Kushan art is highlighted by the appearance of extensive Buddhist arts in the form of Mathuras, Gandharan, and Amaravathi schools of art.
Mathura art Mathura art flourished in the ancient city of Mathura and predominantly red sandstone has been used in making Buddhist and Jain sculptures. File:Spotted red sandstone Bodhisattwa, Mathura Art, Kusha 2nd Cent CE at National Museum New Delhi.jpg|Spotted red sandstone Bodhisattwa, Mathura Art, Kushan Empire, 2nd century CE File:Yakshi Mathura.jpg|Yakshi Mathura File:2.24.Back side- Sibijataka and other Buddhist legends- Mathura School of art- Kushana period- 2nd century CE-Red sandstone- Bhuteswar, Mathura, Uttar Pradesh-M125a,b,C-.jpg|Sibijataka and other Buddhist legends, Mathura art, 2nd century CE File:Bhutesvara Yakshis Mathura reliefs 2nd century CE front.jpg|
Bhutesvara Yakshis, reliefs from
Mathura, 2nd century CE File:Uttar pradesh, epoca kusana, testa di tirthankara, 150-200 ca..JPG|
Tirthankara Head, Kushan Period, Mathura File:Vasantsena (cropped).jpg|
Bacchanalian scene. Mathura
Gandharan art depiction of
Vajrapani as the protector of the Buddha, 2nd century CE,
Gandhara,
British Museum.
Greco-Buddhist art is the artistic manifestation of
Greco-Buddhism, a cultural
syncretism between the
Classical Greek culture and
Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 1000 years in Central Asia, between the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 4th century BCE and the
Islamic conquests of the 7th century CE. Greco-Buddhist art is characterized by the strong idealistic realism of Hellenistic art and the first representations of the Buddha in human form, which have helped define the artistic (and particularly, sculptural) canon for Buddhist art throughout the Asian continent up to the present. Though dating is uncertain, it appears that strongly Hellenistic styles lingered in the East for several centuries after they had declined around the Mediterranean, as late as the 5th century CE. Some aspects of Greek art were adopted, while others did not spread beyond the Greco-Buddhist area; in particular the standing figure, often with a relaxed pose and one leg flexed, and the flying cupids or victories, who became popular across Asia as
apsaras. Greek foliage decoration was also influential, with Indian versions of the
Corinthian capital appearing. Although India had a long sculptural tradition and a mastery of rich iconography, the Buddha was never represented in human form before this time, but only through some of his symbols. This may be because Gandharan Buddhist sculpture in modern Afghanistan displays
Greek and
Persian artistic influence. Artistically, the Gandharan school of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both shoulders, shoes and sandals, acanthus leaf decorations, etc. The origins of Greco-Buddhist art are to be found in the Hellenistic
Greco-Bactrian kingdom (250 BCE – 130 BCE), located in today's
Afghanistan, from which Hellenistic culture radiated into the
Indian subcontinent with the establishment of the small
Indo-Greek kingdom (180 BCE-10 BCE). Under the
Indo-Greeks and then the
Kushans, the interaction of Greek and Buddhist culture flourished in the area of
Gandhara, in today's northern
Pakistan, before spreading further into India, influencing the art of
Mathura, and then the
Hindu art of the
Gupta Empire, which was to extend to the rest of South-East Asia. The influence of Greco-Buddhist art also spread northward towards Central Asia, strongly affecting the art of the
Tarim Basin and the
Dunhuang Caves, and ultimately the sculpted figure in China, Korea, and Japan. File:GandharaDonorFrieze2.JPG|Gandhara frieze with devotees, holding
plantain leaves, in purely Hellenistic style, inside
Corinthian columns, 1st–2nd century CE.
Buner,
Swat, Pakistan.
Victoria and Albert Museum File:WindGod2.JPG|Fragment of the wind god
Boreas,
Hadda, Afghanistan. File:Bouddha Hadda Guimet 181171.jpg|
Stucco Buddha head from
Hadda, Afghanistan, 3rd–4th centuries. This was painted. File:PoseidonGandhara.JPG|Gandhara
Poseidon (
Ancient Orient Museum) File:PharroAndArdoxsho.jpg|The Buddhist gods
Pancika (left) and
Hariti (right), 3rd century,
Gandhara File:Taller Buddha of Bamiyan before and after destruction.jpg|
Taller Buddha of Bamiyan, c. 547 AD., in 1963 and in 2008 after they were dynamited and destroyed in March 2001 by the
Taliban Gupta art sleeping, protected by
Shesha,
Dashavatara Temple, Deogarh Gupta art is the style of art, surviving almost entirely as sculpture, developed under 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. 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, which ruled the
Deccan c. 250–500. 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, and arguably around 650. It was then followed by the "Post-Gupta" period, with (to a reducing extent over time) many similar characteristics; Harle ends this around 950. Three main schools of Gupta sculpture are often recognised, based in
Mathura,
Varanasi/Sarnath, and, to a lesser extent,
Nalanda. The distinctively different stones used for sculptures exported from the main centres described below aid identification greatly. , triple-
bust (
trimurti) of Shiva, tall, c. 550. 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, whereas 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. 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 shown all the figures on the same scale. 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". The main
bodhisattva appear prominently in sculpture for the first time, as in the paintings at Ajanta. Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain sculpture all show the same style, and there is a "growing likeness of form" between figures from the different religions, which continued after the Gupta period. The detail of facial parts, hair, headgear, jewellery and the halos behind figures are carved very precisely, giving a pleasing contrast with the emphasis on broad swelling masses in the body. 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". File:Met, india (uttar pradesh), gupta period, krishna battling the horse demon keshi, 5th century.JPG|Hindu
Gupta terracotta relief, 5th century CE, of
Krishna Killing the Horse Demon Keshi File:Buddha from Sarnath.jpg|Buddha from
Sarnath, 5–6th century CE File: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. File:GangaTerracottaAhichchhatra.JPG|Terracotta
Ganges and attendant; 1.47 metres, from
Ahichchhatra, 5th-6th century CE == Medieval and Early Modern ==