and the Saundarananda were written down and carefully planned examples of the Indian Mahākāvya genre. Drawing on the already elaborate literary heritage of Indian Buddhism, Aśvaghoṣa employed a huge vocabulary and complex poetic methods to create sophisticated texts for the enjoyment of an educated class. Aśvaghoṣa's compositions, written in polished Sanskrit, are carefully structured and arranged. In these texts, there are also numerous allusions to Brahmanical legends and epic narratives. Performance There are indications that Indian Buddhists developed edifying dramas, perhaps with musical accompaniment. Aśvaghoṣa is known to have written a Buddhist drama, the Sariputra-Prakarana, which only survives in fragments. It is the oldest dramatic work of Sanskrit literature yet discovered. Such performances became popular in Buddhist cultures. In pre-modern Asia, the oral and dramatic performance of Jātaka stories was another way in which Buddhist myth was propagated. This tradition remains active in Southeast Asian countries today, where Jātakas tales are performed in theater, dance and recitations during certain special occasions like during Buddhist holidays. In Tibet and other regions where Tibetan Buddhism has spread, various performances of sacred myth are also popular, such as the Cham Dance a costume dance which illustrates Buddhist moral values. Art There is no art, or any other physical remains, from the earliest period of Buddhism. The first Buddhist art appears in the Ashokan period. But Ashoka's pillars, while artistically superb, do not tell myths. Perhaps 100 years after Ashoka, we have our first known Buddhist stupa complexes, which contain substantial and elaborate art. As well as drawing on motifs from the early texts, these frequently depict episodes from Jātakas and from the evolved form of the Buddha's life. The art that has survived is sculpture in stone, although this must be the remnants of a much richer heritage in more perishable materials. In addition to purely decorative motifs, we frequently find art arranged in a sequence, or a roundel, depicting various events selected from a particular story. These would presumably have been used as a story-telling framework, a precursor to our modern graphic novels. A teacher, presumably a monk or nun, would tell the story illustrated by the pictures, or else people who knew the story would remind themselves of it. This method was developed fully in Borobudur, where the stories wind around the huge structure. In many modern Buddhist temples, especially those that are popular tourist sites, murals play the same role.