Harappan Art
(Deo Prakash Sharma)
Harappan civilisation is one of the oldest in the world and a
challenge to archaeologists and scholars. Dr. Deo Prakash Sharma has compiled
this catalogue of Harappan artefacts and discusses them under several
categories including stone sculptures, bronze figurines, jewellery, glyptic,
terracotta figurines and pottery. Each of these categories is profusely
illustrated taking material from the National Museums of Karachi
and Delhi, from Islamabad
and Boston
museums and from collections from different excavated sites with the Pakistan
Department of Archaeology and the Archaeological Survey of India making the
book valuable. The strength of this book is the quantum of illustrations it
offers. Many of the illustrations are clear and immensely useful. For instance,
in the two close-ups of the Dancing Girl from the Karachi Museum shows details
like the clasp of her neck ornament at the back of the neck and the hair style
and the illustration of a male in action in bronze, a rarely shown item from
the Harappan art. Expectantly the book also dwells on the famed Harappan horse.
The seal impression of Mandi shows a man, keeping one foot on the bull?s head
and attacking it with a spear. Interestingly, one can get to see the various
details with which the bull, with or without hump, is modelled in the world of
Harappan art. Among the terracotta, Mother Goddesses of Mohenjo-Daro and
Harappa juxtaposed with figurines from Banawali and Dholavira show that the
peculiar forms of the Indus plains sites generally have no counterpart in
Haryana and Kutch leading to a possible conclusion that there are different
forms of expression or different subjects, even when the material used and the
technique of handling are the same. A reference to the ?Indian sindur? on the
foreheads of terracotta images and the glimpses of Harappan art are
interesting.
Resumos Relacionados
- O Expresso Indiano
- Angkor (an Introduction To The Temples)
- Zodiac
- Aubrey V. Vasari
- Your First Interview
|
|
