166 Report of the Archmdlogical Survey. TNo. 3 



smaller figures, and on the back a group of four figures of half life-size. 

 In the front group the principal figure is a stout, half naked man 

 resting on a low seat, with ivy or vine-crowned brow, and outstretched 

 arms, which appear to be supported by the figures, male and female, 

 standing one on each side. The dress of the female is most certainly 

 not Indian, and is almost as certainly Greek. The dress of the male 

 figure also appears to be Greek. Colonel Stacy describes it as " a 

 kerchief round the neck with a tie in front as worn by sailors ;" but 

 as it widens as it approaches the shoulders, I presume that it must be 

 the short cloak of the Greeks which was fastened in front in the very 

 same manner as represented in this sculpture. Prinsep agrees with 

 Stacy in considering the principal figure to be Silenus : " his portly 

 carcass, drunken lassitude, and vine-wreathed forehead, stamp the 

 individual, while the drapery of his attendants pronounces them at 

 least to be foreign to India, whatever may be thought of Silenus 's 

 own costume, which is certainly highly orthodox and Brahmanical. 

 If the sculptor were a Greek, his taste had been somewhat tainted by 

 the Indian beau-ideal of female beauty. In other respects his 

 proportions and attitudes are good ; nay, superior to any specimen 

 of pure Hindu sculpture we possess ; and considering the object of 

 the group, to support a sacrificial vase (probably of the juice of 

 the grape), it is excellent." Of the group on the back I have but 

 little to say : the two female figures and one of the men are dressed 

 in the same Greek costume as the figures of the other group, 

 but the fourth figure, male, is dressed in a long turd 3, which is 

 certainly not Greek, and cannot well be Indian. The religious 

 Buddhist would have his right shoulder bare, and the layman would 

 have the dhoti, or waist-cloth. The Greek-clad male figure may 

 possibly be Silenus, but I am unable to offer even a conjecture as to 

 the figure in the tunic. 



184. The question now arises, how is the presence of this piece of 

 Greek sculpture to be accounted for ? Perhaps the most reasonable 

 solution is to assume the presence of a small body of Bactrian Greek 

 sculptors who would have found ready employment for their services 

 amongst the wealthy Buddhists, just in the same way as goldsmiths 

 and artillerymen afterwards found service with the Mogul Emperors. 

 It must be remembered that Mathura is close to the great sandstone 



