Gandhara: An Overview

“Awake my mind, gently awake in this holy place of pilgrimage on the shore of this vast sea of humanity that is India.”

These lines from A hymn to India by Rabindranath Tagore, arguably the most luminous of all the literary figures, modern India has produced, describe not only India’s spiritual legacy but also the might of her sheer presence in terms of what the frontiers of this magnificent country holds within itself. Tagore’s India, a vast sea of humanity indeed, has never been monochromatic; a sea is seldom filled with waters from a solitary river. Displaying many hues and colours, this wavy sea is often found roaring with diversity, each being a representative of the various constituents that came together to build India to what it is today. Gandhara, today lying to the north-west of Indian borders in the regions occupying northern Afghanistan and Pakistan, may be seen as a sea-cliff from where one could stand and revere the splendor of this enormous landmass.  

Gandhara region on a contemporary political map

Origins The region of Gandhara first finds mention in the Rig Veda. Its inhabitants, the Gandharvas, were believed to be majestic performers of dance and music and were companions to the Apsaras, the celestial mythical beauties. The Gandharva School of music under the Hindustani classical style is named in reverence to them.

According to Puranic legends, the Gandharvas were responsible to guard the Soma Rasa, the nectar of the Gods. Further mentions of Gandhara can be found in the epic Mahabharata, from where Queen Gandhari, mother of the mighty yet machiavellian Kauravas, and her brother, Prince Shakuni, belonged.

As it happens in case of frontiers, Jerusalem and Constantinople being case in point, legends of various traditions often seem to overlap each other. On these lines, Gandhara’s origin also finds mention in the Zoroastrian book of Avesta where a place called Gandarewa is mentioned. It is believed that the Ahura-Mazda, the supreme lord of Zoroastrians, while creating the earth ranked Gandarewa and its surrounding areas as one of his favourites.

In recorded history of the Indian subcontinent, Gandhara is mentioned as one of the sixteen Mahajanapadas that existed around 600-400 BCE. These Mahajanapadas were distributed throughout the Indo-Gangetic plains and can be termed as the first empires to have taken root in India. Out of these sixteen, Magadha rose to a position of absolute supremacy, especially under the Mauryans around 300-200 BCE. The Mauryans were successful in creating the first pan-India empire, whose borders ranged from the Bay of Bengal in the east to beyond the Indus in the west. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka was instrumental in introducing Buddhism in the region during his reign.

In this period when India herself was witnessing a consolidation of power never seen before, regions lying around the Hindukush Mountains were also experiencing their own rumblings. The conquests of Alexander had left a vacuum in this region and his successors clashed within themselves to claim the spoils. Selucus Nicator, one of Alexander’s Generals emerged victorious in establishing his own Seleucid Empire and started making further claims to the regions around Gandhara.

It is right here when these two maximal powers established themselves on either side of the Gandhara region that the wheels of time turned. The alliance between Chandragupta Maurya and Selucus, who gave the former his daughter, Helena, in marriage, led to a relatively peaceful co-existence of the two empires in this region. This made sure that the region was left with an unmatched legacy of heritage and history, one that combined the very best of the two continents.  

Western Influence

The cultural amalgamation in the region became a symbol of the newly evolved Greco-Buddhist culture. Further blossoming under the patronage of the Buddhist Kushans in the first century of the Common Era, the region continued its Mediterranean outreach with flourishing relations with the Romans which again influenced the region’s art and architecture in its own way. This influence is visible via the numerous motifs found on the archaeological remains of the region showing the presence of angels and cupids holding wreaths, curly vine scrolls and even a few Greek mythological creatures like the tritons and the centaurs.

It should be noted here that the Greco-Buddhist culture didn’t emerge as a separate religious movement but was more of an incorporation of Greco-Roman elements in the native narrative of Buddhist theology and its various visual depictions. Excavations at Hadda in modern day Afghanistan in the first half of the 1900s depict a number of clay and plaster objects seemingly representative of this influence. Whether it is the portrayal of people drinking and playing music on amphorae, the Stupa canopies resembling the capital of Corinthian pillars or stone palettes depicting mythological scenes, the enriching impact of these Hellenistic features stand out in Gandhara art.

It is also believed that the present portrayal of Buddha as we find today is said to have originated in Gandhara sometime between 100-200 CE. The depiction of Buddha as a human was made possible via the tradition of Mahayana Buddhism, also patronized by the Kushanas, and the subsequent representation of the Bodhisattvas, enlightened beings who achieve the ideals of Buddhism. The Buddha head found in Takshashila from the second century CE portrays typical Hellenistic features. A thick layer of curvy hair, protruding eyeballs with half-closed eyes and elongated ears mark the sculpture’s high complexity of creation. The detailing is evident by the delineation of the protruding planes of the eye-socket and that of the nose that extends to the forehead. The gentle expression of calmness adds to the attraction of this sculpture.  

The Buddha head of Takshashila

  Other statues from the Gandhara School depict Buddha and the other Bodhisattvas like Maitreya, the Buddha of the future, standing with a gesture of reassurance, also called as the abhaya-mudra. The body is adorned with a robe which itself is embellished by an impossibly real-looking flowing drapery. Presence of halo around the head of the deity is often shown. One cannot help but compare these figurines to the numerous statues of the Greek gods who themselves are represented on similar lines with well-proportioned bodies, wavy hair and sharp facial features. Depiction of the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, who holds a thunderbolt and is responsible for the protection of Buddha, is usually traced back to Zeus, the principal Greek god, or his son Heracles, the god of strength.

The various Bodhisattvas can be differentiated on the basis of minute changes in their representations. While Maitreya carries a small flask in his hand, Padmapani is gracefully shown holding a lotus. Amitabha, the Buddha of infinite light, is usually shown in varada-mudra, the gesture symbolizing granting of wishes. Vajrapani as mentioned above is shown with a thunderbolt. Seated Buddha is often shown in the dhyana-mudra, a state of meditation. Despite such subtle differences, the overall styles of their depictions aren’t too different from one other, and are strongly guided by the framework of the Gandhara School.  

Maitreya

Padmapani

Another binding agent of the Gandhara School is the depiction of elaborately carved stylized turbans atop the Bodhisattvas. Some sculptures show miniature devotional scenes on the crest of the turban with a pair of devotees offering prayers to Buddha himself, who is placed as the centerpiece of the turban. One remarkable feature found in almost all the Bodhisattvas from Gandhara is that their feet are never depicted naked. All of the sculptures are found with slippers or sandals, reminding one not only of their human origins in the spiritual world but also of their Roman influence.  

Buddha on a Bodhisattva’s turban

Conclusion

The pluralistic nature of the Gandhara School demonstrates an endorsement of provincial ingenuity coupled with excellent absorption of external influences that resulted in a completely new and independent artistic language. Anna Filigenzi from the University of Naples describes Gandhara as ‘a frontier land where regionalism and universalism found a melting pot with Hellenistic models, offering a bridge to elsewhere and anywhere.’ Influence of the Gandhara School on the domestic Mathura School has been well analysed, which went on further to aid the depictions of deities in Hinduism in a more stylized manner as well. The crux of the article lies that in a world where no borders have ever been permanent all throughout history and where elements of culture along with ideas flows with time, it is our great responsibility to preserve such syncretic creations in an age where artificial boundaries are again being made to rise. After all, Tagore did talk about the awakened mind of the holy land that is India.  

References:

• PAL, PRATAPADITYA. “Reflections on the Gandhāra Bodhisattva Images.” <i>Bulletin of the Asia Institute</i>, vol. 20, 2006, pp. 101–115. <i>JSTOR</i>, www.jstor.org/stable/24049185.
• https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O25038/head-of-the-buddha-sculpture-unknown/
• http://sites.asiasociety.org/gandhara/maps/
• https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/38474
• https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/culture/introduction-graeco-buddhism-gandhara-school-art  

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Hi, I’m Pushkar Raj …

 I am an observer of people, of places, and of things that go unnoticed in the usual pace of life. I have a thing for history, the story the stones tell, and like to ponder how we, the mankind, ‘evolved’ the way we did.