state the characteristics of the mauryan sculpture
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Cultural stonework in India - in the form of primitive cupule art - dates back to the era of prehistoric art of the Lower Paleolithic, around 700,000 BCE - see Bhimbetka Petroglyphs (Auditorium Cave and Daraki-Chattan Rock Shelter, Madhya Pradesh). By the time of the Bronze Age, sculpture was already the predominant form of artistic expression throughout the Indian subcontinent, even though mural painting was also popular. Sculpture was used mainly as a form of religious art to illustrate the principles of Hinduism, Buddhism, or Jainism. The female nude in particular was used to depict the numerous attributes of the gods, for which it was often endowed with multiples heads and arms. There was certainly no tradition of individuality in Indian sculpture: instead, figures were conceived of as symbols of eternal values. In simple terms, one can say that - historically - Indian sculptors have focused not on three-dimensional volume and fullness, but on linear character - that is to say, the figure is designed on the basis of its outline, and is typically graceful and slender. The origin of plastic art in India dates back to the northwestern Indus valley civilization, which was noted primarily for its terracotta sculpture - mainly small figurines - but also for the pioneering bronze sculpture of the Harappan Culture. Other important milestones in the history of sculpture include: the Buddhist Pillars of Ashoka of the Mauryan period, with their wonderful carved capitals (3rd century BCE); the figurative Greco-Buddhist sculpture of the Gandhara and Mathura schools, and the Hindu art of the Gupta period (1st-6th century CE).
Over the next five centuries, a wide range of sculptural idioms flourished in many different areas of present-day Pakistan, India and Bangladesh, but by the time of the Khajuraho Temples in Madhya Pradesh, which were erected in the 10th/11th century by the Chandela dynasty, and which were renowned for the erotic content of their stone sculpture, Indian sculpture had reached the end of its most creative stage. From then on, sculpture was designed mostly as a form of architectural decoration, with huge quantities of small, mediocre figures being manufactured for this purpose. It has continued in this way, with little significant change, up to the present. For sculpture from across Asia, see: Asian Art (from 38,000 BCE).