Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c9.s3.5

c9.s3.5

The story of India's relations w'th Western Asia goes back to the Indus Valley as we have pointed out above. The discovery of Indus Valley seals in testified strata of the Sargonic period (C. 2350 B. C.) supplies, in the words of Hrozny, "a strong evidence of a lively commercial intercourse between India and Near East". The next definite proof is the presence of *Āryan* names amongst the Kassite rulers of Babylonia (about 1746 to 1180 B. C.) and of the Vedic deities *Indra*, *Mitra*, *Varuṇa*, and *Nāsatya* amongst the Mitanni people at Boghaz-koi in Cappadocia (about 1400 B. C.). Equally significant is the discovery at Boghaz-koi of a text on horse-breeding by Ki-kku-li, a Mitannian author, which contain numerous Sanskrit words as *Ekāvartana*, *Dvyaāvartana*, *Tryāvartana*, etc.