Essay name: Scythian Elements in early Indian Art
Author:
Swati Ray
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This essay studies Scythian Elements in early Indian Art鈥攁 topic that has not garnered extensive scholarly attention. Although much research has focused on various aspects of Saka/Scythian culture, such as politics and numismatics, their contribution to Indian art remains underexplored. This essay delves into archaeological evidence, historical texts, and art forms from Eurasian steppes to decipher the Scythian impact.
Chapter 4 - Scythian / Saka Art
101 (of 115)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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145
at Verkhneudinsk (modern Ulan-Ude), east of Lake Baikal, in Mongolia,鹿
probably represents the eastern most extension of the style. The bird's
heads on the antlers of the five deer虏 placed in the corridor of the
Filippovka tomb may symbolize an aspect of a tribal deity, the bird of prey.
Similar birds of prey were found on the headdress decorations, and a gold
epaulet from Ziwiye (late eighth to seventh century B.C.) in the Near East.
But the antler-with-bird's-head motifs widely used in the western section
during the fourth century B.C. were more aggressive in appearance.
Beginning in the sixth century B.C., the repertoire of images in the
art of the Altai expanded to include mythical creatures, such as the griffin.
In no other ancient culture does the griffin motif appear in such a
multiplicity of renderings. The Altai artists treated the griffin (Plate 89) in
an original way. The tuft feathers were delineated with relief lines and the
eyes were either round or almond-shaped. The curling beak was worked in
relief, and the ear, leaf-shaped with a spiral at the base. 3 But the griffins of
the western section were more formidable in appearance and were more
slender and agile in form (as depicted in the detail of two griffins savaging a
horse from the lower frieze of the Tolstaya Mogila pectoral).
1 Ibid., PL210.
2 虏 Ibid., p. 14.
3 Ibid., PL.177.
