Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c6.s3.139

c6.s3.139

The Jātakas nowhere expressly mention an image of god, but from what we are told of the Cetiyas, thūpas and the devakulas or the temples outside the cities, where presumably the gods or devatās were worshipped, we might assume that such images were not unfamiliar in those days. Within a few centuries these shrines developed into those wonderful structures, at Barhut and at Sāñchī among others, where series of scenes from these very stories first begin to challenge the artist's imagination and embody his skill.⁷