DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9541#0056
34
HISTORY OP INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
feel that he has before him a fairly distinct illustration of the progress
of the human mind during that period. Sculpture in India may
fairly claim to rank, in power of expression, with mediaeval sculpture
in Europe, and to tell its tale of rise and decay with equal distinctness;
but it is also interesting as having that curious Indian peculiarity
of being written in decay. The story that Cicognara tells is one of
steady forward progress towards higher aims and better execution.
The Indian story is that of backward decline, from the sculptures of
the Bharhut and Amravati topes, to the illustrations of Coleman's
'Hindu Mythology.'
When Hindu sculpture first dawns upon us in the rails at Buddh
Gaya, and Bharhut, B.C. 200 to 250, it is thoroughly original, absolutely
without a trace of foreign influence, but quite capable of expressing
its ideas, and of telling its story with a distinctness that never was
surpassed, at least in India. Some animals, such as elephants, deer,
and monkeys, are better represented there than in any sculptures
known in any part of the world; so, too, are some trees, and the
architectural details are cut with an elegance and precision which
are very admirable. The human figures, too, though very different
from our standard of beauty and grace, are truthful to nature, and,
where grouped together, combine to express the action intended
with singular felicity. For an honest purpose-like pre-Raphaelite
kind of art, there is probably nothing much better to be found
elsewhere.
The art certainly had declined when the gateways at Sanchi were
executed in the 1st century of the Christian Era. They may then
have gained a little in breadth of treatment, but it had certainly lost
much in delicacy and precision. Its downward progress was tliei^
however, arrested, apparently by the rise in the extreme north-west
of India of a school of sculpture strongly impregnated with the tradi-
tions of classical art. It is not yet clear whether this arose from a
school of art implanted in that land by the Bactrian Greeks, or whether
it was maintained by direct intercourse with Rome and Byzantium
during the early centuries of the Christian Era. Probably both
causes acted simultaneously, and one day we may be able to dis-
criminate what is due to each. For the present it is sufficient to
know that a quasi-classical school of sculpture did exist in the Punjab,
and to the west of the Indus during the first five centuries after Christ,
and it can hardly have flourished there so long, without its presence
being felt in India.
Its effects were certainly apparent at Amravati in the 4th and
6th centuries, where a school of sculpture was developed, partaking
of the characteristics of both those of Central India and of the west.
Tinmgh it may, in some respects, be inferior to either of the parent
styles, the degree of perfection reached by the art of sculpture at
HISTORY OP INDIAN ARCHITECTURE.
feel that he has before him a fairly distinct illustration of the progress
of the human mind during that period. Sculpture in India may
fairly claim to rank, in power of expression, with mediaeval sculpture
in Europe, and to tell its tale of rise and decay with equal distinctness;
but it is also interesting as having that curious Indian peculiarity
of being written in decay. The story that Cicognara tells is one of
steady forward progress towards higher aims and better execution.
The Indian story is that of backward decline, from the sculptures of
the Bharhut and Amravati topes, to the illustrations of Coleman's
'Hindu Mythology.'
When Hindu sculpture first dawns upon us in the rails at Buddh
Gaya, and Bharhut, B.C. 200 to 250, it is thoroughly original, absolutely
without a trace of foreign influence, but quite capable of expressing
its ideas, and of telling its story with a distinctness that never was
surpassed, at least in India. Some animals, such as elephants, deer,
and monkeys, are better represented there than in any sculptures
known in any part of the world; so, too, are some trees, and the
architectural details are cut with an elegance and precision which
are very admirable. The human figures, too, though very different
from our standard of beauty and grace, are truthful to nature, and,
where grouped together, combine to express the action intended
with singular felicity. For an honest purpose-like pre-Raphaelite
kind of art, there is probably nothing much better to be found
elsewhere.
The art certainly had declined when the gateways at Sanchi were
executed in the 1st century of the Christian Era. They may then
have gained a little in breadth of treatment, but it had certainly lost
much in delicacy and precision. Its downward progress was tliei^
however, arrested, apparently by the rise in the extreme north-west
of India of a school of sculpture strongly impregnated with the tradi-
tions of classical art. It is not yet clear whether this arose from a
school of art implanted in that land by the Bactrian Greeks, or whether
it was maintained by direct intercourse with Rome and Byzantium
during the early centuries of the Christian Era. Probably both
causes acted simultaneously, and one day we may be able to dis-
criminate what is due to each. For the present it is sufficient to
know that a quasi-classical school of sculpture did exist in the Punjab,
and to the west of the Indus during the first five centuries after Christ,
and it can hardly have flourished there so long, without its presence
being felt in India.
Its effects were certainly apparent at Amravati in the 4th and
6th centuries, where a school of sculpture was developed, partaking
of the characteristics of both those of Central India and of the west.
Tinmgh it may, in some respects, be inferior to either of the parent
styles, the degree of perfection reached by the art of sculpture at