Indian Bronze Sculpture

 Like Terracotta sculptures and Stone Statues, Indian artists also mastered
Bronze statue.
 The Dancing Girl from Mohenjodaro is the earliest bronze sculpture
datable to 2500 BCE. (4500 years ago).
 A similar group of bronze statuettes have been discovered from
archaeological excavation at Daimabad (Maharashtra) datable to 1500
(3500 years ago) BCE. For example, Chariot.****
 THEMES:-
 Sculptures and statuettes of Buddhist, Hindu and Jain Icons- for
ritualistic worship.
 As luxury items- like dancing figures, bulls etc.
 Daily use items- such as utensils for cooking, eating, drinking etc.
 The Bronze( cheap and durable alloy) sculptures were possible because
of 2 scientific discoveries:-
 The ‘lost-wax’ process for casting which was learnt as long ago as the
Indus Valley Culture.
 The process of making alloy of metals by mixing copper, zinc and tin
which is called bronze. Sometimes an alloy of 5 metals- gold , silver,
copper, brass and lead- is used to cast bronze images.

THE LOST-WAX PROCESS

 It is a technique used for making objects of metal, especially in Himachal
Pradesh, Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal.
 Present- day tribal communities are also utilising the ‘lost-wax’ process
for their art expressions.
 In this the wax figures were first covered with a coating of clay and
allowed to dry.
 Then the wax figures were first covered with a coating of clay and
allowed to dry.
 Then the wax was heated and the molten wax was drained out through a
tiny hole made in the clay cover.
 The hollow mould thus created was filled with molten metal which took
the original shape of the object.
 Once the metal cooled, the clay cover was completely removed.

 Interesting images of Jain tirthankaras have been discovered from

Chausa( Bihar) , belonging to the Kushana Period during 2 century CE.
 Remarkable is the depiction of Adinath or Vrishabhnath, who is
identified with long hairlocks dropping to his shoulders.
 Otherwise the tirthankaras are noted by their short curly hair.
 Gujarat and Rajasthan have been strongholds of Jainism since early
times.
 Other areas from where Jain tirthankara images found are Hansi in
Haryana; various sites in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka;etc.
 A famous hoard of Jain bronzes was found at Akota on the outskirts of
Baroda, dated between the end of the fifth and the end of the seventh
century CE.
 A new format was invented in which tirthankaras are seated on a
throne; they can be single or combined in a group of 3 or in a group of 24
tirthankaras.
 Female images were also cast representing yakshinis or Shasanadevis of
some prominent tirthankaras.
 Stylistically, they were influenced by the features of both the Gupta and
the Vakataka period bronzes.
 Many standing Buddha images with right hand in abhaya mudra were
cast in North India, particularly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, during the Gupta
and Post-Gupta periods,i.e., between the 5th,6th and 7th centuries.