Maurya and Shunga Art c5.3

c5.3

The Brahmanical sūtras and the Buddhist jātakas reflect to a very great extent the art and culture of Northern India during the centuries of Haryaṅka, Śaiśunāga and Nanda domination. Storeyed buildings, presumably of wood and brick, were already widely known and mention is made of round and square huts perhaps of wood and bamboo. An advanced knowledge of the use of metals like tin, lead, silver, copper and iron shaped and formed into objects meant for various domestic and other purposes is already known from later Vedic texts, and the jātakas reveal that there were eighteen different kinds of ‘śilpas’ or arts and crafts including carpentery, smithery, leather-dressing and painting. Metal workers in general were probably known by the word ‘kammāra’ ( sans.