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From their appearing so frequently on Buddhist monuments, we may certainly assume that they were converted eventually to Buddhism, and being a tribe dwelling in woods their priests may have become forest ascetics as contradistinguished from the monastic orders of the more civilized © race. If this were so they may have retained the form of dress, and it may have become the fashionable costume of ascetics in future ages. One such certainly * Strabo, XV. 1024. ; ; "+ Only two instances of bearded men occur at Amravati. Both of them appear to be the same people as thuse so frequently represented at Sanchi. , , } Bhilsa Topes, pp. 204. 208. 210, et passim. § M.S, 20. 96 THE TOPE AT SANCHIL much importance here. ating, drinking, and making love are occupations so common among mankind, that it matters little who the parties are who are so engaged in the Sanchi sculptures. But besides all these, there are several important bas-reliefs representing historical events, which it would be very interesting to identify if it were practicable. Generally the lowest architrave in each of the Gateways is so occupied, sometimes both in front and back, as in the Northern Gate, and the two lowest in front of the Eastern, and two historical scenes are represented in Plate XX XVIII., one from the Western, the other from the Southern Gateway, both of which have fallen. : ing oe ae The two latter represent the siege of 4 city in order to recover and to obtain possession of some relics, and the triumphal return of the army with the precious deposit’; and, as will. be afterwards explained, it is probable that the caskets contain the identical relics that were enshrined in No. 3 Tope, and are now in this country. - Be that as it may, the question is, who is the hero of the fight? and who brought home the relics to Sanchi? Assuming the sculpture to have been: executed about the Christian era, does it represent a transaction in the reign of Asoka more than two hundred years earlier, or did the king who erected the gates order these bas- rcliefs to be executed to commemorate some great exploit-of-his-own? TU the king had engraved his own name on the gate, the latter would have been the probable solution, but the inscription states that the sculpture is the “gift of Ananda, the son of Vasishtha, in the reign of Srt SAtakarni.” On the whole, therefore, considering - that it is a religious monument, and the general self-denying character of Buddhism, : it is nore probable that the events represented had passed into the domain of religious history before they were sculptured on the Gateways, and that they were actions sanctified by time. . Unfortunately the other inscriptions, though so numerous, afford us no assistance in this inquiry. It is probably correct to assert that there is not one single inscription, either at Sanchi or Amravati, which has any reference to the. subject about—or_ypon_ which it is engraved. They all record gifts, and gifts only, and it would be as reasonable to look for an explanation of the Resurrection or the Last Supper from the inscription of a memorial window in modern ‘times as to try and find out from those on the Topes what the sculptures represent.* We are thus left pretty much to conjecture; but we shall probably not err far ~ if we consider Agoka as the hero in all, or nearly all, the purely historical bas-reliefs. Not only -was “Agoka the-great apostle of Buddhism before the Christian era, but, as before mentioned, he was especially connected personally with Sanchi. He resided here during the life of his father, when he was only governor of. Ujjain, and before his conversion to- Buddhism. He married the daughter of the Setthi, or Shreshhti, of the place, ‘and she at least continued to reside here after her children * Another circumstance of a mechanical and it is hoped temporary nature adds to our difficulties tere. When Colonel Maisey was at Sanchi he was unable to procure wood either in*sufficient quantities-or of sufficient: lengths to get up near enough to draw the historical bas-reliefs. We are forced, therefore, to depend on . Lieutenant Waterhouse’s photographs, which are on too small a scale to be distinct, and on Colonel Maisey’s verbal descriptions for our information. Both are excellent in their way, but till they are photographéd to a larger scale, or drawn, they cannot be compared with the others in sugh a manner as to detect minute differences, on which the whole question frequently hinges. ; MERIT OF SCULPTURES. 97 had grown up, and had not only been':converted, but had’ assumed the priesthood in the Buddhist hierarchy. It was probably, therefore, through the influence of Agoka that the inhabitants of .Malwa first heard of Buddhism, and if so, there is no one: so likely to have become a popular local hero, nor any one whose acts would more probably be represented on the religious edifices of the place. To this may be added, that the bas-reliefs, in so far as they can be ‘ade out, do represent just such an advent of the Hindus, and the conversion of the natives of the country to Buddhism, as is involved in this hypothesis.. It serves at least. to explain all we now know of them, ‘and may, therefore, be usefully employed till at least some other is started from information not at present available. It-may seem premature, before. ‘esate the sculptures, to attempt anything like a criticism of their merits. It may, however, add to the intelligibility of what follows to point out how extremely different these are to the usual sculptures brought home from India, or represented in Hindu drawings. _Neither at Sanchi nor at Amravati are there any of those many-armed or many-headed divinities who . form the staple of the modern Hindu Pantheon. There are none of those monstrous _eombinations—of men—with—heads vf-elephants or lions or boars. All the men and women represented are human beings, acting as men and women have acted in all times, and the success or failure of the representation may consequently be judged of by the same rules as are applicable to sculptures in any other place or country. Notwithstanding this, the mode of treatment is so original and so local, that it is difficult to assign it any exact position in comparison with the arts of the Western ~ World. It certainly, as a sculptural art, is superior to that of Egypt, but as far - inferior to the art as practised in Greece, The sculptures 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 sculpture and painting were properly understood. The case is somewhat different: as regards the sculptures at, Sanchi. These are ruder, but rnore vigorous. If they want the elegance of design at- Amravati, they make up for it by a distinctness and raciness of expression which is wanting in these more refined compositions. The truth seems to be that the Sanchi sculptures, like everything else there, betray the influence of the freedom derived from wood carving, which, there can be little doubt, immediately preceded these examples, and: formed the school in which they were produced. There can now be very little if any doubt but that this school of Indian art owes its origin to the influence of the Greek kingdom of Bactria.. Of late years considerable collections have been made of Buddhist sculptures from ruined Topes in the neighbourhood of Peshawer.* These are in many respects extremely similar to those at Sanchi, but more closely allied to the classical type. In many of the * I speak confidently of these sculptures, as I have photographs of a considerable number, and specimens of others exist in this country. Unfortunately, no means exist as yet of conveying a knowledge of them to ne public. : (4799.) N 98 _ THE’ TOPE AT SANCHL Punjab examples the costumes and mode of treatment is almost purely western, but we are always able to trace the steps by which the Grecian design becomes Indianized, and changed into the type we find at Sanchi and Amravati. | Perhaps, however, the crowning point of interest in these, sculptures is, that, ies complete our knowledge of the history of stone art in India. Hitherto we have been eroping our way backwards ‘with uncertain steps, never knowing at what conclusions we might ultimately arrive. As far back as the tenth or eleventh centuries -we had abundant examples of structural buildings, and we found that each was perfect in the direct ratio of the age. The history of art in India, so far as we could. trace: it, was written in decay, and finding each example more perfect than the one that followed it, there was reasonable hope that some day we should find sorngeiny that would stand comparison with the arts of the Western World. Beyond the tenth century we were left for guidance almost wholly to the rock- -eut examples. These, however, owing to the coarseness of the material out of which they were excavated, and the difficulties inherent in Cave art, could not be depended upon as trustworthy indications of the state of refinement of the arts in their age.. In so far, however, as architecture is concerned, we learned from them that stone was first thought of as a building material about the uge of Asuka; vertainly after the time of Alexander, and the commencement of the. first intimate intercourse — between the Western and the Eastern World.* The knowledge that we have now gained of the saa.