Page:Picturesque Nepal.djvu/250

 reach the neighbouring country of Nepal, where every condition was in favour of its reception, both in its spiritual and artistic form. A survey of the Buddhist art of the Far East goes far towards demonstrating that on the decay of this Bengal university, due to the decline of the Buddhist faith in India, Nepal kept the torch burning, and became one centre from which the Law in its pictorial form was communicated to the followers of this doctrine in other lands. Tibet, a country which accepted the faith at a much later date, employed Nepalese artists to prepare its temple pictures and to produce its sacred statuary, while from distant China ancient art is forthcoming which displays in its details an intimate association with the Nepal school of Buddhist art. The design on the archway from Pekin, mentioned in the previous chapter, with its Garudas, Nagas, and Makaras, elements obviously Hindu in origin, travelled from India via Nepal, while there are specimens of Bodhisattva figures from China, which are conceived in the same spirit as the metal statues devised by the Newars. It is only fair to add that