The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c13.s2.2

c13.s2.2

Various features of the Sikri carvings combine to show that they cannot be far removed in date from those already described in this and the preceding chapter. Prominent among such features are the Corinthian pilasters with rounded shafts set in countersunk panels, the ungainly-looking figures of the Buddha with their outsize and frequently rimmed haloes, and the presence of *śāla* trees in scenes with which they have no legendary connexion. Taken together these features are a significant index to the approximate age of the carvings and justify their inclusion in the Adolescent Period. On the other hand, there are other and no less significant features which point to a somewhat later date than that to which we have assigned the Mardān and Sanghao-Nathu groups. Thus, the youthful Vajrapāṇi of figs. 75 and 76 is a type that we have so far not met with but with which we shall become familiar in the period of Maturity. Similarly, the heavy canopy of pipal leaves over the head of the Buddha in fig. 77 is an outstanding characteristic of certain reliefs of this class dating from the early years of the Mature period. And the neat, trim figures of the *devas*, with their carefully tailored costumes and schematic grouping, point to the deepening influence of Early Indian art and the development of the Mature style in Gandhāra which resulted from it. Taking everything into consideration, I think that we shall not be far wrong if we place the Sikri carvings near the end of the first century A.D., where they mark at once the close of the Adolescent Period of Gandhāra art and the advent of its maturity.