Kushan art

Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the areas of Bactria and Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and the palace of Khalchayan. Various sculptures and friezes are known representing horse-riding archers and, significantly, men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia).{{cite journal |last1=Fedorov |first1=Michael |title=On the origin of the Kushans with reference to numismatic and anthropological data |journal=Oriental Numismatic Society |date=2004 |volume=181 |issue=Autumn |page=32 |url=http://orientalnumismaticsociety.org/JONS/Files/ONS_181.pdf |access-date=4 November 2019 |archive-date=6 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191006154907/http://orientalnumismaticsociety.org/JONS/Files/ONS_181.pdf |url-status=dead }}{{free access}}

{{main|Khalchayan}}

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(1st century BCE)

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| caption1 = Head of a Yuezhi prince (Khalchayan palace, Uzbekistan).{{cite book |title=KHALCHAYAN – Encyclopaedia Iranica |page=Figure 1 |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/khalchayan#prettyPhoto[content]/0/}}{{cite web |title=View in real colors |url=http://warfare.tk/Ancient/Khaltchayan-Armour_bearer.htm}}

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| caption2 = Head of a Saka warrior, as a defeated enemy of the Yuezhi, Khalchayan.{{cite journal |last1=Abdullaev |first1=Kazim |title=Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam) |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=2007 |volume=133 |pages=87–98 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6864202 |language=en}}{{cite book |title=Greek Art in Central Asia, Afghan – Encyclopaedia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/greece-viii#prettyPhoto[content]/7/}}[https://i.pinimg.com/originals/bf/c2/42/bfc242271c38d714044837d179faab53.jpg Also a Saka according to this source]

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The art of Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd-1st century BCE is probably one of the first known manifestations of Kushan art. It is ultimately derived from Hellenistic art and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa. At Khalchayan, rows of in-the-round terracotta statues showed Kushan princes in dignified attitudes, while some of the sculptural scenes are thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas. The Yuezis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-wiskers, displaying expressive and sometimes grotesque features."The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...) We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions." {{cite journal |last1=Abdullaev |first1=Kazim |title=Nomad Migration in Central Asia (in After Alexander: Central Asia before Islam) |journal=Proceedings of the British Academy |date=2007 |volume=133 |page=89 |url=https://www.academia.edu/6864202 |language=en}}

According to Benjamin Rowland, the styles and ethnic type visible in Kalchayan already anticipate the characteristics of the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan, in the art of Gandhara, and in the style of portraiture itself.{{cite journal |last1=Rowland |first1=Benjamin |title=Graeco-Bactrian Art and Gandhāra: Khalchayan and the Gandhāra Bodhisattvas |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1971 |volume=25 |pages=29–35 |jstor=20111029 |issn=0066-6637}} For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking. According to Rowland, the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.

The Kushans favoured royal portraiture, as can be seen in their coins and dynastic sculptures.{{cite book |last1=Stokstad |first1=Marilyn |last2=Cothren |first2=Michael W. |title=Art History 5th Edition CH 10 Art Of South And Southeast Asia Before 1200 |date=2014 |publisher=Pearson |isbn=978-0205873470 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ArtHistory5thEditionCH10ArtOfSouthAndSoutheastAsiaBefore1200/page/n12 306]–308 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArtHistory5thEditionCH10ArtOfSouthAndSoutheastAsiaBefore1200 |language=English}} A monumental sculpture of King Kanishka I has been found in Mathura in northern India, which is characterized by its frontality and martial stance, as he holds firmly his sword and a mace. His heavy coat and riding boots are typically nomadic Central Asian and are way too heavy for the warm climate of India. His coat is decorated by hundreds of pearls, which probably symbolize his wealth. His grandiose regnal title is inscribed with the Brahmi script: "The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".{{cite book |last1=Puri |first1=Baij Nath |title=India under the Kushāṇas |date=1965 |publisher=Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bxZuAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}

As the Kushans gradually assimilated into Indian society, their attire became lighter and their depictions more natural, moving away from frontal representation. However, they still retained distinctive elements of their nomadic dress, including trousers, boots, heavy tunics, and robust belts.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}}

File:Heraios_profile.jpg|Early Kushan ruler Heraios (1–30 CE), from his coinage.

File:Panel with the god Zeus-Serapis-Ohrmazd and worshiper, ca 3rd century CE Kushan.jpg|Kushan worshiper with deity Zeus/ Serapis/ Ohrmazd, Bactria, 3rd century CE.{{cite web|title=Panel with the god Zeus/Serapis/Ohrmazd and worshiper|url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/2000.42.2/|website=www.metmuseum.org|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art}}

File:WimaKadphisesCoin.jpg|Vima Kadphises in full dress on his coinage in the Greek language, 1st century CE

File:Vima_Kadphises_statue_Mathura_Museum.jpg|Monumental statue of Vima Kadphises, 1st century CE

File:Kushan king or prince.jpg|Kushan king or prince, said to be Huvishka (150–180 CE), Gandhara art.{{cite journal|last1=Marshak|first1=Boris|last2=Grenet|first2=Frantz|title=Une peinture kouchane sur toile|journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|date=2006|volume=150|issue=2|pages=257|doi=10.3406/crai.2006.87101 }}

File:Kushan ruler and attendants, Bactria 74-258 CE.jpg|Painting of a Kushan ruler (probably Huvishka, seated) and attendants, Bactria, 74-258 CE.{{cite journal|last1=Marshak|first1=Boris|last2=Grenet|first2=Frantz|title=Une peinture kouchane sur toile|journal=Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres|volume=150|issue=2|pages=947–963|url=https://www.academia.edu/24546293|language=en|issn=0065-0536|doi=10.3406/crai.2006.87101|year=2006 }}

{{main|Greco-Buddhist art}}

File:Loriya Tangai standing Buddha.jpg buddha, dated to 143 CE, during the reign of Kanishka I. The features are already rather late, and show a degeneration compared to more classical types: the drapery is already not as three-dimensional, and the head is large and broad-jawed.{{cite book |last1=Rhi |first1=Juhyung |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art |date=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress Archaeology |pages=40–41 |url=http://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/PublicFiles/media/Final%20e-version%20Problems%20of%20Chronology%20in%20Gandharan%20Art.pdf}}]]

Kushan art blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura. Most of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara is thought to have been produced by the Kushans, starting from the end of the 1st century CE.

The Kushans were eclectic in their religions, venerating tens of Gods from Iranian, Greek, or Indian traditions as can be seen on their coins. It is thought that this tolerant religious climate, together with an openness towards visual arts encouraged the creation of innovative figural art in the Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanic traditions. The Buddha was only represented with symbols in earlier Indian art as in Sanchi or Bharhut. The first known representations of the Buddha seem to appear before the arrival of the Kushans, as shown with the Bimaran casket, but Buddhist art undoubtedly flourished under their rule, and most of the known early statues of the Buddha dated to the period of the Kushans.

The characteristics of early Kushan art in depicting the Buddha can be ascertained through the study of several statues bearing dated inscriptions. Some statues of the standing Buddha with inscriptions dating them to 143 CE, such as the Loriyan Tangai buddha, show that the features of that time are already rather late and somewhat degenerate compared to more classical types: the figure of the Buddha is comparatively more stout, shorter and broader, the drapery is already not as three-dimensional, and the head is large and broad-jawed.{{cite book |last1=Rhi |first1=Juhyung |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art |date=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress Archaeology |pages=40–41 |url=http://www.carc.ox.ac.uk/PublicFiles/media/Final%20e-version%20Problems%20of%20Chronology%20in%20Gandharan%20Art.pdf}}

Numerous Kushan devotees, with their characteristic Central Asia costume, can be seen on the Buddhist statuary of Gandhara and Mathura:

File:Gandhara, testa di bodhisattva, 190-210 dc ca..JPG|Head of a Bodhisattva, said to reproduce the Kushan princely types seen in Khalchayan. Philadelphia Museum of Art

Cross-legged Bodhisattva, Mardan, Pakistan, Kushan dynasty, 100s-200s AD, schist - Tokyo National Museum - Tokyo, Japan.jpg|Maitreya, with Kushan devotee couple at his feet. 2nd century, Mardan, Gandhara.

Image:Kushans&Maitreya.JPG|Maitreya, with Kushan devotees, left and right. 2nd century Gandhara.

Image:Kanishka casket, Asia, G33 South Asia.jpg|The "Kanishka casket," with the Buddha surrounded by Brahma and Indra, and Kanishka on the lower part, 127 CE.

File:Buddhist Triad Peshawar Museum.jpg|A seated Buddha triad from Sahr-i-Bahlol, similar to the Brussels Buddha, possibly dated to 132 CE.{{cite journal|last1=FUSSMAN|first1=Gérard|title=Documents Epigraphiques Kouchans|journal=Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient|date=1974|volume=61|pages=54–57|doi=10.3406/befeo.1974.5193|issn=0336-1519|jstor=43732476 }} Peshawar Museum.{{cite book|last1=Rhi|first1=Juhyung|title=Identifying Several Visual Types of Gandharan Buddha Images. Archives of Asian Art 58 (2008).|pages=53–56|url=https://www.academia.edu/7976078|language=en}}{{cite book|last1=The Classical Art Research Centre|first1=University of Oxford|title=Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017|date=2018|publisher=Archaeopress|page=[https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt/page/n52 45], notes 28, 29|url=https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt}}

{{main|Mathura art}}

File:Bala Bodhisattva with shaft and umbrella.jpg" with shaft and chatra umbrella, dedicated in "the year 3 of Kanishka" (circa 130 CE) by "brother (Bhikshu) Bala". The right arm would have been raised in a salutation gesture. Sarnath Museum.]]

From the time of Vima Kadphises or Kanishka I the Kushans established one of their capitals at Mathura in northern India. Mathura already had an important artistic tradition by that time, but the Kushan greatly developed its production, especially through Buddhist art. A few sculptures of the Buddha, such as the "Isapur Buddha" are known from Mathura from circa 15 CE, well before the arrival of the Kushans, at a time when the Northern Satrap Sodasa still ruled in Mathura, but the style and symbolism of these early depictions were still tentative.{{cite book |last1=Quintanilla |first1=Sonya Rhie |title=History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE |date=2007 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=9789004155374 |pages=199–206 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA199 |language=en}} The Kushans standardized the symbolism of these early Buddha statues, developing their attributes and aesthetic qualities in an exuberant manner and on an unprecedentedly large scale.{{cite book |last1=Stoneman |first1=Richard |title=The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691185385 |pages=439–440 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MFnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA439 |language=en}}

The style of the statues of Bodhisattvas at Mathura is somewhat reminiscent of the earlier monumental Yaksha statues, usually dated one or two centuries earlier. The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, although belonging to the same realm under the Kushans, seems to have had only limited influence on these creations.{{Cite web |url=http://www.tepotech.com/Art_Bulletin/192794JuneCoomaraswamyOriginoftheBuddhaImage.pdf |title=Origin of the Buddha Image, June Coomaraswamy, pp. 300–301 |access-date=2019-11-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220145624/http://www.tepotech.com/Art_Bulletin/192794JuneCoomaraswamyOriginoftheBuddhaImage.pdf |archive-date=2016-12-20 |url-status=dead }} Some authors consider that Hellenistic influence appears in the liveliness and the realistic details of the figures (an evolution compared to the stiffness of Mauryan art), the use of perspective from 150 BCE, iconographical details such as the knot and the club of Heracles, the wavy folds of the dresses, or the depiction of bacchanalian scenes.{{cite book |last1=Stoneman |first1=Richard |title=The Greek Experience of India: From Alexander to the Indo-Greeks |date=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=9780691185385 |pages=436–437 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8MFnDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA436 |language=en}}John Boardman, "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity", Princeton University Press, 1993, p.112 The art of Mathura became extremely influential over the rest of India, and was "the most prominent artistic production center from the second century BCE".

File:Kimbell_seated_Buddha_with_attendants,_Mathura.jpg|The Kimbell seated Bodhisattva, with an inscription "in year 4 of Kanishka".Seated Buddha with inscription starting with 12px14px10px12px_19px 14px^14px_16px19px ^14px𑁕 Maharajasya Kanishkasya Sam 4 "Year 4 of the Great King Kanishka" in {{cite web|title=Seated Buddha with Two Attendants|url=https://www.kimbellart.org/collection/ap-198606|website=kimbellart.org|publisher=Kimbell Art Museum|language=en}}"The Buddhist Triad, from Haryana or Mathura, Year 4 of Kaniska (ad 82). Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth." in {{cite book|last1=Museum (Singapore)|first1=Asian Civilisations|last2=Krishnan|first2=Gauri Parimoo|title=The Divine Within: Art & Living Culture of India & South Asia|date=2007|publisher=World Scientific Pub|isbn=9789810567057|page=113|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c-ny6Kmvu6cC|language=en}}Close-up image of the inscription of the Kimbell Buddha in {{cite journal|last1=Fussman|first1=Gérard|title=Documents épigraphiques kouchans (V). Buddha et Bodhisattva dans l'art de Mathura : deux Bodhisattvas inscrits de l'an 4 et l'an 8|journal=Bulletin de l'École Française d'Extrême-Orient|volume=77|date=1988|page=27, planche 2|doi=10.3406/befeo.1988.1739 }}

File:Seated Buddha, Ramnagar Ahicchatra (Mathurā). National Museum-New Delhi Dated year 32.jpg|Seated Bodhisattva, inscribed "Year 32" of Kanishka (159 CE), Mathura.{{cite journal|last1=Myer|first1=Prudence R.|title=Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathurā|journal=Artibus Asiae|date=1986|volume=47|issue=2|pages=107–142|doi=10.2307/3249969|issn=0004-3648|jstor=3249969 }}{{cite book|last1=Behrendt|first1=Kurt A.|title=The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art|date=2007|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|isbn=9781588392244|page=48, Fig. 18|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJ3eCZVlT48C|language=en}}

File:Seated Buddha.jpg|Seated Bodhisattva, uninscribed.{{cite book|title=Annual report 1909–10|publisher=ASI|pages=[https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6601/page/n113 63]–65|url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.6601}}

File:MathuraBuddha.JPG|A Bodhisattva, 2nd century, Mathura

File:Sanchi Buddha piedestal inscribed Year 22 of Vaskushana.jpg|Kushan devotees around a Bodhisattva, on a Buddha pedestal. Reign of Vāsishka, Mathura, circa 250 CE.

File:Buddha in Abhaya Mudra - Circa 2nd Century CE - ACCN 00-A-4 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5692.JPG]]

The Mathura standing Buddha seems to be a slightly later development compared to the Bodhisattvas of the type of the Bala Bodhisattva. Although several are dated to the 2nd century CE, they often tend to display characteristics that would become the hallmark of Gupta art, especially the very thin dress seemingly sticking to the body of the Buddha. These statues of the standing Buddha however tend to display characteristic and attitudes more readily seen in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara: the head of the Buddha is surrounded by a halo, the clothing covers both shoulders, the left hand hold the gown of the Buddha while the other hand form an Abbhiya mudra, and the folds in the clothing are more typical of the Gandharan styles.[https://books.google.com/books?id=mCtKn4J1n38C&pg=PA97 Hellenism in Ancient India, Gauranga Nath Banerjee, p.96-98]

In many respect, the standing Buddha of Mathura seems to be a combination of the local sculptural tradition initiated by the Yakshas with the Hellenistic designs of the Buddhas from the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.

The Mathura sculptures incorporate many Hellenistic elements, such as the general idealistic realism, and key design elements such as the curly hair, and folded garment. Specific Mathuran adaptations tend to reflect warmer climatic conditions, as they consist in a higher fluidity of the clothing, which progressively tends to cover only one shoulder instead of both. Facial types also tend to become more Indianized. Banerjee in Hellenism in ancient India describes "the mixed character of the Mathura School in which we find on the one hand, a direct continuation of the old Indian art of Barhut and Sanchi and on the other hand, the classical influence derived from Gandhara".Banerjee, Hellenism in ancient India

In some cases however, a clear influence from the art of Gandhara can also be felt, as in the case of the "Mathura Herakles", a Hellenistic statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion, discovered in Mathura, and now in the Kolkota Indian Museum, as well as Bacchanalian scenes.Aspects of Indian Art, by J.E. Van Lohuizen-De Leuve, published by Pratapaditya Pal [https://books.google.com/books?id=ttEUAAAAIAAJ&pg=PR7]Hellenism in Ancient India by Gauranga Nath Banerjee [https://books.google.com/books?id=mCtKn4J1n38C&pg=PA90 p.90]Art of India by Vincent Arthur Smith [https://books.google.com/books?id=s3elCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT98 p.98] Although inspired from the art of Gandhara, the portraiture of Herakles is not perfectly exact and may show a lack of understanding of the subject matter, as Herakles is shown already wearing the skin of the lion he is fighting.History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla [https://books.google.com/books?id=X7Cb8IkZVSMC&pg=PA158 p.158]The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfield [https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PR9 p.9]

File:Vasantsena (cropped).jpg|Bacchanalian scene. Mathura

File:17. Bacchanalian scene-2nd century CE-Mathura Uttar Pradesh-Spotted red sandstone -Sculptural Gallery- Indian Museum-Kolkata-M1.jpg|Bacchanalian, with women in Greek dress.{{cite book|last1=Harle|first1=James C.|title=The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent|date=1994|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-06217-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl/page/67 67]|url=https://archive.org/details/artarchitectureo00harl|url-access=registration|language=en}} Mathura

File:Corner Railing Pillar with Drinking Scenes, Yakshis, and Musicians Mathura Kushan period circa 100 CE (angle and two sides).jpg|Corner railing pillar with drinking scenes, Yakshis, and Musicians, incorporating Hellenistic elements. Mathura, Kushan period circa 100 CE.{{cite book|last1=Bracey|first1=Robert|title=Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art. "Is it appropriate to ask a celestial lady's age?"|date=2018|publisher=Archaeopress. The Classical Art Research Centre. University of Oxford|pages=[https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt/page/n142 135]–138|url=https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt}}

File:Bhutesvara_Yakshis_Mathura_reliefs_2nd_century_CE_front.jpg|Bhutesvara Yakshis, Mathura ca. 2nd century CE.

File:Life of the Buddha Mathura.jpg|A Mathura relief showing the complete life of the Buddha, from birth to death. The clothing is Gandharan.

File:Mathura Herakles.jpg|The Mathura Herakles. A statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion discovered in Mathura. For a recent photograph see [http://www2.nau.edu/~d-ctel/hum/hum362/slideshows/Kushan_Mathura/images/img0073.jpg] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729230651/http://www2.nau.edu/~d-ctel/hum/hum362/slideshows/Kushan_Mathura/images/img0073.jpg |date=29 July 2017 }}. Early 2nd century CE.{{cite book|last1=Bachhofer|first1=Ludwig|title=Early Indian sculpture vol.2|date=1929|page=Notice 97|url=https://archive.org/details/in.gov.ignca.41425/page/n147}}

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"The four emanations"

| image1 = Chaturvuyha Sankarshan Vasudeva 2nd century CE, Mathura Museum.jpg

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| footer=The Chatur-vyūha: Vāsudeva and other members of the Vrishni clan.{{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Pran Gopal |last2=Paul |first2=Debjani |title=Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations |journal=East and West |date=1989 |volume=39 |issue=1/4 |pages=132–136, for the photograph p.138 |issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756891 }} Vāsudeva is fittingly in the center with his heavy decorated mace on the side and holding a conch, his elder brother Balarama to his right under a serpent hood, his son Pradyumna to his left (lost), and his grandson Aniruddha on top. The back of the statue shows the trunk of a tree with branches, thus highlighting the genealogical relationship between the divinities.{{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Pran Gopal |last2=Paul |first2=Debjani |title=Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations |journal=East and West |date=1989 |volume=39 |issue=1/4 |page=136 [26] |issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756891 }} 2nd century CE, Mathura Museum.

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Hindu art started to develop fully from the 1st to the 2nd century CE, and there are only very few examples of artistic representation before that time.{{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Pran Gopal |last2=Paul |first2=Debjani |title=Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations |journal=East and West |date=1989 |volume=39 |issue=1/4 |page=125 |issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756891 }} Almost all of the first known instances of Hindu art have been discovered in the areas of Mathura and Gandhara.{{cite book |last1=Blurton |first1=T. Richard |title=Hindu Art |date=1993 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=978-0-674-39189-5 |page=103 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xJ-lzU_nj_MC&pg=PA103 |language=en}} Hindu art found its first inspiration in the Buddhist art of Mathura. The three Vedic gods Indra, Brahma, and Surya were first depicted in Buddhist sculpture from the 2nd-1st century BCE, as attendants in scenes commemorating the life of the Buddha, even when the Buddha himself was not yet shown in human form but only through his symbols, such as the scenes of his Birth, his Descent from the Trāyastriṃśa Heaven, or his retreat in the Indrasala Cave. During the time of the Kushans, Hindu art progressively incorporated a profusion of original Hindu stylistic and symbolic elements, in contrast with the general balance and simplicity of Buddhist art. The differences appear in iconography rather than in style.{{cite book |last1=Honour |first1=Hugh |last2=Fleming |first2=John |title=A World History of Art |date=2005 |publisher=Laurence King Publishing |isbn=978-1-85669-451-3 |page=244 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qGb4pyoseH4C&pg=PP244 |language=en}} It is generally considered that it is in Mathura, during the time of the Kushans, that the Brahmanical deities were given their standard form:

{{quote|"To a great extent it is in the visual rendering of the various gods and goddesses of theistic Brahmanism that the Mathura artist displayed his ingenuity and inventiveness at their best. Along with almost all the major cult icons Visnu, Siva, Surya, Sakti and Ganapati, a number of subsidiary deities of the faith were given tangible form in Indian art here for the first time in an organized manner. In view of this and for the variety and multiplicity of devotional images then made, the history of Mathura during the first three centuries of the Christian era, which coincided with the rule of the Kusanas, can very well be called revolutionary in the development of Brahmanical sculpture"|Pran Gopal Paul and Debjani Paul, in Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations{{cite journal |last1=Paul |first1=Pran Gopal |last2=Paul |first2=Debjani |title=Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations |journal=East and West |date=1989 |volume=39 |issue=1/4 |pages=111–143 |issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756891 }}}}

File:Vishnu_statuette,_3rd-4th_century_CE,_Udayagiri,_Vidisha_District.jpg

Cult images of Vāsudeva continued to be produced during the period, the worship of this Mathuran deity being much more important than that of Vishnu until the 4th century CE. Statues dating to the 2nd and 3rd centuries show a possibly four-armed Vāsudeva standing with his attributes: the wheel, the mace, and the conch, his right hand saluting in Abhaya mudra.Fig.1 Fig.2 Fig.3 in {{cite journal |last1=Schmid |first1=Charlotte |title=Les Vaikuṇṭha gupta de Mathura : Viṣṇu ou Kṛṣṇa? |journal=Arts Asiatiques |volume=52 |date=1997 |page=60 |doi=10.3406/arasi.1997.1401 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02555783/file/Charlotte%20Schmid_Les%20Vaiku%E1%B9%87%E1%B9%ADha%20gupta%20de%20Mathur%C4%81.pdf }}{{free access}} Only during the Gupta period, did statues focusing on the worship of Vishnu himself start to appear, using the same iconography as the statues of Vāsudeva, but with the addition of an aureole starting at the shoulders.For English summary, see page 80 {{cite journal |last1=Schmid |first1=Charlotte |title=Les Vaikuṇṭha gupta de Mathura : Viṣṇu ou Kṛṣṇa? |journal=Arts Asiatiques |volume=52 |date=1997 |pages=60–88 |doi=10.3406/arasi.1997.1401 |url=https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02555783/file/Charlotte%20Schmid_Les%20Vaiku%E1%B9%87%E1%B9%ADha%20gupta%20de%20Mathur%C4%81.pdf }} During this time, statues of Gopala-Krishna, the other main component of the amalgamated Krishna, are absent from Mathura, suggesting the near absence of this cult in northern India down to the end of the Gupta period (6th century CE).{{cite book |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Doris |title=Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India |date=1981 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-06498-0 |pages=128–129 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-qoeAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128 |language=en}}

Some sculptures during this period suggest that the "Vyūha doctrine" (Vyūhavāda, "Doctrine of the emanations") was starting to emerge, as images of "Chatur-vyūha" (the "four emanations of Vāsudeva") are appearing.{{cite book |last1=Singh |first1=Upinder |title=A History of Ancient and Early Medieval India: From the Stone Age to the 12th Century |date=2008 |publisher=Pearson Education India |isbn=978-81-317-1677-9 |page=439 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pq2iCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA439 |language=en}} The famous "Caturvyūha" statue in Mathura Museum is an attempt to show in one composition Vāsudeva as the central deity together with the other members of the Vrishni clan of the Pancharatra system emanating from him: Samkarsana, Pradyumna, and Aniruddha, with Samba missing.{{cite journal |last1=Srinivasan |first1=Doris |title=Early Vaiṣṇava Imagery: Caturvyūha and Variant Forms |journal=Archives of Asian Art |date=1979 |volume=32 |pages=39–40 |issn=0066-6637|jstor=20111096 }} The back of the relief is carved with the branches of a Kadamba tree, symbolically showing the genealogical relationship being the different deities. The depiction of Vāsudeva and later Vishnu was stylistically derived from the type of the ornate Bodhisattvas, with rich jewelry and ornate headdress.{{cite journal |last1=Bautze-Picron |first1=Claudine |title=A neglected Aspect of the Iconography of Viṣṇu and other Gods and Goddesses |journal=Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Arts |date=2013 |volume=XXVIII-XXIX |pages=81–92 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00753613v2/document}}

{{clear}}

File:Surya - Kushan Period - Kankali Mound - ACCN 12-269 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5839.JPG|Sun God Surya, also revered in Buddhism, Kushan Period

Shiva Linga worshipped by Kushan devotees Mathura circa 2nd century CE.jpg|Shiva Linga worshipped by Indo-Scythian,{{cite journal|last1=Paul|first1=Pran Gopal|last2=Paul|first2=Debjani|title=Brahmanical Imagery in the Kuṣāṇa Art of Mathurā: Tradition and Innovations|journal=East and West|date=1989|volume=39|issue=1/4|page=128|issn=0012-8376|jstor=29756891 }} or Kushan devotees, 2nd century CE.

File:Karttikeya and Agni - Circa 1st Century CE - Katra Keshav Dev - ACCN 40-2883 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5717.JPG|War God Karttikeya and Fire God Agni, Kushan Period, 1st century CE

File:The Hindu God Shiva LACMA M.69.15.1 (3 of 3).jpg|The Hindu God Shiva, 3rd century CE. Mathura or Ahichchhatra.{{cite book|last1=Pal|first1=Pratapaditya|title=Indian sculpture, Volume 1|date=1986|page=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec01palp/page/199 199]|url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec01palp}}

File:Standing Goddess Sashti Between Two Warriors Skanda and Visakha - Circa 2nd Century CE - ACCN 00-F-13 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-23 5789.JPG|Kushan-era image of Shashthi between Skanda and Vishakha, c. 2nd century CE

File:CoinOfHuvishkaWithOisho.JPG|Three-faced four-armed Oesho with attributes, often identified with Shiva, on a coin of Huvishka.{{cite book|last1=Rosenfield|first1=John M.|title=The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans|date=1967|publisher=University of California Press|page=93|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA93|language=en}}

Various dedications in the name of Kushan kings, such as Vasudeva I, with dates, appear on fragments of Jain statuary discovered in Mathura.{{cite book |last1=Burgess |first1=Jas |title=Epigraphia Indica Vol.-i |year=1892 |page=392 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.121005/page/n417/mode/2up}}{{cite journal |last1=Dowson |first1=J. |last2=Cunningham |first2=A. |title=Ancient Inscriptions from Mathura |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1871 |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=194 |jstor=44012780 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44012780 |issn=0035-869X}}

File:Mathura (Uttar pradesh), tirthankara parshvanatha, II sec.JPG|Parshvanatha, Kushan Period

File:Goat-faced God Harinaigamesha - Kushan Period - ACCN 2547 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 5995.JPG|Goat-faced God Harinaigamesha, Kushan Period, Mathura

File:Goat-headed God Naigamesha Presiding Deity of Childbirth among Ancient Jainas - ACCN 15-1115 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6067.JPG|Jain god of Childbirth Naigamesha, 1st-3rd century CE."Naigamesa was a popular deity in the Kushana period and we have at least eight figures of this god from Mathura assignable to c. 1st to 3rd century A.D. (GMM., E. 1, 15.909, 15, 1001, 15. 1046, 15. 1115, 34.2402, 34. 2547, SML., J 626, etc)" in {{cite book|last1=Joshi|first1=Nilakanth Purushottam|title=Mātr̥kās, Mothers in Kuṣāṇa Art|date=1986|publisher=Kanak Publications|page=41|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=geYjAAAAMAAJ|language=en}}

File:Zina in Meditation - Kushan Period - ACCN 00-863 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 5978.JPG|Jina in Meditation, Kushan Period, Mathura

File:Tirthankara Head - Kushan Period - ACCN 18-1536 - Government Museum - Mathura 2013-02-24 6040.JPG|Tirthankara Head, Kushan Period, Mathura

File:Uttar pradesh, epoca kusana, testa di tirthankara, 150-200 ca..JPG|Tirthankara Head, Kushan Period, Mathura

File:Coin of Kanishka I.jpg with a representation of the Buddha and Bactrian legend in Greek script: ΒΟΔΔΟ "Boddo", for "Buddha", c. 127–150 CE.]]

The chronology of Kushan art is quite critical to the art history of the region. Fortunately, several statues are dated and have inscriptions referring to the various rulers of the Kushan Empire.

Coinage is also very important in determining the evolution of style, as in the case of the famous "Buddha" coins of Kanishka I, which are dated to his reign (c. 127–150 CE) and already displays an accomplished form of the standing Buddha, probably derived from pre-existing statuary.

While the early styles of Kushan statues seem comparatively crude, later, highly ornamented statues are generally dated to the 3rd-4th century CE.

The Brussels Buddha is one of the rare Gandharan statues with a dated inscription, and it bears the date "Year 5", possibly referring to the Kanishka era, hence 132 CE.{{cite book |last1=The Classical Art Research Centre |first1=University of Oxford |title=Problems of Chronology in Gandhāran Art: Proceedings of the First International Workshop of the Gandhāra Connections Project, University of Oxford, 23rd-24th March, 2017 |date=2018 |publisher=Archaeopress |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt/page/n50 43]–44|url=https://archive.org/details/ProblemsOfChronologyInGandharanArt}} However, its sophisticated style has led some authors to suggest a later era for the calculation of the date.

{{main|Kushan coinage}}

The coinage of the Kushans was abundant and an important tool of propaganda in promoting each Kushan ruler.{{cite book |last1=Sen |first1=Sudipta |title=Ganges: The Many Pasts of an Indian River |date=2019 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=9780300119169 |page=205 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BHN_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205 |language=en}} One of the names for Kushan coins was Dinara, which ultimately came from the Roman name Denarius aureus."Known by the term Dinars in early Gupta inscriptions, their gold coinage was based on the weight standard of the Kushans i.e. 8 gms/120 grains. It was replaced in the time of Skandagupta by a standard of 80 ratis or 144 grains" {{cite book |last1=Vanaja |first1=R. |title=Indian Coinage |date=1983 |publisher=National Museum |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DVdmAAAAMAAJ |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |title=The Gupta Empire |date=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120804401 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYXDB2gIYbwC&pg=PA31 |language=en}} The coinage of the Kushans was copied as far as the Kushano-Sasanians in the west, and the kingdom of Samatata in Bengal to the east. The coinage of the Gupta Empire was also initially derived from the coinage of the Kushan Empire, adopting its weight standard, techniques, and designs, following the conquests of Samudragupta in the northwest.Gupta inscriptions using the term "Dinara" for money: No 5-9, 62, 64 in {{cite book |last1=Fleet |first1=John Faithfull |title=Inscriptions Of The Early Gupta Kings And Their Successors |date=1960 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.463254/page/n229}}{{cite book |last1=Mookerji |first1=Radhakumud |title=The Gupta Empire |date=1997 |publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publ. |isbn=9788120804401 |page=30 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uYXDB2gIYbwC&pg=PA30 |language=en}}{{cite book |last1=Higham |first1=Charles |title=Encyclopedia of Ancient Asian Civilizations |date=2014 |publisher=Infobase Publishing |isbn=9781438109961 |page=82 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=H1c1UIEVH9gC&pg=PA82 |language=en}} The imagery on Gupta coins then became more Indian in both style and subject matter compared to earlier dynasties, where Greco-Roman and Persian styles were mostly followed.Pal, 78{{cite book |last1=Art |first1=Los Angeles County Museum of |last2=Pal |first2=Pratapaditya |title=Indian Sculpture: Circa 500 B.C.-A.D. 700 |date=1986 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=9780520059917 |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa/page/73 73] |url=https://archive.org/details/indiansculpturec00losa |url-access=registration |language=en}}

File:King cornucopia Louvre Sb7302.jpg-Verethragna. Masdjid-e Suleiman, Iran. 2nd-3rd century AD. Louvre Museum Sb 7302.{{cite web |title=Louvre Museum Sb 7302 |url=https://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/bas-relief}}]]

According to John M. Rosenfield, the statuary of the Kushans has strong similarities with the art of the Parthian cultural area.{{cite book |last1=Rosenfield |first1=John M. |title=The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans |date=1967 |publisher=University of California Press |pages=170–173 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=udnBkQhzHH4C&pg=PA170 |language=en}} Similarities are numerous in terms of clothing, decorative elements, or posture, which tend to be massive and frontal, with feet often splayed. In particular, the statuary of Hatra, which has remained in a relatively good state of preservation, shows such similarities. This could be due either to direct cultural exchanges between the area of Mesopotamia and the Kushan Empire at that time, or from a common Parthian artistic background leading to similar types of representation.

File:Parthian King Vologases at Behistun.jpg|Rock relief of Parthian king at Behistun, most likely Vologases III (r. c. 110–147 AD)

File:Relief of Sanatruk I.jpg|Victory relief of Sanatruq I. He is using a small altar at his feet.

File:Military commander from the city of Hatra. National Museum of Iraq (closeup).jpg|Military commander from the city of Hatra. National Museum of Iraq

Ancient Parthian relief carving of the god Nergal from Hatra.jpg|Relief of the god Nergal from Hatra.

{{Commons category|Art of the Kushan Empire}}

• Indo-Scythians
• Greco-Buddhist art
• Gupta art

{{Indian art}}

{{reflist}}

{{Mathura Museum}}

Category:Buddhist art

Category:Ancient Central Asian art

Category:Hindu art

Category:Hellenistic art