page_title: Mauryan polish
section_title: Mauryan statuary
hierarchical_section_title: Mauryan polish / Mauryan statuary
caption_attribution_description: English: Lohanipur torso
context_page_description: Mauryan polish describes one of the frequent characteristics of architecture and sculptures of the Maurya Empire in India, which gives a very smooth and shiny surface to the stone material, generally of sandstone or granite. Mauryan polish is found especially in the Ashoka Pillars as well as in some constructions like the Barabar Caves. The technique did not end with the empire, but continued to be "used on occasion up to the first or second century A.D.", although the presence of the polish sometimes complicates dating, as with the Didarganj Yakshi. According to the archaeologist John Marshall: the "extraordinary precision and accuracy which characterizes all Mauryan works, and which has never, we venture to say, been surpassed even by the finest workmanship on Athenian buildings".
context_section_description: There are many examples of polished stone statuettes and artifacts from the Mauryan period. One of the them, the Masarh lion, discovered near Patna, is special in that its style is nearly completely Achaemenid, which suggests a high level of artistic influence from Western Asia at the time the statuette was made.
  The Masarh lion, discovered near Pataliputra and dated to the 3rd century BCE, is carved in sandstone of the Chunar type, like the Ashoka Pillars, and its finish is polished. The sculptural style is also indisputably Achaemenid  This is particularly visible with the well-ordered tubular representation of whiskers (vibrissas), and the geometrical representation of inflated veins flush within the whole face. The mane on the other hand, with the tufts of hair represented in ripples, is rather naturalistic. According to SP Gupta, these stylistic characteristics can be described as non-Indian. 
  Very similar examples of sculptures are known in Greece and in Persepolis. It is possible that this sculpture was made by an Achaemenid or Greek sculptor in India and either remained without effect, or was the Indian imitation of a Greek or Achaemenid model, somewhere between the 5th and the 1st century BCE, although it is generally dated from the time of the Maurya Empire, around the 3rd century BCE.
  According to John Boardman, the lion sculpture of Marsarh is "quite Persian", although the treatment of the mane is rather of Greek naturalistic style and breaks with the rigid and codified style of the Achaemenid Empire. For him, the lions of the Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath represent the next logical and artistic step, and would be the realization of Hellenistic Greek artists to soften and give more naturality to Persian style.
  There are also a few examples of polished statuary, all dated to the Mauryan period, such as the polished sculpture of a head from Sarnath.
  The Diamond throne of Bodhgaya is another example. It was established by Ashoka at Bodh Gaya and also exhibits the characteristic Mauryan polish.
  Polished ringstones are variously said to be Mauryan or Sunga, dating ranging for the 3rd c.BCE to the 1st c.BCE.
caption: The Lohanipur torso, possibly a Jain Tirthankara, 3rd century BCE, discovered in Lohanipur, now in Patna Museum.
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