190 H. Kivett-Carnae —Description of Stone Carvings from Kanouj. [July, 
of a woman. The proportions are good, and it will be noticed that the 
drapery has been most carefully and elaborately sculptured, the effect of 
the fineness and transparency of the texture of the cloth having been success¬ 
fully rendered. The hand has been delicately chiselled and the whole work 
has been finished ad unguem. The jewelled belt round the waist must 
have been laboriously copied in every detail, with its beads and settings and 
chains and bosses, from some handsome original. This fragment would 
appear to belong to the period of Hindu luxury and power, immediately 
preceding the Muhammadan invasion. The fragment, even in its very im¬ 
perfect state, conveys some idea of the beautiful clothes and the jewellery 
with w’hich the women of that time were bedecked, and proves that the 
Hindu sculptor seven or eight hundred years ago was a proficient in his 
art. This fragment came out of a lcliera or mound at Kanouj from which 
bricks and stone were being collected and broken up for railway ballast. 
The figure had obviously been smashed by Muhammadan iconoclasts. Still 
what remains, 1 am confident, the Society will consider worthy of being 
preserved, fragment though it is. 
(II.) The second piece (Plate V) is, I think, still more remarkable. 
This too is unfortunately only a fragment, the Muhammadan iconoclasts 
having effectually demolished the greater part of it. From what remains, 
however, it is to be gathered that the carving, when complete, represented a 
figure on horseback, accompanied by two attendants. The boldness of the 
group and the depth of the carving are, I think, remarkable; the figures 
stand well out in relief, and it will be noticed that even the portions of the 
dress &e. in the background are carefully finished. The saddle and accou¬ 
trements are elaborately rendered in every detail. There are, it will be seen, 
three saddle-cloths, the one arranged above the other, partly for orna¬ 
mentation and partly to protect the horse’s back. The knot securing the 
saddle has been tied and adjusted with professional precision. The body 
of the horse represents an animal, in rather too good condition, perhaps, 
according to our ideas, but with the rounded lines which even the native 
potentate of the present day is glad to secure for his steed of state. The 
action of the horse is spirited. The rendering of the two attendants is, I 
think, particularly meritorious. The proportions of the figures are excellent. 
They too are finished ad unguem. Unfortunately both of the heads have 
been smashed off. But enough remains of the leading figure to trace the 
turn of the head and the arrangement of the hair, 
“ in comptum Lacaenae 
More comas religata nodum". 
The whole group seems to bear traces of Greek influence, and is 
certainly of a type quite different from the Hindu carvings of the 
present day. 
