1889.] V. A. Smith — Gtcpxo- Roman influence on Ancient India. 209 



pliant in, and walking over the dry surface one can hear the whole mud 

 flat gurgling and gulping underneath. It is likely that the water may 

 sometimes run suddenly over such a hole, and the air would come out 

 with a slap, but this is all surmise. As for the ' Swatch of ISTo-ground ' 

 you have been over it often enough. My idea is, that sudden noises of 

 various kinds go to make up the so-called " guns, " and that the curious 

 part of them is more in the echo than anything else. There is always 

 a favourable point for an echo, and it may be heard well at the right 

 point, and yet not be heard in neighbouring places. 



The following papers were read — 



1. — Note on an inscribed seal of Kumdra Gupta. — By Mr. V. A. 

 Smith, (the seal above referred too). 



The paper will be printed in the Journal, Part I. 



2. — Grceco-Roman Influence on the Civilization of Ancient India. — By 

 Vincent Arthur Smith, Bengal Civil Service. 



(Abstract.) 



The essay is divided into nine chapters, the contents of which may 

 be briefly summarized as follows : — 



Chapter I. Introduction. 

 The Indian expedition of Alexander the Great was, so far as our 

 definite knowledge goes, the first occasion of close, conscious contact 

 between East and West. His empire, though itself transitory, resulted 

 in a permanent diffusion of Hellenic culture in Asia. The working of 

 Greek ideas on Indian soil, though traceable in the fields of religion, 

 poetry, science, and philosophy, is most obvious in the domains of 

 architecture and plastic art, and the greater portion of the following 

 essay is therefore devoted to the consideration of Indo-Hellenic archi- 

 tecture and sculpture. 



Chapter II. Indo-Hellenic Architecture. 



Iu N. W. India the pillars in the Indo-Persian style were gradually 

 supplanted by pillars imitated from Greek models. Strictly speaking, 

 no Indo- Grecian style of architecture is known. The ascertained facts 

 prove no more than that the Indians used in buildings planned after 

 their own fashion, pillars copied, with modifications, from Greek proto- 

 types. 



In Kashmir and the Salt Range a modified form of the Doric pillar 

 was employed. The Indo-Doric pillar is not associated with Indo- 

 Hellenic sculpture, and, being a purely local development, is not further 

 considered in this essay. 



