History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c16.52

v1.c16.52

Among Indian antiquaries different views have been held as to the age of these sculptures, General Cunningham's opinion was that the Baktrian Greeks carried with them into Asia the principles of Grecian sculpture and the forms of Grecian architecture, and either during their supremacy or after their expulsion from Baktria established a school of classical art in the Peshâwar valley. This view further assumed that, when Buddhism was established there under Kanishka and his successors, it bloomed into that rich and varied development we find exhibited in these Gandhâra monasteries. (He admitted, however, that, as all the sculptures are Buddhist, the earliest must be limited to the age of Kanishka, which he assumed to be about b.c. 40,² and that they extend to a.d. 100, or thereabouts.)