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

248 THE GOLDEN AGE AND END OF BUDDHIST ART
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early Indian relief sculpture and in the 'stage
sets' that form the backgrounds of the earliest
wall-paintings in Cave X at Ajanta.
The painting of the ceiling of Cave I at
Ajanta is executed in a more flat, properly
speaking decorative, style than the work on the
walls of the vihara. The space is divided into a
number of contiguous panels square and
rectangular in shape, which are filled with
subjects and ornamental motifs. A composition,
which with slight variation is repeated no less
than four times, shows a bearded personage
dressed in a peaked cap, mantle, and boots,
attended by musicians and cup-bearers [185].
Although at one time this group was identified
as a representation of Khusrau II of Iran, who
actually sent an embassy to the Deccan, it seems
more reasonable, as Coomaraswamy suggests,
that it is a representation of Kuvera, the god of
riches, whose Dionysian aspect we have already
encountered in the sculpture of Mathura. The
extremely restricted palette used here, and the
silhouetting of the figures against a light background
sprinkled with rosettes, give the panel
a very flat, textile-like character. This is even
truer of the floral and vegetable forms that fill
the panels surrounding this figure composition
[185]. These are perfect examples of the Indian
artist's ability to abstract the essentials of
natural forms and turn them to decorative
185. Ajanta, Cave I, painting of Kuvera on ceiling