A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c7.49

c7.49

The connexion between art and religion in India being so close, and the references to the three principal Indian religions—Buddhism, Jainism, and Brahmanical Hinduism—being necessarily frequent in the course of this work, readers not versed in the history and peculiarities of Indian religions may welcome a few words of explanation concerning them in their relation to art. The last-named religion—Hinduism—really is the oldest of the three, sending down some of its roots into the Vedas, while others penetrate deeply into hidden strata of aboriginal belief. Historically, both Buddhism and Jainism, which, as systems known to us, both date from 500 B. C. in round numbers, may be regarded as offshoots or sects of Hinduism. The earliest monuments of art, however, happen to be Buddhist, and so Buddhism has the first claim to our attention.