So far as the quality of carving is concerned the Niyamatpur specimen does not improve much. Its full standing frontal posture, wearing a flat cap and long tunic, as noted in the Kaniska figures on his coins, are however indicative of its affinity with the Kusana Suryas. The third image of the same style, found at Hankrail in the district of Malda, West Bengal, represents standing Visnu. He also wears a tunic down to the knees with a waistband, and shows some other features of the Kusana style. Carved in buff-coloured sandstone, the image exhibits better chiselling of limbs and apparels, and sensitivity almost totally absent in the images of Surya. It is assignable, on stylistic consideration, to the closing years of the 3rd or the beginning of the 4th century AD.
The above discussed sculptures, datable between the 2nd and the 4th century AD, and broadly identifiable as belonging to the Kusana style, clearly suggest that in the period, the art of stone sculpting was in the initial stage. The Asutosh Museum Buddha-Bodhisattva and Kartikeya images were more possibly the products of the Ganga-Yamuna valley than of Bengal. Their material, red sandstone, style and size indicate that the Ganga carried them down stream from the region of Mathura to the river shores of Bengal. On the other hand, the two Surya images of the Varendra Research Museum are so crude in handling the chisel and shape the desired form that they testify to the hesitant use of the tool by the artist of local origin. The Hankrail Visnu of the later date is no doubt indicative of the fact that the art of carving had been somewhat learnt by the artist by that time. In the following two centuries, which correspond to the Gupta period, things were much different and availability of stone sculpture was much frequent and more numerous in Bengal.
Gupta sculpture In the long history of Indian representational art the importance of the Gupta age (c 300 AD-550 AD) can hardly be over emphasised. So far as Indian sculpture is concerned this period witnessed the climax of the art. This climax, of course, pre-supposes continuous experimentation by the artists during the next five hundred years and more. In the Gupta art the laws of proportion, stance and flexion were settled, and iconic features of the gods and goddesses of the three major Indian religions were codified. Above all the art saw the realisation of a three-dimensional aesthetic vision of human forms with two basic characteristics, viz (i) plastic volume and (ii) gliding linearism. Besides, robustness and a cultured restrain in expression endowed the figures of the period with a certain quality that is marked as classical.
Though Bengal, barring her south-eastern region, was an integral part of the Gupta kingdom almost from the beginning, she remained a peripheral region so far as the dominant culture of the period is concerned. Nevertheless, from the presence of quite a number of images stylistically assignable to the period it is possible to trace a connected development of the art in the region at least from the 4th-5th century AD. Here it should, however, be remembered that the examples of sculptures of the same period found in various sites of south Bihar are important as comparable materials for the reason that the Gupta kings ruled their empire from their capital situated in the region, viz Pataliputra, where from, in all possibility, the art of the style spread towards the east.
The Gupta rulers were devoted Vaishnavas, and early Gupta images are found to be mostly representations of Visnu or any of his incarnations. One of the most representative sculptures of the period is an image of Narasingha discovered at Shahkund in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. The four-handed image bears the four weapons of Visnu, viz shangkha, chakra, gada and padma, and in size and shape is typical of the period. But what makes the image unique is its fully rounded robust form with a lion head on strong shoulder with flowing manes. The proficiency in carving with a clear sense of the plastic variations in apparels, ornaments and the body and limbs of the deity, and the expressive angry look of the lion-face, shape the image differently from those of the preceding Kusana style.
Of the Gupta sculptures in Bengal proper the earliest example seems to be the Visnu from Machmoil Bagmara (fig 2) in the district of Rajshahi carved in gray sandstone. The image shows a broken form of the god in a strict frontally standing pose. Though modelling and iconic features betray its early Gupta style, its aesthetic attainment is so negligible that it may be stylistically placed in a point of transition between the Kusana and the Gupta phases. The image is preserved with quite a number of other Visnus of the Gupta period in the Varendra Research Museum. (02 of 16)
The above discussed sculptures, datable between the 2nd and the 4th century AD, and broadly identifiable as belonging to the Kusana style, clearly suggest that in the period, the art of stone sculpting was in the initial stage. The Asutosh Museum Buddha-Bodhisattva and Kartikeya images were more possibly the products of the Ganga-Yamuna valley than of Bengal. Their material, red sandstone, style and size indicate that the Ganga carried them down stream from the region of Mathura to the river shores of Bengal. On the other hand, the two Surya images of the Varendra Research Museum are so crude in handling the chisel and shape the desired form that they testify to the hesitant use of the tool by the artist of local origin. The Hankrail Visnu of the later date is no doubt indicative of the fact that the art of carving had been somewhat learnt by the artist by that time. In the following two centuries, which correspond to the Gupta period, things were much different and availability of stone sculpture was much frequent and more numerous in Bengal.
Gupta sculpture In the long history of Indian representational art the importance of the Gupta age (c 300 AD-550 AD) can hardly be over emphasised. So far as Indian sculpture is concerned this period witnessed the climax of the art. This climax, of course, pre-supposes continuous experimentation by the artists during the next five hundred years and more. In the Gupta art the laws of proportion, stance and flexion were settled, and iconic features of the gods and goddesses of the three major Indian religions were codified. Above all the art saw the realisation of a three-dimensional aesthetic vision of human forms with two basic characteristics, viz (i) plastic volume and (ii) gliding linearism. Besides, robustness and a cultured restrain in expression endowed the figures of the period with a certain quality that is marked as classical.
Though Bengal, barring her south-eastern region, was an integral part of the Gupta kingdom almost from the beginning, she remained a peripheral region so far as the dominant culture of the period is concerned. Nevertheless, from the presence of quite a number of images stylistically assignable to the period it is possible to trace a connected development of the art in the region at least from the 4th-5th century AD. Here it should, however, be remembered that the examples of sculptures of the same period found in various sites of south Bihar are important as comparable materials for the reason that the Gupta kings ruled their empire from their capital situated in the region, viz Pataliputra, where from, in all possibility, the art of the style spread towards the east.
The Gupta rulers were devoted Vaishnavas, and early Gupta images are found to be mostly representations of Visnu or any of his incarnations. One of the most representative sculptures of the period is an image of Narasingha discovered at Shahkund in the Bhagalpur district of Bihar. The four-handed image bears the four weapons of Visnu, viz shangkha, chakra, gada and padma, and in size and shape is typical of the period. But what makes the image unique is its fully rounded robust form with a lion head on strong shoulder with flowing manes. The proficiency in carving with a clear sense of the plastic variations in apparels, ornaments and the body and limbs of the deity, and the expressive angry look of the lion-face, shape the image differently from those of the preceding Kusana style.
Of the Gupta sculptures in Bengal proper the earliest example seems to be the Visnu from Machmoil Bagmara (fig 2) in the district of Rajshahi carved in gray sandstone. The image shows a broken form of the god in a strict frontally standing pose. Though modelling and iconic features betray its early Gupta style, its aesthetic attainment is so negligible that it may be stylistically placed in a point of transition between the Kusana and the Gupta phases. The image is preserved with quite a number of other Visnus of the Gupta period in the Varendra Research Museum. (02 of 16)
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