Maurya and Shunga Art c7.18

c7.18

It is difficult to say anything about the nationality of the artists of the Maurya court; there is no evidence on the point. But from what has been said above, it is permissible to assume that the Dhauli elephant, the Rampurva bull and perhaps also the Sānkāśya elephant are works of Indian artists working in contemporary Indian style and tradition, and having a thorough mastery of the third dimension and a full consciousness of the Indian outlook. The crowning lions of the early phases, namely, the Basarh-Bakhira and Lauriya-Nandangarh examples, are also works of Indian artists but tutored in the style and tradition of contemporary western art; this is marked in the grappling with the problem of form and its precise execution so evident in these sculptures. There is decided advance in the Rampurva, Sarnath and Sanchi specimens; this may have been achieved by the same Indian artists working increasingly in the direction of contemporary West-Asiatic art, or by colonial artists of the Hellenistic Orient imported by the Maurya court. In any case, there are in these specimens a strong and undeniable Perso-Hellenistic stamp that may not have been imprinted by traditional Indian hands.