A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c13.s1.6

c13.s1.6

The innumerable ancient sites in Magadha or South Bihār and the neighbouring districts, a region much of which is familiar to me, are full of well-executed images, mostly dating from the times of Pāla rule, between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The destruction due to Muhammadan hatred of images has been less complete than in the upper provinces. Mediaeval Buddhism in its Tantric forms approximated so closely to the Brahmanical Hinduism that even a skilled observer may sometimes hesitate to decide as to the religion for the service of which the image was destined—the Buddhist Tārā, for instance, is not easily distinguishable from the Hindu Lakshmī. Although the style of the sculptures is always dominated by the formalism of ritual prescription, artists of exceptional ability and skill could make their powers more or Plate XL. Sūrya, the Sun, driven in 7-horsed lotus-car by the legless Aruṇa, the Dawn; 5½ feet high; in black carboniferous shale or clay slate; excavated in Rājmahāl Hills, Santāl Parganas, Bengal, about 1840; probably of 12th cent.: No. 929, Ind. Sec., V. & A. Museum (dimensions are: group, 5½× 2¾ feet; central figure, 3 feet 10¼ inches in height). Publ. No. 1020, Pl. CXLIII, vol. xiii, *J. I. A. I.*