A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c10.s2.41

c10.s2.41

and the introduction of the trunk of the tree they resemble the Vatican example. The subject, although retaining the essentials of the Greek myth, has been thoroughly Indianized, both in general treatment and by the substitution of a heavily draped female for the nude boy. The notion once held that the woman should be regarded as Māyā, the mother of Buddha, is erroneous. The better opinion is that the group was intended to represent to Indian minds the carrying off of a female Nāga, or snake sprite, by a monstrous Garuda, the implacable enemy of the snake tribe. As in all the Gandhāra sculptures, the subject is absolutely Indian, no matter how foreign the presentation of it may be in outward form.¹