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Gandhara is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, a consequence of merger
of Greek, Syrian, Persian and Indian art traditions. The development of this form of art
started in Parthian Period(50BC – 75AD). Gandhāran style flourished and achieved its peak
during the Kushan period from 1st Century to 5th Century. It declined and suffered
destruction after invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century.Style of Buddhist visual art
that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1st
century BC and the 7th century AD. The style, of Greco-Roman origin, seems to have
flourished largely during the Kushan dynasty and was contemporaneous with an important
but dissimilar school of Kushan art at Mathura (Uttar Pradesh, India).The Gandhara region
had long been a crossroads of cultural influences. During the reign of the Indian emperor
Ashoka around 3rd century B.C., the region became the scene of intensive Buddhist
missionary activity; and, in the 1st century AD, rulers of the Kushan empire, which included
Gandhara, maintained contacts with Rome. In its interpretation of Buddhist legends, the
Gandhara school incorporated many motifs and techniques from classical Roman art,
including vine scrolls, cherubs bearing garlands, tritons, and centaurs. The basic iconography,
however, remained Indian.The materials used for Gandhara sculpture were green phyllite and
gray-blue mica schist, which, in general, belong to an earlier phase, and stucco, which was
used increasingly after the 3rd century A.D. The sculptures were originally painted and
gilded.Gandhara's role in the evolution of the Buddha image has been a point of considerable
disagreement among scholars. It now seems clear that the schools of Gandhara and Mathura
each independently evolved its own characteristic depiction of the Buddha about the 1st
century AD. The Gandhara school drew upon the anthropomorphic traditions of Roman
religion and represented the Buddha with a youthful Apollo-like face, dressed in garments
resembling those seen on Roman imperial statues. The Gandhara depiction of the seated
Buddha was less successful. The schools of Gandhara and Mathura influenced each other,
and the general trend was away from a naturalistic conception and toward a more idealized,
abstract image. The Gandharan craftsmen made a lasting contribution to Buddhist art in their
composition of the events of the Buddha's life into set scenes.The Hellenistic influence was
nowhere more dramatic than in Gandhara, a term now used to describe the school of semi-
classical sculptures of Pakistan and Afghanistan in the early centuries of our era. Gandhara is
the name of an ancient province and kingdom, which in classical times, was limited to a small
region in ancient India. The province Gandhara included roughly northwestern India between
the Khyber Pass and the Indus River and the region of the Kabul Valley in Afghanistan.
However, art and architecture from the Gandharean School had been found as far north as the
Oxus River found in the Punjab. In the sixth to fourth centuries BCE Gandhara was
dominated under the Achaemenid Dynasty of Iran. The successors of Alexander the Great
maintained themselves in Bactria and Gandhara from 322 BCE to about 50 BCE, however, as
early as the second century BCE these Greek Dynasties were already overrun by peoples of
both nomadic and Parthian-Iranian origin. Rejoined to India under the Maurya Dynasty, the
Gandhara province became the object of intense missionary activity by the Buddhist emperor
Asoka (reigned c. 273-232 BCE). He made Buddhism the state religion, enforced the
Buddhist doctrine of nonviolence (ahimsa) and prohibited animal sacrifices. In the first
century AD the Kushans, a tribe of Scythian stock from north China made themselves
masters of Gandhara. Their rule, however, was interrupted by the invasion of the Persian
King Shapur I in AD 242, and the Buddhist civilization of Gandhara was finally completely
destroyed by the White Huns, the Hephthalites, in the sixth century.The disastrous invasion
of the White Huns put an end to all further productive activity in the once flourishing
Gandhara province. Little is known about this time period except from Chinese pilgrims who
as early as the fifth century AD undertook the long and arduous journey to the Holy Land of
Buddhism. Fa Hsien, who traveled through the Peshawar Valley shortly after AD 400
described that the Gandhara province flourished, and that Emperor Kanishka's successors
"were well cared for." When his successor, Sung Yen, visited the region in 520, he reported
that the country had been overrun by the Huns. A few years later he reported that the Huns
had virtually expiated Buddhism, had destroyed monasteries and had slashed most of the
population in Gandhara. A century later, when the famous Chinese pilgrim Hsuan-Tsang
traveled through north-west India he found Gandhara in a ruined, depopulated state. He
describes in his "Records of the Western Countries," that ruined monasteries greeted him
everywhere in the Peshawar Valley and reports of the terrible desolation of the once
flourishing Buddhist centers. However, the final chapters of the Gandharan school has its
setting in Kashmir and in remote centers such as Fondukistan and Afghanistan where artistic
activity continued as late as the seventh century. Excavations have produced many statues,
other artifacts and some monasteries. Unfortunately, there are no architectural monuments
left intact in Gandhara only some structural remains and sculptured fragments. However,
there is ample proof of active trade and cultural exchanges between the Mediterranean and
the Kushan territories into China. Gandhara art is often referred to as the Graeco-or-Roman-
Buddhist school. The founder of the School has been credited to the Kushan Emperor
Kanishka (c. AD 129-160), because of his patronage to Buddhism, and his great artistic
development. The character of Gandharan art is determined by the commercial relations
between the Kushan and the Roman empires. The many archaeological discoveries of
Alexandrian and Syrian workmanship at Taxila in the Punjab and Begram in the Kabul valley
testify to the cultural and diplomatic connections with the Graeco-Roman West. Many
artifacts, in particular sculptures, have survived and are now dispersed in major museums
throughout the world. Evidence of Hellenistic art in the form of architecture had been noted
on a number of temples from the city of Sirkap at Taxila, and on the tumbled columns of Ay
Khanum's administrative center....... (picture). Although the presence of this material
provides a Hellenistic back ground for Gandhara art, it was the introduction of foreign
workers from the eastern centers of the Roman Empire that led to the creation of the first
Buddhist sculptures. It is not surprising that the Kushans, a nomadic people without a
tradition of monumental art, requested the service of skilled artisans to meet the architectural
and sculptural requirements for the many Buddhist establishments. It can be assumed that the
practice of importing foreign artisans continued from the days of Kanishka's reign until the
end of Buddhism in northwest India and the Punjab in the sixth to early seventh centuries.
The majority of Gandharan art was, however, created by native craftsmen following the
successive waves of foreign influences. The subject matter of Gandharan art was
unquestionably Buddhist, while most motifs were of western Asiatic or Hellenistic origin.
Mesopotamian motifs can be found on Persepolitan capitals; or, forms such as the Atlantis,
garland-bearing Eros, and the semi-human creatures as the centaur and triton are part of the
repertory of Hellenistic art and introduced by Roman Eurasian artists in the service of the
Kushan court. The fantastic monsters, however, the sphinxes and griffins had already been
assimilated by the ancient Indian schools. Sculptures played a very decisive role in the
Buddhist monasteries where they had been found in large quantities. Tall single statues were
placed in chapels to be venerated by the monks and the faithful. Other large figures in high
relief were placed with their back to the wall, and bass relief filled all manners of places and
positions. The Gandhara schools is probably credited with the first representation of the
Buddha in human form, the portrayal of Sakyamuni in his human shape, rather than shown as
a symbol. Perhaps the school intended to create a human Bodhisattva, a representation of
Prince Siddhartha, the Buddha Sakyamuni while still as a Bodhisattva. All early Bodhisattvas
are shown in wearing turbans, jewelry, and muslin skirts, a costume that was an adaptation of
the actual dress of Kushan and Indian nobles. The jewelry of these royal statues were a
duplication of Hellenistic and Samatian gold, created by Western artisans. A definite
borrowing from Roman art was the method of representing the story of the Buddhas legend in
a series of separate episodes and panels. This was accomplished in much the same way than
the pictorial iconography of the Christian legends, based on the Roman methods. On
portraying the careers of the Caesar's several distinct climactic events where shown on
separate panels. Another example are the earliest Gandhara Buddha's, where Sakyamuni is
portrayed with the head of a Greek Apollo and arrayed in a Roman toga. It is the same early
representation of Christ which shows Him with the head of the Greek Sun-God but dressed in
the garb of the teachers of the ancient Greek world. The most frequently used material by
Gandharan artists was a soft indigenous schist that varied in color from light to dark gray, and
often contained sparkling mica particles. Many of these statues were covered with gold leaf
to give them a luster in dark interiors. The most popular media, however, became an easy-to-
work material terracotta and stucco. Because of the fragility of the material most statues were
supported by attaching them to walls, giving them the appearance of a three-dimensional
relief. Stucco sculptures were given a final coat of gesso, which was then painted. The most
frequent subjects were representations of Buddha, Bodhisattwas, and attending monks or
donors. The Buddha images display a variety of ethnic types and expressions. The human
head usually has appears with a perfect oval face, regular features, with almond-shaped and
slightly protruding eyes, with gentle arching eyebrows, a straight nose, and beautifully cut
lips with a subtle smile. The Buddha's influence is evident in the half-closed eyes suggesting
meditation. The face if often unbearded, but sometimes a mustache strikes a foreign note,
most likely Kushan. The "usnisa" or cranial bump, a redestination the Buddha was born with,
is usually seen in the form of the "chignon" a knot or a roll of hear wrapped in silk on the
dome of Buddha's head. The elongated ears indicate the heavy, rich jewelry the Buddha wore.
The Kushans were able to establish a strong empire for a period of about three hundred years
and produced works of art reflecting both indigenous traditions and external influences. The
detection of Greek and Roman elements in the Gandharan School testifies to the active
exchange of ideals among all the civilizations of the Classical and Central Asian worlds. The
Gandhara School reached its peak toward the end of the second century with the production
of the most significant large Buddha statues. Their style continued to flourish into the third
century until after the Sasanian invasion, and continued until the seventh century in
Afghanistan. The Gandharan School deserves our admiration for their unique contribution
that extended far beyond the perimeters of their province.

 5 years ago