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

ART UNDER THE KISHANS: MATHIRA
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roo. Railing pillars with yakshis from Bhutesar.
Muttra. Archaeological Museum
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101. Railing pillar with yakshl from Jaisinghpura.
Muttra I cseum
Cambodian sculpture of the Classic Period, it
comes to be a kind of mannerism or cliche. The
Indian sculptors employed at Mathura were
much more orthodox than their Gandharan
contemporaries in their representation of the
various laksana: in the Sarnath statue, although
the individual curls are not shown, the hair is
indicated as cut short and forming a sort of cap
on the skull; the lion-shaped torso, the tapering
arms and legs, all correspond to the textual
descriptions of the Buddha's superhuman
anatomy. In most Mathura images, like the
seated figure from Katra, the carvers scrupulously
represent the marks of the wheel, trisula.
etc.. on the palms and soles. The general
impression given by the Sarnath statue -
grandiose, weighty, and yet characterized by a
certain athletic litheness - marks the gradual
development of the Indian ideal of physical
beauty that reaches its mature expression in the
work of the Gupta Period.
The architecture of Mathura was so
thoroughly demolished by the Islamic invaders
of Northern India that it is impossible to select
any one building as typical of Kushan times.
Characteristic types like the stupa were presumably
only an elaboration of earlier forms : at
Mathura the relic mounds were surrounded
with the usual railing, the uprights of which
were generally carved in high relief with
representations of yakshis of a flamboyance and
sensuality of expression surpassing anything
known in the an of earlier periods [ioo and
101]. In their provocative and frank display of
the beauties and delights of the courtesan's art.
these reliefs mark the culmination of a tendencv