Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c12.s20.9

c12.s20.9

It is true, that early Indian art knows of certain *motifs*, patterns and designs made current and popular by Maurya court art—this without any reference to the question of art-style, and that quite a large portion of this repertory of *motifs* and designs belongs to the art of Asiatic west which was for a time dominated by Achaemenian and later by colonial Greek imperialism; but it would be short-sightedness to assume that ‘the whole group of *motifs* of western Asiatic aspect was introduced by Aśoka's Persian craftsmen *en bloc*’. There can hardly be any doubt that quite a few of such *motifs* were made current even before the Mauryas, while those that are definitely Hellenistic came in during and after the Maurya period.