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

THE GUPTA PERIOD 253
Dhammapada and the Pattmapalai, are filled
with the most extravagant and loving descriptions
of the ornaments which have always been
the special delight of Indian women. How in
early periods these adornments were consciously
used to enhance the physical charms of the
wearer is revealed in the sculptural representations
of yakshis and courtesans from Sunga to
Kushan times [29, 44, 45, 100, and 10 1].
The beautiful flying apsaras of Cave XVII at
Ajanta [189] is a splendid illustration of the
wealth of jewellery worn by princesses of the
Gupta Period. Her throat is circled by a necklace
of large pearls separated by square-cut
sapphires. Below this she wears a strand of
sapphires, perhaps set in diamonds. Suspended
from this chain are looped pendants of seed
pearls. These jewels swing with the apsaras'
flying movement, and so do the pearl bangles of
her toque, which appears to be richly embroidered
with foliate motifs. This one picture evokes
this delight of Indian women in jewels and the
pleasure and power these gems bestowed on
their wearers. One has only to think in this connexion
of the splendid and fabulous wealth
described by writers who visited the courts of
Vijayanagar and the Mogul emperors in later
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The manufacture of textiles in India goes
centuries.
back to the Indus Valley Period, as indicated by
the finding of fragments of cotton at Mohenjodaro.
Our knowledge of this craft in the early
periods, however, is limited almost entirely to
literary references and the representation of
garments in early painting and sculpture. 21 Although
in many examples of sculpture of the
Early Classic and Kushan Periods the figures of
yakshas and yakshis are shown wearing embroideries
and transparent muslin [29, 100, and
10 1], it is not until the Gupta Period in the
portrayals of textiles in the paintings of Ajanta
that we find recognizable representations of the
many types of cloth for which India is famous.
In the Ajanta murals we can find representations
of embroideries, bandhdna or tie-and-dye
work, brocade, and muslin weaving. Indian
muslins were renowned in Rome as early as the
first century a.d. In the sculpture of the Kushan
Period this diaphanous clinging material was
represented, appropriately enough, only by
indicating the hem of the garment [100]. At
Ajanta the Bodhisattva of Cave I [183] wears a
muslin dhoti of a striped pattern with floral
motifs in the darker bands of colouring. The
same type of cloth may be seen in the dress of
Indra and his attendants of Cave XVII [186].
Floral scrolls or bands of geese are also known
in the repertory of woven motifs in the Ajanta
wall-paintings.
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A rare example of Gupta metalwork is an
object that has been identified as an architect's
plummet [190]. This object, made of iron coated
with bronze, was found in the Surma River in
190. Architect's plummet
from the Surma River, Bengal.
London, British Museum