set up about a.d. 415 by Kumāragupta I to celebrate the victories of his father, Vikramādityā, the casting of which was a feat which could not have been achieved in Europe until quite recent times.[1]
The standing Buddha carved in sandstone, now in the Mathurā Museum (Pl. LIV, b), is of the same type as the Sultanganj statue and of nearly equal size, but the execution is more dry and academic, resembling in this respect the Sarnath Buddha. The colossal headless figure (LV, b) recently dug up at Sarnath shows a variation in the pose and drapery, and also a heaviness in the limbs which does not belong to the Indian ideal. It was probably the work of a foreign sculptor at the Gupta court. In most Gupta sculpture there are clear suggestions of Hellenistic influence visible, manifesting itself mostly as technical mannerisms. The ideas which the artist wishes to realise, the real creative impulse, are deeply rooted in Indian thought and go back to pre-Buddhist times.
The Buddha as the ideal King, or Bodhisattva, is very finely realised in the noble torso now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Pl. LVI, a). The sway of the lithe, youthful figure, suggesting the swinging gait of the royal elephant, often used in Indian poetry as a simile for the graceful carriage of a young woman, would alone distinguish the sculptor's intention from the studied, self-disciplined immovability of the Yogi who has attained to full Buddhahood, even if the shoulder-straps of deer's hide and the splendid collar and girdle did not proclaim the Kshatriya prince. The figure is said to have crowned one of the royal standards put up near the great stūpa at Sānchī, but I think it is an error to
- ↑ The height of the pillar is about 24 feet, the diameter varying from 16·4 to 12·05 inches.
