Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c4.3

c4.3

When I was studying Indian Archæology under Dr. Bloch he had pointed out to me the possibility of writing a thesis on the chronological sequence of artistic development in the North-Eastern provinces of India on the basis of palæography. The collection of mediæval sculptures in the North-Eastern provinces of India contained a very large number of inscribed specimens. Buddhist images as a rule bear the Buddhist creed as well as a donative record and in the majority of cases the creed is invariably present. At the suggestion of Dr. Bloch I undertook the palæographical examination of inscribed images from Bengal and Bihar in the Archæological Section of the Indian Museum as early as 1904. From May 1907 the Archæological Section of the Indian Museum was practically in my charge up to the 31st July 1917, and I had ample opportunities of examining all specimens from Bengal and Bihar belonging to that collection. The conclusions deduced from the palæographical examination of the votive records were embodied in a long note in 1914 but for various reasons it has not been possible to arrange for its publication at that time.