The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c7.s1.t2.43

c7.s1.t2.43

We shall here end these notes, already, perhaps, too long and nevertheless most summary. If we wished to describe in detail and one by one the five hundred and more characters, who, without counting the animals, figure on this one gate alone, we should never have finished; and we might just as well undertake to write an encyclopædia of Indian Antiquities. The little that we have said will, at least, be sufficient to justify the double allegation which we believed might be put forward regarding this gate (p. 80) : it seems in fact upon investigation that these sculptures are for the most part deciphered; and no one will think of disputing the fact that they offer a certain amount of interest for the history of civilization in general, and more especially for that of art applied to religion.