ABSTRACT
In the south-west corner of Bihar, the Grand Trunk road is both a highway and a frontier. The road is the end of a civilization, for, as one travels south, the sense of safety ends. The flat lands merge in rough hills, the soil reddens, cultivation thins. The stone sculpture is made by Gonrs, a subcaste of stone-cutters, while the images in wood are carved by Barhis, the caste of carpenters. Beyond the individual lies the community and the sculpture is a clue to the needs and values of a region. Such an art accounts for only a small proportion of sculpture and a far more common type may be termed semi-geometric and semi-vital. The styles, while distorting vital farms in the direction of geometry, also distort their relative sizes and it is this which both contributes to a geometric rhythm and produces certain emotional effects.
