The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.30

c9.30

Further on it is impossible to trace the influence of the new type of the human figure as evolved by the artists of the Benares school of sculpture of the early Gupta period. In one respect, the three great schools of Gupta sculpture agree, which is their method of treatment of bas-reliefs. Another important feature of all Gupta schools is the introduction of subjects from the orthodox Brahmanical or Hindu religion into bas-reliefs and on this subject all the three great northern schools as well as their offshoots agree. Bas-reliefs, primarily employed for the depiction of the *Buddha-Carita* or the *Jātakas* began to be employed for the depiction of scenes of Hindu mythology the best known examples of which are the great lintels from Gadhwa in the Allahabad district, now in the Lucknow museum, and the three great panels on the Daśāvatāra temple at Deogadh, in the Jhansi district. It is in the separate treatment of these bas-reliefs discovered at Rajaona, in the Munger³ district and those at Nālandā that the distinct features of the Pāṭaliputra school came to be recognised.