Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Sivaramamurti, C: The Expressive Quality of Indian Sculpture
C. SIVARAM AMURTI THE EXPRESSIVE QUALITY OF INDIAN SCULPTURE Apart from the aesthetic appeal in the great masterpieces of Indian art. there is an expressive quality which arrests attention. Every sculpture or painting has to be understood from this point of view to know its full import. A few examples would reveal this characteristic of Indian sculpture in abundance. A Kushana sculpture of the first-second centuries A.D., with carvings on both sides has almost a volume of ideas to reveal. The back shows a drunken courtesan, plied with wine by a young girl, a youth, lured to her dwelling by her youth and accomplishments, supporting her (jig. 1). The old kuttini, who has lost her beauty but not her wiles, is not forgotten for portrayal. This is just to indicate that on the other side, the theme of the carving is a courtesan. Here we have Vasantasena, the loveliest courtesan of Ujjayini, running away from the fool Sakara who is pursuing her. His friend Vita, however, pities her and asks her to get rid of the flowers on her braid and the jingling anklets on her feet which betray her even in the darkness of the dusk. The first act of the Mrichchhukatika in all its details is here portrayed. The sculptor has shown Vasantasena covering her head with a veil and with her anklets drawn up. This is as much as to say that the perfume of the flowers is mitigated and the jingle of the anklets is at rest (fig. 2). Another sculpture of Sri Lakshmi, also an early one of Kushana date, shows the goddess pressing her breast, as she stands on lotuses issuing from a pot. The lotuses suggest the brimming pot with water over-flowing. The goddess, pressing her breast suggests that she is the mother, who feeds the children of the soil, as the river goddess and the goddess of prosperity, with payas, meaning both milk and water. As the mother feeds the child with milk, the river goddess feeds the area of the riverine valley with an abundance of water and assures prosperity. The smile on her face is a sign of prosperity (fig. 3). A sculpture of the Ikshvaku period, 2nd—3rd century A.D. from Nagarjunakonda in the Krishna valley shows Siddhartha in the harem (fig. 4). He is immersed in pleasures and riding a pleasure boat, so to say, in a stream of emotion. A line from the Mrichchhakatika, full of import, has been utilised by the sculptor, and significantly a damsel is shown swimming along the stream of love gently like a boat. The delicacy of carving is almost indicated at Sanchi by the ivory carvers who have created the gateway. The inscription mentions the ivory carvers of Vidisa as the authors of the iorcma-gateway ; and the delicacy of carving, exactly in the style of ivory work, supports this.
