according to Nearchus, the Hindus dyed their beards with various colours, so
that some were red, some white, some black, others purple, some green. The
female dress differs from that of the Hindus even more than the male. A striped
petticoat is gathered in at the knees so as to form a neat and modest garb, and a
cloak or tippet like that of the men is thrown generally over one shoulder so as to
leave one breast bare, but sometimes both are covered. The head-dress is a neat
and elegant turban.
Who then are these people? From the peculiarities of their costume, and their
living in the woods, some authorities are inclined to regard them as priests or
ascetics, though, it is to be noted, they are nowhere represented as worshipping
Topes, hero-wheels, or the disc and crescent symbols (the sun and moon.) In one
compartment, however, they are evidently worshipping the serpent in a fire-
temple. Fergusson concludes that they were the aboriginal inhabitants of Malwa,
to whom came the Hindus as conquerors or missionaries (or both?) The Topes
were erected and the sculpture wrought by the conquering race, and the others
are always represented as inferior and engaged in servile employments, but not
as converts to Buddhism. The only act of adoration in which we see them
concerned is the adoration of the five-headed Naga. Mr. Fergusson proposes to
call them Dasyus, not because such a name has any local or traditional authority,
but because in the Vedas and the heroic poems it seems to be applied to the
aboriginal people of India as opposed to the Aryans.
Proceeding now to a consideration of the sculptures, we find that one half of
those at Sanchi represent religious acts, such as the worship of the Dagoba or of
Trees. Once or twice the Wheel is the object of adoration, and once the Serpent.
Other bas-reliefs represent events in history, and some again are devoted to the
ordinary incidents of every man’s life. Their general execution is vigorous
though rude. Those at Amravati “are perhaps as near in scale of excellence to the
contemporary art of the Roman empire under Constantine, as to any other that
could be named; or, rather, they should be compared with the sculptures of the
early Italian Renaissance, as it culminated in the hands of Ghiberti, and before
the true limits between the provinces of painting and sculpture were
understood.”
Let us describe an upper bas-relief which has been found on the eastern gateway.