A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c10.s3.16

c10.s3.16

describes as belonging to the best period of Gandhāra,¹ the art has become more Indian, more national, and more spiritual, but it has not yet achieved the true ideal of Indian art. Since, however, it is Indian influence, Indian thought, which has so far perfected the style, it is surely incorrect to say that the ideal of Indian Buddhist art has been created by foreigners. Foreign hands may have held the tools, but the influences which have dominated the art have been throughout Indian. . . . The perfected ideal of Indian art is as far in advance of the Gandhāran type as the art of the Parthenon surpasses the art of Gandhāra. Neither artistically nor technically is it possible to place the best Gandhāran sculpture in the same plane with that of Borobodūr, Elephanta, or Ellora, or even with the best modern Nepalese metal-work, such as the Buddha in Plate VI.’²