Studies in Indian Art c7.s2.31

c7.s2.31

But the most outstanding problem of this period is the investigation of the foreign contacts that India established with the Persia of Darius on the west, with the Sakas of Sākadvīpa in Central Asia settled near the *Kumuda* mountain (The Koumedia of Herodotos) beyond the Oxus and the Yucchis or the *Rishikas* of Central Asia. The evidence of Mahābhārata is positive about these early contacts. *Sakandhu* and *Karkandhu* of the grammatical literature in the *Vārtikas* of Kātyayana (4th century B.C.) point to the knowledge of the country of the Sakas and of the Karkas or the Karkians both of whom are referred to in the inscription of Darius in the 5th century B.C. A definite flow of Western Asian motifs towards India seems to be predicated as a result of these contacts. The Assyrian passion for colossal animal forms, the Lion and the Bull, and the Babylonian repeat motif as seen in the representation of the Palm Tree, are clearly reflected in the decorative motifs of Bharhut and Sanchi. The winged and fabulous animals that we usually associate with the Sakas already appear in early Buddhist art. We know of another motif on the punch-marked coins and in sculpture viz. a triangle-surmounted standard. It appears to me to be the 'Standard' symbol or *Vaijayantī* (Fig. 7), the *Indrayaṣṭi* referred to in the Mahābhārata and said to be a banner raised in honour of Indra to mark the weal and prosperity of the whole Janapada. It has an obvious resemblance with the Life motif, Ankh (Fig. 5), that is first found in Egypt and then transmitted to other countries in Western Asia. The tradition of the Epic relating to the architect Maya executing the Assembly Hall of Yudhishṭhira after the pattern of the *Viśvakarmā Sabhā* can be explained only against a wider background of art extending beyond the borders of India. It cannot however be forgotten that whatever the extent of foreign exchanges in the realm of art may have been, the background of thought on which these were engrafted was essentially Indian. The symbolism of the Lion capital could hardly have been conceived except against the background of the religion of the *Dharmachakra* which once surmounted it.