The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c15.14

c15.14

The naïve endeavours of the unimaginative Western craftsman to adapt his materialistic art to these unfamiliar mystic ideas are to be seen in the early sculptures of the Gandhara school. The intellectual atmosphere of the Kushan court must have presented many analogies to that which exists in modern India: there were the similar endeavours to understand the Indian mind *de haut en bas*, the same aloofness from it, and the same honest, but hopeless, misconceptions. There is also a curious suggestion of modern commercialism in the average work of the Gandharan craftsmen. One can easily imagine them crying their wares in the manner of the Western shopkeeper: "Large stock of Olympian gods in latest fashion to suit every taste. Correct Baktrian images, as supplied to the Royal Court," etc.!