Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham2019-05-242019-05-24circa 1970IA-957IA-95722http://hdl.handle.net/1885/163582As Heinrich Zimmer has pointed out, Indian representations of lions lack the spontaneity and individuality of their more familiar beasts because they were not a part of the everyday experience of the artists and, therefore, could never move into the realm of reality, but must necessarily remain in the classification of conventionalized iconography, This has been true of sculptured lions from the time of King Asoka in the Mauryan Period, whose heraldic lion capital reached the peak of abstract perfection but were [sic] never truly alive, Here is another capital surmounted by lions, horrendous beasts indeed, which are no more 'realistic' than the capitals of early Asokan columns, The beasts crouch on top of the capitals as if to jump upon the next person to walk beneath them, but instead of being fearsome, they are simply incongruous, Notice the acute stylizations of fur, whiskers and teeth, Even the body proportions are unconvincing, The lions look more bovine than feline, In any case, their presence in architectural decoration is traditional in India, and they are direct symbols of royalty whatever their own physical style may seem to suggest,35mmmounted transparencyb&wsepiaimage/tiffen-AUGupta PeriodGupta ArchitectureGeneralarchitecturestone sculpturemounted transparency set2019-05-24This image is provided for research purposes only and must not be reproduced without the prior permission of the Archives Program, Australian National University.