Prince Siddhartha meditated for seven weeks before he was enlightened and became the Buddha. Nevertheless, in the iconography of his enlightenment, he is shown to be clean shaven. So facial hair is a very formalized notion in art. Most male figures in ancient and medieval Indian art are shown clean shaven, so we have little idea of styles in male facial hair. The featured photo is of a head of Maitreya Bodhisattva, said to be in the Gandhara style, from the 2nd century CE. The upcurled moustache remains common even today across the northern Indian plains.
The photo on the left is of a statue of Kubera, the god of wealth and the guardian of the north. It dates from between 200 and 300 CE. The statue was found in the capital of ancient Panchala, and is in the style associated with Mathura. Note the moustachial parallel with the featured photo.
If my memory is correct, then the photo on the right was part of a sculptural group from late antiquity. Unfortunately I’ve lost most of the photos around this one. Another associated memory is that this figure represented Brahma. The fact that the figure is depicted without four heads argues against it, so I wish I could remember more about it. My memory tells me that it is not far from the statue of the Kubera, so I should probably just go look at it again to confirm all this. If I do, I will add a footnote here with all the clarifications. But for now just admire the interesting goatee and moustache.
I had to make a trip to Bhubaneshwar on work. I’ve been there before, but never stopped for tourism in the “Town of Temples”. This time I took two hours to visit two beautiful small temples. One of them was the Rajarani temple. It was built in the 11th century, and is no longer in use. As a result, it is looked after by the Archaeological Survey of India. The name rajarani does not refer to a king (raja) and a queen (rani), but, as I learnt from an ASI info-board, to the local name of the sandstone used.
In the view above you can see that the temple faces east, and has a gate (torana), leading to an outer chamber (jagamohan) with a pyramidal roof, which in turn leads to an inner chamber with a spire (deul). The entrance door is about 2 meters in height, which would make the spire about 9 meters tall; small as these things go. The remarkable thing about this temple are the outer sculptures. You can see in the general view that the sculpture of nagas, women in the shape of snakes, are wrapped around the pillars of the torana. This theme recurs. On the right is a photo of a different column bearing beautiful naga figures.
The faces are beautiful even by today’s standards. Has our notion of beauty really changed so little in a thousand years? This close up of the face of one of the nagas shows the damage done to it. The hoods of the cobras surrounding the head are all damaged, and the woman’s nose is missing. Going by other figures on the facade, it would have been an aquiline nose, unlike that of most people in this region. Either the face is an idealization which came from some other part of the country, or the model was chosen for being exotic.
One of the most stunning sculptures is this one of Varuna, the dikpala (guardian) of the west. As you can see in the photo on the right, here he is shown in the medieval iconography holding the noose of judgement (pasa) in his left hand. This is one of the most beautiful depictions of Varuna which I remember seeing. The stone used in this sculpture is not the same as the red rajarani used in most of the temple. I wonder whether the stone was specially chosen to give him the canonical white (sphatika) complexion.
This badly damaged statue, shown at the left, is that of Kubera, the god of wealth, and the dikpala of the north. He should be holding a pot of wealth, but both hands are damaged, so you don’t know what the figure had in its hand. I base my identification on the fact that the statue faces north. Also, the statue resembles the usual medieval depictions of Kubera with the large belly, somewhat ungainly shape, lots of jewelry, and facial hair. The figure stands above an animal which could be a goat.
I spent almost an hour circumnavigating this temple. It is full of other worldly sculptures: women looking at themselves in mirrors, holding branches of trees, men and women in conversation. The incredibly detailed external sculptures are a contrast with the completely bare interior. The nagas and the other figures over the torana indicate that the temple would have been dedicated to Shiva. Otherwise, it would have been hard to say who was the deity when this jewel box of a temple was in use.
Don't hold your breath 
