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Indus Civilization Sculpture
Indus Civilization Sculpture
Perhaps, the most beautiful amongst all of Indus valley art is the statue of ‘Dancing girl’
This statue is made of metal and is probably one of the finest examples of the artistic and
technical skills of Indus Valley craftsmen
This female figure at the same time shows the fine skills of metal casting and artistic refinery.
The figure is lanky, thin and rhythmic in character
Some very interesting points can be noticed in sculpture:
First of all, while she has been shown without clothes, in her left hand she has bangles till
almost her shoulder, very much like we can find in the tribal people of modern days in Gujarat
and Rajasthan region.
Second important thing to notice is the hairstyle. While the other mother goddess figures,
which have been found from this civilization, have a queer and elaborate hair style. This figure
shows a much contemporary style.
Also to be noticed is its curious posture. She stands in a resting posture with her right hand at
her waist and her left hand on her left thigh. The casting is perfect. It shows accuracy of the
artists in metal casting during that period
There is tremendous monumentality in this particular sculpture. That means, though this is
approximately 4 inches in height only, it seems to be a larger one to us. This is what makes it
really unique
Dancing girl statue, Indus valley civilization
Two male figures – one a torso in red sandstone and the other a bust of a bearded man in
steatite are other important evidences of sculptures from this time period
Bust of a bearded man
Kalibangan and Daimabad have yielded significant examples of metal- cast sculptures.
Apart from metal sculptures, sculptures made from terracotta have also been discovered here.
Some well-known examples of these are Mother Goddess, Toy carts with wheels, whistles, birds
and animals etc
sculptures made from Terracotta
Most of the images were used for religious and ritualistic purposes.
The metal casting process was also used for making articles of daily use like utensils.
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