Essay name: Scythian Elements in early Indian Art
Author:
Swati Ray
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This essay studies Scythian Elements in early Indian Art—a topic that has not garnered extensive scholarly attention. Although much research has focused on various aspects of Saka/Scythian culture, such as politics and numismatics, their contribution to Indian art remains underexplored. This essay delves into archaeological evidence, historical texts, and art forms from Eurasian steppes to decipher the Scythian impact.
Chapter 1 - Introduction—Scope, Sources and Method of Study
6 (of 13)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Pakistan and elsewhere also contain materials for writing an art history of the
Ĺšaka/Scythians in India and its borderlands. But no such attempts have been
made so far. Indeed a more comprehensive study in this respect seems to be a
crying need to understand the impact of the Scythian elements in the Indian
subcontinent.
This is a desideratum for evaluating the syncretistic trends in Indian
culture and my efforts are aimed at fulfilling this need.
The utility of such a study, as intended, can hardly be over-estimated,
since the importance of the Scythian/Saka power in the annals of the ancient
Orient is at least apparent from the numerous widely known sources (both
literary and archaeological) alluding to them. In the present thesis, all relevant
sources, both archaeological and literary, have been taken into account.
The archaeological discoveries, which initiated from the latter half of the
eighteenth century, continue unabated till now. The archaeological discoveries
till 2004 as found from the reports of the Academics of Sciences of different
territories belonging to the Commonwealth of Independent States (former Soviet
Central Asian republics) have added new dimensions to the relevant study.
Archaeological reports of India and Pakistan have also been taken into
