Indian Sculpture c4.s2.1

c4.s2.1

THE trend persists, while the quality has weakened, in the next chapter of Indian sculpture (Figs. 2, 10, 25). It is the Gangetic aftermath of the art of the Indus valley. Its large-sized and highly polished sculptures have a somewhat ‘colonial’ accent, although they are to a considerable extent (Fig. 10) imperially patronised by Aśoka Maurya (272–232 B.C.). An interval of two thousand years or more, between the last days of the Indus civilisation and its expansion¹⁷ from the west to the east of the country, did not sever this connection.