[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Architecture and art](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art) › [A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911) › c9.s2.63 # A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2.63 A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c9.s2.63 - **Language:** English ### [c9.s2.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.63) All the Sānchī sculptures, like the Ajaṇṭā paintings, deal with Buddhist subjects. If a composition seems in our eyes to be purely secular, that is only because we do not understand its meaning. Genre pictures, whether in paint or bas-relief, do not exist in the ancient art of India. The main object of the artist was to illustrate his Bible, and if, perchance, the illustration could be made into a pretty picture, so much the better; but anyhow, the sacred story must be told. - [Previous: c9.s2.62](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.62) - [Next: c9.s2.64](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.64) - [Up: c9.s2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.63](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.art.smith-1911.c9.s2.63) · Pramāṇa