9. Sculpture

. Sculpture We have just seen how sculptures were removed from stupas and transported all the way to Europe. This happened partly because those who saw them considered them to be beautiful and valuable, and wanted to keep them for themselves. Let us look at some of these more closely.

. Stories in stone You may have seen wandering storytellers carrying scrolls ( charanachitras ) of cloth or paper with pictures on them and pointing to the pictures as they tell the story. Look at Figure . .

At first sight the sculpture seems to depict a rural scene, with thatched huts and trees. However, art historians who have carefully studied the sculpture at Sanchi identify it as a scene from the Vessantara Jataka . This is a story about a generous prince who gave away everything to a Brahmana, and went to live in the forest with his wife and children. As you can see in this In situ means on the spot.

Ü Discuss... Read Section again. Give your reasons why Sanchi survived. Fig.

. A section of the gateway Do you think the sculptors at Sanchi wanted to depict a scroll being unfurled?