Female figure

[This label refers to 1991.256, 1991.260 and B69S30]

Molded plaques such as these have been found in considerable numbers. What they were used for is not known. Also, there is no certain evidence of the identity or significance of the figures they represent, though it has been suggested that figures like the one on the left, with their rich jewelry and elaborately decorated hairdresses, may be goddesses.

Fertility and Abundance: From early times, the fertility of nature and of human beings has been an important theme in Indian art. Fertility implied abundance and prosperity. The left and center figures here are nearly nude and have features related to fertility, such as large breasts and wide hips. The female figure at right holds a bunch of fruit in one hand and a bird on the other. In traditional Indian poetry of a few centuries later, young women sometimes confide to their pet birds a longing for a distant lover.