Studies in Indian Art c11.s3.11

c11.s3.11

The 'makara' motif occurs in the art of the Sunga period and in the subsequent centuries down to the Kushāṇa epoch, roughly from the middle of the second century B.C. to the end of the second century A. D. The mention of the motif in this particular passage of the Mahābhārata incidentally sheds light on the problem of its probable date. The literary tradition of the 'makara-toraṇa' or 'śiṃśumāra-śiraḥ' antedates our knowledge of it in the lithic art of the Sunga period by several centuries; it is believed that the patterns executed in stone were preceded by works in wood.