Gupta art

Last updated
Gupta art
Rashtrapati Bhavan Buddha, Mathura, 5th century (black background).jpg
Standing Buddha of the art of Mathura. Gupta Empire period, circa 5th century CE. Rashtrapati Bhavan Presidential Palace, New Delhi, India.
class=notpageimage|
The three main schools of Gupta art were located in Mathura, Varanasi and Nalanda. [1]

Gupta art is the art of the Gupta Empire, which ruled most of northern India, with its peak between about 300 and 480 CE, surviving in much reduced form until c. 550. The Gupta period is generally regarded as a classic peak and golden age of North Indian art for all the major religious groups. [2] Gupta art is characterized by its "Classical decorum", in contrast to the subsequent Indian medieval art, which "subordinated the figure to the larger religious purpose". [3]

Contents

Although painting was evidently widespread, the surviving works are almost all religious sculpture. The period saw the emergence of the iconic carved stone deity in Hindu art, while the production of the Buddha-figure and Jain tirthankara figures continued to expand, the latter often on a very large scale. The traditional main centre of sculpture was Mathura, which continued to flourish, with the art of Gandhara, the centre of Greco-Buddhist art just beyond the northern border of Gupta territory, continuing to exert influence. Other centres emerged during the period, especially at Sarnath. Both Mathura and Sarnath exported sculpture to other parts of northern India.

It is customary to include under "Gupta art" works from areas in north and central India that were not actually under Gupta control, in particular art produced under the Vakataka dynasty who ruled the Deccan c. 250–500. [4] Their region contained very important sites such as the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves, both mostly created in this period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun then. Also, although the empire lost its western territories by about 500, the artistic style continued to be used across most of northern India until about 550, [5] and arguably around 650. [6] It was then followed by the "Post-Gupta" period, with (to a reducing extent over time) many similar characteristics; Harle ends this around 950. [7]

In general the style was very consistent across the empire and the other kingdoms where it was used. [8] The vast majority of surviving works are religious sculpture, mostly in stone with some in metal or terracotta, and architecture, mostly in stone with some in brick. The Ajanta Caves are virtually the sole survival from what was evidently a large and sophisticated body of painting, [9] and the very fine coinage the main survivals in metalwork. Gupta India produced both textiles and jewellery, which are only known from representations in sculpture and especially the paintings at Ajanta. [10]

Background

Gupta art was preceded by Kushan art, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, which flourished between the 1st and the 4th century CE and blended the tradition of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura. [11] In Western India, as visible in Devnimori, the Western Satraps (1st–4th century CE) developed a refined art, representing a Western Indian artistic tradition that was anterior to the rise of Gupta art, and which may have influenced not only the latter, but also the art of the Ajanta Caves, Sarnath and other places from the 5th century onward. [12] [13] [14] In central India, the art of the Satavahanas had already created a rich Indian artistic idiom, as visible in Sanchi, which also influenced Gupta art. [14]

One of the earliest dated Gupta statues, a Bodhisattva derived from the Kushan style of Mathura art, inscribed "year 64" of the Gupta era, 384 CE, Bodh Gaya. Bodh Gaya Bodhisattva inscribed Gupta Year 64, ie 385 CE.jpg
One of the earliest dated Gupta statues, a Bodhisattva derived from the Kushan style of Mathura art, inscribed "year 64" of the Gupta era, 384 CE, Bodh Gaya.

With the conquests of Samudragupta (r.c. 335/350-375 CE) and Chandragupta II (r.c. 380 – c. 415 CE), the Gupta Empire came to incorporate vast portions of central, northern and northwestern India, as far as the Punjab and the Arabian sea, continuing and expanding on these earlier artistic traditions and developing a unique Gupta style, rising "to heights of sophistication, elegance and glory". [16] [17] [18] [19] Unlike some other Indian dynasties before and after them, and with the exception of the imagery on their coins, the Gupta imperial family did not advertise their relationship to the art produced under them by inscriptions, let alone portraits that have survived. [20]

Early chronology

There are several pieces of statuary from the Gupta period which are inscribed with a date. [21] They work as a benchmark for the chronology and the evolution of style under the Guptas. These Gupta statues are dated from the Gupta era (which starts in 318–319 CE), and sometimes mention the reigning ruler of that time. [21] Besides statuary, coinage is also an important chronological indicator. [22]

Although the Gupta Empire is reckoned to start after King Gupta in the late 3rd century CE, the earliest known and dated sculptures of Gupta art come relatively late, about a century later, after the conquest of northwestern India under Samudragupta. Among the earliest is an inscribed pillar recording the installation of two Shiva Lingas in Mathura in 380 CE under Chandragupta II, Samudragupta's successor. [23] Another rare example is a statue of a seated Bodhisattva in the Mathura style with dhoti and shawl on the left shoulder, coming from Bodh Gaya and dated to "year 64", presumably of the Gupta era, thought to be 384 CE. [15] This type remained a rare occurrence, as in most of the later Gupta statues the Buddha would be shown with the samghati monastic robe covering both shoulders. [15]

Coinage too was a relatively late development, also consecutive to Samugragupta's conquest of the northwest. [24] [25] [26] The Gupta coinage was initially in imitation of the Kushan types. [27] [28] [29]

Style

The Gupta style of statuary, especially as seen in the Buddha images, is characterized by several formative traits: ornate halos with floral and gem motifs, clothes with thin diaphanous drapery, specific hair curls, meditative eyes, elongated earlobes, relatively thick lower lips, and often three lines across the neck. [30]

Sculpture

Vishnu, 5th century, Mathura Vishnu of Mathura, 5th century.jpg
Vishnu, 5th century, Mathura

Three main schools of Gupta sculpture are often recognised, based in Mathura, Varanasi/Sarnath [31] and to a lesser extent Nalanda. [32] The distinctively different stones used for sculptures exported from the main centres described below aids identification greatly. [33]

Both Buddhist and Hindu sculpture concentrate on large, often near life-size, figures of the major deities, respectively Buddha, Vishnu and Shiva. The dynasty had a partiality to Vishnu, who now features more prominently, where the Kushan imperial family generally had preferred Shiva. Minor figures such as yakshi, which had been very prominent in preceding periods, are now smaller and less frequently represented, and the crowded scenes illustrating Jataka tales of the Buddha's previous lives are rare. [34] When scenes include one of the major figures and other less important ones, there is a great difference in scale, with the major figures many times larger. This is also the case in representations of incidents from the Buddha's life, which earlier had showed all the figures on the same scale. [35]

The lingam was the central murti in most temples. Some new figures appear, including personifications of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, not yet worshipped, but placed on either side of entrances; these were "the two great rivers encompassing the Gupta heartland". [36] The main bodhisattva appear prominently in sculpture for the first time, [37] as in the paintings at Ajanta. Buddhist, Hindu and Jain sculpture all show the same style, [38] and there is a "growing likeness of form" between figures from the different religions, which continued after the Gupta period. [5]

The Indian stylistic tradition of representing the body as a series of "smooth, very simplified planes" is continued, though poses, especially in the many standing figures, are subtly tilted and varied, in contrast to the "columnar rigidity" of earlier figures. [39] The detail of facial parts, hair, headgear, jewellery and the haloes behind figures are carved very precisely, giving a pleasing contrast with the emphasis on broad swelling masses in the body. [40] Deities of all the religions are shown in a calm and majestic meditative style; "perhaps it is this all-pervading inwardness that accounts for the unequalled Gupta and post-Gupta ability to communicate higher spiritual states". [5]

Mathura school

Standing Buddha, Mathura Standing Buddha, Gupta dynasty, 320-485, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, India, sandstone - Freer Gallery of Art - DSC05111.JPG
Standing Buddha, Mathura

The long-established Mathura school continued as one of the main two schools of Gupta Empire art, joined by the school of Varanasi and nearby Sarnath. [1] Under the Guptas, Mathura remained primarily a center of Buddhist artistic activity and worship, but a few Hindu, especially Vaishnavite, sculptures started to appear. [41] Mathura sculpture is characterized by its usage of mottled red stone from Karri in the district, and its foreign influences, continuing the traditions of the art of Gandhara and the art of the Kushans. [42]

The art of Mathura continued to become more sophisticated during the Gupta Empire. The pink sandstone sculptures of Mathura evolved during the Gupta period to reach a very high fineness of execution and delicacy in the modeling, displaying calm and serenity. The style become elegant and refined, with a very delicate rendering of the draping and a sort of radiance reinforced by the usage of pink sandstone. [1] Artistic details tend to be less realistic, as seen in the symbolic shell-like curls used to render the hairstyle of the Buddha, and the orante halos around the head of the Buddhas. The art of the Gupta is often considered as the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art, achieving a beautiful rendering of the Buddhist ideal. [1]

Gupta art is also characterized by an expansion of the Buddhist pantheon, with a high importance given to the Buddha himself and to new deities, including Bodhisattvas such as Avalokitesvara or divinities of Bramanical inspiration, and less focus on the events of the life of the Buddha which were abundantly illustrated through Jataka stories in the art of Bharhut and Sanchi (2nd–1st centuries BCE), or in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara (1st–4th centuries CE). [43]

The Gupta art of Mathura was very influential throughout northern India, accompanied by a reducing of foreign influences; its style can be seen in Gupta statues to the east in areas as far as Allahabad, with the Mankuwar Buddha, dated to the reign of Kumaragupta I in 448. [44]

There are a number of "problematical" Buddhist and Jain images from Mathura whose dating is uncertain; many are dated with a low year number, but which era is being used is unclear. These may well come from the early Gupta period. [5]

Sarnath school

The Dharmachakra Pravartana Buddha at Sarnath, a Gupta statue of the Buddha from Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India, last quarter of the 5th century CE. The Buddha is depicted teaching in the lotus position, while making the Dharmacakra mudra. Buddha in Sarnath Museum (Dhammajak Mutra).jpg
The Dharmachakra Pravartana Buddha at Sarnath , a Gupta statue of the Buddha from Sarnath, Uttar Pradesh, India, last quarter of the 5th century CE. The Buddha is depicted teaching in the lotus position, while making the Dharmacakra mudrā.

The Varanasi/ Sarnath style produced mainly Buddhist art, and "Sarnath Buddhas are probably the greatest single achievement of the Indian sculptor", largely setting the representation of the Buddha that was followed in eastern India and South-East Asia for many centuries, and the general representation of the human body in India. [50] A number of dated examples show that the mature style did not develop until 450–475. [51] It is characterized by its yellowish sandstone from the quarries of Chunar, and lacks the foreign influences seen in Mathura. [43] Folds on clothing have disappeared, and the clothing itself is extremely thin, to the point of being transparent. The halo has become large and is often elaborately decorated. [52] The top edge of the eye-socket is very marked, forming a sharply carved edge. [53]

The Sarnath style was the origin of Buddha images in Siam, Cambodia and Java. [54]

Other centres

Nalanda
Sultanganj Buddha in copper, 500-700 CE, 2.3 metres tall. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. The Sultanganj Buddha.jpg
Sultanganj Buddha in copper, 500–700 CE, 2.3 metres tall. Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.

Gupta sculptural qualities tend to deteriorate with time, as in Nalanda in Bihar in the 6th century BCE, figures become heavier and tend to be made in metal. This evolution suggests a third school of Gupta art in the area Nalanda and Pataliputra, besides the two main centres of Mathura and Vanarasi. The colossal Sultanganj Buddha in copper from the area of Pataliputra is a uniquely large survival from this school, but typical in style. [43] In the same monastery two similar but much smaller (and slightly later) figures in stone were found, one now on display in the British Museum. [58]

Udayagiri Caves/Vidisha

The "first dated sculptures in a fully-fledged early Gupta style" come from the rock-cut Udayagiri Caves and the surrounding area near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh. [59] Though the caves, all but one Hindu, are "of negligible importance architecturally", around the cave entrances are a number of rock relief panels, some with large deities. They are in a relatively crude and heavy style, but often with a powerful impact; Harle describes the mukhalinga in Cave 4 as "pulsating with psychic power". The most famous is the 7 x 4 metre relief of Vishnu in the form of the giant boar Varaha, raising the earth from the primordial waters, watched by rows of much smaller gods, sages and celestial beings. One cave also has an extremely rare inscription relating a site to the Gupta court, recording the donation of a minister of Candragupta II. [60] The famous Iron pillar of Delhi is thought likely to have been originally set up outside the caves.

Eran
Vishnu sleeping, protected by Shesha, Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh Deogarh, Dasavatara-Tempel Vishnu (1999) (cropped).JPG
Vishnu sleeping, protected by Shesha, Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh

Eran in Madhya Pradesh has a "pillar" or large single column dated 484/5 by an inscription of Buddhagupta, the only standing Gupta example, with two Garuda figures at the top (illustrated below). It had two large Varaha figures outside the ruined Gupta temple. The style of the sculpture is somewhat provincial. Still at the site is a huge and impressive boar on four legs, with no human characteristics, its body covered with rows of small figures representing the sages who clung to the hairs of Varaha to save themselves from the waters. Now moved to the university museum at Sagar is a figure with the same body and pose as that at Udayagiri, "one of the greatest of all Indian sculptures ... nothing can match the figure's air of insolent triumph". Both are dated to the late fifth century. [64]

Others

The surviving sanctuary of the early 6th-century Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh has a typically fine doorway, and large relief panels on the other three walls. These are now external, but would originally gave given on to the covered ambulatory. Though "majestic", these show "the sturdiness of early Gupta sculpture is yielding to a softer, more delicate and ultimately weaker style". [65] The row of men beneath the sleeping Vishnu have "stylized poses, probably imitated from the theatre". [66]

There are also other minor centres of Gupta sculpture, particularly in the areas of Dasapura and Mandasor, where a huge eight-faced mukhalinga (probably early 6th-century) found in the river has been reinstalled in the Pashupatinath Temple, Mandsaur. [67]

The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara continued a late phase through at least most of the Gupta period, having also been a formative influence. [59]

Elephanta Caves, triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, c. 550. Elephanta Caves (27804449706) (cropped).jpg
Elephanta Caves, triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, c. 550.

Very important rock-cut sites outside the Gupta Empire proper, to the south, are the Ajanta Caves and Elephanta Caves, both mostly created in the Gupta period, and the Ellora Caves which were probably begun around the end of it. As it was mainly restricted to the Gangetic plain, the vast Gupta territories included relatively few rock-cut sites with much sculpture. The later Ajanta style of sculpture is somewhat heavy, but sometimes "awe-inspiring" in the large seated shrine Buddhas, but other smaller figures are often very fine, as is the ornamental carving on columns and door-frames. [68]

When combined with the painted walls, the effect can be considered over-decorated, and lacking "motifs on a larger scale to serve as focal points". The main internal carving was probably completed by 478, though votive figures to the sides of many cave entrances may be later. The Ajanta style is only seen at a few other sites nearby. After work ended there much of the skilled workforce, or their descendants, probably ended up working at Elephanta and then Ellora. [69]

Unlike the series of caves side by side at Ajanta, the main interest at Elephanta is the largest cave, a huge Shiva temple, and above all the colossal triple-bust (trimurti) of Shiva, 18 feet (5.5 m) tall, which "because it is so amazingly skilfully placed in relation to the various external entrances ... receives exactly the amount of light necessary to make it look as if it is emerging from a black void, manifestation from the unmanifest". [70] Also from the Mumbai area, the Parel Relief or (Parel Shiva) is an important late Gupta monolithic relief of Shiva in seven forms. [70]

Terracotta sculpture

The earliest terracottas datable to the Gupta period appear under the Western Satraps at the Buddhist site of Devnimori in Gujarat circa 375–400 CE, representing the southern extension of Gandharan influence to the subcontinent, which persisted locally with the sites of Mīrpur Khās, Śāmalājī or Dhānk, a century before this influence would further extend to Ajanta and Sarnath. [74] [75] It has even been suggested that the art of the Western Satraps and Devnimori were at the origin of Gupta material culture, but this remains a subject of debate. [76]

The Gupta period saw the production of many sculptures in terracotta of very fine quality, and they are similar in style across the empire, to an even greater extent than the stone sculpture. [5] Some can still be seen in their original settings on the brick temple at Bhitargaon, where the large relief panels have almost worn away, but various heads and figures survive at higher levels. [77] The very elegant pair of river goddesses excavated from a temple at Ahichchhatra are 1.47 metres high.

Sculpture in metal

The Brahma from Mirpur-Khas, detail Brahma mirpur khas.jpg
The Brahma from Mirpur-Khas, detail

The over life-size copper Sultanganj Buddha (2.3 metres tall) is "the only remaining metal statue of any size" from the Gupta period, out of what was at the time probably approximately as numerous a type as stone or stucco statues. [80] There are, however, many much smaller near-identical figures (up to about 50 cm tall), several in American museums. The metal Brahma from Mirpur-Khas is older, but about half the size of the Sultanganj figure. The Jain Akota bronzes and some other finds are much smaller still, probably figures for shrines in well-off homes. [81]

The style of the Sultanganj figure, made by lost-wax casting, is comparable to slightly earlier stone Buddha figures from Sarnath in "the smoothly rounded attenuation of body and limbs" and the very thin, clinging body garment, indicated in the lightest of ways. The figure has "a feeling of animation imparted by the unbalanced stance and the movement suggested by the sweeping silhouette of the enveloping robe". [80]

Coins and metalwork

Silver plate with a festival scene Northwestern India, possibly Tanesara Mahadeva, Gupta period - Plate with a Scene of Revelry - 1972.71 - Cleveland Museum of Art (cropped).tif
Silver plate with a festival scene

Survivals of decorated secular metalwork are very rare, [82] but a silver plate in the Cleveland Museum of Art shows a crowded festival scene in rather worn relief. [83] There is also a highly decorated object in bronzed iron that is thought to be a weight for an architect's "plummet" or measuring line, now in the British Museum. [84]

The gold coinage of the Guptas, with its many types and infinite varieties and its inscriptions in Sanskrit, are regarded as the finest coins in a purely Indian style. [85] The Gupta Empire produced large numbers of gold coins depicting the Gupta kings performing various rituals, as well as silver coins clearly influenced by those of the earlier Western Satraps by Chandragupta II. [86]

Coinage

Gupta coinage only started with the reign of Samudragupta (335/350-375 CE), or possibly at the end of the reign of his father Chandragupta I, for whom only one coin type in his name is known ("Chandragupta I and his queen"), probably a commemorative issue minted by his son. [24] [25] [26] [87] The coinage of the Gupta Empire was initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest. [25] [26] [88] The Guptas even adopted from the Kushans the name of Dinara for their coinage, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus . [89] [90] [91] The imagery on Gupta coins was initially derived from Kushan types, but the features soon became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed. [27] [28] [29]

The usual layout is an obverse with a portrait of the king that is normally full-length, whether standing, seated or riding a horse, and on the reverse a goddess, most often seated on a throne. Often the king is sacrificing. The choice of images can have political meaning, referring to conquests and local tastes; the types often vary between parts of the empire. [92]

Types showing the king hunting and killing various animals: lions (the "lion-slayer" type), tigers and rhinoceros very likely refer to new conquests in the areas where those animals were still found. They may also reflect influence from Sassanian silverware from Persia. [93] The king standing and holding a bow to one side (the "archer" type) was used by at least eight kings; it may have been intended to associate the king with Rama. Profile heads of the king are used on some silver coins for Western provinces added to the empire. [94]

Some gold coins commemorate the Vedic Ashvamedha horse sacrifice ritual, which the Gupta kings practised; these have the sacrificial horse on the obverse and the queen on the reverse. [95] Samudragupta is shown playing a string instrument, wearing huge earrings, but only a simple dhoti. The only type produced under Chandragupta I shows him and his queen standing side by side. The bird Garuda, bearer of Vishnu, is used as a symbol of the dynasty on many silver coins. [96] Some of these were in the past misidentified as fire altars. [97]

The silver coinage of the Guptas was made in imitation of the coinage of the Western Satraps following their overthrow by Chandragupta II, inserting the Gupta peacock symbol on the reverse but retaining traces of the Greek legend and the ruler's portrait on the obverse. [98] [99] Kumaragupta and Skandagupta continued with the old type of coins (the Garuda and the Peacock types) and also introduced some other new types. [85] The copper coinage was mostly confined to the era of Chandragupta II and was more original in design. Eight out of the nine types known to have been struck by him have a figure of Garuda and the name of the king on it. The gradual deterioration in design and execution of the gold coins and the disappearance of silver money, bear ample evidence to their curtailed territory. [85]

Architecture

Hindu temple of Bhitargaon, late 5th century, but considerably restored. Bhitargaon temple along with ASI inscription.jpg
Hindu temple of Bhitargaon, late 5th century, but considerably restored.

For reasons that are not entirely clear, for the most part the Gupta period represented a hiatus in Indian rock-cut architecture, with the first wave of construction finishing before the empire was assembled, and the second wave beginning in the late 5th century, just as it was ending. This is the case, for example, at the Ajanta Caves, with an early group made by 220 CE at the latest, and a later one probably all after about 460. [105] Instead, the period has left almost the first surviving free-standing structures in India, in particular the beginnings of Hindu temple architecture. As Milo Beach puts it: "Under the Guptas, India was quick to join the rest of the medieval world in a passion for housing precious objects in stylized architectural frameworks", [106] the "precious objects" being primarily the icons of gods.

The most famous remaining monuments in a broadly Gupta style, the caves at Ajanta, Elephanta, and Ellora (respectively Buddhist, Hindu, and mixed including Jain) were in fact produced under other dynasties in Central India, and in the case of Ellora after the Gupta period, but primarily reflect the monumentality and balance of Guptan style. Ajanta contains by far the most significant survivals of painting from this and the surrounding periods, showing a mature form which had probably had a long development, mainly in painting palaces. [107] The Hindu Udayagiri Caves actually record connections with the dynasty and its ministers, [108] and the Dashavatara Temple at Deogarh is a major temple, one of the earliest to survive, with important sculpture, although it has lost its mandapa and covered ambulatory for parikrama . [109]

Examples of early North Indian Hindu temples that have survived after the Udayagiri Caves in Madhya Pradesh include those at Tigawa (early 5th century), [110] Pataini temple (5th century), [111] Sanchi Temple 17 (similar, but respectively Hindu and Buddhist), Deogarh, Parvati Temple, Nachna (465), [112] Bhitargaon, the largest Gupta brick temple to survive, [113] and Lakshman Brick Temple, Sirpur (600–625 CE). Gop Temple in Gujarat (c. 550 or later) is an oddity, with no surviving close comparator. [114]

There are a number of different broad models, which would continue to be the case for more than a century after the Gupta period, but temples such as Tigawa and Sanchi Temple 17, which are small but massively built stone prostyle buildings with a sanctuary and a columned porch, show the most common basic plan that is elaborated in later temples to the present day. Both of these have flat roofs over the sanctuary, which would become uncommon by about the 8th century. The Mahabodhi Temple, Bhitargaon, Deogarh and Gop already all show high superstructures of different shapes. [115] The Chejarla Kapoteswara temple demonstrates that free-standing chaitya-hall temples with barrel roofs continued to be built, probably with many smaller examples in wood. [116]

Pillars

Pillars with inscriptions were erected, recording the main achievements of Gupta rulers. Whereas the Pillars of Ashoka were cylindrical, smooth and finished with the famous Mauryan polish, Gupta pillars had a rough surface often shaped into geometrical facets. [117]

Chronology

The chronology of Gupta art is quite critical to the art history of the region. Fortunately, several statues are precisely dated, based on inscriptions referring to the various rulers of the Gupta Empire, and giving their regnal dates in the Gupta era.

Dated statuary under the Guptas
(319–543 CE)

Final period: Sondani (525 CE)

The sculptures at Sondani and surrounding areas of Mandsaur are a good marker for the final period of Gupta Art, as they were commissioned by Yasodharman (ruled 515 – 545 CE) around 525 CE, in celebration of his victory against the Alchon Hun king Mihirakula. [123] [124] This corresponds to the last phase of Gupta cultural and political unity in the subcontinent, and after that point and for the next centuries, Indian politics became extremely fragmented, with the territory being divided between smaller dynasties. [125] The art of Sondani is considered as transitional between Gupta art and the art of Medieval India: it represents "an aesthetic which hovered between the classical decorum of Gupta art on the one hand and on the other the medieval canons which subordinated the figure to the larger religious purpose". [126]

Influences in Southeast Asia

Central Thailand, Dvaravati, Mon-Dvaravati style, 7th-9th Century. Clevelandart 1969.56.jpg
Central Thailand, Dvaravati, Mon-Dvaravati style, 7th–9th Century.

Indian art, particularly Gupta and Post-Gupta art from Eastern India, was influential in the development of Buddhist and Hindu art in Southeast Asia from the 6th century CE. [127] The Mon people of the kingdom of Dvaravati in modern Thailand were among the first to adopt Buddhism, and developed a particular style of Buddhist art. Mon-Davarati statues of the Buddha have facial features and hair styles reminiscent of the art of Mathura. [127] In pre-Angkorian Cambodia from the 7th century CE, Harihara statues fusing the characteristics of Shiva and Vishnu are known. [127]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Mookerji, 142
  2. ↑ Rowland's chapter 15 is called "The Golden Age: The Gupta Period; Harle, 88
  3. ↑ Williams, Joanna (1972). "The Sculpture of Mandasor" (PDF). Archives of Asian Art. 26: 64. ISSN   0066-6637. JSTOR   20111042.
  4. ↑ Harle, 118
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Harle, 89
  6. ↑ Rowland, 215
  7. ↑ Harle, 199
  8. ↑ Harle, 89; Rowland, 216
  9. ↑ Harle, 88, 355–361
  10. ↑ Rowland, 252–253
  11. ↑ Stokstad, Marilyn; Cothren, Michael W. (2013). Art History (5th Edition) Chapter 10: Art Of South And Southeast Asia Before 1200. Pearson. pp.  306–308. ISBN   978-0205873487.
  12. ↑ Schastok, Sara L. (1985). The Śāmalājī Sculptures and 6th Century Art in Western India. BRILL. pp. 23–31. ISBN   978-9004069411.
  13. 1 2 3 The Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, Volume 4 1981 Number I An Exceptional Group of Painted Buddha Figures at Ajanṭā, p.97 and Note 2
  14. 1 2 "Gupta art in north India of the fifth century did receive the heritage of the Mathura as well as Ksatrapa-Satavahana arts." in Pal, Pratapaditya (1972). Aspects of Indian Art: Papers Presented in a Symposium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, October, 1970. Brill Archive. p. 47. ISBN   9789004036253.
  15. 1 2 3 4 Rhi, Ju-Hyung (1994). "From Bodhisattva to Buddha: The Beginning of Iconic Representation in Buddhist Art". Artibus Asiae. 54 (3/4): 223. doi:10.2307/3250056. ISSN   0004-3648. JSTOR   3250056.
  16. ↑ Duiker, William J.; Spielvogel, Jackson J. (2015). World History. Cengage Learning. p. 279. ISBN   9781305537781.
  17. ↑ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 143. ISBN   9788120804401.
  18. ↑ Gokhale, Balkrishna Govind (1995). Ancient India: History and Culture. Popular Prakashan. pp. 171–173. ISBN   9788171546947.
  19. ↑ Lowenstein, Tom (2012). The Civilization of Ancient India and Southeast Asia. The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc. p. 53. ISBN   9781448885077.
  20. ↑ Harle, 88
  21. 1 2 Agrawal, Ashvini (1989). Rise and Fall of the Imperial Guptas. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. pp. 98–100. ISBN   978-81-208-0592-7.
  22. ↑ Pal, 69
  23. ↑ "Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds". vmis.in. American Institute of Indian Studies.
  24. 1 2 Altekar, A. s (1957). Coinage Of The Gupta Empire. p.  39.
  25. 1 2 3 Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 30. ISBN   9788120804401.
  26. 1 2 3 Higham, Charles (2014). Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations. Infobase Publishing. p. 82. ISBN   9781438109961.
  27. 1 2 "It was his conquests which brought to him the gold utilized in his coinage and also the knowledge of its technique acquired from his acquaintance with Kushan (eastern Punjab) coins. His earliest coins began as imitations of these Kushan coins, and of their foreign features which were gradually replaced by Indian features in his later coins." in Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 30. ISBN   9788120804401.
  28. 1 2 Pal, 78
  29. 1 2 Art, Los Angeles County Museum of; Pal, Pratapaditya (1986). Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700 . University of California Press. p.  73. ISBN   9780520059917.
  30. ↑ Ishikawa, Ken (2019). "More Gandhāra than Mathurā: substantial and persistent Gandhāran influences provincialized in the Buddhist material culture of Gujarat and beyond, c. AD 400–550" in "The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art". p. 166. "However, all the Gupta Buddha images show one or more formative-Gupta characteristics: the ornamentation of the halo with floral and gem motifs, the garments with diaphanous drapery, hair curls, meditative eyes, elongated earlobes, the pronounced lower lip and/or three lines across his neck (Miyaji 1980: 16).
  31. ↑ Asher, Frederick M. (2003), "Sarnath", Oxford Art Online, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t076054, ISBN   978-1-884446-05-4 , retrieved 2020-12-25
  32. ↑ Mookerji, 1, 143
  33. ↑ Harle, 89; Rowland, 216; Mookerji, 143
  34. ↑ Harle, 87–88
  35. ↑ Rowland, 234
  36. ↑ Harle, 87–88, 88 quoted
  37. ↑ Rowland, 235
  38. ↑ Rowland, 232
  39. ↑ Rowland, 233
  40. ↑ Rowland, 230–233, 232 and 233 quoted
  41. ↑ Balasubramaniam, R. (2005). Story of the Delhi Iron Pillar. Foundation Books. p. 15. ISBN   978-81-7596-278-1. There is strong archaeological evidence in favour of Mathura being a centre of Buddhist religious activities (and not Vaishnava worship) during the Gupta period. (...) In fact the Hindu images which appear at Mathura in the pre-Gupta days are very few in number...
  42. ↑ Rowland, 229–232; Mookerji, 143
  43. 1 2 3 4 5 Mookerji, 143
  44. ↑ Mookerji, 142–143
  45. ↑ "Kushana-Gupta transitional period" per Mathura Museum label, visible on the photograph.
  46. 1 2 "Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds". vmis.in. American Institute of Indian Studies.
  47. ↑ For English summary, see page 80 Schmid, Charlotte (1997). "Les Vaikuṇṭha gupta de Mathura : Viṣṇu ou Kṛṣṇa?". Arts Asiatiques. 52: 60–88. doi:10.3406/arasi.1997.1401.
  48. ↑ Rowland, 234–235; Harle, 109–110
  49. ↑ Harle 1994, p. 109.
  50. ↑ Harle, 107–110, 107 quoted
  51. ↑ Harle, 110
  52. ↑ Rowland, 232–237;
  53. ↑ Harle, 89–90
  54. ↑ Harle, 109–110; Rowland, 235
  55. 1 2 Fleet, John Faithfull (1960). Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors. p.  47.
  56. 1 2 "Mankuwar Buddha Image Inscription of the Time of Kumaragupta I siddham". siddham.uk.
  57. 1 2 "Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds". vmis.in. American Institute of Indian Studies.
  58. ↑ British Museum page [ permanent dead link ]
  59. 1 2 Harle, 92
  60. ↑ Harle, 92–97, 93 quoted
  61. ↑ Harle, 93
  62. 1 2 3 Curta, Florin; Holt, Andrew (28 November 2016). Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 271. ISBN   978-1-61069-566-4.
  63. ↑ BECKER, CATHERINE (2010). "Not Your Average Boar: The Colossal Varāha at Erāṇ, an Iconographic Innovation". Artibus Asiae. 70 (1): 127. ISSN   0004-3648. JSTOR   20801634.
  64. ↑ Harle, 97–100, 99–100 quoted
  65. ↑ Harle, 113
  66. ↑ Harle, 113–114
  67. ↑ Mookerji, 144; Harle, 114
  68. ↑ Harle, 118–120 (120 quoted), 122–124
  69. ↑ Harle, 122
  70. 1 2 Harle, 124
  71. 1 2 "Mother Goddess". Cleveland Museum of Art. 31 October 2018.
  72. ↑ India, Rajasthan, Tanesara-Mahadeva, Gupta Period. "Matrika from Tanesara".{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  73. ↑ Harle, James C. (January 1994). The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. Yale University Press. p. 115. ISBN   978-0-300-06217-5.
  74. ↑ Ishikawa, Ken (2020). "More Gandhāra than Mathurā: substantial and persistent Gandhāran influences provincialized in the Buddhist material culture of Gujarat and beyond, c. AD 400–550" in "The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art" (PDF). Archaeopress Archaeology. pp. 156–157. Furthermore, I will trace the waves of Gandhāran influences observed at Devnīmorī, which within, or after, a century or so eventually reached Sārnāth and Ajaṇṭā and locally persisted at Śāmalājī in north Gujarat, Dhānk in Saurashtra in India, and Mīrpur Khās in Sindh in Pakistan.
  75. ↑ Ishikawa, Ken (January 2020). The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art. p. 168. Overall, the early Gupta Jain tīrthaṅkara images from Vidiśā are regarded as anticipating, together with the Bodh Gayā Buddha/Bodhisattva image and fully-fledged Gupta-style buddha images at Devnīmorī soon after, the fully-fledged/mature Gupta Buddha images at Mathurā and Sārnāth that developed during the following fifth century AD.
  76. ↑ Ishikawa, Ken (2019). "More Gandhāra than Mathurā: substantial and persistent Gandhāran influences provincialized in the Buddhist material culture of Gujarat and beyond, c. AD 400–550" in "The Global Connections of Gandhāran Art". pp. 156ff. Even so, the idea that Devnīmorī or the Western Kṣatrapas were the progenitor of Gupta material culture has long been a subject of debate (Williams 1982 58-9). Although the role of western India in the formation of pan-Indian Gupta material culture is a notoriously problematic issue, we might further contextualize Devnīmorī by reconsidering the extent of the late Gandhāran influence as well as pre-existing material culture of Gujarat.
  77. ↑ Harle, 115
  78. ↑ Indian Art. Prince of Wales Museum of Western India. 1964. pp. 2–4. The terracotta figures of Mirpur Khas represent the Gupta idiom as it flourished in Sindh. (...) In the terracottas of Mirpur Khas, of which the Museum has a most representative collection, one may see the synthesis of Gandhara and Gupta traditions . Here the old sacrosanct forms of Gandhara are moulded in the Gupta character of nobility , restraint and spirituality and the result is very pleasing. The figures of the Buddha from Mirpur Khas show transformation from the Gandhara to Gupta idiom , which the figures of the donor and Kubera show well developed Gupta types.
  79. ↑ Harle 1994, p. 117.
  80. 1 2 Rowland, 237
  81. ↑ Rowland, 237–239
  82. ↑ Rowland, 253
  83. ↑ "Plate with a Scene of Revelry", Cleveland Museum of Art
  84. ↑ Rowland, 253–254
  85. 1 2 3 The Coins Of India, by Brown, C.J. p.13-20
  86. ↑ Allan, J. & Stern, S. M. (2008), coin, Encyclopædia Britannica.
  87. ↑ Brown, C. J. (1987). The Coins of India. Asian Educational Services. p. 41. ISBN   9788120603455.
  88. ↑ Sen, Sudipta (2019). Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River. Yale University Press. p. 205. ISBN   9780300119169.
  89. ↑ "Known by the term Dinars in early Gupta inscriptions, their gold coinage was based on the weight standard of the Kushans i.e. 8 gms/120 grains. It was replaced in the time of Skandagupta by a standard of 80 ratis or 144 grains" Vanaja, R. (1983). Indian Coinage. National Museum.
  90. ↑ Mookerji, Radhakumud (1997). The Gupta Empire. Motilal Banarsidass Publ. p. 31. ISBN   9788120804401.
  91. ↑ Gupta inscriptions using the term "Dinara" for money: No 5-9, 62, 64 in Fleet, John Faithfull (1960). Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors.
  92. ↑ Mookerji, 139–141; Bajpai, 121; Pal, 78–80
  93. ↑ Sircar, 215–217; Pal, 74–75. The alternative explanation is that these animals were still more widespread than is usually thought.
  94. ↑ Mookerji, 139–141; Pal, 73–74
  95. ↑ Glucklich, 111–113; Mookerji, 140; Pal, 79–80 suggests instead the female figure may represent Vijaya, the goddess of victory.
  96. ↑ Mookerji, 139–141; Pal, 73–75
  97. ↑ Bajpai, 121–124
  98. ↑ Prasanna Rao Bandela (2003). Coin splendour: a journey into the past. Abhinav Publications. pp. 112–. ISBN   978-81-7017-427-1 . Retrieved 21 November 2011.
  99. ↑ "Evidence of the conquest of Saurastra during the reign of Chandragupta II is to be seen in his rare silver coins which are more directly imitated from those of the Western Satraps... they retain some traces of the old inscriptions in Greek characters, while on the reverse, they substitute the Gupta type (a peacock) for the chaitya with crescent and star." in Rapson "A catalogue of Indian coins in the British Museum. The Andhras etc...", p. cli
  100. 1 2 Houben, Jan E. M.; Kooij, Karel Rijk van (1999). Violence Denied: Violence, Non-Violence and the Rationalization of Violence in South Asian Cultural History. BRILL. p. 128. ISBN   978-90-04-11344-2.
  101. 1 2 Ganguly, Dilip Kumar (1984). History and Historians in Ancient India . Abhinav Publications. p.  152. ISBN   978-0-391-03250-7.
  102. 1 2 3 "Evidence of the conquest of Saurastra during the reign of Chandragupta II is to be seen in his rare silver coins which are more directly imitated from those of the Western Satraps... they retain some traces of the old inscriptions in Greek characters, while on the reverse, they substitute the Gupta type ... for the chaitya with crescent and star." in Rapson "A catalogue of Indian coins in the British Museum. The Andhras etc.", p.cli
  103. ↑ Curta, Florin; Holt, Andrew (2016). Great Events in Religion: An Encyclopedia of Pivotal Events in Religious History [3 volumes]. ABC-CLIO. p. 271. ISBN   978-1-61069-566-4.
  104. ↑ Harle 1994, p. 116.
  105. ↑ Ajanta chronology is still under discussion, but this is the view of Spink, accepted by many.
  106. ↑ Beach, Milo, Steps to Water: The Ancient Stepwells of India, (Photographs by Morna Livingston), p. 25, 2002, Princeton Architectural Press, ISBN   1568983247, 9781568983240, google books
  107. ↑ Harle 1994, pp. 118–22, 123–26, 129–35.
  108. ↑ Harle 1994, pp. 92–97.
  109. ↑ Harle, 113–114; see also site entries in Michell (1990)
  110. ↑ Michell (1990), 192
  111. ↑ Cunningham, Alexander (1879). Report of a Tour in the Central Provinces in 1873-74 and 1874-75. Archaeological Survey of India. Vol. 9. Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing. p. 31.
  112. ↑ Michael Meister (1987), Hindu Temple, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, editor: Mircea Eliade, Volume 14, Macmillan, ISBN   0-02-909850-5, page 370
  113. ↑ Michell (1990), 157; Michell (1988), 96
  114. ↑ Harle, 111–113, 136–138; Michell (1988), 90, 96–98; see also site entries in Michell (1990)
  115. ↑ Harle, 111–113; Michell (1988), 94–98
  116. ↑ Harle, 175
  117. ↑ "Gupta – artistes built it with the rough surface and with the different shapes of square, octagonal and hexagonal. They decorated the pillars with the meandering creepers, flowers of blue and red lotuses, pitchers and the pattern of leogryph." Sudhi, Padma (1993). Gupta Art, a Study from Aesthetic and Canonical Norms. Galaxy Publications. p. 120. ISBN   978-81-7200-007-3.
  118. ↑ "Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds". vmis.in. American Institute of Indian Studies.
  119. ↑ "Collections-Virtual Museum of Images and Sounds". vmis.in. American Institute of Indian Studies.
  120. ↑ Majumdar, B. (1937). Guide to Sarnath. p.  89.
  121. ↑ Fleet 1888, p.  88.
  122. ↑ Bajpai, K. D. (2004). Indian Numismatic Studies. Abhinav Publications. pp. 19–20. ISBN   978-81-7017-035-8.
  123. ↑ "Coin Cabinet of the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna". Archived from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2021-12-18.
  124. ↑ Williams, Joanna (1972). "The Sculpture of Mandasor" (PDF). Archives of Asian Art. 26: 63. ISSN   0066-6637. JSTOR   20111042.
  125. ↑ "The reign of Yasodharman thus forms an important dividing point between the period of the imperial Guptas, whom he emulated, and the following centuries, when India fell into a kaleidoscopic confusion of shifting smaller dynasties" in Williams, Joanna (1972). "The Sculpture of Mandasor" (PDF). Archives of Asian Art. 26: 52. ISSN   0066-6637. JSTOR   20111042.
  126. ↑ Williams, Joanna (1972). "The Sculpture of Mandasor" (PDF). Archives of Asian Art. 26: 64. ISSN   0066-6637. JSTOR   20111042.
  127. 1 2 3 Stokstad, Marilyn; Cothren, Michael W. (2013). Art History (5th Edition) Chapter 10: Art Of South And Southeast Asia Before 1200. Pearson. pp.  323–325. ISBN   978-0205873487.

Related Research Articles

The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire which existed from the early 4th century CE to early 6th century CE. At its zenith, from approximately 319 to 467 CE, it covered much of the Indian subcontinent. This period has been considered as the Golden Age of India by some historians, although this characterisation has been disputed by other historians. The ruling dynasty of the empire was founded by Gupta, and the most notable rulers of the dynasty were Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, Chandragupta II and Skandagupta. The 5th-century CE Sanskrit poet Kalidasa credits the Guptas with having conquered about twenty-one kingdoms, both in and outside India, including the kingdoms of Parasikas, the Hunas, the Kambojas, tribes located in the west and east Oxus valleys, the Kinnaras, Kiratas, and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sanchi</span> Buddhist complex in Madhya Pradesh, India

Sanchi Stupa is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometers from Raisen town, district headquarter and 46 kilometres (29 mi) north-east of Bhopal, capital of Madhya Pradesh.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kushan Empire</span> 30–375 AD empire in Central and South Asia

The Kushan Empire was a syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Northern India, at least as far as Saketa and Sarnath, near Varanasi, where inscriptions have been found dating to the era of the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greco-Buddhist art</span> Artistic syncretism between Classical Greece and Buddhist India

The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara, located in the northwestern fringe of the Indian subcontinent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Scythians</span> Nomadic Iranian peoples of Saka and Scythian origin

The Indo-Scythians were a group of nomadic people of Iranic Scythian origin who migrated from Central Asia southward into the northwestern Indian subcontinent: the present-day South Asian regions of Afghanistan, Pakistan and northern India. The migrations persisted from the middle of the second century BCE to the fourth century CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian art</span> Art from Indian Subcontinent cultures

Indian art consists of a variety of art forms, including painting, sculpture, pottery, and textile arts such as woven silk. Geographically, it spans the entire Indian subcontinent, including what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, and at times eastern Afghanistan. A strong sense of design is characteristic of Indian art and can be observed in its modern and traditional forms.

The Western Satraps, or Western Kshatrapas were Indo-Scythian (Saka) rulers of the western and central parts of India, between 35 and 415 CE. The Western Satraps were contemporaneous with the Kushans who ruled the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, and were possibly vassals of the Kushans. They were also contemporaneous with the Satavahana (Andhra) who ruled in Central India. They are called "Western Satraps" in modern historiography in order to differentiate them from the "Northern Satraps", who ruled in Punjab and Mathura until the 2nd century CE.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tribhanga</span>

Tribhaṅga or Tribunga is a standing body position or stance used in traditional Indian art and Indian classical dance forms like the Odissi, where the body bends in one direction at the knees, the other direction at the hips and then the other again at the shoulders and neck.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent</span>

Sculpture in the Indian subcontinent, partly because of the climate of the Indian subcontinent makes the long-term survival of organic materials difficult, essentially consists of sculpture of stone, metal or terracotta. It is clear there was a great deal of painting, and sculpture in wood and ivory, during these periods, but there are only a few survivals. The main Indian religions had all, after hesitant starts, developed the use of religious sculpture by around the start of the Common Era, and the use of stone was becoming increasingly widespread.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kahu-Jo-Darro</span>

Kahu-Jo-Darro, also known as Mirpur Khas stupa, is an ancient Buddhist stupa found at the Mirpurkhas archaeological site in Sindh, Pakistan. The site is spread over 30 acres (120,000 m2). Excavations completed before 1910 revealed this large brick-based stupa and numerous terracotta reliefs now displayed in major world museums. The Mirpur Khas site is notable because historic Indian and Arab coins were found during its excavation. This has led scholars such as Derryl MacLean to suggest that Buddhism was thriving in Sindh region around the 10th-century and became extinct in these parts of the west and northwest South Asia after the Islamic conquest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Greek art</span> Art of the Indo-Greeks (c. 200 BCE)

Indo-Greek art is the art of the Indo-Greeks, who reigned from circa 200 BCE in areas of Bactria and the Indian subcontinent. Initially, between 200 and 145 BCE, they remained in control of Bactria while occupying areas of Indian subcontinent, until Bactria was lost to invading nomads. After 145 BCE, Indo-Greek kings ruled exclusively in parts of ancient India, especially in Gandhara, in what is now present-day the northwestern Pakistan. The Indo-Greeks had a rich Hellenistic heritage and artistic proficiency as seen with the remains of the city of Ai-Khanoum, which was founded as a Greco-Bactrian city. In modern-day Pakistan, several Indo-Greeks cities are known such as Sirkap near Taxila, Barikot, and Sagala where some Indo-Greek artistic remains have been found, such as stone palettes. Some Buddhist cultural objects related to the Indo-Greeks are known, such as the Shinkot casket. By far the most important Indo-Greek remains found are numerous coins of the Indo-Greek kings, considered as some of the most artistically brilliant of Antiquity. Most of the works of art of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara are usually attributed to the direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in Ancient India in the 1st century CE, such as the nomadic Indo-Scythians, the Indo-Parthians and, in an already decadent state, the Kushans. Many Gandharan works of art cannot be dated exactly, leaving the exact chronology open to interpretation. With the realization that the Indo-Greeks ruled in India until at least 10-20 CE with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab, the possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hindu art</span> Art associated with Hindus

Hindu art encompasses the artistic traditions and styles culturally connected to Hinduism and have a long history of religious association with Hindu scriptures, rituals and worship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellenistic influence on Indian art</span>

Hellenistic influence on Indian art and architecture reflects the artistic and architectural influence of the Greeks on Indian art following the conquests of Alexander the Great, from the end of the 4th century BCE to the first centuries of the common era. The Greeks in effect maintained a political presence at the doorstep, and sometimes within India, down to the 1st century CE with the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms, with many noticeable influences on the arts of the Maurya Empire especially. Hellenistic influence on Indian art was also felt for several more centuries during the period of Greco-Buddhist art.

The Northern Satraps, or sometimes Satraps of Mathura, or Northern Sakas, are a dynasty of Indo-Scythian ("Saka") rulers who held sway over the area of Punjab and Mathura after the decline of the Indo-Greeks, from the end of the 1st century BCE to the 2nd century CE. They are called "Northern Satraps" in modern historiography to differentiate them from the "Western Satraps", who ruled in Sindh, Gujarat and Malwa at roughly the same time and until the 4th century CE. They are thought to have replaced the last of the Indo-Greek kings in the Punjab region, as well as the Mitra dynasty and the Datta dynasty of local Indian rulers in Mathura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art of Mathura</span> Ancient school of art, especially Sculpture, in India

The Art of Mathura refers to a particular school of Indian art, almost entirely surviving in the form of sculpture, starting in the 2nd century BCE, which centered on the city of Mathura, in central northern India, during a period in which Buddhism, Jainism together with Hinduism flourished in India. Mathura "was the first artistic center to produce devotional icons for all the three faiths", and the pre-eminent center of religious artistic expression in India at least until the Gupta period, and was influential throughout the sub-continent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mathura Herakles</span>

The Mathura Herakles is a famous statue found in the city of Mathura, India, thought to represent the Greek hero Herakles fighting the Nemean lion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Devni Mori</span>

Devnimori, or Devni Mori, is a Buddhist archaeological site in northern Gujarat, about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) from the city of Shamlaji, in the Aravalli District of northern Gujarat, India. The site is variously dated to the 3rd century or 4th century CE, or circa 400 CE. Its location was associated with trade routes and caravans in the area of Gujarat. Site excavations have yielded Buddhist artifacts dated prior to 8th-century in the lowest layer, mixed Buddhist and Hindu artwork from the Gurjara-Pratihara period in the middle, topped by Muslim glazed ware attributed to the 14th century. The site was excavated between 1960 and 1963. The site became flooded by the Meswo reservoir, a project started in 1959 and completed between 1971–1972 over the nearby Meshwo River.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kushan art</span> Art of the Kushan Empire

Kushan art, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, flourished between the 1st and the 4th century CE. It blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura. Kushan art follows the Hellenistic art of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom as well as Indo-Greek art which had been flourishing between the 3rd century BCE and 1st century CE in Bactria and northwestern India, and the succeeding Indo-Scythian art. Before invading northern and central India and establishing themselves as a full-fledged empire, the Kushans had migrated from northwestern China and occupied for more than a century these Central Asian lands, where they are thought to have assimilated remnants of Greek populations, Greek culture, and Greek art, as well as the languages and scripts which they used in their coins and inscriptions: Greek and Bactrian, which they used together with the Indian Brahmi script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lalitasana</span> Seated pose with one leg hanging down in Indian art and religion

Lalitasana is a pose or mudra in Indian art and the art of dharmic religions in other countries. It is often called "the royal position" or "royal ease" in English, and is a relaxed pose typical in royal portraits and those of religious figures whose "kingly" attributes are being emphasized. The figure sits on a throne with one leg tucked inwards on the seat and the other hanging down ("pendent") to touch the ground or rest on a support. Usually it is the proper right leg that dangles, but the reversed image can be found. Bare feet are normal. Asana is a general term for a seated pose, from Sanskrit: आसन āsana "sitting down", a sitting posture, a seat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indo-Scythian art</span> Art flourished during reign of Indo-Scythian rulers in northwestern India

Indo-Scythian art developed under the various dynasties of Indo-Scythian rulers in northwestern India, from the 1st century BCE to the early 5th century CE, encompassing the productions of the early Indo-Scythians, the Northern Satraps and the Western Satraps. It follows the development of Indo-Greek art in northwestern India. The Scythians in India were ultimately replaced by the Kushan Empire and the Gupta Empire, whose art form appear in Kushan art and Gupta art.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.