in its earlier stages of progress, nor have we any material improvement in the art over what it was in Asoka's period. But if they learnt it from artists of another nation, we should expect no remains shewing the ruder stages of development of the art; we should, on the contrary, expect the sudden appearance of the art in a highly advanced state; and we should further expect that a people who had been unable or unwilling to use its energies in discovering the art themselves, should, even when it was communicated to them from outside, remain stationary or retrograde. The history of Indian sculpture is one of retrogression; not a single step forward have the Indians made since Asoka's time, but backwards they have been only too readily moved.
It is my conviction—a conviction I have been forced to regretfully—that the Indians knew nothing of stone-cutting or stone sculpture till the Greeks under Alexander, or perhaps Darius, invaded India, and communicated the art to its people. In support of this, I point to the vast difference in the art of sculpture between the remains found in and near the Punjab, where Greek influence was strongly felt, and those of the same age found further east; more than this, there is positively an appearance of a graduated deterioration, proportioned in some measure to the distance of the locality from Greek influence; and finally, as Greek power and influence declined, a corresponding decline affected the art of Indian sculpture.[1]
Before passing on to other places, it may be interesting to give what appears to me to have been the ancient names of the ranges of hills at the extremity of which the ruins just noticed are situated, and of the rivers issuing from it; the hills are now known locally as the Kawa Kol hills.
HILLS AND RIVERS.
If we consult the Bhagavata Padma and Mârkandeya Purânas, we find among the mountains one range called the Konwa or Kolahala (Vish. Pur., Vol. II, p. 141, Notes, FitzEdw. Hall's edition), and there is every probability that the Kawa Kol hills are meant. I have, however, other evidence of the probability of my identification, which is to be
- ↑ Since the above was written, the discoveries at Bharhut prove that the earliest temples or buildings (as there sculptured) were wooden; at least the style and constructive features are purely wooden.
