Age of the Nandas and Mauryas c8.14

c8.14

The final chapter (XI) on Art from the pen of Dr. Nihar-ranjan Ray is a comprehensive and up-to-date survey of a difficult and interesting subject. The great acumen with which the author traces the development of the artistic tradition within the Mauryan period, even within a single reign, and adopts tests for the separation of the play of indigenous from that of foreign inspiration will not escape the attention of the discerning reader. Dr. Ray does not hesitate to declare as post-Mauryan several pieces that are generally held to be Mauryan on grounds of the material and technique which are hardly adequate in his eyes. His main thesis is that all the Mauryan art accessible to us is court art strongly marked by extraneous influences, Hellenistic and Achaemenian.