ART406A

AMAN SUNDERKA (11071)SUMIT KUMAR MAJUMDER (10739)MOHD WAHEED (10405)PARITOSH YADAV (11487)JAY PRAKASH MAHAWAR (12320)SANKALP SHUKLA (10646)YASH MITTAL (11828)VIKRANT SINGH (12805)

THE KUSHANA PERIOD: GANDHARA AND MATHURA

GROUP-11

KUSHANA PERIOD The Kushan period (1st century to 3rd century AD) of imperialism reigned over the

region covering present-day Afghanistan, north-west Pakistan and north-western India.

Artistic activities were fairly widespread and two main spheres of Kushan art are generally recognised.

1. The broader Bactria-Gandhara region in the north-west lower Kabul Valley and upper Indus around Peshawar where strongly Hellenised and works of Persian influence were produced.

2. Northern India, particularly the Mathura region, the winter capital of the Kushans , where works in the Indian style were produced.

Features of Kushana Art Powerful depictions of human beings indulging in multifarious activities.  Development in style and technique of carving figures.  New methods of narrating long and continuous stories.  Effective combination of old and new motifs.  Influence of Gandhara art.  Appearance of images of the Buddha, Tirthankaras and different Brahmanical deities.  Introduction of portrait sculpture

. 

Kushana Art in NorthArchitecturally, buildings in these areas are somewhat different from Buddhist structures found in the Indian parts of the empire. They accepted a blending of different architectural settings used for decorative purposes.

TEMPLES AND BUDDHIST BUILDINGS :- Zurmala is a 12-m high Buddhist stupa, found in the north-

east of the ruins of Ancient Termez. It was built in the Kushan era, about I-II centuries BC

In the course of time, the Buddhist stupa reduced almost to a shapeless mound of clay, which could be hardly identified as a Buddhist ritual structure.

MONUMENTAL SCULPTURE The range of subjects and scenes in Bactrian monumental sculpture

was unusually wide and varied, both secular and religious, dynastic and public.

Of the dynastic groups, particularly illuminating are the sculptures at Khalchayan dating from the beginning of the Christian era, Dalverzin-tepe from the first century a.d. and Surkh Kotal (second century a.d.)

A considerable impact on the development of sculpture throughout the Kushan region was made by Buddhism.

In portraying the image of the Buddha , the Bactrian sculptors followed the established canons of the beginning of the Christian era.

But for the secondary figures in the Buddhist pantheon – devatas, genies or gandharvas – they returned to earlier Graeco-Bactrian traditions.

Head of the Buddha from Fayaz-tepe. Termez. Gypsum on clay

Head of a devata. Dalverzin-tepe. Gypsum on clay.

“The Birth and the First Seven Steps of the Buddha”, 2nd or 3rd century A.D.

Indian-style Kushan embossed and chased silver dish showing a yaksha drinking, 3rd or 4th century A.D.

Under the Kushans , conquerors from central Asia, two of India's most important styles were developed between the 2d and 5th century A.D.

Gandhara Art

Mathura Art

Kushan Art of Gandhara

Its development began during the Parthian Period (50 BC – AD 75).

After 2nd AD it came in existence as its separate identity.

Gandhara art, named after the region of Gandhara now in Pakistan, presents some of the earliest images of the Buddha.

Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist Art, which developed out of a merger of Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Indian artistic influence.

It can be seen that the Gandhara style was tremendously influenced by Hellenistic art

(originated in France) of second century.

Hellenistic art is the art of the Classical period dating from the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC to the emergence of ancient Rome (31 BC).

Very little work has been done so far to establish Kushan’s origin in Gandhara proper.

Because the Kushan art of Gandhara has so far been studied from a limited perspective.

Kushan material has been excavated from only three major cities within the cultural periphery of Gandhara – at Begram (or Kapisa), Puskalavatı (or Peucelaotis) and Taxila.

Also from the two sites outside the Indus region, that is, Mathura and Surkh Kotal.

These also yielded material for study - Takht-i Bahi, Jamal Garhi, Sahr-i Bahlol, Shah-jiki-Dheri (Peshawar), Tharelli, Mekha Sanda, Nathu, Sanghao, Hadda, Manikyala,Rani Ghat, etc.

Gandhara art has so far been studied only for the sake of its sculptural wealth

and Buddhist religion or to detect Western influence, never with a view to studying the civilization of which the sculptures were a part.

GANDHARAN ART AND BUDDHISM The Kushan sculptures from Gandhara are predominantly Buddhist.

Although the Buddha himself never visited Gandhara. But with the passage of time the area became a veritable holy land for his followers.

It is a moot point where and when the first image of the Buddha was made – in Gandhara or at Mathura.

Probably, it developed simultaneously at both places, one developing directly out of indigenous Indian art and the other (Gandhara) borrowing its type from the West.

Earlier than evolution of this art, the Buddha`s presence was primarily represented only through symbols such as the Peepal tree, the wheel of life, footprints, and an empty throne.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF BUDDHIST ART The sudden liberalization of Buddhism was a signal for the development

of Buddhist art in Gandhara and it soon reached its peak.

SCULPTURE

The Kushan art of Gandhara is mainly known from the wealth of sculpture recovered from the numerous Buddhist stupas and monasteries.

There were Standing and seated statues of the Buddha and the Bodhisattva Maitreya, and stone slabs depicting in low relief the legend of the Buddha’s birth stories.

Most of these statues and panels were carved out of a locally available grey or blue slate stone called schist, but stucco was also used for making statues and reliefs.

FIGURE OF THE BUDDHA The Gandhara Buddha is an idealized figure having a delightful face

unaffected by age or affliction. Standing barefoot or seated cross-legged he is always shown wearing an undergarment and a monk’s robe.

CHARACTERISTIC FEATURES The most characteristic feature of Gandhara sculptures is their frontality. Figuresnormally stare fixedly into one’s eyes or are turned completely to

right or left. There is seldom movement in their bodies. This can be understood in the light of Kushan sculptures from Khalchayan

which are turned slightly not strictly frontal. The fixed, unemotional frontality of the Kushan art of Gandhara has

obviously been brought from Khalchayan.

Miracle of Sravasti, Lahore Museum

Standing Bodhisattva, Lahore Museum

Mathura

Under the rule of same Kushans, only at different geographical area i.e. farther east and south at the contemporary Mathura, the Mathura style was developed.

Mathura is known as it had created a wholly Indian sculptural art.

The usual medium used for sculpturing was the reddish limestone.

The Mathura sculptures incorporate many Hellenistic elements, such as the general idealistic realism, and key design elements such as the curly hair, and folded garment.

These elements can be seen in the representations of the Buddha.

The representations of the Buddha in Mathura, in central northern India, are generally dated slightly later than those of Gandhara and are also much less numerous.

Specific Mathuran adaptations tend to reflect warmer climatic conditions, as they consist in a higher fluidity of the clothing, which progressively tend to cover only one shoulder instead of both.

The art of Mathura both precedes and post-dates Kushan art over a total span of about 1,000 years, but the Mathura workshops were most active and productive during the rule of the Kushan emperors.

Especially Kanishka, Huvishka and Vasudeva (second and third centuries a.d.), which represent the golden age of Mathura sculpture.

The earliest dated specimen of Kushan art at Mathura, the statue of Bodhisattva now in the Sarnath Museum, was made in the third year of Kanishka.

Mathura sculptures were carved from the spotted red sandstone quarried at Sikri, near the city, and its craftsmen mastered the technique of carving stone that was liable to be marred by streaks or spots.

AGE AND TECHNIQUE

COMPARISIONMathura School

No foreign Influence, however, later it cross fertilized with the Gandhara School. Its development took place indigenously.Initially inspired by Yaksha Images

Spotted Red Sandstone Early period: Light volume having fleshy

body.Later Period: Flashiness reduced.Not much attention to detailed sculpting.

The halo around the head of Buddha was profusely decorated.

Images are less expressive.

Gandhara School

Strong Greek influence and was based on Greco-Roman norms encapsulating foreign techniques and an alien spirit. It is also known as Graeco-Buddhist School of art. Assimilating various traits of Acamenian, Parthian and Bactrian traditions into the local tradition is a hallmark of the Gandhara style.

ii.Blue-grey Mica / Grey Sandstone iii.Finer details and realistic images. Buddha

carved out in various Mudras. Curley hair, anatomical accuracy, spatial depth, and foreshortening.

Halo not decorated and the images are very expressive,

GANDHARAN INFLUENCE AND ROYAL PORTRAITS Typical Mathura sculptures of Kushan date have been discovered at Varanasi,

Gaya, Sravasti, Taxila and Puskalavatı.

Style of Mathura seems to be a sequel to that of the stupas at Bharhut and Sanchi, but it is related to the art of Amaravati and the Gracco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.

Brahmanism, Buddhism and Jainism flourished simultaneously at Mathura under the Kushans and icons and shrines of all the three sects were made in large numbers.

Mathura art actually served as a bridge to correlate and unite indigenous and alien elements as it is the assimilation of different artistic forms and their fusion into a distinctive style.

The presentation of female beauty as a vehicle of art was a novel experiment of the Mathura school.

The most striking examples of the Kushan art of Mathura are the figures of yaksas and yaksıs, nagas and naganıs and female (Salabhanjika), some wanton and sensual.

The material used is either red sandstone with creamish spots or buff sandstone

BALARAM The cult of Balarama, the elder brother of

Krishna, was already established at Mathura before the Kushans (Lucknow Museum No. G.215).

In Kushan period, figures of Balarama have two or four arms holding a cup in the left hand with the right hand raised up in the protection pose.

Balarama is shown with a snake canopy . Sometimes he carries a lion-staff plough.

Head of Balarama with snake canopy.

Stela representing from the left, Ardhanarisvara, Vishnu, Gajalaksmi and Kubera.

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