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One more such beliquary has been found at Bimaran in Afganishtan. This particular kind of Gandhara style continued at least till the 8th century. It was along with Caravan route joining Taxila with Bactria that one of the greatest monastic centers of Buddhism flourished. It is the Bamiyan valley. The paintings in the valley reveal the motives adopted from Sassanian fabric designs. The most spectacular creation carved from the cliffs at Bamiyan are two colossal standing figures of the Buddha, the largest of them began as high as ft.
It was finished with lime plaster. The image reflects the Gupta style of early fifth century. Above the figure's head are fragments of painting resembling those created by Gupta Buddhists at Ajanta. Stucco was a popular technique in Gandhara art.
A large number of monasteries of Afganishtan are decorated with stucco images. Also terracotta was used particularly among those who could not afford stone sculpture. Terracotta figures were also used as decorations in homes and as toys. All these provide interesting glimpses of the dresses and fashions of the time. Another revealing feature is the presence of the images of Mother Goddess, as the worship of this goddess remain an essential religious expression of the ordinary people.
Buddhism, too came to be associated with fertility cult and other popular religious cults. This association in evident from the symbolic importance of the stupa and the brackets with female figures as can be seen at Sanchi. As a matter of fact, these figures are a sophisticated version of Mother Goddess images.
They all offer many examples of excellent sculpture. Each of them has a distinct style. The most well-known are the elaborate base relief from Amravati. Over many years this form was pursued. Most of it was probably executed in Huvishka reign.
Simultaneously with the appearance of Buddha icon in Gandhara Buddha portrait based upon Yaksha model began to be created in the southern worship or Mathura. This place was a religious center even before the arrival of the Kushans.
Understandably the Jains continued their activities along with those of the Buddhists in the Kushan and Gupta periods. Some scholars believe that the Mathura worship created a Buddha icon at least as early as Gandhara. Close to Mathura is a sanctuary consisting of stone figures of Kushan rulers and deities. Only mutilated aculptures are recovered. They are carved from sikri sand-stone which is red mottle with cream spots. Two great fragmentary protrains are of king Vima Kadphises and standing king Kanishka.
The garments worn by the Kushans can be known from these two pieces. Apart from creating the Buddha figures in the form of Bodhisattva, the Mathura school did produce the master-piece of Buddha in the mid 2nd century. Under Persian rule, a system of centralized administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first time. Provinces or "satrapy" were established with provincial capitals. By about BC the Persian hold on the region had weakened.
Many small kingdoms sprang up in Gandhara. The expeditions of Alexander were recorded by his court historians and by Arrian around CE in his Anabasis Alexandri and by other chroniclers many centuries after the event. In the winter of BCE, Alexander invited all the chieftains in the remaining five Achaemenid satraps to submit to his authority.
Ambhi , then ruler of Taxila in the former Hindush satrapy complied, but the remaining tribes and clans in the former satraps of Gandhara, Arachosia, Sattagydia and Gedrosia rejected Alexander's offer.
The first tribe they encountered were the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley , who initiated a fierce battle against Alexander, in which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart. However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40, people were enslaved. The Assakenoi fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to Alexander and his army in the cities of Ora, Bazira Barikot and Massaga.
So enraged was Alexander about the resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed the entire population of Massaga and reduced its buildings to rubble. A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, [47] another stronghold of the Assakenoi.
The stories of these slaughters reached numerous Assakenians, who began fleeing to Aornos, a hill-fort located between Shangla and Kohistan. Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually capturing and destroying the fort and killing everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes either surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe of Pushkalavati Charsadda were quickly neutralized where 38, soldiers and , oxen were captured by Alexander. With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to strengthening his military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over the Hindu Kush back to Balkh in Bactria.
Alexander nominated officers as Satraps of the new provinces, and in Gandhara, Oxyartes was nominated to the position of Satrap in BCE. With the completion of the Empire's Grand Trunk Road, the region prospered as a centre of trade. Gandhara remained a part of the Mauryan Empire for about a century and a half. Ashoka , the grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the greatest Indian rulers. Like his grandfather, Ashoka also started his career in Gandhara as a governor. Later he became a Buddhist and promoted Buddhism.
He built many stupas in Gandhara. Mauryan control over the northwestern frontier, including the Yonas , Kambojas , and the Gandharas, is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka. According to one school of scholars, the Gandharas and Kambojas were cognate people.
Later, wars between different groups of Bactrian Greeks resulted in the independence of Gandhara from Bactria and the formation of the Indo-Greek kingdom. Menander I was its most famous king. He ruled from Taxila and later from Sagala Sialkot.
He rebuilt Taxila Sirkap and Pushkalavati. The most famous king of the Sakas, Maues , established himself in Gandhara. Eventually an Indo-Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. The Parthians continued to support Greek artistic traditions. Links between Rome and the Indo-Parthian kingdoms existed. The Parthian dynasty fell in about 75 to another group from Central Asia. The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara.
Peshawar Valley and Taxila are littered with ruins of stupas and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and produced some of the best pieces of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent.
Many monuments were created to commemorate the Jatakas. Purushapura along with Mathura became the capital of the great empire stretching from Central Asia to Northern India with Gandhara being in the midst of it. Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia. Under Kanishka , Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims eager to view the monuments associated with many Jatakas.
In Gandhara, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form. Under the Kushans new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built a great foot tower at Peshawar. This structure was destroyed and rebuilt many times until it was finally destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century.
The Kidarites conquered Peshawar and parts of northwest Indian subcontinent including Gandhara probably sometime between and from Kushan empire, [57] around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I.
Their last ruler in Gandhara was Kandik, around CE. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire , in a sense bringing an end to Classical India. Numerous incidents of violence were reported during this period. This incident is said to have turned Mihirakula virulently anti-Buddhist, although some have suggested the anti-Buddhist reputation was exaggerated.
The travel records of many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims record that Gandhara was going through a transformation during these centuries. Buddhism was declining, and Hinduism was rising. Gandhara was ruled by a king from Kabul, who respected Buddha's law, but Taxila was in ruins, and Buddhist monasteries were deserted. After failure of multiple campaigns by Arabs they failed to extend their rule to Gandhara. Gandhara was ruled from Kabul by the Kabul Shahi for next years.
Sometime in the 9th century the Kabul Shahi were replaced by the Hindu Shahi. Based on various records it is estimated that Hindu Shahi was formed in CE. The dynasty ruled from Kabul , later moved their capital to Udabhandapura. They built great temples all over their kingdoms. Some of these buildings are still in good condition in the Salt Range of the Punjab. Jayapala was the last great king of the Hindu Shahi dynasty. His empire extended from west of Kabul to the river Sutlej.
However, this expansion of Gandhara kingdom coincided with the rise of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul valley, Jayapala gave his life on a funeral pyre. Anandapala , a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range. In the last king of this dynasty, Trilochanapala , was assassinated by his own troops which spelled the end of Gandhara.
Subsequently, some Shahi princes moved to Kashmir and became active in local politics. The city of Kandahar in Afghanistan is said to have been named after Gandhara. According to H. Bellow, an emigrant from the collapsing Gandhara region in the 5th century brought this name to modern Kandahar. Writing in c. God be merciful to both father and son! Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims.
This is the reason, too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir, Benares, and other places. And there the antagonism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment both from political and religious sources.
During the closing years of the tenth and the early years of the succeeding century of our era, Mahmud the first Sultan and Musalman of the Turk dynasty of kings who ruled at Ghazni , made a succession of inroads twelve or fourteen in number, into Gandhar — the present Peshawar valley — in the course of his proselytizing invasions of Hindustan. Fire and sword, havoc and destruction, marked his course everywhere. Gandhar which was styled the Garden of the North was left at his death a weird and desolate waste.
Its rich fields and fruitful gardens, together with the canal which watered them the course of which is still partially traceable in the western part of the plain , had all disappeared.
Its numerous stone built cities, monasteries, and topes with their valuable and revered monuments and sculptures, were sacked, fired, razed to the ground, and utterly destroyed as habitations. By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni, Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgotten. He recorded some events that took place in Gandhara, and provided details about its last royal dynasty and capital Udabhandapura.
In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking an interest in the ancient history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the s coins of the post-Ashoka period were discovered, and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Chinese records provided locations and site plans for Buddhist shrines. Along with the discovery of coins, these records provided clues necessary to piece together the history of Gandhara.
In Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of Taxila in the s. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were discovered in the Peshawar valley. Archaeologist John Marshall excavated at Taxila between and He discovered separate Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of stupas and monasteries.
These discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and its art. Excavation of many of the sites of Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from Peshawar and several universities around the world. Linguistic evidence links some groups of the Dardic languages with Gandhari.
This corpus of texts often includes and emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration: [83]. But when a second attack took place on the statue, the feet, shoulders, and face were demolished. Gandharan Buddhist missionaries were active, with other monks from Central Asia, from the 2nd century CE in the Han-dynasty BC — CE at China's capital of Luoyang , and particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work.
These translators included:. The site of this monastery has since been rediscovered by archaeologists. Manuscripts and fragments that have survived from this monastery's collection include the following source texts: [96]. It declined and was destroyed after the invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century. Siddhartha shown as a bejeweled prince before the Sidhartha renounces palace life is a common motif. Stucco , as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of monastic and cult buildings.
Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic world. An example is the youthful Buddha, his hair in wavy curls, similar to statutes of Apollo. Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture of local crushed rocks i. The Greek god Atlas , supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda. The Bodhisattva Maitreya 2nd century.
The Buddha preaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath 2nd—3rd century. Get the latest General Knowledge and Current Affairs from all over India and world for all competitive exams. Related Categories. Apply sbi. This website uses cookie or similar technologies, to enhance your browsing experience and provide personalised recommendations. By continuing to use our website, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy. Gandhara School of Art.
Mathura School of Art. It deals with subjects from Hinduism both Vaishnav and Shavite images and Jainism as well.
- Origin of gandhara school of art
This school for the first time depicted Buddha as a human form. Artisans from Mathura School of Art initially continued the Mauryan sculptural forms of the Yaksha and Yakshi, until a human image of Buddha appeared, which was independent of other schools of art, but later influenced by the Gandhara School.
Mathura Buddha is delighted in mood, seated in Padmasana and right hand in Abhyamudra and left hand on left thigh showing masculinity. Mathura tradition, Buddha images have longer ear lobes, thicker lips, wider eyes and prominent nose. It flourished from about the middle of the first century BC to about the fifth century AD in the Gandhara region north-western India.
The origin has been traced back to the middle of the school century BC, but it was only in the first century AD that its genuine progress began. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art which can be also observed in today's world with traditional forms.
Famous Treatises of Indian Classic Music. Also the representation of the thick bold fold lines forms a distinct characteristic.
Thus the Gandhara sculptures offer a striking contrast to what has been discovered elsewhere in India. The Gandhara art primarily depicted the Buddhist themes. The mother of the Buddha resembles an Anthenian matron. Apollo-like face went into the making of a Buddhist scene.
Perhaps one of the loveliest Gandhara sculptures reflecting a western subject is the figure of Athena of Rome at Lahore. This sculpture is made out of blue-grave schist, which is found only in Gandhara. Although the technique of Gandhara was essentially borrowed from Greece this particular art is essentially Indian in spirit. It was employed to give expression to the beliefs and practices of Bhddhists. Except for a few exceptions, no Greek art motif has been detected in the specimens.
The Gandhara artist had the hand of a Greek, but the heart of an Indian. There are large Gandhara stupas and monasteries that have survived as ruins at Guldara in Afganishtan. Later a votive stupa from loriyaan Tangai in Gandhara has been found. If this is treated as the model of stupa in Gandhara, the stupa has undergone great changes form great stupa at Sanchi with its dome structure.
In Gandhara the dome grew taller while the square railing at its summit was enlarged and elaborated. The greatest of all gandhara stupas is the one erected by Kanishka outside the gates of modern Peshawar. Here also the stupa had not survived but a reliquary receptacle for relics of Kanishka have been found. One more such beliquary has been found at Bimaran in Afganishtan. This particular kind of Gandhara style continued at least till the 8th century.
It was along with Caravan route joining Taxila with Bactria that one of the greatest monastic centers of Buddhism flourished. It is the Bamiyan valley. The paintings in the valley reveal the motives adopted from Sassanian fabric designs.
The most spectacular creation carved from the cliffs at Bamiyan are two colossal standing figures of the Buddha, the largest of them began as high as ft.
It was finished with lime plaster. The image reflects the Gupta style of early fifth century. Above the figure's head are fragments of painting resembling those created by Gupta Buddhists at Ajanta. Stucco was a popular technique in Gandhara art. A large number of monasteries of Afganishtan are decorated with stucco images. Also terracotta was used particularly among those who could not afford stone sculpture. Terracotta figures were also used as decorations in homes and as toys. All these provide interesting glimpses of the dresses and fashions of the time.
Another revealing feature is the presence of the images of Mother Goddess, as the worship of this goddess remain an essential religious expression of the ordinary people. Buddhism, too came to be associated with fertility cult and other popular religious cults.
With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to strengthening his military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over the Hindu Kush back to Balkh in Bactria. Alexander nominated officers as Satraps of the new provinces, and in Gandhara, Oxyartes was nominated to the position of Satrap in BCE.
With the completion of the Empire's Grand Trunk Road, the region prospered as a centre of trade. Gandhara remained a part of the Mauryan Empire for about a century and a half. Ashoka , the grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the greatest Indian rulers. Like his grandfather, Ashoka also started his career in Gandhara as a governor. Later he became a Buddhist and promoted Buddhism.
He built many stupas in Gandhara. Mauryan control over the northwestern frontier, including the Yonas , Kambojas , and the Gandharas, is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka. According to one school of scholars, the Gandharas and Kambojas were cognate people. Later, wars between different groups of Bactrian Greeks resulted in the independence of Gandhara from Bactria and the formation of the Indo-Greek kingdom.
Menander I was its most famous king. He ruled from Taxila and later from Sagala Sialkot. He rebuilt Taxila Sirkap and Pushkalavati. The most famous king of the Sakas, Maues , established himself in Gandhara. Eventually an Indo-Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. The Parthians continued to support Greek artistic traditions. Links between Rome and the Indo-Parthian kingdoms existed. The Parthian dynasty fell in about 75 to another group from Central Asia.
The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Peshawar Valley and Taxila are littered with ruins of stupas and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and produced some of the best pieces of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent. Many monuments were created to commemorate the Jatakas. Purushapura along with Mathura became the capital of the great empire stretching from Central Asia to Northern India with Gandhara being in the midst of it.
Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia. Under Kanishka , Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims eager to view the monuments associated with many Jatakas. In Gandhara, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form. Under the Kushans new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built a great foot tower at Peshawar.
This structure was destroyed and rebuilt many times until it was finally destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century. The Kidarites conquered Peshawar and parts of northwest Indian subcontinent including Gandhara probably sometime between and from Kushan empire, [57] around the end of the rule of Gupta Emperor Chandragupta II or beginning of the rule of Kumaragupta I.
Their last ruler in Gandhara was Kandik, around CE. The Alchon invasion of the Indian subcontinent eradicated the Kidarite Huns who had preceded them by about a century, and contributed to the fall of the Gupta Empire , in a sense bringing an end to Classical India. Numerous incidents of violence were reported during this period. This incident is said to have turned Mihirakula virulently anti-Buddhist, although some have suggested the anti-Buddhist reputation was exaggerated.
The travel records of many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims record that Gandhara was going through a transformation during these centuries. Buddhism was declining, and Hinduism was rising. Gandhara was ruled by a king from Kabul, who respected Buddha's law, but Taxila was in ruins, and Buddhist monasteries were deserted. After failure of multiple campaigns by Arabs they failed to extend their rule to Gandhara.
Gandhara was ruled from Kabul by the Kabul Shahi for next years. Sometime in the 9th century the Kabul Shahi were replaced by the Hindu Shahi. Based on various records it is estimated that Hindu Shahi was formed in CE. The dynasty ruled from Kabul , later moved their capital to Udabhandapura. They built great temples all over their kingdoms. Some of these buildings are still in good condition in the Salt Range of the Punjab.
Jayapala was the last great king of the Hindu Shahi dynasty. His empire extended from west of Kabul to the river Sutlej. However, this expansion of Gandhara kingdom coincided with the rise of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul valley, Jayapala gave his life on a funeral pyre. Anandapala , a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range.
In the last king of this dynasty, Trilochanapala , was assassinated by his own troops which spelled the end of Gandhara. Subsequently, some Shahi princes moved to Kashmir and became active in local politics.
The city of Kandahar in Afghanistan is said to have been named after Gandhara. According to H. Bellow, an emigrant from the collapsing Gandhara region in the 5th century brought this name to modern Kandahar. Writing in c. God be merciful to both father and son! Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims. This is the reason, too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir, Benares, and other places.
And there the antagonism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment both from political and religious sources. During the closing years of the tenth and the early years of the succeeding century of our era, Mahmud the first Sultan and Musalman of the Turk dynasty of kings who ruled at Ghazni , made a succession of inroads twelve or fourteen in number, into Gandhar — the present Peshawar valley — in the course of his proselytizing invasions of Hindustan.
Fire and sword, havoc and destruction, marked his course everywhere. Gandhar which was styled the Garden of the North was left at his death a weird and desolate waste. Its rich fields and fruitful gardens, together with the canal which watered them the course of which is still partially traceable in the western part of the plain , had all disappeared.
Its numerous stone built cities, monasteries, and topes with their valuable and revered monuments and sculptures, were sacked, fired, razed to the ground, and utterly destroyed as habitations. By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni, Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgotten.
He recorded some events that took place in Gandhara, and provided details about its last royal dynasty and capital Udabhandapura. In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking an interest in the ancient history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the s coins of the post-Ashoka period were discovered, and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Chinese records provided locations and site plans for Buddhist shrines.
Along with the discovery of coins, these records provided clues necessary to piece together the history of Gandhara. In Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar.
He also identified the site of Taxila in the s. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were discovered in the Peshawar valley.
Archaeologist John Marshall excavated at Taxila between and He discovered separate Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of stupas and monasteries. These discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and its art. Excavation of many of the sites of Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from Peshawar and several universities around the world.
Linguistic evidence links some groups of the Dardic languages with Gandhari. This corpus of texts often includes and emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration: [83]. But when a second attack took place on the statue, the feet, shoulders, and face were demolished.
Gandharan Buddhist missionaries were active, with other monks from Central Asia, from the 2nd century CE in the Han-dynasty BC — CE at China's capital of Luoyang , and particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. These translators included:. The site of this monastery has since been rediscovered by archaeologists. Manuscripts and fragments that have survived from this monastery's collection include the following source texts: [96].
It declined and was destroyed after the invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century. Siddhartha shown as a bejeweled prince before the Sidhartha renounces palace life is a common motif. Stucco , as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of monastic and cult buildings. Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic world. An example is the youthful Buddha, his hair in wavy curls, similar to statutes of Apollo.
Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture of local crushed rocks i. The Greek god Atlas , supporting a Buddhist monument, Hadda.
The Bodhisattva Maitreya 2nd century. The Buddha preaching at the Deer Park in Sarnath 2nd—3rd century. The death of the Buddha, or parinirvana 2nd—3rd century. The Bodhisattva and Chandeka, Hadda 5th century. The Buddha and Vajrapani under the guise of Herakles. Hellenistic decorative scrolls from Hadda, Afghanistan.
Confucianism Persons. Neo Confucianism. Daoism Persons. Vedic philosophy. Japanese Buddhism. Japanese Confucianism. Korean Confucianism Persons. Indo-Scythians Indo-Parthians. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Ancient region in the Indian subcontinent.
For the kingdom in Epics, see Gandhara Kingdom.
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