The Gandhara was located in northwest India, and was a part of the Kushana Empire. The Gandhara were highly influenced by Greek ideals of beauty and sculpture making. This was where Buddha was first shown in human form. Many people thought this was a major issue. People started to believe that this was really Buddha in human form, which is still believed in the 21st century. In this time period Buddhist theology developed, that there were more and more Buddha’s. The “Standing Buddha”, which was a sculpture of Buddha’s body, was presently in four pieces: body from neck to ankles, head, the right arm missing, and pedestal with inscription and feet. It revealed his body through the folds of the garment, in broad and massive, with heavy shoulders. Also his knee bends gently, to show a relaxed posture. The sculptors from Gandhara generally used grayish schist stone and stucco. One unique characteristic in the statues was that the Buddha’s eyes were open.
The Mathura School was the second major school of Buddhist art. Mathura was in north central India, and was the second capital of the Kushans. Mathura school is famous for its representation of the beauty of the female form. Most of the Mathura art had an important history behind its art and the main reason it was created for. And It did not have the Hellenistic Roman traditions. “Buddha and Attendants”, was one of the finest of the early Mathura art piece. It was a high relief art from a block of red sandstone. The figure was a seated Buddha with his two attendants. The Buddha is dressed in true Indian clothing and has his right hand raised, which symbolizes no fear. The right hand gesture was called the abhayamudra. Also the robe is pulled tightly over the body, to show his almost nude. The figure of the Buddha is the kapardin image because of the curl of the hair. The outline on the palms of the hands and soles of the feet, symbols of his divinity and teaching Mathura school. It also has abstraction on the face of the image. Another art piece was the “Mathura lion capital”. This piece was a lion made from sandstone. The art had inscriptions in the kharoshthi script. And its capital was made on the occasion of the funeral of "the illustrious king Muki and his horse". The face has a sad face as if it is deeply hurt or disheartened. One other thing the Mathura did was the mudras. It was hand gestures to communicate certain ideas, such as meditation. These gestures are still used today in Indian culture, in a dance form. Many Indian movies have these dances in them. It is basically a part of an Indian culture, which is still alive today.
The last school was the Amaravati School. This school was developed in Andhradesa. This school depicts a scene from the Buddha’s life. There images are carved in low relief’s, unlike the Mathura. Also Amaravati images are slighter then the other Buddhist schools. They also include more of a rough texture. One of the famous statues from this school was the, “Medicine Buddha Life Story Statue”. The statue is holding a branch of the Myrobalan plant in his right hand. The plant represented the cure of the illnesses of the body and mind. Also the left hand rests on his lap with his palm upwards, to show that it is seeking for a gift from someone. Also the robes on Buddha tell us the life of Gautama on his path to becoming the Spiritually Enlightened. The robes basically shared the philosophy of the Eight Fold Path to salvation. Almost all the art of Buddha in these schools had a deep meaning attach to it, which people are still not aware of these days.
Other famous statue during this time period was the “Sculpture of Jaya Varma”. This statue is carved in a Kushan style. It had a turban or a hat on his head. Also the hair has traces of braiding in it. The waist is secured by a belt with ribbons hanging down the figure's right side. Also the right arm was missing, and the left hand was held as a fist on his waist. This statue was one of the many that had some of the characteristics of Khushan time period. Most of these sculptures were not canon of proportion. The feet were bigger in size, and the legs were not really that precise.
The “Gandhara Schist Sculpture of an Ascetic”, was also a unique piece of art in Kushan period. It is based on the small loincloth secured by a rope. This is the largest example of a figure from the “Atlas” family. Atlas was the titan in Greek mythology. It was so-called “Atlas” figures of Gandharan art. The figure has his right leg bent but held vertically while the left one is placed flat on the ground. The arms are muscular; and the torso is rather thin with the rib structure. Also the face looks like an older, bearded man. Also it is more of a bony structure, because the skin is pulled up. The picture is more of an ascetic figure.
Other thing that played a major role in this period was there clothing, especially women’s. The clothing that people wore also reflected the clothing on there sculptures. There dress evolved from a nomad culture based. The close-fitting knee-length tunic was sometimes made of leather, and with it could be worn a short coat. The clothes were simple, they were often has stamped gold plates, square, rectangular, circular, or triangular sewn in lines. Their purpose was not only decorative but functional as well. They helped lift the tunic in the middle for riding. Women also wore saris. Sari was a huge piece of cloth wrapped around your body in a way where it would look like a dress. Sari also required a blouse which was to cover there breast. And the most important thing is that this is still worn today in India. This time period had a huge impact in Indian culture.
The art this period was magnificent. The three art schools included there own unique styles of art, but still shared iconography. The Gandhara introduced the Buddha’s human form, the Mathura created the high relief statues with right hand up, and the Amaravati had the low relief structure. Even thought the rulers changed and introduced new styles, they still focused and believed in Buddha. By the end of this Kushan period Buddha was known all around India. Buddhism during this period underwent a profound evolution that resulted in the form known as Mahayana, or Great Vehicle. This new movement resulted in sweeping most of northern India and eastern Asia. This period nearly lasted from 78 to 143 C.E. This period helped the Gupta period, which came right after the kushan period ended. It gave many new ideas to this period, and helped them improve there art.
FARUKH ALI
ART HISTORY
WAGNER
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