Indian Antiquary Vol 52

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Stephen Meredyth Edwardes, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 132

116
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
MAY, 1923
also suffered a severe loss by the deplorable death of M. Odend'hal, who commenced an archaeological survey of the Laos country in 1904 and was treacherously murdered by savages in April of that year.
Despite these misfortunes and obstacles, the work of the School steadily progressed. Those who devoted themselves to the archæological side of the programme were struck by the spontaneous character of the Indian architecture of the Far East. In Champa and Cambodia, oven more clearly than in Java and India, the monuments appear all at once of so finished and perfect a type that they must either have been borrowed directly from another civilization, or have been gradually developed in the country itself throughout a long period of years. This phenomenon is observable twice in Cambodia, in the 6th and the 9th centuries. Thus also appear, almost at the samo moment, pre-Ankoric art and Champa art, and a little later Indo-Javanese art. All these types have analogous features which must be due to a common ancestry : at the same time they differ so distinctly that they must have been separated from the parent stock at various and widely separated epochs. The original source was probably Indian ; this much religious tradition in the different countries indicates; but no definite assertion is at the same time possible in the absence of a single relic of the primordial type. The Pallava architecture of Southern India belongs obviously to the same order as the early forms of Cham, Khmer and Indo-Javanese art, yet it exhibits no closer affinity with any one of these types than that which forms the general link between them all. Even the remains of the earlier Gupta architec. ture and art afford no clearer connexion between India and the schools of Indo-China and Java.
The archæologists of the French Far Eastern School have met with other difficultios, resulting from the dual nature of the creeds borrowed from India. The reaction of these religions, one upon another, are very little understood, particularly outside their country of origin. Consequently the identity of images is easily confused, and it is frequently difficult to distinguish the figure of a Bodhisattva from a Brahmanic deity who possesses similar characteristics. The most curious oscillations from the one iconography to the other have been discovered in the course of archæological exploration in the Far East. It is quite exceptional, also, for images to bear any inscription; and in cases where they do so, the name of the deity is usually a local or special appellation, which often raises an entirely fresh problem. As a general rule, identification has to depend on outward characteristics, attitude, or some particular attribute. Several pages of the Bulletin are devoted to a clear and interesting account of the work of conservation and the obstacles which the School has ensuntere:1 and overooma in this direction, and a complete list is included of the various archeological tours or journeys undertaken under the auspices of the School. Among these may be mentioned M.Parmentier's inventory of Cham antiquities, compiled from 1900 to 1904 ; the mission of MM. Dufour and Carpelux to the Bayon of Ankhor Thom in 1901 and 1904 ; the mission of M. Pelliot to Chinese Turkestan in 1906-08; and the missions to China of Chavannes, Maspero and Aurousseau.
Apparently Indo-China, so far as is at present known, possesses no relics of periods earlier than the age of polished stone, and this is true of the Far East generally, with the single exception of Japan, which has a remarkable collection of chipped flints. The French School, however, has managed to collect a fine set of neolithic relics, some of which were discovered at Samron Sen in Cambodia and others at Tortoise Island in Cochin China.