Day 101 - Gandhara statuary
November 9, 2018
Gallery 235 brings me to the art of Gandhara. I check the map and am reminded (if I ever solidly knew) that Gandhara was located between present-day Afghanistan and Kashmir. It is sobering to be reminded that two millennia aago, this now war-toron area was a great center of trade, culture, and ethnic diversity.
It's hard not to love Gandharan art, to respond to the way that classical influences imported from the Roman empire are integrated into Hindu and Buddhist images. One third-century stele depicting the death of the Buddha reminds me of any number of early Christian sarcophagi showing the death of the Virgin. The Buddha's inert, recumbent body is surrounded by mourners whose sad faces and raised arms indicate their grief.
I usually want to write about just one object, but today I can't resist examining two, both of which illustrate the integration of classical forms into South Asian religions. One is a 2nd or 3rd century C.E. carving of schist, perhaps 15 inches high showing Garuda conquering the Naga clan. I had always associated Garuda with Hinduism (the eagle is Vishnu's mount), but apparently, he was a significant figure in Buddhism and Jainism as well, and this image may, in fact, recount a Buddhist myth. The eagle's wings embrace three human figures, two men and a woman, who are shown nude to the waist.
Their faces and the men's carefully modeled torsos suggest a strong classical influence.
The second object is a monumental, now headless 5th century statue of a bodhisattva, perhaps six feet tall, also carved from schist. The figure may be a bodhissatva, and he seems to be clad in a dhoti, but his powerful torso, with well-defined pecs and taut belly, reminds me of nothing so much as a statue of Mars or another Greco-Roman warrior figure.
Do I respond to these statues mostly because the classical forms are comfortingly familiar? It will be interesting to examine this question as I move forward in my South Asian exploration.
It's hard not to love Gandharan art, to respond to the way that classical influences imported from the Roman empire are integrated into Hindu and Buddhist images. One third-century stele depicting the death of the Buddha reminds me of any number of early Christian sarcophagi showing the death of the Virgin. The Buddha's inert, recumbent body is surrounded by mourners whose sad faces and raised arms indicate their grief.
I usually want to write about just one object, but today I can't resist examining two, both of which illustrate the integration of classical forms into South Asian religions. One is a 2nd or 3rd century C.E. carving of schist, perhaps 15 inches high showing Garuda conquering the Naga clan. I had always associated Garuda with Hinduism (the eagle is Vishnu's mount), but apparently, he was a significant figure in Buddhism and Jainism as well, and this image may, in fact, recount a Buddhist myth. The eagle's wings embrace three human figures, two men and a woman, who are shown nude to the waist.
Their faces and the men's carefully modeled torsos suggest a strong classical influence.
The second object is a monumental, now headless 5th century statue of a bodhisattva, perhaps six feet tall, also carved from schist. The figure may be a bodhissatva, and he seems to be clad in a dhoti, but his powerful torso, with well-defined pecs and taut belly, reminds me of nothing so much as a statue of Mars or another Greco-Roman warrior figure.
Do I respond to these statues mostly because the classical forms are comfortingly familiar? It will be interesting to examine this question as I move forward in my South Asian exploration.
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