Note 338 — Chapter XV
Reading edition
It is to the "Mauryan" Man-tzŭ that Mr Kingsmill ascribes the excavation of the caves of Ssuch'uan (see pp. 46 seq.). He says that they were evidently the work of a people who had made considerable progress in the arts, and that the art in its predominant features approaches more nearly to ancient Indian types than to Chinese (Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, China Branch, vol. xxxv. p. 93). As I have already stated, there is not much evidence of a strong artistic instinct in the decoration of the caves. I agree with Mr Kingsmill, nevertheless, in ascribing the art, such as it is, to Indian influences.