GANDHARA SCHOOL OF SCULPTURE

Intimately connected with the Mahayan School Buddhism was a new school of Indian sculpture known as the Gandhara School. It flourished under the Kushans especially Kanishka during whose time a number o Buddhist monasteries, stupas and statues were constructed. They bear a distinct influence of the Old Greek School of Art. The province of Gandhara, the center of the new school of Buddhism, was so situated as to be the meeting ground of the Indian, Chinese, Iranian and the Greco- Roman cultures. It was therefore quite natural for the province to absorb foreign ideas and influences. Hence the art of the province could not but be a mixture of the West + the East. It owed its origin to the Greek rulers of Bachia + North West India. The Gandhara art is undoubtedly derived from Greek art or to be more precise the Hellenistic art of Asia minor + the Roman Empire. Accordingly, it is also known as Indo Greek or Greco Roman Art. As this art was adopted to Indian genius and applied to Buddhist subjects, it is also called the Greco- Buddhist School of art. But though the technique was borrowed from Greece, the art was essentially Indian in spirit and it was solely employed to give expression to the beliefs and practices of the Buddhists. With a few exceptions, no Greek story or legend and no Greek art motif has been detected among the numerous specimens of Gandhara sculpture. The Indian subjects were interpreted through the Greeco Roman technique. In fact the Gandhara artist had the hand of a Greek and the heart of an Indian. The sentiment is Buddhist but the technique is grafted on foreign soil. Outside India Gandhara Art became very important as it turned to be the parent of the Buddhist art of Eastern or Chinese Turkestan, Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan.

The Gandhara sculptures have been found in the ruins of Taxila in various ancient sites in Afghanistan and the northwest frontier province of Pakistan. They consist mostly of images of Buddha and relief sculptures representing scenes from Buddhist texts. They were executed in stone, stucco, terracotta, and clay and appear to have been invariably embellished with gold leaf or paint. Specimens preserved in Peshawar, Lahore and other museums are executed in stone. But at Taxila, the archeologists have discovered in addition to stone images, a large number of stucco ones, a smaller number of terracotta and clay figures. The discoveries have greatly added to our knowledge of sculpture and the technical skill employed by the artistes of the Gandhara school.

There are some outstanding technical characteristics of the Gandhara School of Sculpture that easily distinguish it from other Indian sculptures. In the first place, Gandhara School has ‘a tendency to mould the human body in a realistic manner with great attention to accuracy of physical details, especially by the delineation of muscles and the addition of moustaches, etc. Secondly the representation of the thick drapery with large and bold fold lines form a distinct characteristic. Lastly, the Gandhara sculptures reveal rich carving, elaborate ornamentation and complex symbolism.

For a long time it was believed that the images of Buddha and Boddhisattvas executed by the Gandhara Art served as the model for those executed at Mathura and Gandhara. There appears a striking difference between the Buddha images of Gandhara and those of the Indian interior. The former laid stress on accuracy of anatomical details and physical beauty, while the latter strove towards imparting a sublime and spiritual expression to the figure. The one was realistic and the other idealistic – the vital difference between western and Indian art.

The main theme of the Gandhara School of Sculpture was the new form of Buddhism and its most important contribution was the evolution of an image of buddha. The Gandhara schools of art was a tremendous iconographic success, because from now onward the figures of the Buddha were much in vogue. Fine images of Buddha and Bodhisattvas and relief sculptures illustrating various episodes of Buddha’s present and past lives are remarkably executed in a kind of black stone. The life of Buddha forms the inspiring motive of this art. In fact, the Gandhara school of sculpture is a lively commentary on the life and deeds of Lord Buddha. However, it should be noted, as Sir John Marshall points out that the Gandhara School of Art never took real hold upon India, because the Indians and the Greeks were radically different and dissimilar.

Besides this school of sculpture, there were other schools of art particularly flourishing in Mathura and Amravati in the south. Simplicity and restraint were the marked features of these schools.