MAURYAN PERIODBULL CAPITAL

FROM RAMPURVA

Dr. Guneeta Chadha, Unit-IIB.A.I

BULL CAPITAL

The 8’9" Rampurva Bull capital comes from one of a pair of pillars found at the same site on the Gandak river, about half way from Pataliputra, the Maurya capital and Lumbini the Buddha’s birth place.

It is carved in the light-coffee-coloured sandstone of Chunar and likely carried from there.

Its design is divided into the lotus bell base a narrow abacus of floral forms and the great bull zebu above.

It was once finished in a fine polish, but years of weathering and possibly the time lying in bog where it eventually fell has worn off most.

The lotus bell is a highly refined shape we find in a good number of other capitals and destined to become a stable of later Indian design.

It is a full round shape bulging gently but firmly above to produce a double-curving silhouette. Its outer surface is finished in a set of ridges that alternate abstractly between angled ribs surrounded by rounded ones.

Above the bell is a narrow necking finished in the form of a twisted rope. Above this is a wide abacus carrying a repeat pattern of three spread out flower and rosette forms.

Atop the design we find the great bull. It has lost its horns and its neck folds, but otherwise stands in relatively fine shape after two-and-a-quarter millennia.

The bull stand majestically erect. All four legs are planted firmly on the platform.

The stone between its legs has been left intact. Its genitals marked strongly in relief. If it is an idealized image in its symmetrical precision, it is also a relatively naturalistic one with its careful attention to realistic proportions and anatomy.

All in all the swelling of the belly and its contrast against the ridge of the haunch behind and the soft swelling of the shoulders and hump in front are quite effective.

Stylistic features Looking at the sculptural details and

techniques of the capital, one can see a strong evidence of Persian or more exactly Achaemenid influence.

The very fact that the school of art, fully mature and creating monuments in stone, suddenly appeared and changed the quality and direction of sculptures in India proves that it was an alien importation.