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MONUMENTS & SCULPTURE A.D. 300 TO 600
PART 10 face turned to front and one of the front paws slightly raised (SML, J.119); and (c) standing enface as if walking (AMM, B.7, plate 46).
The most interesting figures are seen on the pedestal of the specimen (SML, J.121, plate 47A). Here there is a curious mixture of the Kushan and Gupta features. In cach corner of the pedestal there appears one faco to which two bodies have been joined-one from the front and the other from the adjoining side. The Kushan tradition is preserved on the adjoining side, while the front depicts the Gupta characteristic.
Fig. 36 shows the respective vogues in the Kushan and Gupta periods.
GODS AND DEMI-GODS
These include mälädhäri-Gandharvas, Suparpas hovering in the air, attendants flanking the Tirthankaras and either bearing cauris or standing in adoration-pose and Krşņa-Baladeva in case of Neminātha figures. A number of them can be traced back to Kushan art. In Gupta art the following can be noted: (i) celestial males hovering in the air carrying garlands (AMM, 12.268, plate 47B; SML, J.118, plate 44; J.121, plate 47A); (ü) Gandharva couples in the air carrying garlands (SML, J.119); (iii) celestial beings carrying offerings (SML, J.104, plate 43); (iv) flywhisk-bearers flanking the Jina (AMM, B.6, B.7, plate 46, 57.4338, etc.); (v) Krsna-Baladeva flanking Neminátha (SML, J.121, plate 47A); and (vi) planets appearing by the end of the Gupta period: in the available specimen (AMM, B.75), the number of the planets is only eight, but in post-Gupta times depiction of all the nine planets becomes quite normal.
Depiction of Sasana-deyatās was not prevalent at Mathurā.
DECORATIONS ON THE HALO In a number of Kushan sculptures the halo, if depicted, was plain and bore a scalloped border; but fully-decorated haloes of Tirthankara figures too were not altogether absent (e.g. SML, J.8). In the Gupta age it becamo a normal practice to decorate the entire halo with several motifs such as lotuspetals (padma-dala), scroll-work (patråvalī), floral wreaths (hära-yasti), scalloped border (hasti-nakha), leaf-border (patra-sakha), and so on.
USE OF AUSPICIOUS SYMBOLS AS BODY-MARKS
The Lalitavistara, a Buddhist work which existed in the early centuries of the Christian era, mentions a number of sacred symbols that appeared on
