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Situated on the border between what is
now
Pakistan and Afghanistan, the kingdom
of
Gandhara contained several notable
cities that
flourished between the 6th century
B.C. and the
11th century A.D. It saw enormous
changes with
the ebb and flow of contemporary
superpowers.
It also became a center of learning
(notably with
the invention of the Kharosti
alphabet) and of
religious pilgrimage, as this is where
the holy
scriptures of Buddha were kept. Prior
to this in
the 6th century B.C. Gandhara was
absorbed into
the Achaemenid (Persian) Empire. The
collapse of
this dynasty led to a series of power
struggles
that ended with the crushing of native
armies by
Alexander the Great in 327 B.C. This
was
followed by the attack by Demetrius of
Bactria,
and while the area was Graeco-Bactrian
for some
time, it eventually gained
independence under
King Menander in the mid 2nd century
B.C. The
final effects of Greek colonialism
were eroded by
about 50 B.C. under a fierce campaign
headed by
the Parthians. While catastrophic to
social order
at the time, the cultural diversity of
the region
was greatly enhanced by the appearance
of the
Greeks, especially in terms of
artistic production.
Even after the Greeks had gone, their
legacy
endured in the aesthetics that makes
Gandhara
art unique.
The golden period of Gandharan art
dates to c.
100-200 A.D. with the arrival of the
Kushans, a
Central Asian group under whose
governorship
the arts and sciences flourished as
never before.
The mixture of different cultures
produced a
completely unique set of architectural
and artistic
traditions. Their greatest monarch,
Kanishka,
encouraged the arts, and under his
reign totally
new conventions were to develop
including the
earliest depictions of the Buddha in
human form.
The cultural syncretism between
eastern themes
and western styles has become known as
Greco-
Buddhism, and is one of the most
remarkable –
and successful – examples of cultural
fusion in
history. Everything from architecture
to
sculpture, coinage and even jewelry
developed in
new and extraordinary ways. Myths and
figures
from Greek mythology – such as Atlas,
or
Dionysus – are also found in some
friezes and
paintings. The Buddhas resemble Greek
kings in
ersatz togas, sitting in houses
influenced by the
Corinthian model, while Bodhisattvas
and other
religious figures are often depicted
with startling
realism as bare-chested Indian
princes.
- (FF.055)
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