Insights Static Quiz -35, 2018 – Art and Culture

Solution: b)

The bronze dancing girl of the same period discovered at Mohenjodaro is perhaps the greatest surviving achievement of the metal work of the Harappan age. This world-famous figure shows a female dancing figure standing as if relaxing after a dance number, with her right hand on her hip and the left dangling free. She wears a large number of bangles, probably made of bone or ivory on her left arm together with a couple of pairs on her right arm.

The statuette is a great master piece of the art of the metal craftsman of the period who knew the art of bronze casting in the cire perdue or lost-wax process

The statuette was discovered by British archaeologist Ernest Mackay in 1926, prior to the Partition of India. It is held by the National Museum, New Delhi, and ownership is disputed by Pakistan.

Solution: a)

his seal shows a seated figure of a Yogi, probably Shiva Pashupati, surrounded by four animals – a rhino, a buffalo, an elephant and a tiger. There are two deer shown under the throne. Pashupati means the lord of animals. This seal may throw light on the religion of the Harappan age. Most of these seals have a knob at the back through which runs a hole and it is believed that they were used by different guilds or merchants and traders for stamping purposes. When not in use they could be worn round the neck or the arm like an amulet.

A fine example of an animal study shows a humped Brahmini bull of great strength and vigour. It is a great artistic achievement of that early date. The modelling of the fleshy part of the bull’s body is very realistically depicted.

There are small seals of intricate workmanship and of great artistic merit, astonishing examples of the artistic skill of the sculptors. Such exquisite works of art could not have come about overnight and clearly suggest a long previous tradition.

Solution: d)

Lauria Nandangarh is a City/town about 14 km from Narkatiaganj(shikarpur) and 28 km from Bettiah in West Champaran district of Bihar state in northern India.[1] It is situated near the banks of the Burhi Gandak River. The village draws its name from a pillar (laur) of Ashoka standing there and the stupa mound Nandangarh (variant Nanadgarh) about 2 km south-west of the pillar. Lauriya Nandangarh is a historical site located in West Champaran district of Bihar.[1] Remains of Mauryan period have been found here.

Solution: d)

The most remarkable of them all is the highly polished monolithic lion-capital found at Sarnath, which is now the Emblem of the Government of India. It represents four roaring lions back to back facing the four cardinal directions. The round abacus is decorated with four dharmachakras or wheels of law, alternating with an elephant, a bull, a horse and a lion, all carved with masterly skill. The abacus is supported by a bell-shaped base consisting of a lotus with dharmachakra, which perhaps symbolized the victory of righteousness over physical force. The superb modelling of the figures executed in a realistic manner with a certain stylization, is invested with a great power and dignity, and reveals the aristocratic and international nature of Mauryan art.

Solution: b)

After the decline of the Mauryan empire, the Sungas succeeded to power in circa 185 B.C. They ruled the central and eastern parts of Northern India. Their native style, distinguished by its simplicity and folk appeal is best represented in monolithic free standing sculptures of Yakshas and Yakshis, discovered from Gwalior and Mathura; and the fragments of the beautifully carved gate and railings of the Buddhist stupa at Bharhut, now preserved in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. The narrative art of Bharhut, depicting Jatakas of Buddha’s previous birth in sculptures, the decorative art of Sanchi and the Jain Stupa of Mathura belong to the same tradition. They all have an echo of wood construction and the style of the sculptures seems related to carving in wood or ivory, basically the exploitation and elaboration of a flat surface, governed by the law of frontality as distinct from ‘perspective’ presentation. Whether it is the representation of Buddha by his lotus feet, an empty throne, a pair of fly whisks or the triratna symbol, or the nativity of Maya Devi by the two elephants elegantly giving an Abhisheka or bath to the new born, pouring water from thekalasha or jars, the language employed by the artist is that of symbols.