Maurya and Shunga Art c5.2

c5.2

Any attempt at an explanation of the phenomenon referred to above must take into account the state of artistic effort and activities in India itself during the centuries immediately preceeding that of the Mauryas; i.e. during the period dominated by the Haryaṅka, the Śaiśunāga and the Nanda dynasties on the one hand, and the place of India, especially Northern India, in the entire culture-complex of the early Asiatic world, on the other. It will also be necessary to consider at the same time the historical and cultural forces that were at work at the Mauryan court which was directly responsible for Mauryan art.