Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c29.10

c29.10

¹ Some of these reliefs were evidently prepared from designs executed by other hands and it is that what is implied by the expression rūpakamma prepared by the ivory carvers of Vidiśā (वेदसकेहि दंतकारेहि रूपकम्मं कृतं). In such cases the word sculptors as used by me above is not quite suitable. My friend Mr. Panday has drawn my attention to Prof. Grünwedel's conclusion on the subject which runs as follows:— "The different peoples that lived side by side in India were distinguished from one another above all physically; contact with peoples of higher Asia in the time of Aśoka revealed new types, and thus we undoubtedly see an attempt, for instance, to represent foreign nations in the equestrian groups that adorn the Sāñchī gateways. "On the eastern gate, for example, besides mythical foreign peoples two figures are represented riding on horned lions. One of the heads is clearly not of the Aryan type; the woolly negro-like hair and the thick coarse shape of the whole head surprises one; this same figure holds a bunch of grapes in his hand . . . . . The whole series of these figures—those mounted on goats, on dromedaries, on lions—present a distinct contrast to the Hindus riding on elephants . . . . . "The great majority of the other reliefs at Sāñchī present the Hindu type—a long head with full round face, large eyes and thick lips. At Bharhut the same type appears but it is somewhat harsher." *Buddhist Art in India.*, Trans. by Burgess, pp. 33-34. *E. g.*, *Ind. Ant.*, 1900, p. 290.