.
The upper part of the figure is decorated with a necklace consisting of two courses of beads and chains alternately, whereas arms and wrists are embellished by three and five fold plain spirale respectively. The only garment visible is a folded cloth round the waist, knotted in the middle. The earlobes are distended by bunches of heavy triple rings. A wig-like arrangement of the hair, the loose skeins of which seem to radiate from the face and to surround it in the shape of a capricious bolster, completes the "embellishment” of the figure.
A long oval face distinguishes it from the majority of types seen on other railings. Yet even in Bhårhut, in the disc-composition of the Mahamagga Jataka long faces occur. There, too, are found long and widely open, slightly bulging eyes, a long nose with broad nostrils, a relatively small mouth, beak-like in the sharpness with which the lips are set off against the receding modelling of the cheeks. A resolutely broad and short chin as well as a summarising treatment of the cheeks are common to the Ofiss and to the Bu Arhut figures of the Mahamagga Jataka scene, to which, amongst all other early Indian relief-physiognomies it shows the closest affinity. But in spite of these similarities of structure, the texture of skin and flesh is given stronger emphasis in our relief. In contrast to the sharpness of features, and their isolation within a wooden countenance, of the Bharhut types, in spite of & sameness of mask-like inexpressiveness, greater softness and variation is given to the fleshy parts. The swelling modelling around the eyebrows offers & tangible contrast to the sharp cut employed by the Bhårhut craftsmen. The cheeks, too, are almost flaccid compared with those of the Bharhut figures ; insteud of the rigidity of an abstract and continuous outline we find here & wavy contour and additional fulness is given to the lower part of the face. The nose too is broader and the ridge is not sharply marked.
The flaccid softness that differentiates the face, is also noticeable in the outline and in the slight modelling of the body. Only in Jaggayapeta a relief similarly low was employed. But there & tense outline impregnated with vitality the flatness of the modelling.
But leaving aside these connections with the Central and the South Indian schools, & comparison with the rock-cut reliefs at Khandagiri and Udayagiri and with the other
1 Some Ancient Remains at Bhubaneswara by Nirmal Kumare Bewu, M.8o., J.B.O.R.S., vol. xv, p. 269 ft.