Page:Asoka - the Buddhist Emperor of India.djvu/139

Rh the character of the carpenter's art of the period is well known from the has-relief pictures and from the railings and other forms in stone, which, as Fergusson so persistently urged, undoubtedly are copied from wooden prototypes. Burma teaches us that wooden architecture need not be lacking in dignity or magnificence, and we may feel assured that the timber structures which preceded the Bharhut rail and the Sânchî gateways were worthy of a powerful sovereign, a stately court, and a wealthy hierarchy. The beads, jewellery, and seals of the Maurya period and earlier ages which have been found from time to time prove that the ancient Indian lapidaries and goldsmiths were not inferior in delicacy of touch to those of any other country. The recorded descriptions and sculptured representations of chariots, hamess, arms, aecoutrements, dress, textile fabrics, and other articles of necessity or luxury indicate, that in the third century the Indian empire had attained a stage of material ciyilization fully equal to that reached under the famous Mughal emperors eighteen and nineteen hundred years later.

The sculptures in bas—relief, even if they cannot be often described as beautiful, although some may be, are full of life and vigour, and frankly realistic. No attempt is made to idealize the objects depicted, although the artists have allowed their fancy considerable play in the representations of tritons and other fabulous creatures. The pictorial scenes, even without the help of perspective, tell their stories vividly, and