The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v2.c16.17

v2.c16.17

In emphasizing the antiquity of the fine arts of the Deccan two questions arise incidentally, first, whether these arts have any connexion with the Indus valley culture, the date of which has been tentatively fixed in the middle of the third millennium B.C.; and secondly, whether the arts in their origin and essential features are indigenous or are based on those of the western Asiatic countries. The answer to the first question is not difficult to give, for there is apparently nothing in common between the styles or technique of the sculpture and architecture of the Deccan and those of the Indus valley. Unless the writings on the seals should, if ever deciphered, prove the contrary, it will be safe to assume that the Indus valley antiquities are more intimately connected with their prototypes in Babylonia and other ancient countries of Western Asia than with the specimens of art produced in the Deccan during the first millennium B.C.