Art of the kushana period

Kushana Art and Architecture

1. Art of the KushanaPeriod
(50-320 AD)/(30-375 AD)
Mathura and GandharaSchool of Art
Ankesh Kumar Maurya

2. Brief of KusanaEmpire
•ConsideredtooneofthefivebranchesoftheYue-ChetribewholivedinNWChinaorChina
FrontierorCentralAsia.
•Driventhenceabout165BC, they first occupied the territories of the Scythians (Sakas)
nomad, and later took possession of Bactria, about 10 BC.
•Byabout 50 AD, Under KujulKadphises–Established
•OccupiedGandhara,PunjabasfaraTaxila
•VimKadphises(90-110 AD)
•Kanishka(120-160AD)-Extended as far as Mathura and probably as far as Benaras.
•WinterCapital-Purusapura(Peshawara)
•SummerCapital-Kapisa(Afghanistan)
•Kashmir,Mathura,GangesValleyasfarasBihar
•FourthBuddhistCouncil-Kashmir

3. Kusanas(From Origin to India)

4. Art of the KusanaPeriod
•Plastic art from Mathura and Gandhara
•Secular
•Influences-IndianSub-Continent,Iran,HellenizedOrient,Central
Asia, Rome, Greek, Bactria
•Tolerant
•Orthodox
•Pantheon
•Promote a spirit of synthesis of all religion
•Religion-Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism

5. The very geographical position of the KushanaEmpire, straddling the trade routes between Rome, Iran and China,
made it in many ways the very centreof the world.

7. •TheSculpturalartofthisperiodcanbebroadlybeclassifiedintothreecategoriesonthe
basisofmaterialemployed:-
StoneArt
•Did not exist
in Kashmir
•European
PoseofLord
Shive-Ushkar
Baramulla
•Takh-i-Bahi
•Buddha
*AlsoofBronze
(Buddha)
Wood Art
•Various
kindsof
Tripods
over
whichlie
Purangath
as.
Terracotta Art
•InKashmir
Tile Art
•Mainly
used to
decorate
Pavements.
Clay Art
•For-
Fingers
,Toes,
Hair
etc.

8. A highly important and rare bronze standing
figure of Buddha
Pakistan
5th -6th c.; GandharaKushan Period
Bronze
26cm

9. Mathura School of Art
•It flourished in 1
st
century AD.
•Indigenous
•TheBuddhaimages exhibit the spiritual feeling in his face.
•ItisalsofamousfortheheadlesserectstatueofKanishkawhose name is
inscribed at its lower end.
•ItalsoproducedseveralstoneimagesofVardhamanaMahavira.
•IgnoreLordKrishna.
•Also carved out the images of Lord Siva and Vishnu along with their
consorts.
•The Female figure of Yakshinisalso.

10. Dream of Queen
‘Maya’ , Schist,
Gandhara,
Kushan period,
2nd century,
Metropolitan
Museum of Art,
New York.

11. Period and Center of Production
•Purely indigenous art.
•DevelopedduringpostMauryanperiod(Mainly during Shunga
period) and reached its peak during the Gupta period (325-600 AD).
•Centres-Mathura,Sarnath, Kaushambi.
•SpottedRedSandStonehasbeenused.
•Sculpture-Secular (Images of Vishnu, Siva, Buddha, Yaksha, Yakshinis)

13. BranhmanicalImages
•To 300 AD
•Earliestrepresentations of Siva, Lakshmi, Surya and Sankarshana
•Kartikeya,Vishnu,Saraswati,Kubera,Naga
•Some iconographical-(Linga form-Shiva), (Surya-Chariot+2 Horses),
(Balrama-Heavy Turbonon his head) etc.

14. •Surya (Sun God)
•ShivaLingaworshipped by Indo-Scythianor Kushan devotees, 2nd century CE
•War GodKarttikeyaand Fire GodAgni, Kushan Period, 1st century CE
•The Hindu God Shiva, 3rd century CE. Mathura or Ahichchhatra.

15. JainaImages
•Source-An inscription (Pasada-Torana) by a Jain Sravakanamed
UttaraDasaka.
•KankaliTilawas the main Jainasite at Mathura.
•Parsvanath-Canopyofsnakehoods.
•Rishabhdev-Hair Falling on his shoilders.
•TheSarvatobhadrikaimage of 4 JainaJinassitting back to back.

16. Parshvanatha, Kushan Period
Jinain Meditation,
Kushan Period,
Mathura
Head
ofTirthankara
TirthankaraH
ead, Kushan
Period,
Mathura

17. Buddhist Images
•In large numbers.
•EarliestimagesofBodhisattvasandBuddha.
•Sentalsotootherregion.(e.g.Sarnath)
•Both sitting and standing postures of Lord Buddha.
•Sitting-atKatra
•Standing-Sravasti, Sarnath, Kaushambi
•Made of White Spotted Red Sand Stone.
•HeadandFaceare Shaven.
•Dress is always tight.
•No mark on the Forehead.
•AbhayaPosture.

19. Sculpture Features
•More stress is given to the inner beauty and facial emotions rather
than bodily gesture.
•Thereisboldnessin carving the large images.
•TheimagesofRulers-Kanishka,Wima,Chastanaetc.

20. The Kanishka statue in
theMathura Museum. There
is a dedicatory inscription
along the bottom of the coat.
The inscription is in middleBrahmi
script:MahārājaRājadhirājaDevaputra
Kāṇiṣka"The Great King, King of Kings, Son of
God, Kanishka".Mathura art,Mathura
Museum

21. GandharaSchool of Art
•Also known as Greco-Buddhist Art.
•ArtisticmanifestationofGreco-Buddhism.

22. Origin Place and Period of Development
•Around Peshawar in NW India.
•HellenisticGreco-BactrianKingdom (250 BC-130BC), Afghanistan.

23. Salient Features
•Fusion of Greco-Roman and Indian styles.
•Buddhaimagewasinspiredby Hellenistic realism, tempered by Persian,
Scythian and Parthian models.
•Theme-Mainly Buddha
•HisBirth,Renunciation, Preaching
•The imagesofBuddharesembledGreekGodApollo.
•Mouldinghuman body in a realistic manner with anatomical accuracy,
spatial depth, foreshortening.
•Muscles,Moustache,CurlyHairetc.
•Rich carving, Ornamentation, Symbolic expression
•More stress is given to the bodily features and external beauty.

24. The "Kanishka casket," with the Buddha
surrounded byBrahmaandIndra,
andKanishkaon the lower part, AD 127.
The Buddha
with a radiate
mandorla
Last stages of Greco-Buddhist
art. 7th century,Ghorband
District,Afghanistan.

25. Materials Used
•Grey Sand Stone
•Mud, Lime, Stucco
•Marble-Not Used
•Terracotta-Rarely Used

26. Various Mudras of Buddha
•Abhaymudra-Do not fear
•Dhyanamudra-Meditation
•Dharmachakramudra-A preaching mudra
•Bhumisparshamudra-Touching the earth

27. Under Kusana
•During the reign of Kanishka
•At thecenter of silk road
•Mahayana form of Buddhism

29. Greek Influence
•Many early Buddha has Apollonian face.
•Artistic beauty
•HaloaroundBuddha
•Masculine Buddha
•NaturalRealism
•Broadforehead,Longearlobe
•Moustache and Beard of Buddha
•MusclesofBuddha

30. Roman Influence
•DressesofmanyBuddha’simagesarearrangedin the style of Roman
Toga.

31. Greco-Roman Influence
•Protruding eyeballs
•Elongatedeyes
•Half Closed eyes
•Elongatedfaceandsharpnose

32. Difference between Mathura and Gandhara
School of Art
Mathura School GandharaSchool
Origin No Foreign Influence Strong Greek Influence
Greco-Roman
Greco-Buddhist Art
Hellenistic Features
Material Used Spotted Red Sand Stone Blue-Grey Mica
Schist
Grey Sand Stone
Image Features Early Period-Light Volume
having Fleshy Body
Later Period-Flashiness
Reduced
All Gods (Vaishnavism, Saivism
etc.)
Buddha
Finer details and Raealistic
Images
Curly Hair, Moustache,
Anatomical Accuracy etc
Halo Around the head of Buddha was
profusely decorated
Images are less aexpressive
Not decorated, generally
Images are very expressive.

33. Sources
•Society, Religion and Art oftheKushanaIndia, Kanchan Chakraborti
•History of Indian and Indonesian Art, A.K. Coomaraswamy
•MathuraMuseum
•Indian Museum Kolkata
•VirtualMuseumofImagesandSound

34. Thank-You