Maurya and Shunga Art c8.2

c8.2

Besides the animal sculptures described and discussed above, quite a considerable number of independent figure sculptures in the round, and of various sizes and proportions, and a few fragments of reliefs have been ascribed to the Maurya period,⁴⁸ mainly on the ground of their having the so-called Mauryan polish on them and their being carved out of grey sand-stone from Chunar. These are insufficient ground indeed. The art of giving lustrous polish to the stone the Maurya artists learnt evidently from the Achaemenians, and once they practised it in large scale and made it current, it was only in the nature of things that the practice would continue for some time at least, and in stray instances even when the power and authority of the Maurya court had vanished and Maurya court art that apparently found in this polish an expression of imperial glory and splendour had become a thing of the past. Nor is the argument of a common place of origin so far as the material is concerned more potent. Stone as the material ‘par excellence’ for sculptural work was a sort of a new learning with the Mauryan court artists, and this material was quarried at Chunar. It was handled for at least a few generations and was found to respond very well to the hammer and chisel of the stone sculptors. It is only likely therefore that later sculptors would continue for some time to have their material imported from the same quarry until they struck at other quarries and found their stone good enough to meet their requirements. It is therefore on the arguments of conception and style that we must take our stand to argue whether they can be labelled as Mauryan or not.