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

82 THE EARLY CLASSIC PERIODS
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feet.
The embrace of the yakshi and the tree
which these jewelled ornaments are carved
that yearns for her quickening touch is a
memory of some ancient fertility rite, and maybe
interpreted as symbolical of the soul's union
with the divinity, often typified in India by the
metaphor of sexual union. In Indian mythology
the yakshi is first and foremost a fertility
symbol. She is not only the bride of the tree, but
she stands for the sap of the tree, the life-fluid,
and she may therefore by association be interpreted
as emblematic of the life-fluid of all
creation, as typified by the great waters, in
which all life was believed to have its origin.
The male counterparts of the yakshis, or
yakshas, are also represented on the Bharhut
railing, and Kuvera, chief of the yakshas and
guardian of the North, is among these deities
precisely identified by an inscription [30].
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The carving of these figures of tutelary
spirits, as well as the workmanship of the
medallions and gateways, varies considerably in
quality and technique. These differences are
connote by contrast the softness of the flesh
parts that are rendered in smooth, unbroken
convex planes. As in the free-standing statues of
the Maurya Period, the conception of the body
in terms of a collection of interlocking rounded
surfaces is the sculptor's device to suggest the
expanding inner breath or prana, as well as the
quality of flesh in stone.
The figure sculpture at Bharhut must be
described as completely archaic in character.
The individual figure is composed of an enumeration
of its multiple details, as though, by
this cataloguing, the sculptor was striving to
give a cumulative account of the subject and to
disguise his inability to present it as an organic
whole. A typical example of this method is to be
seen in the treatment of the drapery of the
standing yakshi figure [29]. Although the garment
itself is completely flat, there is an
emphatic definition of the borders and seams of
the skirt, so that the whole can be described as
probably to be explained by the fact
that the
an ideographic and entirely legible presentation
sculpture was a work extended over many years
and executed by many different craftsmen from
all parts of India, as attested by the masons'
marks which are incised in the stones. These
figures carved in relief are essentially a continuation
of a stylistic and technical point of view
already discerned in the sculpture of the
Maurya Period. The representation of the
human figure is in every case conceptual rather
than realistic. In the portrayal of the yakshis
there is an emphasis on the attributes of fertility
in the swelling breasts and ample pelvis. Certain
attributes of fertility already recognized in the
prehistoric figurines are still present in the
shape of the beaded apron and the crossed
scarves or channavira. The veritable harness of
necklaces and strings of amulet boxes, with
which the figures are bedecked, serves a function
beyond the possible iconographical significance
and the reflexion of contemporary taste,
in that the very sharpness and precision with
of the idea of drapery, without in any way suggesting
its volume or separateness from the
body enclosed. The conventionalization of the
drapery folds in long parallel pleats, with
borders in the shape of chevrons or the letter
'omega', reminds us of the treatment of drapery
in such archaic Greek figures as the Acropolis
maidens. This resemblance may be explained
either as an influence coming through the relief
sculpture of Achaemenid Iran or, perhaps more
logically, as an illustration of an entirely parallel
development, whereby sculptors in the archaic
phase arrive at similar formulas or conventions
in their struggle to represent reality. The
descriptive character of the style extends to
the very precise definition of every detail of
the multiple necklaces and anklets worn by the
figure. These details, for all the nicety of their
carving, by the very insistence of their attraction
to the eye, actually serve to destroy the form in
its entirety. The body as a whole is, of course, no