Maurya and Shunga Art c15.3

c15.3

Unlike Maurya court art, the art of the time of the Śuṅgas is born of India’s own seed with deep and intimate ethnic and local roots. It aims at collective expression of the ideas and ideologies of the people of Madhyadeśa and Eastern India and reflects their tastes and preferences. Maurya naturalism views the visible world in a state of momentary nervous tension and renders it in stagnant compactness and strength; it relies essentially on the outer aspect of things. Śuṅga naturalism on the other hand does not ignore the outer aspect of things but links it in an inherent connectedness with a pre-existent situation. This view of the visible world gives to Śuṅga Art its lively and fluid character, a quality that is ever present in Indian plastic art. A simple awareness of life enlivens and illumines the art of the Śuṅgas; a consciousness of earthly power, dignity and grandeur impart to the art of the Mauryas its monumental strength and heavy compactness.