A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s1.5

c9.s1.5

As explained in Chapter II, the earliest extant examples of architecture, as distinguished from mere engineering, and of the other fine arts, date from the days of Asoka. Nothing deserving the name of a work of art has yet been discovered which can be referred with confidence to an earlier time. His mighty father and grandfather must surely have built palaces, public offices, and temples suitable to the dignity of a powerful empire and proportionate to the wealth of rich provinces, but of such structures not a trace seems to survive. The best explanation of this fact is the hypothesis already discussed (*ante*, p. 23), that the early works of Indian architecture and art were mainly constructed of timber and other perishable materials ill fitted to withstand the ravenous tooth of time. Whatever be the true explanation, the fact remains that the history of Indian art begins with Asoka. 'But,' as Professor Percy Gardner observes, 'there can be no doubt that Indian art had an earlier history. The art of Asoka is a mature art : in some respects more mature than the Greek art of the time, though, of course, far inferior to it, at least in our eyes.'¹ With that mature art we must be content to begin our story, acknowledging the impossibility of tracing in detail the stages of its growth.