1889 ] on the Civilization of Ancient India. 161 



having probably been erected during the reigns of Odamathus and 

 Zenobia (A. D. 260—273.) 



During the period A. D. 105—273 Palmyra was the principal depot 

 of the overland trade between India and the west, and the caravans 

 •which were constantly passing and re-passing through it must have af- 

 fected some exchange of ideas as well as of more material wares. It is, 

 therefore, reasonable to believe that the example of Palmyra was one of 

 the factors which influenced the Gandhara architects and sculptors in 

 their adoption of the universally diffused Corinthian style.* 



The peculiarities of the Indo-Corinthian pillars have been briefly 

 described in a previous page (pp. 117, 118). 



Sir A. Cunningham holds that « at least all the fine examples 

 Ot the Indo-Corinthian style, such as the capitals found at Jamalgarhi, 

 which are the finest known, should be ascribed to the same age as the 

 temples with Ionic pillars at Taxila. 



This view appears to me altogether erroneous, and inconsistent with 

 the observed facts. The Taxilan temples date from the beginning of the 

 Christian era, and show no trace of the domination of Roman ideas of 



The Indo-Corinthian remains, on the other hand, bear on their face 

 the most obvious resemblance to Roman work, and must consequently 

 be later than the time when India and Rome came into contact. On 

 historical grounds I have fixed the approximate date at which Roman 

 forms of architectural decoration reached India as not earlier than A. D. 

 150, and an examination of the Indo-Corinthian works fully confirms 

 this inference drawn from the known facts of external history. 



It is, I venture to affirm, impossible that a florid adaptation of 

 the Corinthian order, such as is universally employed in the buildings 

 of Gandhara Proper, could have attained such favour except under 

 Roman influence. 



Pure Greek examples of the Corinthian order are extremely rare, 

 while Roman examples are numbered by thousands. The Corinthian 

 pillar, modified so freely, that no two specimens exactly agree, was the 

 favourite architectural decoration employed by the builders of imperial 

 Rome, and by those of the subject provinces, who followed the fashion set 

 at the seat of government. 



I think I am perfectly accurate in asserting that Corinthian capitals, 

 at all like those at Jamalgarhi, were not produced anywhere in the world 

 as early as the beginning of the Christian era, whereas plenty of capitals, 



* Prof Robertson Smith's articles in the Encyclopedia Britannica, 9th edition, 

 give excellent summaries of the present state of knowledge respecting Palmyra and 

 Baalbee. 



