Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Sivaramamurti, C: The Expressive Quality of Indian Sculpture

personified deity, holding a vessel of gems, indicating the name Ratnakara (receptacle of gems) for the ocean. His principal wives, the streams Ganga and Yamuna, and their confluence at Prayaga, meaning their flow as one stream to the ocean, is also sculpturally personified with special stress on the sanctity of the sacred waters. A medallion from Amaravati is important for the synoptic representation of the subjugation of Nalagiri (fig. 5). The mad elephant, as he moves wildly in the streets of Rajagriha, till finally he sees the Buddha and kneels at his feet, is significantly portrayed here. Towards the side where the elephant is furious, there is utter confusion, and even those safe in the upper balconies of the mansions are scared. To the left, however, there is calm and peace as the furious elephant is utterly tamed and kneels at the feet of the master, whom the people from the balcony at this end adore with clasped hands. The tumultuous scene to the right is a contrast to the calm on the left. One of the recently acquired sculptures from Bharhut of the second century B.C., now in the National Museum, illustrating the division of the relics of the Buddha and carrying them in reliquaries on elephants and the funeral celebrations with music and dance, is again a very significant one, and a precursor of the famous sculpture of the same theme from Amaravati, three centuries later. Buddha's nirvana was something glorious and there is a celebration rather than lament. Udayana carrying away Vasvadatta, the beautiful princess of Ujjayini, and the delaying of the pursuing troops of soldiers by scattering gold, is a truly significant terracotta. The whole story is thereby suggestively narrated in a single plaque. Fig. 3. Sri Lakshmi, Mathura