Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c6.2

c6.2

A prolonged examination of the mediæval sculptures found in the North-Eastern provinces of India leads one to the conclusion that a new school of sculpture rose in these provinces in the later part of the mediæval period (800—1200 A. D.). Further investigations prove that the date of the rise of this school synchronized with the formation of a new empire in the eastern half of Northern India by Dharmmapāla, the second independent monarch of the Gauḍa country. Fortunately for us, the majority of images and in many cases architectural specimens also, which have been discovered in these provinces, can be dated with much greater exactitude than sculptures of any other province or school in India. In the case of the majority of these sculptures found in the eastern provinces of India we do not find their dates engraved upon them; but in almost every case, there is either a short votive record or a religious formula inscribed on it. The forms of the characters of these inscriptions enable us to determine, with much greater precision, the date of the sculptures on which they are inscribed, in comparison with sculptures from other provinces, where such data are absent in the majority of cases.