Indian Sculpture and Painting, Illustrated by Typical Masterpieces, with an Explanation of their Motives and Ideals c8.42

c8.42

The Sanchi sculptures are supposed to cover a period beginning with Asoka's reign, down to about 140 B.C. It would require a whole volume to do them justice, but, except as an important link in the evolution of the Indian ideal, they do not belong to the scope of this work. They provide, however, a most wonderful picture of Indian life and thought, as I have described at the beginning of this chapter. The visits of the pilgrims to the sacred shrines, the stories told by the camp-fires, the fabled pre-existences of Buddha in the form of bird and beast, and all the mysteries of the untrodden primeval forests, are revealed in a series of sculptures which, besides being most valuable for historical purposes, makes a most delightful, original Indian jungle-book. We can see, also, how strongly the idea of the essential unity of creation had taken hold of the Indian mind. For all Nature is shown animated by a single purpose; man and beast, gods and demi-gods, and the weird monsters of Indian mythology thronging together to join in worship of the emblems of the Buddhist faith.