The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c5.s5.11

c5.s5.11

Such, at least, is the theory which we could not refrain from submitting to the appreciation of Indianists. Taken altogether, it is only an attempt at synthesis, an effort first to coordinate logically, then to organize in accordance with the laws of an historical development, a series of facts already known. In this sense there is not one Buddhist archæologist, commencing with Fergusson and Cunningham, who has not contributed to it, and it may be found more or less devoid of originality. Our whole ambition would be precisely that it should give, when read, the impression of being already public property. That would be the best of symptoms; for none is better adapted to produce a belief that — except for the retouches which the progress of research will inevitably give to it — it is destined to endure.