The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c3.4

c3.4

Need we remark that, where religious art and archæology are the theme, literature and literary history cannot be far away? M. Foucher has commented upon the predominantly narrative character of the bas-reliefs with which he is dealing : it may indeed be said that, apart from purely decorative figures and symbols, the great bulk of them are illustrations of scenes from the life of the Buddha. The life must, indeed, be conceived in an ample sense, according to that grandiose Indian conception whereby, as M. Foucher opportunely reminds us, the biography is not confined to a single span, but covers the whole series of countless births, under all forms of existence, which were necessary for the accumulation of the positive and negative characteristics manifested finally in the Great Being, the Perfectly Illuminated. The scenes therefore need to be read, and at first the very alphabet was wanting. The problem was of far greater obscurity than in the case of what M. Foucher terms the magnificent illustrated bible constituted by the sculptors of the cathedral of Chartres. The texts of the Buddhist religion have only gradually been made known : those events in the life which were specially marked out for illustration — the twelve acts of Buddha and so forth — had not been separated out; the Jātaka book, recording the tales of previous births, was not at first available. The names of those scholars to whom we are indebted for the first tentatives at decipherment, such as the inspired, if not impeccable, archæologist, General Sir Alexander Cunningham, Prof. Grünwedel of the Berlin Ethnographical Museum, Dr. Serge d’Oldenburg, Perpetual Secretary of the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, and others will be found recurring in M. Foucher's pages. But undoubtedly the matter has in M. Foucher's own work made a long step forward : the reader will remark not only the artistic insight which gives so much ease and certainty to the identifications in this volume, but also the emergence of principles fitted to serve as a guide for future discovery and criticism in this field of study. In a word, we see taking shape, not only an art, but also a science of discovery and interpretation in regard to Buddhist, and by consequence to Indian, illustration.