A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.s1.49

c12.s1.49

excavated by certain railway engineers in 1862 from the hall of a ruined monastery situated between the modern mart and the railway station at Sulṭānganj (25° 18′ N., 86° 45′ E.), on the Ganges, in the Bhāgalpur District, Bengal. One of the discoverers brought it home, and some years later presented it to the Birmingham Museum. The image was found lying on the ground, having been wrenched from its massive granite pedestal; but was practically perfect, except that the left foot was broken off above the ankle. The approximate date is fixed by the style and the discovery in an adjoining *stūpa* of a coin of the last Western Satrap of Surāshtra, accompanied by one of his conqueror, Chandragupta II, Vikramāditya, who annexed his dominions about A. D. 390. The statue, therefore, may be dated approximately in A. D. 400, and is among the earliest known Gupta works of art.