1889.] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 141 



They are by no means, in my opinion, equal in merit to the best of the 

 Gandhara Indo-Roman sculptures, which I assign to the third cen- 

 tury A. D. 



The Mathura, group of Herakles and the lion may be contrasted 

 with the widely different representation of the same subject recently 

 found at Quetta in Baluchistan. A much corroded copper or bronze 

 statuette, two and a quarter feet high, discovered at that place, shows 

 the hero standing, and holding under his left arm either the skin or 

 dead body of the slain lion, the right arm being wanting.* This work, 

 to judge from the published plate, has an archaic look, and bears a 

 curiously close resemblance to the colossal figure found at Khorsabdd 

 in Assyria, fancifully named Nimrod by Bonomi, and designated the 

 Assyrian Hercules by other writers. " He is represented strangling a 

 young lion, which he presses against his chest with his left arm, while 

 he is clutching in his hand the fore-paw of the animal, which seems 

 convulsed in the agony of his grasp. In his right hand he holds an 

 instrument which we infer to be analogous to the boomerang of the 

 Australians," etc.f 



I cannot venture to assign even an approximate date for the Quetta 

 statuette, and can only say that it is certainly an early work. 



Section V. The Chronology and Affinities of the Gandhara or 

 Peshawar School of Sculpture. 



It is impossible to determine the affinities of a school of art until 

 its chronological position is known at least with approximate accuracy. 

 Apparent resemblances between the works of different schools are apt 

 to bo delusive and misleading unless checked by chronological dates inde- 

 pendent of the idiosyncrasies of the critic. On the other hand, the style 

 of tho works of art, the date of which is in question, is in itself, when 

 used with due caution, an essential element for the determination of the 

 chronology, if conclusive external proof is not forthcoming. In the case 

 of the Gandhara school its chronology and affinities are both still to a 

 large extent undetermined. I shall quote subsequently the divergent 

 judgments of the principal authorities on the subject. For tho present 

 I shall confine myself to the examination of the external evidence for 

 the chronology of the Gandhara sculptures. This evidence falls chiefly 

 under three heads, namely, (1) Epigraphic, (2) Numismatic, and (3) the 

 records of the Chinese pilgrims. The pilgrims' testimony, supplemented 



* Journal As. Soc. of Bengal, Vol. LVI, p. 163, PI X. 



f Bonomi, Nineveh and Us Palaces, 2nd ed., p. 1C3, Plate X. 



