The Early History of India, from 600 B.C. to the Muhammadan Conquest, including the Invasion of Alexander the Great c30.104

c30.104

The art of sculpture, devoted in most places to the service of the Hindu gods, and in the Pāla dominions to that of modified Buddhism, was developed in diverse styles by many schools of artists. The aesthetic value of that abundant mediaeval sculpture is the subject of keen controversy, admirers seeing in it the highest achievement of Hindu genius, while other critics are repelled by its lack of restraint and its tendency to lapse into ugly grotesqueness. The paintings of mediaeval times, unfortunately, have disappeared utterly, so that it is impossible to judge whether pictorial skill advanced or declined. The art of coinage certainly decayed so decisively that not even one mediaeval coin deserves notice for its aesthetic merits.