Fig. 10.18

Comments

Dinesh ^club

This impressive personage has also been compared to figurines from Bacteria on stylistic grounds, but even if one admits some likeness, there is a fundamental difference: as early as in 1929, the Indian archaeologist Ramprasad Chandra pointed out that the figure’s ‘half-shut eyes looking fixedly at the tip of the nose’ signified a distinctly Indian trait not to be found anywhere else, which suggested specific techniques of meditation.

In other words, our ‘priest-king’ is deep in contemplation -- an attitude not known to be attached to kings or priests, especially of the Mesopotamian sort; as Wheeler noted, ‘that fixed Mesopotamian stare is very different from the contemplative expression of the Indus faces.’ Though quite unlike the powerful god with a tricorn head-dress, our personage is part of the same cultural complex of yoga, if we take the world in its central sense of inner exploration and mastery. Dilip Chakrabarti refers to him as a “Shramana” (ascetic) or a “sacred person,” certainly a better description that that of a priest or a king.

4 years ago.

		Page color
		Comments Panel
		Screen Margins
▼▲
		Widescreen

← Among Dinesh's photos

See also...

Book Images Book Images

Keywords

Authorizations, license

Fig. 10.18

Ξ	Frame Options
3 - +