Yaksha Couple

Cave 3, Badami

Cave 3 is noted for its finely decorated brackets. Their theme is auspicious fertility, with a divine couple and female dwarf attendant in a floral setting; the pairs represent Yakshas (nature spirits).

The attenuated figures could almost be Pallava in style; it would be interesting to know if they might have influenced Pallava developments, but in any case there does seem to be a late 6th-century trend in body proportions, beginning especially with less prominent figural subjects such as these (but also evident in the narrow-chested major sculptures seen on previous pages), which becomes increasingly pronounced in later times.

Some paint is seen on the finely-decorated ceiling at photo left.