The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c8.18
The Buddhist Art of Gandhāra: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c8.18
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c8.18
Fig. 12, the last of my Early Indian illustrations, shows one of the dwarf capitals of the Western Gateway. I have included it here mainly for the sake of comparison with the kindred Atlants of the Gandhāra School (cf. figs. 52, 70, 108, 145, 146). The Indian figures belong to the race of pot-bellied *kumbhaṇḍas* so familiar in Early Indian Art. Rough and uncouth as they may seem, they are the embodiment of energy and massive strength, and perfectly fulfil their architectural function of supporting the heavy gateway superstructure. Whoever was the sculptor, he certainly had a rare feeling for rugged strength and a rare genius for translating it into stone.