The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c33.49

v1.c33.49

Nor does this numismatic evidence stand alone. It is endorsed also by the other antiquities of this age which have come down to us, though in their case with this notable difference—a difference for which political considerations readily account—that, whereas the coins of the Indo-Parthians evince a close dependence on Parthian prototypes, warranting the presumption that the kings who issued them were of Parthian stock, the contemporary architecture and other antiquities show relatively little evidence of the semi-barbarous influence from that region. Of the buildings of the Eurasian Greeks themselves no remains have yet been brought to light save the unembellished walls of some dwelling houses, but the monuments erected at Taxila and in the neighbourhood during the Scytho-Parthian supremacy leave no room for doubt that architecture of the classical style had long been fashionable in that quarter of India; for, though by that time the decorative features were beginning to be Indianised, the Hellenistic elements in them were still in complete preponderance over the Oriental. Thus, the ornamentation of the *stūpas* of this period was primarily based on the 'Corinthian' order, modified by the addition of Indian motifs; while the only temples that have yet been unearthed are characterised by the presence of Ionic columns and classical mouldings. In the example of the former class of structures shown in Pl. XXXI, 85, the Indian elements in the design are more than usually conspicuous, but even in this *stūpa*, which is referable to the reign of Azes, they are restricted to the small brackets over the Corinthian capitals, and to the subsidiary *toraṇas* and arched niches which relieve the interspaces between the pilasters.