Indo-Greek art

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Indo-Greek art

Indo-Greek art is the art of the

Kushans.[4] Many Gandharan works of art cannot be dated exactly, leaving the exact chronology open to interpretation. With the realization that the Indo-Greeks ruled in India until at least 10-20 CE with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab, the possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently.[5][6][7]

Early Indo-Bactrian period (200-145 BCE)

Main known Indo-Greek cities during the period 200-145 BCE

The first Indo-Greek kings, also sometimes called "Indo-Bactrian", from

Sakas, circa 145 BCE.[8][9][10] While Demetrius, the first Indo-Greek king, was extending his territory into India, still held Ai-Khanoum as one of his strongholds and continued to mint some of his coinage in the city.[11] The last Greek coinage in Ai-Khanoum was by Eucratides.[12] Because of their dual territorial possessions in Bactria and India, these kings, starting with Demetrius I, are variously described as Indo-Greek,[13] Indo-Bactrian,[14] or Greco-Bactrian.[15] After losing Bactria around circa 145 BCE during the rule of Eucratides and Menander I
, the Greeks were generally called as "Indo-Greeks" only.

The main known remains from this period are the ruins and artifacts of their city of

Kharoshthi.[16] Apart from Ai-Khanoum, Indo-Greek ruins have been positively identified in few cities such as Barikot or Taxila, with generally much fewer known artistic remains.[9][17]

Architecture in Bactria

Corinthian capital, found at Ai-Khanoum in the citadel by the troops of Commander Massoud, 2nd century BC.

Numerous artefacts and structures were found, particularly in Ai-Khanoum, pointing to a high Hellenistic culture, combined with Eastern influences, starting from the 280-250 BCE period.

Eucratides around 145 BC.[20]

Archaeological missions unearthed various structures, some of them perfectly Hellenistic, some other integrating elements of Persian architecture, including a citadel, a Classical theater, a huge palace in Greco-Bactrian architecture, somehow reminiscent of formal Persian palatial architecture, a gymnasium (100 × 100m), one of the largest of Antiquity, various temples, a mosaic representing the Macedonian sun, acanthus leaves and various animals (crabs, dolphins etc...), numerous remains of Classical Corinthian columns.[20] Many artifacts are dated to the 2nd century BCE, which corresponds to the early Indo-Greek period.

  • Ai- Khanoum mosaic (central detail in color).
    Ai- Khanoum mosaic (central detail in color).
  • Architectural antefixae with Hellenistic "Flame palmette" design, Ai-Khanoum.
    Architectural antefixae with Hellenistic "Flame palmette" design, Ai-Khanoum.
  • Sun dial within two sculpted lion feet.
    Sun dial within two sculpted lion feet.
  • Winged antefix, a type only known from Ai-Khanoum.
    Winged antefix, a type only known from Ai-Khanoum.

Sculpture

Stucco face found in the administrative palace. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC

Various sculptural fragments were also found at Ai-Khanoum, in a rather conventional, classical style, rather impervious to the Hellenizing innovations occurring at the same time in the Mediterranean world. Of special notice, a huge foot fragment in excellent Hellenistic style was recovered, which is estimated to have belonged to a 5-6 meter tall statue (which had to be seated to fit within the height of the columns supporting the Temple). Since the sandal of the foot fragment bears the symbolic depiction of Zeus' thunderbolt, the statue is thought to have been a smaller version of the Statue of Zeus at Olympia.[2][21]

Due to the lack of proper stones for sculptural work in the area of Ai-Khanoum, unbaked clay and stucco modeled on a wooden frame were often used, a technique which would become widespread in Central Asia and the East, especially in Buddhist art. In some cases, only the hands and feet would be made in marble.

In India, only a few Hellenistic sculptural remains have been found, mainly small items in the excavations of Sirkap.

  • Sculpture of an old man. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
    Sculpture of an old man. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
  • Close-up of the same statue.
    Close-up of the same statue.
  • Frieze of a naked man wearing a chlamys. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
    Frieze of a naked man wearing a chlamys. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
  • Hellenistic gargoyle. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
    Hellenistic gargoyle. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.

Artefacts

Sun God
. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.

A variety of artefacts of Hellenistic style, often with Persian influence, were also excavated at Ai-Khanoum, such as a round medallion plate describing the goddess

Kabul Museum after several years in Switzerland by Paul Bucherer-Dietschi, Director of the Swiss Afghanistan Institute.[22]

  • Bronze Herakles statuette. Ai-Khanoum. 2nd century BC.
    Bronze Herakles statuette. Ai-Khanoum. 2nd century BC.
  • Bracelet with horned female busts. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
    Bracelet with horned female busts. Ai-Khanoum, 2nd century BC.
  • Stone recipients from Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.
    Stone recipients from Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.
  • Imprint from a mold found in Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.
    Imprint from a mold found in Ai-Khanoum. 3rd-2nd century BC.

First Indo-Greek coinage

Silver coin of Demetrius I of Bactria (reigned c. 200–180 BC) in the Greco-Bactrian standard, wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests of areas in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent.[23]

Greco-Bactrian style, but conjointly started to strike coins on the Indian standard having bilingual Indian-Greek legends.[16][2]

After the death of Demetrius, the Bactrian kings

Buddha.[1][16] They also included various Indian devices (lion, elephant, zebu bull) and symbols, some of them Buddhist such as the tree-in-railing.[27] These symbols can also be seen in the Post-Mauryan coinage of Gandhara
.

The Hinduist coinage of Agathocles is few but spectacular. Six Indian-standard silver

plow, and Vasudeva-Krishna with the Vishnu attributes of the Shankha (a pear-shaped case or conch) and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel.[28] These first attempts at incorporating Indian culture were only partly preserved by later kings: they all continued to struck bilingual coins, sometimes in addition to Attic coinage, but Greek deities remained prevalent. Indian animals however, such as the elephant, the bull or the lion, possibly with religious overtones, were used extensively in their Indian-standard square coinage. Buddhist wheels (Dharmachakras) still appear in the coinage of Menander I and Menander II.[29][30]

In Ai-Khanoum, numerous coins were found, down to

Samkarshana and Vasudeva-Krishna, and are thought to correspond to the first attempts at creating an Indian-standard coinage as they invaded northern India.[16]

Bactrian and Indian coinage of some early Indo-Greek kings (200-145 BCE)
Territory/Ruler Agathocles
(190-180 BCE)
Pantaleon
(190-180 BCE)
Apollodotus I
(circa 180 BCE)
Eucratides

(171-145 BCE)

Bactria

Bactrian coinage of Agathocles (190-180 BCE).

Bactrian coinage in the name of Pantaleon (190-180 BCE)

Bactrian coinage of Apollodotus I (circa 180 BCE).

Bactrian coinage of Eucratides (171-145 BCE).

India

Coin of Agathocles (190-180 BCE) with Hindu deities, and Greek and Brahmi legend, found in Ai-Khanoum.

Pantaleon (190-180 BCE) coin with dancing woman (Lakshmi?) and lion. Greek and Brahmi legend.

Apollodotus I (circa 180 BCE), early Attic bilingual drachm, with Greek and Indian Kharoshthi legend.

Coin of the Eucratides (171-145 BCE), with Greek and Kharoshthi legends.

artefacts in Bactria

The plate found in Ai-Khanoum, thought to represent the myth of Shakuntala (with reconstitution).

Ancient Indian artefacts were also found in the treasure room of the city, probably brought back by Eucratides from his Indian campaigns, which show a level of artistic interaction between Indian and the Greeks at that time. A narrative plate made of shell inlaid with various materials and colors, thought to represent the Indian myth of Shakuntala was recovered.[31] Also, numerous Indian punch-marked coins were found, about 677 of them in the Palace area of Ai-Khanoum alone, suggesting intense exchanges between Bactria and India.[16][32]

Greek cities in the subcontinent

The first Indo-Greek ruler Demetrius I is said to have built the city of Sirkap, in modern-day Pakistan.

Greco-Bactrian styles found at Ai-Khanoum towards more indianized styles. For example, accessories such as Indian ankle bracelets can be found on some representations of Greek mythological figures such as Artemis
.

  • Some remains at Sirkap.
    Some remains at Sirkap.
  • Map of Sirkap excavations.
    Map of Sirkap excavations.
  • Sirkap at time of excavations.
    Sirkap at time of excavations.
  • Excavations at Sirkap.
    Excavations at Sirkap.
  • A Nereid riding a Ketos sea-monster, stone palette, Sirkap, 2nd century BC.
    A
    Ketos
    sea-monster, stone palette, Sirkap, 2nd century BC.

Main Indian period (145 BCE-20 CE)

Main known Indo-Greek cities after 145 BCE

The main Indian period of the Indo-Greeks starts with the reign of Menander (from c. 165/155 BC) who has been described as the greatest of the Indo-Greek Kings.[35]

The remains of the Greeks in South Asia essentially revolve around city ruins, stone palettes, a few Buddhist artefacts, and their abundant coinage.

Coinage

The Indo-Greek kings continued the tradition of minting bilingual coinage in India. Paradoxically, they were not as bold as earlier kings such as Agathocles or Pantaleon is showing Indian divinities. They all continued to struck bilingual coins, sometimes in addition to Attic coinage, but Greek deities remained prevalent. Indian animals however, such as the elephant, the bull or the lion, possibly with religious overtones, were used extensively in their Indian-standard square coinage. Buddhist wheels (Dharmachakras) appear in the coinage of Menander I and Menander II.[29][30]

  • Famous Indian-standard coinage of Menander I with wheel design.
    Famous Indian-standard coinage of Menander I with wheel design.
  • Coin of Antialcidas (105–95 BC), with elephant accompanying Zeus
    Coin of Antialcidas (105–95 BC), with elephant accompanying Zeus
  • Coin of Menander II (90–85 BCE), with seated Zeus and Nike on his arm, extending a victory wreath over a wheel symbol
    Coin of Menander II (90–85 BCE), with seated Zeus and Nike on his arm, extending a victory wreath over a wheel symbol
  • Coin of Strato II (25 BCE-10 CE), one of the last Indo-Greek kings.
    Coin of Strato II (25 BCE-10 CE), one of the last Indo-Greek kings.

Architecture

Heliodorus, is the first known inscription related to Vaishnavism in India.[36] Heliodorus was one of the earliest recorded Indo-Greek converts to Hinduism.[37]

Besides the amin city of Sirkap, founded by Demetrius I, an expeditions in the 1980s and 90s discovered an Indo-Greek town in Barikot from around the time of King Menander I in the 2nd century BCE. The 2nd century BCE town covered, at its peak, an area of about 10 ha (25 acres) including the acropolis, or about 7 ha (17 acres) without. It was surrounded by a defensive wall about 2.7 meters thick with massive rectangular bastions and a moat, and was structurally similar to other Hellenistic fortified cities such as Ai-Khanoum or Sirkap.[38][39] Indo-Greek coins were found, especially in the layers associated with the wall's construction, as well as potsherds with Greek letters.[38]

The Indo-Greeks are also known for their involvement in the construction of a few architectural elements. In 115 BC, that the embassy of

Sungas king Bhagabhadra in Vidisha, is recorded. In the Sunga capital, Heliodorus established the Heliodorus pillar in a dedication to Vāsudeva. This would indicate that relations between the Indo-Greeks and the Sungas had improved by that time, that people traveled between the two realms, and also that the Indo-Greeks readily followed Indian religions.[40]

A coin of Menander I was found in the second oldest stratum (GSt 2) of the

These elements tend to indicate the importance of Buddhism within Greek communities in northwestern India, and the prominent role Greek Buddhist monks played in them, probably under the sponsorship of Menander.

  • Ruins of the city of Barikot
    Ruins of the city of Barikot
  • Ruins of the Indo-Greek city of Barikot
    Ruins of the Indo-Greek city of Barikot
  • The Greek city of Sirkap, near Taxila
    The Greek city of Sirkap, near Taxila
  • The Butkara stupa as expanded during the reign of Menander I.
    The
    Butkara stupa
    as expanded during the reign of Menander I.
  • Detail of the Heliodorus pillar, with inscription in Brahmi by Heliodorus.[43]
    Detail of the
    Heliodorus.[43]

Indo-Greek artefacts in India

Few artefacts are known with certainty to belong to the Indo-Greeks. The Shinkot casket, a Buddhist relic casket was dedicated during the reign of Menander I, bearing his name in an inscription.[44]

Stone palettes (circa 100 BCE)

Type of stone palette excavated in the Greek levels at Sirkap.[45]

Rape of Europa, which "could have only been made by a Greek patron during the Indo-Greek period".[47]

Intaglio gems

Intaglio gems from northwestern India, showing an evolution from Greek workmanship to more degraded forms, ranging from circa 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE.

Intaglio gems from northwest India, showing an evolution from Greek workmanship to more degraded forms, range from circa 2nd century BCE to 2nd century CE.[48]

Inscriptions and sculptures

Some inscriptions remain mentioning Indo-Greek rule, such as the

bacchanalian scenes.[50][52] 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".[50]

Excavation at

Bactria are probably the ultimate source of these designs.[54][55] It is thought that the Indo-Greeks introduced their artistic styles into the area as they moved eastward from the area of Gandhara into South Kashmir.[56]

Such Hellenistic draped figurines have not been found at Taxila or Charsadda, although they are known to have been Greek cities, but probably this is mainly because excavations to Greek levels have been very limited: in Sirkap, only one eight of the excavations were made down to the Indo-Greek and early Saka levels, and only in an area far removed from the center of the ancient city, where few finds could be expected.[57]

  • Terracotta statuette in Chiton and Himation, Semthan, Southern Kashmir
    Terracotta statuette in Chiton and Himation, Semthan, Southern Kashmir
  • Male Hellenistic dress, Semthan
    Male Hellenistic dress, Semthan
  • Semthan, female Hellenistic dresses
    Semthan, female Hellenistic dresses

Buddhist reliquaries

Pyxides and Buddhist reliquaries
Ai-Khanoum "Pyxis" stone containers,3rd-2nd century BCE
Darunta reliquary and Rukhuna reliquary, 1st century CE.[58][59]

According to Harry Falk Buddhist stone reliquaries, which were generally place insided stupas with precious relics of the Buddha or other saints, are directly derived from the stone pyxis which have been excavated at Ai-Khanoum and originated in the west.[58] The Ai-Khanoum stone containers are thought to have played a religious role, and were apparently used to burn incense.[58] The shapes, material, and decoration are very similar to the later Buddhist containers, down to the compartmentalization inside the containers themselves.[58] One such containers the Shinkot casket, is a Buddhist relics container which was engraved with the name of the Indo-Greek king Menander I.[44][60]

The Bimaran reliquary, with one of the earliest known images of the Buddha, is generally dated to a period corresponding the end of Indo-Greek rule circa 1-15 CE, but was actually deposited by one of the

Indo-Scythian successors of the Indo-Greeks, names Kharahostes.[61] The Bimaran casket already displays a combination of Hellenistic design elements with Indian ones, such as the arches and the lotus design.[62]

  • The Shinkot casket, a Buddhist relics container in the name of Menander I
    The Shinkot casket, a Buddhist relics container in the name of Menander I
  • An anguiped, also seen in Hellenistic and Roman art, Mathura art, c. 1st century BCE.[63]
    An
    Mathura art, c. 1st century BCE.[63]
  • The Bimaran reliquary is often dated to circa 1-15 CE, at the time of the last Indo-Greek kings.
    The
    Bimaran reliquary
    is often dated to circa 1-15 CE, at the time of the last Indo-Greek kings.

Architecture and statuary under the Indo-Greeks in Mathura (180-70 BCE)

Architecture

From time of the

beads and reels used and adapted from that time in Indian art.[64]

Stone statuary

Early Mathura statuary
150-100 BCE
Mathura Museum

Following the demise of the Mauryan Empire and its replacement by the

Sungas, are thought to have been absent from Mathura, as no epigraphical remains or coins have been found, and to have been based to the east of the Mathura region.[72]

Stone art and architecture began being produced at Mathura at the time of "Indo-Greek hegemony" over the region.

"Mathura sculpture is distinguished by several qualitative features of art, culture and religious history. The geographical position of the city on the highway leading from the Madhyadesa towards Madra-Gandhara contributed in a large measure to the eclectic nature of its culture. Mathura became the meeting ground of the traditions of the early Indian art of Bharhut and Sanchi together with strong influences of the Iranian and the Indo-Bactrian or the Gandhara art from the North-West. The Persepolitan capitals with human-headed animal figures and volutes as well as the presence of the battlement motif as a decorative element point to Iranian affinities. These influences came partly as a result of the general saturation of foreign motifs in early Indian sculpture as found in the Stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi also."

— Vasudeva Shrarana Agrawala, Masterpieces of Mathura sculpture[76]

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".[50]

Colossal anthropomorphic statues (2nd century BCE)

Manibhadra or Mudgarpani.[77] The Yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness,[78][79] and were the object of popular worship.[80] Many of them were later incorporated into Buddhism, Jainism or Hinduism.[77]

In the 2nd century BCE, Yakshas became the focus of the creation of colossal cultic images, typically around 2 meters or more in height, which are considered as probably the first Indian anthropomorphic productions in stone.

Yashinis, often associated with trees and children, and whose voluptuous figures became omnipresent in Indian art.[77]

Some

Bactria where this design is known.[52]

In the production of colossal Yaksha statues carved in the round, which can be found in several locations in northern India, the art of Mathura is considered as the most advanced in quality and quantity during this period.[82] Colossal Nāga statues are also known from this period in Mathura, also denoting an early cult of this deity.[83]

Incipient Greco-Buddhist art

Gandharan Athena Lahore Museum

The possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently as the dating of the rule of Indo-Greek kings has been extended to the first decades of the 1st century CE, with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab.[84] Also, Foucher, Tarn and more recently Boardman, Bussagli or McEvilley have taken the view that some of the most purely Hellenistic works of northwestern India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, may actually be wrongly attributed to later centuries, and instead belong to a period one or two centuries earlier, to the time of the Indo-Greeks in the 2nd-1st century BCE:[85]

This is particularly the case of some purely Hellenistic works in

Herakles/Vajrapani and Tyche/Hariti, Boardman explains that both figures "might at first (and even second) glance, pass as, say, from Asia Minor or Syria of the first or second century BC (...) these are essentially Greek figures, executed by artists fully conversant with far more than the externals of the Classical style".[87] Many of the works of art at Hadda can also be compared to the style of the 2nd century BCE sculptures of the Hellenistic world, such as those of the Temple of Olympia at Bassae in Greece, which could also suggest roughly contemporary dates.[citation needed
]

Alternatively, it has been suggested that these works of art may have been executed by itinerant Greek artists during the time of maritime contacts with the West from the 1st to the 3rd century CE.[88]

The supposition that such highly Hellenistic and, at the same time Buddhist, works of art belong to the Indo-Greek period would be consistent with the known Buddhist activity of the Indo-Greeks (the Milinda Panha etc...), their Hellenistic cultural heritage which would naturally have induced them to produce extensive statuary, their know artistic proficiency as seen on their coins until around 50 BCE, and the dated appearance of already complex iconography incorporating Hellenistic sculptural codes with the Bimaran casket in the early 1st century CE.[citation needed]

Greek-looking people in the art of Gandhara

Chakhil-i-Ghoundi stupa, Hadda, Gandhara
, 1st century CE).

The

Bacchanalian scenes) to Buddhist-devotional.[90][91]

Uncertainties in dating make it unclear whether these works of art actually depict Greeks of the period of Indo-Greek rule up to the 1st century BCE, or remaining Greek communities under the rule of the

Kushans
in the 1st and 2nd century CE.

Hellenistic groups

.

A series of reliefs, several of them known as the

Indo-Scythian soldiers in uniform, sometimes playing instruments.[93] Finally, revelling Indian in dhotis richly adorned with jewelry are also shown. These are considered some of the most artistically perfect, and earliest, of Gandharan sculptures, and are thought to exalt multicultural interaction within the context of Buddhism,[citation needed
] in the 1st century BCE or the 1st century CE.

  • Hellenistic drinking scene.
    Hellenistic drinking scene.
  • Hellenistic marine deities, Gandhara, 1st century.
    Hellenistic marine deities, Gandhara, 1st century.
  • Hellenistic drinking scene, Sar Khi Derri.
    Hellenistic drinking scene, Sar Khi Derri.
  • The Trojan Horse.

Bacchic scenes

Greeks harvesting grapes, Greeks drinking and revelling, scenes of erotical courtship are also numerous, and seem to relate to some of the most remarkable traits of Greek culture.[94] These reliefs also belong to Buddhist structures, and it is sometimes suggested that they might represent some kind of paradisical world after death.

  • Bacchanalian scene, representing the harvest of wine grapes, Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE.
    Bacchanalian scene, representing the harvest of wine grapes, Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE.
  • Indo-Greek bacchanalian scene, 1st-2nd century.
    Indo-Greek bacchanalian scene, 1st-2nd century.
  • Drinking scene, with Dionysus and Ariadne on his lap, Greek drinking cups, Greek dress. Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. Dated 3rd century CE.
    Drinking scene, with Dionysus and Ariadne on his lap, Greek drinking cups, Greek dress. Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara. Dated 3rd century CE.
  • Satyr on a mountain goat, drinking with women. Gandhara, 2nd-4th century.
    Satyr on a mountain goat, drinking with women. Gandhara, 2nd-4th century.
  • Musician wearing the chiton dress.
    Musician wearing the
    chiton
    dress.
  • Bacchanalian scene, Gandhara.
    Bacchanalian scene, Gandhara.

Hellenistic devotees

Lay devotee couple in Hellenistic dress (right, man holding a lamp), and Buddhist monks (shaven, left), circumambulating a stupa.

Depictions of people in Hellenistic dress within a Buddhist context are also numerous.

Trojan horse
. It is unclear whether these reliefs actually depict contemporary Greek devotees in the area of Gandhara, or if they are just part of a remaining artistic tradition. Most of these reliefs are usually dated to the 1st-3rd century CE.

  • Couple of devotees in Hellenistic himation dress, at the base of a Buddha statue.
    Couple of devotees in Hellenistic himation dress, at the base of a Buddha statue.
  • Devotee in Greek dress, on a Buddhist pilaster. Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa.
    Devotee in Greek dress, on a Buddhist pilaster. Chakhil-i-Ghoundi Stupa.
  • "The Great Departure", with the Buddha amid Greek deities and costumes.
    "The Great Departure", with the Buddha amid Greek deities and costumes.
  • Hellenistic man or God, Gandhara.
    Hellenistic man or God, Gandhara.
  • Indo-Corinthian capital representing a Buddhist devotee wearing a Greek cloak (chlamys) attached by a fibula. Dated to the 1st century BCE. Butkara Stupa.
    fibula. Dated to the 1st century BCE. Butkara Stupa
    .
  • Aristocratic women, Gandhara.
    Aristocratic women, Gandhara.

Contributions by "Yavanas" in the 1st-2nd centuries CE

A Hellenistic seated Buddha, which may have been made by Greek artists settled in the Jalalabad region, Tapa Shotor, 2nd century CE.[96]

After formal Greek political power waned circa 10 CE, some Greek nuclei may have continued to survive until the 2nd century AD.[97]

Tapa Shotor

According to archaeologist

Dionysopolis, and that they were responsible for the Hellenistic Buddhist creations of Tapa Shotor in the 2nd century CE.[96]

Buddhist caves

A large number of

Yavanas, represented about 8% of all inscriptions.[99]

Karla Caves

Yavana.[100] Below: detail of the word "Ya-va-na-sa" in old Brahmi script:
, circa AD 120.

Yavanas from the region of Nashik are mentioned as donors for six structural pillars in the Great Buddhist Chaitya of the Karla Caves built and dedicated by Western Satraps ruler Nahapana in 120 CE,[101] although they seem to have adopted Buddhist names.[102] In total, the Yavanas account for nearly half of the known dedicatory inscriptions on the pillars of the Great Chaitya.[103] To this day, Nasik is known as the wine capital of India, using grapes that were probably originally imported by the Greeks.[104]

Shivneri Caves

Two more Buddhist inscriptions by Yavanas were found in the

Sangha by the Yavana named Cita.[105] On this second inscription, the Buddhist symbols of the triratna and of the swastika
(reversed) are positioned on both sides of the first word "Yavana(sa)".

Pandavleni Caves

Nashik Caves
.

One of the Buddhist caves (Cave No.17) in the

Yavana Dharmadeva, a northerner from Dattamittri", in the 2nd century AD.[106][107][108] The city of "Dattamittri" is thought to be the city of Demetrias in Arachosia, mentioned by Isidore of Charax.[106]

Manmodi Caves

In the

Yavana donor appears on the façade of the main Chaitya, on the central flat surface of the lotus over the entrance: it mentions the erection of the hall-front (façade) for the Buddhist Samgha, by a Yavana donor named Chanda:[109]

"yavanasa camdānam gabhadā[ra]"
"The meritorious gift of the

Yavana Chanda"

— Inscription on the façade of the Manmodi Chaitya.[110][111][112]

These contributions seem to have ended when the

Western Satrap ruler Nahapana circa 130 CE. This victory is known from the fact that Gautamiputra Satakarni restruck many of Nahapana's coins, and that he is claimed to have defeated the Yavanas and their confederates in the inscription of his mother Queen Gotami Balasiri at Cave No. 3 of the Nasik Caves:[113][114]

...Siri-

Satavahana
family...

— Nasik Caves inscription of Queen Gotami Balasiri, circa AD 170, Cave No.3[115]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ .
  3. ^ "The extraordinary realism of their portraiture. The portraits of Demetrius, Antimachus and of Eucratides are among the most remarkable that have come down to us from antiquity" Hellenism in ancient India, Banerjee, p134
  4. Gallo-Roman art
    , the Indo-Scythian Kanishka had no direct influence on that of Indo-Greek Art; and besides, we have now the certain proofs that during his reign this art was already stereotyped, if not decadent" Hellenism in Ancient India, Banerjee, p147
  5. .
  6. .
  7. .
  8. .
  9. ^ .
  10. .
  11. .
  12. .
  13. .
  14. .
  15. .
  16. ^ .
  17. .
  18. ^ "It has all the hallmarks of a Hellenistic city, with a Greek theatre, gymnasium and some Greek houses with colonnaded courtyards" (Boardman).
  19. ^ .
  20. ^ .
  21. .
  22. ^ Source, BBC News, Another article. German story with photographs here (translation here).
  23. ^ Demetrius is said to have founded Taxila (archaeological excavations), and also Sagala in the modern-day Pakistan, which he seemed to have called Euthydemia, after his father ("the city of Sagala, also called Euthydemia" (Ptolemy, Geographia, VII 1))
  24. ^ A Journey Through India's Past Chandra Mauli Mani, Northern Book Centre, 2005, p. 39
  25. ^ MacDowall, 2004
  26. ^ "The only thing that seems reasonably sure is that Taxila was part of the domain of Agathocles", Bopearachchi, Monnaies, p. 59
  27. .
  28. ^ a b Iconography of Balarāma, Nilakanth Purushottam Joshi, Abhinav Publications, 1979, p. 22 [1]
  29. ^ .
  30. ^ .
  31. ^ "Afghanistan, tresors retrouves", p150
  32. ^ Joe Cribb, Investigating the introduction of coinage in India, Journal of the Numismatic Society of India xlv Varanasi 1983 pp.89
  33. ^ Ghosh, Amalananda (1965). Taxila. CUP Archive. p. 763.
  34. .
  35. Retrieved 7 August 2015. Menander, also spelled Minedra or Menadra, Pali Milinda (flourished 160 BCE?–135 BCE?), the greatest of the Indo-Greek kings and the one best known to Western and Indian classical authors. He is believed to have been a patron of the Buddhist religion and the subject of an important Buddhist work, the Milinda-panha ("The Questions of Milinda"). Menander was born in the Caucasus, but the Greek biographer Plutarch calls him a king of Bactria, and the Greek geographer and historian Strabo includes him among the Bactrian Greeks "who conquered more tribes than Alexander [the Great]."
  36. ^ Osmund Bopearachchi, 2016, Emergence of Viṣṇu and Śiva Images in India: Numismatic and Sculptural Evidence
  37. .
  38. ^ .
  39. ^ Khaliq, Fazal (24 May 2015). "Swat's archaeological sites: a victim of neglect". DAWN.COM. Retrieved 2017-09-13.
  40. ^ Ancient Indian History and Civilization, Sailendra Nath Sen, New Age International, 1999 p. 170
  41. ^ Handbuch der Orientalistik, Kurt A. Behrendt, BRILL, 2004, p.49 sig
  42. ^ "King Menander, who built the penultimate layer of the Butkara stupa in the first century BCE, was an Indo-Greek." Empires of the Indus: The Story of a River, Alice Albinia, 2012
  43. .
  44. ^ a b Baums, Stefan (2017). A framework for Gandharan chronology based on relic inscriptions, in "Problems of Chronology in Gandharan Art". Archaeopress.
  45. ^ Marshall, John (1951). Taxila vol.III. p. Plaque 144.
  46. ^ .
  47. .
  48. ^ Rapson, Edward James (1922). The Cambridge history of India. Cambridge University Press.
  49. ^ History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE, Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, BRILL, 2007 pp. 254-255
  50. ^ .
  51. ^ .
  52. ^ .
  53. .
  54. ^ .
  55. ^ .
  56. .
  57. .
  58. ^ a b c d Falk, Harry (2015). Buddhistische Reliquienbehälter aus der Sammlung Gritli von Mitterwallner. pp. 134–135.
  59. .
  60. ^ Chakravarti, N. P (1937). Epigraphia Indica Vol.24. pp. 1–10.
  61. ^ Fussman, 1986, p.71, quoted in The Crossroads of Asia, p.192
  62. ^ The Cambridge History of India. CUP Archive. 1922. pp. 646–647.
  63. .
  64. .
  65. .
  66. ^ .
  67. .
  68. ^ .
  69. ^ .
  70. .
  71. .
  72. ^ .
  73. ^ Published in "L'Indo-Grec Menandre ou Paul Demieville revisite," Journal Asiatique 281 (1993) p.113
  74. ^ "Some Newly Discovered Inscriptions from Mathura : The Meghera Well Stone Inscription of Yavanarajya Year 160 Recently a stone inscription was acquired in the Government Museum, Mathura." India's ancient past, Shankar Goyal Book Enclave, 2004, p.189
  75. .
  76. ^ Agrawala, Vasudeva S. (1965). Masterpieces of Mathura sculpture. p. 3.
  77. ^ .
  78. .
  79. ^ "yaksha". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 15 July 2007.
  80. .
  81. ^ "The folk art typifies an older plastic tradition in clay and wood which was now put in stone, as seen in the massive Yaksha statuary which are also of exceptional value as models of subsequent divine images and human figures." in Agrawala, Vasudeva Sharana (1965). Indian Art: A history of Indian art from the earliest times up to the third century A. D. Prithivi Prakashan. p. 84.
  82. .
  83. .
  84. ^ "The survival into the 1st century AD of a Greek administration and presumably some elements of Greek culture in the Punjab has now to be taken into account in any discussion of the role of Greek influence in the development of Gandharan sculpture", The Crossroads of Asia, p. 14
  85. ^ On the Indo-Greeks and the Gandhara school:
    • 1) "It is necessary to considerably push back the start of Gandharan art, to the first half of the first century BCE, or even, very probably, to the preceding century.(...) The origins of Gandharan art... go back to the Greek presence. (...) Gandharan iconography was already fully formed before, or at least at the very beginning of our era" Mario Bussagli "L'art du Gandhara", p331–332
    • 2) "The beginnings of the Gandhara school have been dated everywhere from the first century B.C. (which was M. Foucher's view) to the Kushan period and even after it" (Tarn, p394). Foucher's views can be found in "La vieille route de l'Inde, de Bactres a Taxila", pp340–341). The view is also supported by Sir John Marshall ("The Buddhist art of Gandhara", pp5–6).
    • 3) Also the recent discoveries at Ai-Khanoum confirm that "Gandharan art descended directly from Hellenized Bactrian art" (Chaibi Nustamandy, "Crossroads of Asia", 1992).
    • 4) On the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art: "It was about this time (100 BCE) that something took place which is without parallel in Hellenistic history: Greeks of themselves placed their artistic skill at the service of a foreign religion, and created for it a new form of expression in art" (Tarn, p393). "We have to look for the beginnings of Gandharan Buddhist art in the residual Indo-Greek tradition, and in the early Buddhist stone sculpture to the South (Bharhut etc.)" (Boardman, 1993, p124). "Depending on how the dates are worked out, the spread of Gandhari Buddhism to the north may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may the development and spread of the Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" McEvilley, 2002, "The shape of ancient thought", p378.
  86. ^ Boardman, p141
  87. ^ Boardman, p143
  88. ^ "Others, dating the work to the first two centuries A.D., after the waning of Greek autonomy on the Northwest, connect it instead with the Roman Imperial trade, which was just then getting a foothold at sites like Barbaricum (modern Karachi) at the Indus-mouth. It has been proposed that one of the embassies from Indian kings to Roman emperors may have brought back a master sculptorto oversee work in the emerging Mahayana Buddhist sensibility (in which the Buddha came to be seen as a kind of deity), and that "bands of foreign workmen from the eastern centers of the Roman Empire" were brought to India" (Mc Evilley "The shape of ancient thought", quoting Benjamin Rowland "The art and architecture of India" p121 and A.C. Soper "The Roman Style in Gandhara" American Journal of Archaeology 55 (1951) pp301–319)
  89. ^ Boardman, p.115
  90. ^ McEvilley, p.388-390
  91. ^ Boardman, 109-153
  92. ^ Boardman, p.126
  93. ^ Marshall, "The Buddhist art of Gandhara", p.36
  94. ^ "At the time, a favourite theme of Graeco-Parthian secular art was the drinking scene, and incongruous as it may seem, this was one of the earliest themes to be adopted for the decoration of Buddhist stupas." Marshall, p.33
  95. ^ Marshall, p.33-39
  96. ^ a b Tarzi, Zémaryalai (2001). "Le site ruiné de Hadda". Afghanistan, patrimoine en péril: actes d'une journée d'étude. CEREDAF. p. 63 – via HAL open science.
  97. S2CID 163916645
    .
  98. .
  99. ^ Buddhist architecture, Lee Huu Phuoc, Grafikol 2009, pp. 98–99
  100. ^ Epigraphia Indica Vol.18 p. 328 Inscription No10
  101. ^ World Heritage Monuments and Related Edifices in India, Volume 1 ʻAlī Jāvīd, Tabassum Javeed, Algora Publishing, 2008 p. 42
  102. ^ * Inscription no.7: "(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Sihadhaya from Dhenukataka" in Problems of Ancient Indian History: New Perspectives and Perceptions, Shankar Goyal - 2001, p. 104
    * Inscription no.4: "(This) pillar (is) the gift of the Yavana Dhammadhya from Dhenukataka"
    Description in Hellenism in Ancient India by Gauranga Nath Banerjee p. 20
  103. ^ Epigraphia Indica Vol.18 pp. 326–328 and Epigraphia Indica Vol.7 [Epigraphia Indica Vol.7 pp. 53–54
  104. .
  105. ^ a b The Greek-Indians of Western India: A Study of the Yavana and Yonaka Buddhist Cave Temple Inscriptions, 'The Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies', NS 1 (1999-2000) S._1_1999-2000_pp._83-109 p. 87–88
  106. ^ a b Epigraphia Indica p. 90ff
  107. ^ Hellenism in Ancient India, Gauranga Nath Banerjee p. 20
  108. ^ The Roman Empire and the Indian Ocean: The Ancient World Economy and the Kingdoms of Africa, Arabia and India, Raoul McLaughlin, Pen and Sword, 2014 p. 170
  109. .
  110. ^ Journal of the Epigraphical Society of India. The Society. 1994. pp. iv.
  111. ^ Archaeological Survey of Western India. Government Central Press. 1879. pp. 43–44.
  112. ^ Karttunen, Klaus (2015). "Yonas and Yavanas In Indian Literature". Studia Orientalia. 116: 214.
  113. . p. 383
  114. ^ Nasik cave inscription No 1. "( Of him) the Kshatriya , who flaming like the god of love, subdued the Sakas, Yavavas and Palhavas" in Parsis of ancient India by Hodivala, Shapurji Kavasji p. 16
  115. ^ Epigraphia Indica pp. 61–62

References