1GG Rajendralala Mitra— On Greek Art in India. [August, 



members of Iris family. The artist, therefore, was not a Greek, nor is there 

 the slightest trace of Greek influence, an opinion also shared by Babu Ra- 

 jendralala Mitra. 



The paper will be published, with illustrations, in Part I of the Journal. 



Babu Rajendralala Mitra said : " Having had occasion to comment at 

 some length on Col. Stacy's Silenus now in the Society's Museum, I feelmy-* 

 self called upon to say a few words on the very interesting discovery of Mr. 

 Growse. The execution and grouping of the figures are certainly uncommon, 

 and the questions they suggest are : 1st, Is the subject Greek or Indian ? 

 2nd, Is the workmanship Greek or Indian ? and 3rd, What was the stone 

 intended for ? As regards the first question, I have already shown, in the 

 1st volume of my " Antiquities of Orissa," (pp 6S et seq.,) that, as in the case 

 of Sir Roger de Coverley's picture so in this, much may be said on either side. 

 The maudlin character of the principal figure would indicate the subject to be 

 as much Silenus, as Balarama, the Bacchus of India ; but the accessories 

 are more in favour of the theory that would take it to be Balarama, than 

 of that which would give it a Greek character. Balarama was noted for his 

 constancy and had an only wife, and in both the groups of Col. Stacy and 

 of Mr. Growse the principal figure is represented attended by an only wife. 

 Balarama had two sons, and both the groups represent two boys. I am not 

 aware of any story of Silenus having had two sons. The tiger or lion in 

 the obverse of the Silenus group is entirely of an Indian character. The 

 scarf tied by a knot in front of the neck, upon which much stress has been 

 laid by those who take the statue to be that of Silenus, is thoroughly Indian, 

 and is invariably associated with Balarama and his brother Krishna in the 

 Hindu classics, and drunkenness was as much a weakness of Balarama 

 as of Silenus. The dress of the female figures in Col. Stacy's group appears 

 to me to be formed of the sari and the Jcurtd, but in Mr. Growse's stone, as 

 far as I can judge from the photographs before me, it appears more like the 

 Ionic chiton with the cholpos over it ; but it is extremely doubtful if the artist 

 really intended to represent those garments, for the turban on the head of 

 one of the female figures and the ornaments on the neok and ears of both 

 are such as no Greek artist would ever think of. In the Stacy group the 

 male figures are bearded, and this fact made me imagine that Silenus 

 was probably intended, but there is nothing to prohibit a beard on the case 

 of Balarama, and on the whole I am disposed to accept Mr. Growse's theory 

 of both the groups being representations of some Bacchanalian scenes in the 

 life of Balarama. 



" The question regarding the Greek character of the sculptures is of much 

 greater importance than the first, but it is one in which every European 

 member here present is presumably better qualified to speak more authori- 

 tatively than I can pretend to be. I have studied the subject from copies, 



