Page:History of Indian and Eastern Architecture Vol 1.djvu/257

 CHAP. VII. GANDHARA MONASTERIES at present know, of an earlier date there than any found in India Proper. Further, if there are traces of Christian doctrine in the ' Bhagavat Gita/ and of classical learning in other poetic works of the Hindus, we now know at least where they may have come from. In short, when we realise how strongly Hellenic influence prevailed in Gandhara in the first few centuries after Christ, and think how many thousands, it may be millions, crossed the Indus, going eastward during that period and through that country, we ought not to be surprised at any amount of Western thought or art we may find in India. In the meanwhile the question that bears most directly on the subject now in hand is the enquiry, how far the undoubted classical influence shown in these Gandhara sculptures is due to the seed sown by the Baktrian Greeks during the existence of their kingdom there, and how much to the direct influence of Hellenic intercourse between the times of Augustus and Aurelian ? Both, most probably, had a part in producing this remarkable result ; but we have abundant evidence that the latter was very much more important than the former cause, and that about the commencement of the Christian Era the civilisation of the West exercised an influence on the arts and religion of the inhabitants of this part of India far greater than was formerly suspected. The question of the subjects of the sculptures is beyond the scope of this work, and for this and their origin the reader must be referred to the excellent work of Mons. A. Foucher, and to the translation of Grunwedel's ' Buddhist Art in India.' 126. Footprints of Buddha. (From a bas-relief at Amaravatl.)