The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

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ment in nature, hostile or friendly, in the shape
of a spirit anthropomorphically described
obviated the necessity for the development of
landscape. As the dryad in Greece personified
the grove, so in India the human shapes of
yakshi and naga represented tree and lake. Only
such details of natural settings as were necessary
to the interests of his didactic narrative concerned
the Indian artist. As in Giotto a single
oak could represent the whole forest of St
Francis's wandering, a single banyan suffices
to suggest the home of the elephants in the
depths of the great forest.
It should be mentioned before leaving the
subject of art in the Early Andhra Period that
the late Dr Heinrich Zimmer recently proposed
a date of first century a.d. for the gates at Sanchi
an inscription of King Sri Satakarni (c. 15-30
a.d.) appears on the southern torana, and the
others presumably were completed within a
relatively short period after the work was begun.
This chronology does not, of course, affect
the position of the Andhra sculpture at Sanchi
in its relation to the earlier art of the Sunga
Period and the development in the Later
Andhra Period.
51 and 52. Silver plaques from the Oxus Treasure.
London, British Museum
Turning to the minor arts in the Early Classic
Periods, we may begin our account by examining
a copper lota or water jar, found at Kundlah
in the Kulii Hills, and probably a work of the
Sunga Period [50]. The engraved attenuated
figures with their tubular limbs immediately
suggest the reliefs of Bhaja and the primitive
carvings of Stupa 2 at Sanchi [32, 36, and 37].
A number of silver medallions, originally part
of the Oxus Treasure, with representations of
elephant-riders [5 1 and 52] are the smaller metal
counterparts of similar designs found at Sanchi
and in the roundels of the Bharhut stupa. 6 These
are the Indian counterparts of the classical
design of the Bactrian plate in illustration 87.