A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c7.44

c7.44

Sculpture, too, if the semi-foreign styles of Asoka's reign and the Gandhāran region be excluded, owes little to foreign models. The strong effort continued for several centuries on the north-western frontier to acclimatize Greek forms and technique failed in the end, and the alien style was swamped by the native. The lineal descendants of the Gandhāra school must be sought in the Far East, not in India. Greek artistic canons and rules of proportion never succeeded in making headway against the strong current of ancient Indian tradition. Hindu sculpture, whatever may be thought of its intrinsic quality, continued to be Indian on the whole, guided by Indian not Greek principles. The foreign influences, Assyrian, Persian, or Greek, had merely superficial effect, chiefly traceable in decorative details.