The ancient and medieval architecture of India: a study of Indo-Aryan civilisation

]i6 IMAGES

OF THE BUDDHA

the ideals of Indo-Aryan

art, itwas not

until theGandharan

master-masons had drunk

in the inspiration of Indo-Aryan

philosophy and religion that any of

their sculpture became

worthy of comparisonwith thebest

original artofIndia.

Indirectly, however, the inflow of this current

from

the

West greatlyassisted the

newmovement from within,which

wasalreadytending

towards

the

removal oftherestraintwhich

hadhindered thehigher

developmentofIndo-Aryan sculpture

andpaintingfromtheearliestVedictimes.

TheKushankings

wereevidentlyliberalpatronsofthefinearts,

and,likethe

Great

Moguls,were personally

interested

in

sculpture and painting.

Thoughofthe Buddhistfaith,theywereindifferenttotherule

oftheHinayanaschool,

whichforbade

anyiconofthe Master's

personality in the service ofthe Sangha. The elders of the

Buddhist ChurchinGandhara,anxioustoreconciletheirroyal

patrons'dilettantismwiththeritualistic

traditionsoftheircreed,

withdrewtheprohibition,butlaiddownstrictrules,inthespirit

of

Vedic

philosophy,topreventvulgaridolatry. The imageof

the Blessed

One

was

not to be fashioned, like those of the

Olympian

gods,asanidealhuman

;

norwasittobeworshipped

untilithadbeenconsecrated

withappropriaterites. Theimager

byspiritualinsight

mustrealisetheDivinitywhichtransfigured

Himwhen Heattained Nirvana

underthe BodhitreeatGayi:

hemusttransporthimselfby

meditationtotheTusitaheavens,

wheretheBuddhanowwatched
humanitywith compassionate

eyes, andshowthedivineglory

revealedtohimthere.

Thenaiveendeavoursofthe

unimaginativeWesterncrafts-

man to adapt his materialistic

art to theseunfamiliarmystic

ideas

are to be seen in the early

sculptures of the Gandhara

school. Theintellectual
atmosphereoftheKushancourt must

have
presented manyanalogies
tothatwhichexists
in

modern

India: there

were the similar

endeavours to

understand

the

Indian mind

de haut en bas,

the same aloofness

from it,

and