The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

148 ROMANO-INDIAN ART
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94. Pancika and Hariti.
Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Department of Eastern Art (Hailey Gift)
styles of Western classical art is the stone reliefs
showing Pancika and Hariti seated side by side
in a manner probably suggested by the tutelary
couples of Roman art [94]. Pancika was originally
a yaksa general whose name was eventually
taken over by Kubera, god of wealth and regent
of the north; his consort, Hariti, is an Indian
demoness associated with children and smallpox
and worshipped, in one guise or another, in
Indian villages to this day. She is depicted,
however, wearing a gown reminiscent of classical
Greek dress and she holds a cornucopia like
the Greek goddess Demeter; he is shown wearing
'Scythian' garb and holding a long lance, but
the style of both figures is essentially derived
from Roman art.