Monuments Préislamiques D'Afghanistan, Mémoires de la Délégation Archéologique Françaiseen Afghanistan, Tome XIX by Bruno Dagens; Marc Le Berre; Daniel SchlumbergerReview by: Walter A. Fairservis, Jr.Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 85, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1965), pp. 279-280Published by: American Oriental SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/598040 .

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Reviews of Books 279

ing living as opposed to petrified figures, his com- ments on the often homely nature of the figures of speech and sound, and the particular attention which he gives the idiom point in this direction. A "natural language," as Ingalls points out, is capable of producing an effect through the cumu- lative connotations of daily use.' It can utilize to good effect the idiom, which with the substitu- tion of several words, can be "transfigured" poeti- cally. The language of the Mahibhdrata is not in its entirety a "natural language," but neither is it wholly literary. A fuller treatment of its pe- culiar poetic possibilities might prove interesting.

1 See Daniel H. H. Ingalls, Anthology of Sanskrit Court Poetry (Harvard Oriental Series, 44). Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1965), pp. 10-11.

One can, however, suggest very little to improve upon Dr. Sharma's study. He has largely limited himself to a "structural approach . . . based on the words of the poet himself," and if his intro- ductory remarks seem somewhat brief, they are adequate to his purpose and are amply supplied with references to more complete discussions. The thoroughness and accuracy with which he has car- ried out his study are a creditable response indeed to the suggestions of E. W. Hopkins and Murray B. Emeneau. This book promises to be a most valuable aid, not only to students of Indian epic literature but to students of Indian poetics as a whole.

MARGARET L. BusH RICCARDI

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA

Monuments Preislamiques D'Afghanistan, Moem- oires de la Delegation Archeologique Fran- caise en Afghanistan, Tome XIX. By BRUNO DAGENS, MARC LE BERRE, and DANIEL SCHLUMBERGER. Pp. 104, 19 Figures, 45 Plates. Paris: LIBRAIRIE C. KLINCKSIECK, 1964.

The French archaeological mission in Afghani- stan has been issuing its memoires ever since the 1920's. These memoires are generally expensive and oft-times frustrating in their incompleteness. However, in the long run they provide an ex- tremely valuable account of Afghan archaeology which has no rival in its particular field. The series gains much of its utility in the dedicated commitment of the various authors to insure that whatever has been excavated by the mission even- tually is published. The present volume XIX is a case in point.

It consists of three parts, two of which describe material from older French excavations at Hadda, Balkh, and other sites. The first section was written by Bruno Dagens and deals with several unpublished groups of material: schist relief sculptures from iladda, reliefs from sites in the ancient Kapisa, and finally a short section on some limestone reliefs and fragments of architecture found in the lower valley of the Kunduz River of northern Afghanistan. The section is well illus- trated and the short but detailed descriptive notes

make this a fine addition to the growing corpus of Graeco-Indian Buddhist art.

Dagens is also responsible for section two-a description of rock-hewn monasteries located in the Foladi Valley about 4 kilometers southwest of Bamiyan. The sites are in a state of fair preservation and their carving and decoration proved their general affinities to the Bamiyan group. The ceilings were of particular interest since they are well-evidenced in the remains.

Of greatest interest will probably be the section dealing with the observations made by Daniel Schlumberger and Marc Le Berre on the walls of Bactra. The division of the ramparts of Bactra is four-fold: Bactra I is the Bala Hisar within which are the remains of the most ancient city; Bactra IA, the subeity which lay immediately by the Bala Hisar and extended toward the south; Bactra II, an extension of IA towards the east; Bactra III an extension of IA towards the west and also representative of the latest post Bactra II extension.

The authors describe the stages of fortifications of these cities. The Bala Hisar fortifications are made up of two distinct and superimposed units. The upper being Timurid; the lower, the authors suggest might well be of the Greek period. Bactra I's South Wall has posed a particular problem in that it may be representative in its pre-Timurid ramparts of the Iushan period and in its exten- sion, of the Bala Hisar of the Greek Period (if we can accept that date for the pre-Islamic walls of

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280 Journal of the American Oriental Society 85..2(1965)

Bactra I). Bactra II being somewhat later, though its walls are not too distant in style, could therefore be dated either of the Kushan period (if Bactra I and IA is Greek) or quite a bit later. The South Wall poses a particular problem since its earliest remains were greatly disturbed by the construction of the second rampart (II). The affinities of Rampart II would appear to be based on just how one handles the problem of the square defense towers. The authors point out that if the rampart belongs to the end of the Sassanian period, after the Ephalitic invasions, we must assume that the semi-round towers characteristic

of that and later time were not in general accept- ance in this region, or if we date the ramparts to an earlier pre-Ephalitic time (ca. late 4th cen- tury), we indicate perhaps a survival of the Hel- lenistic tradition of square defensive towers. In any case an Islamic date for Rampart II would appear too late.

The photographs, section and plan drawings are excellent and effectively supplement a fine con- tribution to archaeological research in the Middle East.

WALTER A. FAIRSERVIS, JR.

Prehistory and Protohistory in India and Paki- stan. By H. D. SANKALIA. Pp. xxii, 315, 38 plates (one in color), 66 figs., 3 tables, 32 maps. UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY, 1962 (1963). Rs. 39.50

This book is an enlarged and revised version of the Pandit Bhagwanlal Indraji Lectures which Dr. Sankalia delivered under the auspices of the University of Bombay in December 1960. Addi- tions include references through 1962.

A lengthy Introduction includes a discussion of the physio-cultural divisions of the subcontinent and their relationship to movements of peoples and cultural change, a review of the prehistoric terminology for Europe and India, as well as vari- ous comments on the evolution of man, the birth of civilization, and the history of prehistoric re- search. The chapter headings indicate a chrono- logical presentation of cultural periods from the Early Stone through the Chalcolithic Ages. An Appendix A describes the geological terraces at Poona while Appendix B describes the sequence of terraces and lithic industries in the Narmada valley. The Bibliography lists the basic refer- ences through 1962 with a note by the author that an exhaustive bibliography is being prepared for publication elsewhere. The detailed Index is especially welcome and helpful.

The task confronting the author of a book on the pre- and protohistory of India and Pakistan is herculean. Dr. Sankalia deserves our admira- tion for his efforts to collect and synthesize the scattered proliferating evidence. One of the major

frustrations in such an undertaking is the neces- sity for making objective assessments of important new discoveries that are know only through pre- liminary reports or brief notices. The rapidity with which crucial new information is accumulat- ing and reshaping our picture of the pre- and protohistory of this area is dramatically illustrated when one observes the nature of the major publi- cations that have appeared in this field during the past decade. Sir Mortimer Wheeler's The Indus Civilization, originally published in 1953, has been drastically revised in a 1960 second edi- tion (not noted in Sankalia's Bibliography). Fur- ther changes are noted in Wheeler's contribution in The Dawn of Civilization, 1961. More striking is the fact that B. Subbarao's The Personality of India underwent a complete revision in the 1958 second edition which all but invalidated the first edition of only two years earlier. And now, only five years later, the need was felt for yet another synthesis of the material. Thus when reading Dr. Sankalia's book one must keep constantly in mind the fluid state of our knowledge.

The basic outline and approach of this book obviously owes much to the work of the late Dr. Subbarao, Dr. Sankalia's student and colleague to whom he dedicated this book. Sankalia follows Subbarao in attempting to correlate the evidence of geography, history and archaeology so as to build a picture of the "personality of India."

This combined environmental-archaeological ap- proach is indeed a healthy one that is gaining popularity in various parts of the world. It is especially valid when dealing with preliterate peo- ples and the problems concerning the origins of

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