IIIF Color HighRes
National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
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| IIIF Color HighRes |
| Sand-Buried Ruins of Khotan : vol.1 |
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Citation Information
460 SCULPTURES OF RAWAK STUPA [CHAP. XXX.
sattva, life-size, seen on p. 459, is of interest both on account of the elaborate drapery shown in the lower garment and of the carefully indicated strings of jewels which cover the breast and arms. Both in style and arrangement these jewels bear the closest resemblance to those displayed by many Grteco-Buddhist sculptures from the ruined Stupas and monasteries of the north-west frontier of India.
On the relievos of the outer south-east wall, which the photograph, p. 458, represents just as they were found in the course of excavation, the careful execution of rich drapery and the elegant proportions of the hands and heads may be particularly noticed. The photograph opposite shows the grouping of colossal statues on the outer walls of the south corner. The images on the extreme right, which still reached with their shoulders to a height of 8 feet, could not be completely cleared of
sand, as the weight of the intact upper portions made a collapse imminent if the support of the mass of sand that enveloped the
lower limbs were removed. The remains in the foreground belong to a kind of outer passage wall, decorated on both sides, which appears to have been added at this corner only. The relievos of
this apex-shaped screen, which perhaps represents a later embellishment of the Stupa court, showed remarkably delicate work in
the plaques of the halos, but had unfortunately suffered much
damage owing to the thinness of the wall and its exposed position. The way in which small detached stucco representations of Buddha,
in the attitude of teaching or meditation, mostly replicas, were found deposited at the feet of the larger images is illustrated by the view, p. 462, showing torsos of colossal statues along the inner south-east wall.
The entrance gate to the Stupa court leading through this wall was flanked on either side by two life-sized statues, which inter-
ested 'me greatly as the only figures found of a quasi-secular character. Though the upper portions of their bodies had broken away and were recovered only in fragments, there can be no doubt as to their representing the ` Dvarapalas,' or " Guardians of the
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