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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ JULY, 1926
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B. Early Period. "The early period falls into two main divisions. In the first the Buddha figure does not appear; in the second it does. These two halves are, however, united by the quality of their inspiration and their content. Here is cut in stone the original tradition still in its living oral stage. The vivid, simple style of these sculptures owes to the strength of the tradition from which they spring its direct appeal. The existence of the Jataka scenes and their numerical sum at each of the succeeding sites is proof of this, for at Bharhut they are everywhere ; at Sánchí their numbers drop to a handful, repeated again and again. At Mathura in Kushan times and at Amaravati and in Gandhára sculpture they are almost lost in the wealth of the canonical and literary life scenes.
Early I. "The sculpture of Early Period (I) as typified at Bhårhut (2nd cent. B.c.) is preluded by a few scattered sculptures, mostly colossal, some of which are finely polished. Something of the Mauryan fineness of finish may perhaps be ascribed to these sculptures of which the Mathura Museum Yaksha is typical. But they belong to the Early Period. The Yakshi from Bebnagar is absolutely of the Bhårhut type.
"In the same way certain terracottas may best be described as being of the Sánchí type (circa 1 A.D.). These sub-divisions may be set down as Early I (a) and (b).
Early II. "At Mathurs two sets of sculpture occur; the first of which is Kushân (2nd cent. A.D.) and shows the early development of the Buddha figure. In the Sârnâth Bodhisattva of the
3rd year' the Ushnisha is not rendered, but there is a mortise hole on the skull. An early Kushån standing Bodhisattva bolding an alabastron, in the Mathura Museum, shows & rudimentary Ushnisha which is dimly conceived, being envolved with the head-dress. The sitting Bodhisattvas of the Katra type (one of which is dated in the 39th year) have & distinctly rendered snail's shell-like Ushnisha. The mudras and postures of these figures are rendered confidently and easily. The cross-legged position has already occurred in a medallion at Bhârhut. The drapery is of the schematic type usual at Bhârhut and Sânchi. The waist cloth knotted on the hip is typical of this school.
"Later certain seated Buddhas appear in which the clothing and drapery show distinct Gandhåran affinities. There is a fragment of a Corinthian capital with a very Indian nymph amid its foliage, being of typical Mathura manufacture. The earliest Gandharan influence on Indian art therefore occurs in the late 2nd century A.D. This Kushân sculpture may be set down as Early II (a).
"It is gucceeded at Mathura by a type of sculpture that is directly reminiscent of Amaravati (3rd century A.D.) which provides the types for Early II (6). Here the sculpture falls into two local sub-divisions, for in the first the Buddha figure does not appear; later it does appear. The power and rhythm of the design and the subtlety of the modelling link Amaravati as a whole with the. Gupta school. At this time there also originated other motives which persisted in the later medieval art--the hosts of flying figures, etc. I cannot but regard it as the very flower of the ancient traditional school, the Gupta attainment being classical and the succeeding medieval increasingly conventional, iconographic and hieratic.
C. Gapta. "The history of Gupta sculpture starts at Udayagiri in 401 A.D. In stylistic order there follow the Garhwa pillars and fragments of parallel style from Bhilsa, dated in Kumaragupta's reign, the Tigowa shrine, the Nachna shrines and the Deogarh Vishnu temple. A study of Gupta doorways provides the clearest view of the progress of this art. It leads directly to Ajanta, but not without a difference. The fine delicacy of the earlier leaf and
