Gandhara school of art

Also called: Gandhara art, Gandhara school · Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation"; Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings"

Meaning

The Gandhara school of art was a style of Buddhist sculpture from the northwest of the subcontinent (today's northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan). It mixed Greco-Roman ways of carving with Indian Buddhist themes. Its sculptors mostly worked in grey schist (a dark stone that splits into layers) and green phyllite, and later more and more in stucco. It flourished mainly under the Kushanas, and its dates run roughly from the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE [2].

It matters because Gandhara, together with Mathura, made some of the earliest images of the Buddha in human form. This came from a change in belief (the rise of Mahayana), not only a change in art. Gandhara is also a classic example of how colonial scholars judged Indian art by Greek standards.

Explanation

Background: why the Buddha got a human image

• Early Buddhism taught self-effort.
• The Buddha was seen as a human teacher who showed the way out of suffering.

• Symbols were enough to stand for him, such as an empty seat, footprints or a wheel.

• By the 1st century CE, belief changed.

• The Buddha came to be seen as a saviour who could carry people across suffering.

• The idea of the Bodhisatta grew. A Bodhisatta was a kind and caring being who had earned nibbana (release from rebirth) but put it off to help others.

• Image worship followed. People wanted to see the saviour and pray before him, so they made and worshipped statues of the Buddha and the Bodhisattas.

• This new way called itself Mahayana ("the great vehicle"). It called the older way "Hinayana" ("the lesser vehicle"), which was an insult. The older school called itself theravadin.
• Kushana rule gave the style its push.
• The Kushanas captured the Gandhara region in the 1st century CE.
• Most of the big Buddhist centres of Gandhara were founded in the 2nd century CE, under strong kings like Kanishka [4].

Main features: style and materials

• Region: western Punjab and the northwest, which is today's northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan [2].
• Stone:
• NCERT says grey-black schist.

• Britannica is more exact. In the earlier phase sculptors used green phyllite and grey-blue mica schist. After the 3rd century CE they used stucco (a plaster-like paste) more and more [2].

• Idiom (way of carving): a Greco-Roman blend with Indian features.

• Sculptors borrowed from Roman religious art, which showed gods in human form.

• The Buddha got a youthful, Apollo-like face and garments like those on Roman imperial statues [2].

• Style:

• Realistic anatomy: the body looks like a real human body.
• Flowing robes with deep, heavy folds.

• Very fine detail.

• Subjects: mainly Buddha and Bodhisattva images, a much narrower range than Mathura's.

How it changed over time

• Early phase (1st century BCE onwards): carved in stone, mainly phyllite and schist [2].
• Peak (Kushana period, especially the 2nd century CE): big Buddhist centres were founded under Kanishka [4].
• By the 3rd century CE: Gandhara's sacred areas were filled with schist images of buddhas and bodhisattvas [4].
• After the 3rd century CE: stucco came into wider use [2].
• End: the school faded by about the 7th century CE [2].

Results and legacy

• Gods began to look human. Gandhara and Mathura helped fix a human shape for the Buddha. Over time, other gods (such as Surya, the sun god) were also shown as people.
• That human shape needed a home. This helped prepare the way for the image kept in the shrine room of later Gupta and post-Gupta temples.
• Colonial praise, and a warning.
• 19th-century European scholars used Greek sculpture as their measuring stick.
• So they rated Gandhara's Greek-looking images "the best".
• They called multi-armed Indian gods "grotesque".
• Gandhara did not "win" because it was better art. It won because it looked like what those scholars already admired.

Time, place and evidence

• Period: roughly the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE, centred on the Kushana period [2].
• Dynasty and ruler: the Kushanas, especially Kanishka. Kushana kings called themselves devaputra ("son of god").
• Region: Gandhara, meaning western Punjab and the northwest (today's northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan) [2].
• Same time as Mathura: Britannica says Kushan art covered two "important but dissimilar" schools, Gandhara and Mathura, working at the same time [5].
• How we know:
• Kanishka's coins show the Buddha labelled "BODDO" in Greek script, along with Shiva with Nandi. This shows the king supported more than one religion.
• The surviving sculptures themselves. A famous example is the Fasting Buddha Shakyamuni (Gandhara, Kushan period) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It shows the Buddha starved to the bone during his years of extreme fasting [3].
• Schist images in Gandhara's sacred areas, which were common by the 3rd century CE [4].
• NCERT Class 12, Ch 4 "Thinkers, Beliefs and Buildings" and Class 7, Ch 6 "The Age of Reorganisation".

Don't confuse with

• Mathura school: it used red sandstone, was distinctly Indian and grew out of the older yaksha (nature spirit) figures. It made a wide range of gods: Buddha, Kubera, Lakshmi, Shiva and yakshas/yakshinis. Gandhara used grey schist, was Greco-Roman in style and stayed mostly with Buddha and Bodhisattva images [6].
• Fuller figures and a moustache = Mathura: some Mathura Buddhas have a moustache and fuller, rounder bodies with a thin robe. Apollo-like face, wavy hair and heavy flowing robes = Gandhara [2].
• Early symbols of the Buddha (empty seat, footprints, wheel): these stood for the Buddha before image worship spread. Gandhara belongs to the later, Mahayana stage, when the Buddha was shown in human form.
• Amaravati school: a separate Buddhist school in Andhra (the Deccan), carved in white limestone/marble. It is neither Gandharan nor Mathuran.

Prelims Hooks

• Gandhara = grey schist (also green phyllite; stucco used more after the 3rd century CE). Mathura = red sandstone [2] [6].
• Gandhara art ran roughly from the 1st century BCE to the 7th century CE and flourished mainly under the Kushanas [2].
• The Gandhara Buddha has a youthful Apollo-like face and robes modelled on Roman imperial statues [2].
• Kanishka's coins show the Buddha as "BODDO" in Greek script and also Shiva with Nandi.
• The Fasting Buddha Shakyamuni is a Gandhara sculpture from the Kushan period, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art [3].
• Trap: "Gandhara made Buddha, Kubera, Lakshmi and Shiva images." This is wrong. That wide range of gods belongs to Mathura. Gandhara made mostly Buddha and Bodhisattva images.

Mains Points

• The art followed the belief.
• While the Buddha was a human teacher who taught self-effort, symbols were enough.
• Once Mahayana made him a saviour and added the Bodhisatta, worshippers wanted a face to pray before.

• Gandhara's human, Greco-Roman Buddha answered that need. This is useful for GS-I questions that join religion and art.

• One empire, many sources of support.

• Gandhara and Mathura worked at the same time under the Kushanas, with different stone, models and gods [5].
• Kanishka's coins carry both the Buddha and Shiva, so the state supported many cults, not one religion.

• Mathura's Indian, yaksha-based style shows that Indian image-making did not begin only because of Greek contact.

• A case study in how history gets written.

• Colonial scholars ranked Gandhara highest because it looked Greek, and called multi-armed Indian gods "grotesque".
• This is the error of judging the unfamiliar by yardsticks taken from the familiar.
• The point also applies to colonial writing of Indian history, art history and museum collecting.

Related concepts

• Mathura school of art
• Headless statue of Kanishka
• Ardhanarishvara
• Amaravati school of art
• Takshashila University

Read more

• Mahayana and the Buddha image: Gandhara vs Mathura