Chapter 4 - Scythian / Saka Art

158
westward out of Central Asia, whether on a southern or northern route
around the Caspian Sea, those traditions were invariably modified.
Elements were added, lost, or merged into new forms. What results,
therefore, is essentially a process of creativity. Ultimately, the cultural
authority of any part of the Scythian art must be derived from the
combination of elements it represents like the object type, style, function,
the technical aspects of its fabrication, all weaving together to form a
distinctive whole. Therefore, each object in the Śaka/Scythian repertoire go
well beyond simplistic designations as 'Greek' or 'barbarian'.
It may therefore be surmised that
1. The Scythian/Śaka art originated in the eastern section, then
traversed to the western section. Cross currents are there but isolated
developments are also there. The eastern section had its own evolution,
developments and continuity with its detours.
2. With the later Śakas and later Scythians we find the formation of
"states" as in Bactria or India, which were capable of dealing more or less
effectively with the nations by which they were threatened or with whom
they traded. Not surprisingly, perhaps, the very formation of “statehood"
brought an end to the distinctive early nomadic way of life by the 1st
century B.C. but art forms, obviously continued.