A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c11.s2.71

c11.s2.71

ground, and from age to age renewed or replaced the monuments fallen to decay. When the armies of the idol-hating Muslims sacked Benares in the closing years of the twelfth century, the rich and splendid establishments at Sārnāth were ruthlessly burnt and reduced to irretrievable ruin. But in these latter days the pick of the patient excavator has brought to light the remains of the ancient monasteries, temples, and statuary in such abundance that the history of Indian sculpture from Asoka to the Muhammadan conquest might be illustrated with fair completeness from the finds at Sārnāth alone.