The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c7.s7.77

v1.c7.s7.77

The beginnings of art, as of other fruits of human intelligence and labour, can be traced to the palaeolithic age. Starting with improvising crude tools and implements, men made steady progress in civilization—turned out better implements, good pottery, simple ornaments, dwelling-houses, and megalithic tombs. But no structures anterior to the Mauryan epoch survive in the Deccan at the present day. The reason is obvious. The earliest buildings were made out of mud or mud-bricks, bamboo canes, and other kinds of wood. The ancient monuments that have been brought to light south of the Vindhyas are almost all post-Aśokan and Buddhist in inspiration. They consist of rock-cut leṇas and chaityagṛhas and structural vihāras and stūpas discovered both in the western and in the eastern dominions of the Sātavāhanas. A graphic account of the principal monuments of this period is given in Part IX of this book, which shows what high levels of artistic conception and technical skill were attained by the Deccan craftsmen during the Sātavāhana régime.