History of Indian and Eastern Architecture v1.c16.73

v1.c16.73

From what has been said above regarding the sculptures of Bharaut and Sânchî, it appears evident that the Indians had a school of art of their own before they knew anything of the arts of the Western world; but that native art seems to have had very little influence on the arts of Gandhâra. The Western arts, on the contrary, acting through that country, seem to have had considerable influence on those of India at periods about and subsequent to the Christian Era. It seems at least almost impossible to escape the conviction that the arts of Amarâvatî and the later caves, say of the Andhra period, betray marked evidence of Western influence; and it seems that it is only through Gandhâra that it can have reached them.