The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c11.s1.241

c11.s1.241

I. — Photograph by Major Van Erp. For the interpretation cf. pp. 257-262. We must confess that, at first sight, it is difficult to take this figure seriously. It would be so simple to suppose, for example, that we have merely a statue spoiled in the execution, so that the sculptor, regarding it as an irremediable failure, had decently rid himself of it by burying it beneath the masonry of the *stūpa*. We have, however, to consider, on the one hand, that this imperfect work is unique in its kind and, on the other, that, having been found in position beneath the great central cupola, as were its companions under the 72 encircling small cupolas, it forms part of a finished whole. Only so do we comprehend the importance which the Dutch savants have attached to its discovery.