Apsara

Apsara

10th  Century AD, Kota Museum

          This is the most stunning  sculpture  of the Kota  Museum.  An Apsara with a lotus in her hand. She gently walks or sways to music. Tallish, voluptuous,  bejeweled, ever young, ever smiling,  she is a classic  beauty. Surprisingly  she is rather  tallish which is unusual  in Indian Art. In Khajaraho  School  of sculpture the ideal woman is plumpish, and of average height.  Yet here the Apsara is slim, curvaceous and tall. It is only in the  Osia temple  in western Rajasthan  that we find tallish figures.

        The sculptor  has subtly suggested the swaying movement of the  Apsara. With her left leg and foot bent, with her right hip to the side, with her garment belt swinging in the opposite  direction  to the jutting  hip, one senses  the swaying  movement  of the sculpture.  A frozen sculpture  has come alive.

      Apsaras  are creatures of another world--of Indralok. The symbolise the bounty of Nature, the fertility  of Nature, the beauty  of Nature. They reflect the immortality  of the spirit, the eternity of our soul. This figure has captured the philosophy of Hindu aesthetics. It is, indeed, a masterpiece!