Maurya and Shunga Art c12.2

c12.2

The pre-Aryan tribal and primitive elements in early Buddhism are but too well-known. Equally well-known is the fact that these elements were woven into the texture of a doctrinal scheme that is admittedly Aryan in origin and character. Is it unlikely that a similar process was at work in the realm of early Indian art which happens to be Buddhist in religious affiliation? This and other questions in respect of Śunga art and aesthetic ideology can be answered only by a detailed analysis of the character of form of the art of Barhut and Bodhgaya. The formal qualities of this art may therefore be taken up one by one.