Grecian Influence on INDIAN

Architectural
ENGINEERING

Dr UDAY DOKRAS
ARCHITECT SRISHTI DOKRAS

1
 Indo Nordic Author’s Collective
Grecian Influence on INDIAN
Architectural
ENGINEERING
Dr UDAY DOKRAS
ARCHITECT SRISHTI DOKRAS

Dr. Uday Dokras
B.Sc., B.A. (managerial economics) LL.B. Nagpur University, INDIA
Graduate Studies, Queen’s University, Kingston, CANADA
MBA CALSATATE USA
Graduate Diploma in Law, Stockholm University, SWEDEN
Ph.D. Stockholm University, SWEDEN
CONSULTANT Human Resource and Administration,
1 st Edition 2021
Copyright 2020 Uday Dokras. All Rights
Reserved. No part of this publication may
be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
transmitted in any form or by means of
electronic, mechanical, photocopy, micro-
film, recording or otherwise, without prior
permission of the copyright holder.
ISBN No. applied for. Cost US $150. I
N R 1500/- Euro 120

2
 Indo Nordic Author’s Collective

“Better than a thousand hollow words is the

word that brings peace.”
- Gautam Buddha

CONTENTS
PART I Introduction to Greece and Indian connect 4
INTRODUCTION 5
Architectural engineering, / building engineering 7

3
Similarities with Grecian thought and action 8
CHAPTER 2- Art of South and Southeast Asia 200 CE 17
CHAPTER 3-Greeks and their arts in India 36
CHAPTER 4 Greco Buddhism 79
CHAPTER 5 Patliputra Capital 93
PART II Impact Of Alexander 108
CHAPTER 6 Alexander the great 109
CHAPTER 7-CAMPAIGNS of ALEXANDER 115
Alexander's Indian campaign 133
CHAPTER 8-Hellenization 137

C H A P T E R 9- JEWISH DIALOGUE WITH HELLENISTIC CULTURE

143
HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE 145
CHAPTER 10-Cultural links between India & the Greco-Roman world 163
CHAPTER 11-Hellenistic influence on Indian art 179

CHAPTER 12-GREEK INFLUENCE ON INDIAN CULTURE 198

CHAPTER 13 GHANDHARA 203
CHAPTER 14-Overview: Gandhāra and Mathura 220
About the Author 241

4
HELLINIZATION OF INDIA
INTRODUCTION

5
 A history steeped in myth

The two parties to the Hellinization of the Indian Subcontinent were the Greeks and
Indians. The former came by way of Alexander and other channals established as per that
adventure. There was a time when The Indo-Greeks were influenced by the Greeks since they
were exposed to so much of their culture, philosophy, art, and architecture. The artists that
worked in Bactria also worked in Gandhara, India, as well. We can see the influence of Greek
artists on Indian sculptures in that region. As a result, Buddhist sculptors were either Greeks or
learned from the Greeks. The same people worked in Bactria and Gandhara and we can see that
by comparing the art on the coins because both places had the same Indo-Greek monarch.

All the Buddhist sculptures of the 3rd century BCE did not show the image of Buddha but
depicted him in the form of an icon such as a Dharma Chakra (Wheel of the Dharma), a throne, a
pair of footprints or a Bo (or bodhi or papal) tree. It was only in the Hellenistic era that the
Buddha was shown in an iconic form.
So how do we tell the history of Greek influences on India and also of Alexander, when much of
it is steeped in myth and pulling apart the myths and legends and reconstructing an accurate
narrative can be difficult? Though it’s a difficult task, but it’s an important one, because the
history of Alexander is a history of the Greek empire, which had a massive influence on vast
regions stretching across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Alexander the Great can be said to be
responsible for the Greek influence in Ancient India. He started to conquer kingdoms in the east
and made it all the way modern Pakistan and the Indian state of Gujarat. He turned back once he
was defeated by King Porus in 326 BCE. One of the major reason for indo Grecian associations
were the conquests of Alexander and the influence spread by him.
We have ancient narratives of Alexander’s life, written between 30 BCE and the third century
CE—hundreds of years after his death. The earliest known account is by the Greek historian
Diodorus, but we also have histories written by other historians, including Roman historians;
these writers are called the Alexander historians. They interpreted written accounts from shortly
after Alexander’s death, penned by those who fought alongside Alexander on his campaigns.

6
Detail showing Alexander the Great.
It’s unclear how reliable these narratives are, however, as they are mingled with the propaganda
of various Greek and Roman states, who were ruled by emperors that used Alexander’s image to
cement their own power. In order to get a fuller picture, historians interpret sources from other
regions of Alexander the Great’s empire, like Babylon. On one Babylonian tablet, for example,
Alexander’s death is recorded with an inscription in Akkadian that reads “on the 29th day, the
king died.”

Architectural engineering, / building engineering 

Architectural engineering, also known as building engineering or architecture engineering,

is an engineering discipline that deals with the technological aspects and multi-
disciplinary approach to planning, design, construction and operation of buildings, such as
analysis and integrated design of environmental systems (energy
conservation, HVAC, plumbing, lighting, fire protection, acoustics, vertical and horizontal
transportation, electrical power systems), structural systems, behavior and properties of building
components and materials, and construction management.
From reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to the construction of resilient buildings,
architectural engineers are at the forefront of addressing several major challenges of the 21st
century. They apply the latest scientific knowledge and technologies to the design of buildings.
Architectural engineering as a relatively new licensed profession emerged in the 20th century as
a result of the rapid technological developments. Architectural engineers are at the forefront of
two major historical opportunities that today's world is immersed in: (1) that of rapidly

7
advancing computer-technology, and (2) the parallel revolution arising from the need to create a
sustainable planet.
Distinguished from architecture as an art of design, architectural engineering, is
the art and science of engineering and construction as practiced in respect of buildings.
n some countries, the practice of architecture includes planning, designing and overseeing the
building's construction, and architecture, as a profession providing architectural services, is
referred to as "architectural engineering". In some languages, such as Korean and Arabic,
"architect" is literally translated as "architectural engineer". In some countries, an "architectural
engineer" (such as the ingegnere edile in Italy) is entitled to practice architecture and is often
referred to as an architect.These individuals are often also structural engineers. In other
countries, such as Germany, Austria, Iran, and most of the Arab countries, architecture graduates
receive an engineering degree (Dipl.-Ing. – Diplom-Ingenieur)..
After graduation,Indian architects focus in architectural planning, yet they can be responsible to
the whole building, when it concerns to small buildings (except in electric wiring, where the
architect autonomy is limited to systems up to 30kVA, and it has to be done by an Electrical
Engineer), applied to buildings, urban environment, built cultural heritage, landscape planning,
interiorscape planning and regional planning.
In Greece licensed architectural engineers are graduates from architecture faculties that belong to
the Polytechnic University, obtaining an "Engineering Diploma". They graduate after 5 years of
studies and are fully entitled architects once they become members of the Technical Chamber of
Greece (TEE – Τεχνικό Επιμελητήριο Ελλάδος). The Technical Chamber of Greece has more
than 100,000 members encompassing all the engineering disciplines as well as architecture. A
prerequisite for being a member is to be licensed as a qualified engineer or architect and to be a
graduate of an engineering and architecture schools of a Greek university, or of an equivalent
school from abroad. The Technical Chamber of Greece is the authorized body to provide work
licenses to engineers of all disciplines as well as architects, graduated in Greece or abroad. The
license is awarded after examinations. The examinations take place three to four times a year.
The Engineering Diploma equals a master's degree in ECTS units (300) according to the
Bologna Accords.

Similarities with Grecian thought and action

A Similarities with Greek astronomy
It is hypothesized that there were cultural contacts between the Indian and Greek astronomers via
cultural contact with Hellenistic Greece, specifically regarding the work of Hipparchus (2nd-
century BCE). There were some similarities between Surya Siddhanta and Greek astronomy in
Hellenistic period. For example, Surya Siddhanta provides table of sines function which parallel
the Hipparchus table of chords, though the Indian calculations are more accurate and detailed.
According to Alan Cromer, the knowledge share with Greeks may have occurred by about 100
BCE.

Astronomical calculations: Estimated time per sidereal revolution.

8
Planet Surya Siddhanta Ptolemy 20th-century
Mangala 686 days, 23 hours, 56 686 days, 23 hours, 31 686 days, 23 hours, 30
(Mars) mins, 23.5 secs mins, 56.1 secs mins, 41.4 secs
Budha 87 days, 23 hours, 16 mins, 87 days, 23 hours, 16 87 days, 23 hours, 15
(Mercury) 22.3 secs mins, 42.9 secs mins, 43.9 secs
Bṛhaspati 4,332 days, 7 hours, 41 4,332 days, 18 hours, 9 4,332 days, 14 hours, 2
(Jupiter) mins, 44.4 secs mins, 10.5 secs mins, 8.6 secs
Shukra 224 days, 16 hours, 45 224 days, 16 hours, 51 224 days, 16 hours, 49
(Venus) mins, 56.2 secs mins, 56.8 secs mins, 8.0 secs
10,765 days, 18 hours, 33 10,758 days, 17 hours, 48 10,759 days, 5 hours, 16
Shani (Saturn)
mins, 13.6 secs mins, 14.9 secs mins, 32.2 secs

The influence of Greek ideas on early medieval era Indian astronomical theories, particularly
zodiac symbols (astrology), is broadly accepted by scholars. According to Jayant Narlikar, the
Vedic literature lacks astrology, the idea of nine planets and any theory that stars or constellation
may affect an individual's destiny. One of the manuscripts of the Surya Siddhanta mentions deva
Surya telling asura Maya to go to Rome with this knowledge I give you in the form of Yavana
(Greek), states Narlikar. The astrology field likely developed in the centuries after the arrival of
Greek astrology with Alexander the Great, their zodiac signs being nearly identical.

According to Pingree, the 2nd-century CE cave inscriptions of Nasik mention sun, moon and five
planets in the same order as found in Babylon, but "there is no hint, however, that the Indian had
learned a method of computing planetary positions in this period". In the 2nd-century CE, a
scholar named Yavanesvara translated a Greek astrological text, and another unknown individual
translated a second Greek text into Sanskrit. Thereafter started the diffusion of Greek and
Babylonian ideas on astronomy and astrology into India, states PingreeThe other evidence of
European influential on the Indian thought is Romaka Siddhanta, a title of one of the Siddhanta
texts contemporary to Surya Siddhanta, a name that betrays its origin and probably was derived
from a translation of a European text by Indian scholars in Ujjain, then the capital of an
influential central Indian large kingdom.

According to John Roche – a professor of Mathematics with publications on the history of

measurement, the astronomical and mathematical methods developed by Greeks related arcs to
chords of spherical trigonometry. The Indian mathematical astronomers, in their texts such as
Surya Siddhanta developed other linear measures of angles, made their calculations differently,
"introduced the versine, which is the difference between the radius and cosine, and discovered
various trigonometrical identities. For instance, states Roche, "where the Greeks had adopted 60
relative units for the radius, and 360 for circumference", the Indians chose 3,438 units and
60x360 for the circumference thereby calculating the "ratio of circumference to diameter [pi, π]
of about 3.1414.

The tradition of Hellenistic astronomy ended in the West after Late Antiquity. According to
Cromer, the Surya Siddhanta and other Indian texts reflect the primitive state of Greek science,
nevertheless played an important part in the history of science, through its translation in Arabic
and stimulating the Arabic sciences. According to a study by Dennis Duke that compares Greek
models with Indian models based on the oldest Indian manuscripts such as the Surya Siddhanta

9
with fully described models, the Greek influence on Indian astronomy is strongly likely to be
pre-Ptolemaic.

The Surya Siddhanta was one of the two books in Sanskrit translated into Arabic in the later half
of the eighth century during the reign of Abbasid caliph Al-Mansur. According to Muzaffar
Iqbal, this translation and that of Aryabhatta was of considerable influence on geographic,
astronomy and related Islamic scholarship.

Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek kings, territories and chronology

Based on Bopearachchi (1991)
Greco-Bactrian k
Indo-Greek kings
ings

Weste Easter
Territor
West Ba East B Paropa Arach Gand rn n Math
ies/
ctria actria misade osia hara Punja Punja ura[38]
dates
b b

326-325
Campaigns of Alexander the Great in India Nanda Empire
BCE

Creation of
312 BCE Creation of the Seleucid Empire the Maurya
Empire

10
 Seleucid
305 BCE Empire after Maury Maurya Empire
an war

Foundation of Ai-
280 BCE
Khanoum

Independence of
the
255–239
Greco-Bactrian Emperor Ashoka (268-232)
BCE
kingdom
Diodotus I

239–223
Diodotus II
BCE

230–200
Euthydemus I
BCE

200–190
Demetrius I Sunga Empire
BCE

190-185
Euthydemus II
BCE

190–180
Agathocles Pantaleon
BCE

185–170
Antimachus I
BCE

180–160
Apollodotus I
BCE

175–170
Demetrius II
BCE

160–155
Antimachus II
BCE

11
170–145
Eucratides I
BCE

Yuezhi oc Eucrati
cupation, des II
155–130
loss Plato Menander I
BCE
of Ai- Heliocl
Khanoum es I

130–120
Yuezhi occupation Zoilos I Agathokleia
BCE

120–110
Lysias Strato I
BCE

110–100
Antialcidas Heliokles II
BCE

100 BCE Polyxenos Demetrius III

Yavana
100–95
Philoxenus rajya
BCE
inscrip
tion
95–90 Diomede Epand
Amyntas
BCE s er

Theophil
90 BCE Peukolaos Thraso
os

90–85 Artemi
Nicias Menander II
BCE doros

90–70 Hermaeu
Archebius
BCE s

Maues (Indo-
Yuezhi occupation
Scythian)

75–70 Vonone Telep

Apollodotus II
BCE s hos

12
 65–55 Hippos Dionysi
Spalirises
BCE tratos os

55–35 Azes I (Indo- Zoilos

BCE Scythians) II

55–35 Vijayamitra/ A Apollop

BCE zilises hanes

Strato
25 BCE – Gondo Zeioni Khara II
10 CE phares ses hostes Strato
III

Gondophares (Indo- Rajuvula (Indo-
Parthian) Scythian)

Bhada Sodas
yasa a
Kujula Kadphises (Kushan Empire) (Indo- (Indo-
Scythia Scythi
n) an)

Pilgrimage to Buddha's Holy Sites

The 4 Main Sites & 4 additional

13
 Bodh Gaya Rajgir
Kushinagar Sankissa
Lumbini Shravasti
Sarnath Vaishali

Later Sites

Ajanta Caves
Barabar Caves
Bharhut
Ellora Caves
Lalitgiri
Mathura
Nasik Caves
Piprahwa
Pushpagiri
Ratnagiri
Sanchi
Udayagiri
Vikramashila

Other Sites

Amaravati
Chandavaram
Devadaha
Gaya
Kapilavastu
Kesaria
Kosambi
Nalanda
Pataliputra
Pava
Varanasi

Contents

14
The contents of the Surya Siddhanta is written in classical Indian poetry tradition, where
complex ideas are expressed lyrically with a rhyming meter in the form of a terse shloka .This
method of expressing and sharing knowledge made it easier to remember, recall, transmit and
preserve knowledge. However, this method also meant secondary rules of interpretation, because
numbers don't have rhyming synonyms. The creative approach adopted in the Surya Siddhanta
was to use symbolic language with double meanings. For example, instead of one, the text uses a
word that means moon because there is one moon. To the skilled reader, the word moon means
the number one. The entire table of trigonometric functions, sine tables, steps to calculate
complex orbits, predict eclipses and keep time are thus provided by the text in a poetic form.
This cryptic approach offers greater flexibility for poetic construction.

The Surya Siddhanta thus consists of cryptic rules in Sanskrit verse. It is a compendium of
astronomy that is easier to remember, transmit and use as reference or aid for the experienced,
but does not aim to offer commentary, explanation or proof. The text has 14 chapters and 500
shlokas. It is one of the eighteen astronomical siddhanta (treatises), but thirteen of the eighteen
are believed to be lost to history. The Surya Siddhanta text has survived since the ancient times,
has been the best known and the most referred astronomical text in the Indian tradition.
The fourteen chapters of the Surya Siddhanta are as follows, per the much cited Burgess
translatio
Chapters of Surya Siddhanta
Chapter
Title Reference
#
1 Of the Mean Motions of the Planets [37]

2 On the True Places of the Planets [38]

3 Of Direction, Place and Time [39]

4 Of Eclipses, and Especially of Lunar Eclipses [40]

5 Of Parallax in a Solar Eclipse [41]

6 The Projection of Eclipses [42]

7 Of Planetary Conjunctions [43]

8 Of the Asterisms [44]

9 Of Heliacal (Sun) Risings and Settings [45]

10 The Moon's Risings and Settings, Her Cusps [46]

11 On Certain Malignant Aspects of the Sun and Moon [47]

12 Cosmogony, Geography, and Dimensions of the Creation [48]

13 Of the Armillary Sphere and other Instruments
14 Of the Different Modes of Reckoning Time
The methods for computing time using the shadow cast by a gnomon are discussed in both
Chapters 3 and 13.

North pole star and South pole star

One of the most interesting observation made in Surya Siddhanta is the observation of two pole
stars, one each at north and south celestial pole. Surya Siddhanta chapter 12 verse 42 description
is as following:

15
मे रोरुभयतो मध्ये ध्रुवतारे नभ:स्थिते ।
निरक्षदे शसं स्थानामु भये क्षितिजाश्रिये ॥१२:४३॥
This translates as "There are two pole stars, one each, near North celestial pole and South
celestial pole. From equatorial regions, these stars are seen along the horizon".Currently our
North Pole star is Polaris. It is subject to investigation to find out when this astronomical
phenomenon occurred in the past to date the addition of this particular update to Surya
Siddhanta.

Calculation of Earth's Obliquity

In Surya Siddhanta chapter 2 and verse 28, it calculated the obliquity of the Earth's axis. The
verse says "The sine of greatest declination(obliquity) is 1397.....", which means that R-sine is
1397 where R is 3438.To obtain the obliquity in the unit of degree, we have to take the inverse of
Sine of the ratio (1397/3438), which gives us 23.975182 degrees and this tilt indicates a period of
3000 BCE[53]. It can be noted that this update was made during 3000 BCE to the Surya
Siddhanta.

Planets and their characteristics-Earth is a sphere

Thus everywhere on [the surface of] the terrestrial globe,
people suppose their own place higher [than that of others],
yet this globe is in space where there is no above nor below.
—Surya Siddhanta, XII.53
Translator: Scott L. Montgomery, Alok Kumar

The text treats earth as a stationary globe around which sun, moon and five planets orbit. It
makes no mention of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. It presents mathematical formulae to calculate
the orbits, diameters, predict their future locations and cautions that the minor corrections are
necessary over time to the formulae for the various astronomical bodies. However, unlike
modern heliocentric model for the solar system, the Surya Siddhanta relies on a geocentric point
of view.

The text describes some of its formulae with the use of very large numbers for divya yuga,
stating that at the end of this yuga earth and all astronomical bodies return to the same starting
point and the cycle of existence repeats againThese very large numbers based on divya-yuga,
when divided and converted into decimal numbers for each planet give reasonably accurate
sidereal periods when compared to modern era western calculations. For example, the Surya
Siddhanta states that the sidereal period of moon is 27.322 which compares to 27.32166 in
modern calculations. For Mercury it states the period to be 87.97 (modern W: 87.969), Venus
224.7 (W: 224.701), Mars as 687 (W: 686.98), Jupiter as 4,332.3 (W: 4,332.587) and Saturn to
be 10,765.77 days (W: 10,759.202).

Calendar
The solar part of the luni-solar Hindu calendar is based on the Surya Siddhanta. The various old
and new versions of Surya Siddhanta manuscripts yield the same solar calendar. According to J.
Gordon Melton, both the Hindu and Buddhist calendars in use in South and Southeast Asia are
rooted in this text, but the regional calendars adapted and modified them over time.

16
The Surya Siddhanta calculates the solar year to be 365 days 6 hours 12 minutes and 36.56
seconds. On average, according to the text, the lunar month equals 27 days 7 hours 39 minutes
12.63 seconds. It states that the lunar month varies over time, and this needs to be factored in for
accurate time keeping.

According to Whitney, the Surya Siddhanta calculations were tolerably accurate and achieved
predictive usefulness. In Chapter 1 of Surya Siddhanta, states Whitney, "the Hindu year is too
long by nearly three minutes and a half; but the moon's revolution is right within a second; those
of Mercury, Venus and Mars within a few minutes; that of Jupiter within six or seven hours; that
of Saturn within six days and a half".

17
Chart showing the classification of dravya and astikaya

According to Jains, the Universe is made up of six simple and eternal substances
called dravya which are broadly categorized under Jiva (Living Substances) and Ajiva (Non
Living Substances) as follows:
Jīva (Living Substances)

18
 CHAPTER 2
Art of South and Southeast Asia Before 1200 CE
Key Terms
1. relic: A part of the body of a saint, or an ancient religious object, kept for veneration.
2. mantra: A phrase repeated to assist concentration during meditation.
3. Key Points vatadage: A decorative circular frontispiece near the entrance of a Sri Lankan
stupa.
4. stupa: A dome-shaped Buddhist monument, used to house Buddhist relics.

5. Cornice: The topmost architectural element of a building that projects forward from the
main walls and was originally used to direct rainwater away from the building’s walls.
6. tempera: A medium used to bind pigments in painting, as well as the associated artistic
techniques.
7. pilaster: A rectangular column that projects partially from the wall to which it is
attached, giving the appearance of a support but used only for decoration.
8. fresco: In painting, the technique of applying water-based pigment to wet or fresh lime
mortar or plaster.
9. album leaves: Types of paintings that were popular among the gentry and scholar-
officials of the Southern Song Dynasty
10. stucco: A plaster that is used to coat interior or exterior walls or used for moldings.

 Stupas evolved over time from simple funerary monuments to elaborately decorated
objects of veneration.

19
  Emperor Ashoka, who ruled from 274–236 BCE during the Maurya Dynasty , is said to
have redistributed the relics housed in the original stupas of the Buddha into thousands of
stupas throughout India.
 All stupas contain a treasury , a Tree of Life, and small offerings known as Tsa-Tsas. It is
believed that the more objects placed into the treasury, the stronger the stupa’s energy.
 There are five types of stupas: Relic stupas, Object stupas, Commemorative stupas,
Symbolic stupas and Votive stupas. A stupa is thought to bring enlightenment to the one
who builds and owns it; it is also considered a placed of worship for many Buddhists.

History of Stupas

A stupa, literally meaning heap, is a mound-like structure designed to encase Buddhist relics and
other holy objects. Stupas exist all over the world and are the oldest Buddhist religious
monuments.

Originally a simple mound of clay or mud, stupas evolved from simple funerary monuments to
become elaborately decorated objects of veneration. Legend has it that following the cremation
of Buddha, his ashes were divided into eight parts and distributed among various rulers to be
enshrined at special burial mounds.

Emperor Ashoka, who ruled from 274–236 BCE during the Maurya Empire, is said to have
redistributed the relics housed in the original stupas into thousands of stupas throughout India.
Ashoka is also credited with the construction of numerous stupas that remain to this day,
including those at Sanchi and Sarnath.

Stupa at Sanchi, India: Emperor Ashoka is credited with construction of numerous stupas that
remain to this day, including the stupa at Sanchi.

20
Structure and Style

While they can vary visually, all stupas have a few features in common. Every stupa contains a
treasury filled with various objects—small offerings, or Tsa-Tsas, fill the majority of the
treasury, while jewelry and other precious objects are also placed within. It is believed that the
more objects placed into the treasury, the stronger the stupa’s energy.The Tree of Life, a wooden
pole covered with gems and mantras , is an important element of every stupa and is placed in the
stupa’s central channel during an initiation ceremony , where participants’ most powerful wishes
are stored.

There are five types of stupas:

1. Relic stupas, in which the relics of Buddha and other religious persons are buried.
2. Object stupas, in which the objects belonging to Buddha or his disciples are buried.
3. Commemorative stupas, built to commemorate events in the life of Buddha and his
disciples.
4. Symbolic stupas, built to symbolize various aspects of Buddhist theology.
5. Votive stupas, constructed to commemorate visits or gain spiritual benefits.

In the Buddhist religion, it is believed that a stupa brings enlightenment to the one who builds
and owns it. In addition, the stupa is considered a place of worship, and many Buddhists
complete pilgrimages to significant stupas.

Buddhist Architecture and Sculpture

Sri Lankan art and architecture were deeply influenced by Buddhism, which was introduced to
the island in the third century BCE.

Key Points

 Three types of structures are typically associated with the religious architecture of early
Buddhism : monasteries (viharas), places to venerate relics ( stupas ), and shrines or prayer
halls (chaityas or chaitya grihas). The earliest examples of Buddhist architecture found in
Sri Lanka are cave temples. The most famous of these, the Dambulla temple complex,
dates to the 1st century BCE.
 The kingdom of Anuradhapura (377 BCE–1017 CE), named for its capital city, produced
some the finest ancient Sri Lankan art and architecture.
 Sri Lankan stupas were among the largest brick structures known to the premodern
world. Intended to enshrine relics of the Buddha, they were built in various shapes and
often accompanied by a vahalkada, or decorative frontispiece.
 Another architectural creation associated with stupas and unique to ancient Sri Lankan
architecture was the vatadage , a circular Buddhist structure built around small stupas.

21
  The rock fortress and palace complex of Sigiriya is particularly renowned for its ancient
frescoes of female figures bearing flowers; it dates from the fifth century and is painted in
a very distinctive style .
 Sculpture was also a notable art form , and many fine statues of the Buddha were
produced during the Anuradhapura period. The fourth-century Samadhi statue in
Anuradhapura is considered one of the finest examples of ancient Sri Lankan sculpture.

Overview: Buddhist Architecture

Buddhist religious architecture developed in the Indian Subcontinent in the third century BCE.
Three types of structures are typically associated with the religious architecture of early
Buddhism:

1. Monasteries (viharas).
2. Places to venerate relics (stupas).
3. Shrines or prayer halls (chaityas or chaitya grihas), which later came to be called temples
in some places.

Viharas were initially only temporary shelters used by wandering monks during the rainy season,
but they later developed to accommodate the growing trend towards Buddhist monasticism. A
distinctive type of fortress architecture found in the former and present Buddhist kingdoms of the
Himalayas is known as dzongs.

The initial function of the stupa was the veneration and safe-guarding of the relics of the Buddha.
The earliest surviving example of a stupa is in Sanchi (Madhya Pradesh).

In accordance with changes in religious practice, stupas were gradually incorporated into
chaitya-grihas. These reached their high point in the 1st century BCE, exemplified by the cave
complexes of Ajanta and Ellora (Maharashtra). The Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya in Bihar is
another well-known example.

Buddhist Architecture in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan art and architecture was deeply influenced by Buddhism, which was introduced to the
island in the third century BCE by the son of Ashoka, Mahinda. Ashoka, the great Buddhist
emperor of the Maurya Dynasty , dedicated himself to the propagation of the religion across
Asia. Sri Lanka has the longest continuous history of Buddhism of any Buddhist nation, and its
culture reflects its religious tradition.

Cave Temples

The earliest examples of Buddhist architecture found in Sri Lanka are cave temples. The most
famous of these, the Dambulla temple complex, dates back to the first century BCE. This

22
complex consists of five caves and is decorated inside with statues and frescoes of the Buddha
and various gods and goddesses from the Buddhist pantheon .

Sri Lankan Stupas

The kingdom of Anuradhapura (377 BCE to 1017 CE), named for its capital city, produced some
of the finest ancient Sri Lankan art and architecture. Some of the most distinctive and famous Sri
Lankan monuments were built during this period, including a large number of dagobas or stupas,
for which the island is renowned.

Sri Lankan stupas were among the largest brick structures known to the premodern world.
Intended to enshrine relics of the Buddha, they were built in various shapes, including the
bubble, the pot, and the bell. The Sri Lankan stupa is characterized by its vahalkada, or
frontispiece. It is a structure, often ornately carved, that joins the stupa and often uses cardinal
directions as a decorative flourish.

One of the most famous stupas in Sri Lanka is the Jetavanaramaya stupa, which was built during
the 3rd and 4th centuries CE in the sacred city of Anuradhapura; it is believed to house a part of
a sash of the Buddha. Built from baked bricks bound with limestone , sand, and clay and coated
with lime plaster, this stupa stands at 400 feet and was the tallest stupa in the ancient world.

The Vatadage

Another architectural creation associated with stupas and unique to ancient Sri Lankan
architecture was the Vatadage, a circular Buddhist structure built around small stupas. These
were usually made of stone and brick and elaborately carved. They may have also had wooden
roofs that were supported by stone columns arranged in concentric rows.

Polonnaruwa Vatadage: A vatadage in the ancient city of Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka, from the
12th century CE.

23
Sigiriya

Another famous monument erected under the patronage of Anuradhapura was the rock fortress
and palace complex of Sigiriya. Sigirya is particularly renowned for its ancient frescoes, which
date from the 5th century and were painted in a very distinctive style.

The lines are painted in a manner that enhances the sense of volume of the figures, and the paint
is applied in sweeping strokes, using more pressure on one side than the other and giving the
effect of a deeper tone toward the edges. The frescoes all depict beautiful female figures who are
carrying flowers and are hypothesized to be apsaras (celestial nymphs), ladies of the king’s court,
or women taking part in religious rituals .

Sigiriya fresco: Depicting women with flowers, the Sigiriya frescoes are examples of a
distinctive Sri Lankan school of painting from the 5th century CE.

Buddhist Sculpture

Sculpture was also a notable art form, and many fine statues of the Buddha were produced
during the Anuradhapura period in Sri Lanka. The Samadhi statue in Anuradhapura is considered
one of the finest examples of ancient Sri Lankan sculpture. Sculpted from dolomite marble, it
dates to the 4th century CE and shows the Buddha seated in a position of deep meditation.

Samadhi Statue: Located in Anuradhapura, this statue dates to the fourth century CE and is a
fine example of ancient Sri Lankan Buddhist sculpture.

Buddhist Rock-Cut Architecture

Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural
rock.Distinguish the features of the Ajanta, Barabar, and Ellora caves of India

24
  Buddhist rock-cut temples and structures were often located near trade routes and became
stopovers and lodging houses for traders. Their interiors became more and more elaborate
as their endowments grew.
 A notable trait of rock-cut architecture is the crafting of rock to imitate timbered and
carved wood.
 Cave temples have been well-preserved due to their hidden locations and the fact that
they are constructed from stone, a far more durable material than wood, clay, or metal.
 The Barabar caves in Bihar, built in the third century BCE and credited to Emperor
Ashoka, are the oldest example of Buddhist rock-cut architecture.
 The Ajanta caves contain some very well-preserved tempera wall paintings that illustrate
the Jataka and date from the second century BCE.
 The Ellora caves are made up of twelve Buddhist, seventeen Hindu, and five Jain rock-
cut temples, excavated out of the Charanandri hills. Similar to the Barabar and Ajanta
caves, they contain many frescoes , reliefs , and shrines.

Overview: Rock-Cut Architecture

Rock-cut architecture is the practice of creating a structure by carving it out of solid natural rock.
In India, the term cave is often applied in reference to rock-cut architecture; however, it must be
distinguished from a naturally occurring cave, as rock-cut architecture is a highly engineered and
elaborately decorated structure.

There are more than 1,500 rock-cut temples in India, most of which are religious in nature,
adorned with decorative paintings and exquisite stone carvings that reflect a very high level of
craftsmanship.

Buddhist rock-cut temples and monasteries were often located near trade routes and these spaces
became stopovers and lodging houses for traders. As their endowments grew, the interiors of
rock-cut temples became more and more elaborate and decorated.

While many temples, monasteries, and stupas have been destroyed, cave temples are better
preserved due to their hidden locations and the fact that they are constructed from stone, a far
more durable material than wood, clay, or metal.

India’s Rock-Cut Architecture-The Barabar Caves

In India, caves have long been regarded as sacred spaces and were enlarged or entirely man-
made for use as temples and monasteries by Buddhist monks and ascetics. The Barabar caves in
Bihar, built in the third century BCE during the Mauryan period, are the oldest examples of
Buddhist rock-cut architecture.

Credited to Emperor Ashoka, these caves mostly consist of two rooms carved entirely out of
granite. The first room, a large rectangular hall, was meant to be a space for worshipers to
25
congregate, while the second room was a small, domed chamber for worship. This second
chamber is thought to have contained small, stupa-like structures, though it is empty now.

The Ajanta Caves

The Ajanta caves in Maharashtra are a group of 30 rock-cut Buddhist temples that span six
centuries, beginning in the first century BCE. They are carved into the vertical side of a gorge
located in the hills of the Sahyadri mountains.

The Ajanta caves are considered masterpieces of Buddhist architecture and contain living and
sleeping quarters, kitchens, monastic spaces, shrines, and stupas. Made of brick or excavated
from stone, the residences of monks are called viharas, while the cave shrines used for worship
are called chaitya grihas.

Similar to the Barabar caves, the Ajanta caves are situated close to main trade routes. A great
deal of decorative sculpture—intricately carved columns and reliefs, including cornices and
pilaster—are found here.

A notable trait of rock-cut architecture is the crafting of rock to imitate timbered and carved
wood. The Ajanta caves are home to some very early and well-preserved wall paintings that
decorate the walls and ceilings and date from the second century BCE.

Executed using tempera technique on smooth surfaces and prepared by the application of plaster,
the themes of the paintings are Buddhist and gracefully illustrate the major events of Buddha’s
life, the Jataka tales , and the various divinities of the Buddhist pantheon .

26
Ajanta Cave: A great deal of decorative sculptures—intricately carved columns and reliefs,
including cornices and pilaster—are found in the Ajanta caves.

The Ellora Caves

The Ellora caves were built between the fifth and tenth centuries. These caves are made up of
twelve Buddhist, seventeen Hindu, and five Jain rock-cut temples, excavated out of the
Charanandri hills.

The proximity of the temples that belong to different religions demonstrates the religious
harmony of the time. Similar to the Barabar and Ajanta caves, the Ellora caves contain many
frescoes, reliefs, and shrines, including carvings of the Buddha, bodhisattvas , and saints. In
many cases the stone is intricately carved to look like wood.

Ellora Cave: Similar to the Barabar and Ajanta caves, the Ellora caves contain many frescoes, reliefs, and shrines,
including carvings of the Buddha, bodhisattvas, and saints.

Buddhist Wall Paintings-Buddhist wall paintings can be traced back to the Gupta period
and are one of the dominant art forms of the early medieval period in India.

Describe the cave murals, rock-cut monasteries, and miniature paintings created during India’s
early Medieval period
 The period of Gupta rule is known as the Golden Age of India, as it was a time marked
by peace, prosperity, and the flourishing of the arts, as seen in the cave paintings at Ajanta.

27
  Medieval India was a time marked by the appearance of a multitude of states and
dynasties that were often in conflict with one another. The Islamic invasions began as
early as the 8th century, and by the early 12th century, almost all of northern India was
conquered.
 The dynasties of Medieval India were predominantly Hindu, though some were Jaina and
only a very few were Buddhist.
 Murals continued to flourish during the early medieval period, mainly in caves or rock-
cut temples and monasteries, such as the caves of Ellora, Bagh, and Sittanavasal.
 Miniature painting began in the early medieval period as illustrations on palm-leaf
manuscripts, painted on the leaves (about 2.25 by 3 inches) and wooden covers of Hindu,
Jaina, and Buddhist texts.

The Gupta Empire

The Gupta Empire was an ancient Indian empire that covered much of the Indian subcontinent
and was run by the Gupta Dynasty from approximately 320 to 550 CE. After the fall of the
Mauryan Empire in the 2nd century BCE, India remained divided in a number of disparate
kingdoms.

During the late 3rd century CE, the Gupta family gained control of the kingship of Magadha
(modern-day eastern India and Bengal). The period of Gupta rule is known as the Golden Age of
India, as it was a time marked by unprecedented prosperity and the flourishing of the arts and
sciences in India.

Art in the Gupta Empire

The rulers of the Gupta Empire were staunch supporters of the arts, science, literature, and
architecture. In addition to patronizing the art of the Hindu religion, which the majority of the
rulers subscribed to, the Guptas were known also for their support of Buddhist and Jain art and
culture . In particular, Gupta period Buddhist art was quite influential in most of East and
Southeast Asia.

The Ajanta caves are a Buddhist rock-cut structure dating from the 2nd century BCE to 600 CE
that contain wall paintings created during the Gupta period. The paintings depict the Jataka tales
and are considered to be masterpieces of Buddhist religious art . In addition, the Gupta Empire
supported the Buddhist Universities of Nalanda and Vikramasila.

28
Ajanta cave painting: An example of a painting from one of the Ajanta caves./
Ajanta cave painting: A wall painting from the Ajanta caves, painted during the Gupta dynasty, circa 6th
century CE.

Medieval India

The Gupta Empire quickly declined under the successors of Chandragupta II. In the year 480 CE,
the Huns—nomadic-pastoralist warriors from the Eurasian steppe—launched an invasion of
India, and by the year 500 CE, they overran the Gupta Empire. Though the Huns were eventually
driven out of India, the Gupta Empire would never recover.

The disintegration of the Gupta Empire towards the end of the 5th and 6th centuries triggered
what is known as the medieval period in India (c. 8th–13th centuries CE). This period was
marked by the appearance of a multitude of states and dynasties that were often in conflict with
one another.

The dynasties of Medieval India were predominantly Hindu, though some were Jain, and a very
few were Buddhist. The Islamic invasions of India began as early as the 8th century, and by the
early 12th century almost all of northern India was conquered.

The Hindu kingdoms of medieval India fell easily to the Islamic invaders, and soon the majority
of India was under varying degrees of Islamic control. The impact of Islam on Indian art was
initially quite destructive, but it eventually resulted in a synthesis of styles and the development
of new and important works of art.

29
Cave Murals

The Ellora caves consist of 34 rock-cut temples and monasteries belonging to the Buddhist,
Hindu, and Jaina faiths, built between the 5th and 10th centuries. The majority of the earlier
caves were Buddhist, while caves constructed in the 9th and 10th centuries were Hindu and Jain.

The caves contain many different elaborately carved rooms as well as figures of gods, stupas ,
and decorative work that are all carved in stone. Frescoes on the walls and ceilings of both the
Ajanta and Ellora caves are believed to date from the early medieval period, between the 8th and
10th centuries, and illustrate various Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain themes.

Sittanavasal

Sittanavasal dates from the 2nd century and is the most famous of the Jain rock-cut monasteries.
It contains remnants of beautiful frescoes believed to be from the 7th to 9th centuries. Again, the
themes of the frescoes are religious and generally employ a palette consisting of black, green,
yellow, orange, blue, and white.

In addition to wall murals, there are paintings on the ceiling of Sittanavasal from the 9th century
that depict elephants, buffalo, fish, geese, dancing girls, and lotus flowers. These frescoes, along
with those of the Ajanta caves and Bagh, are considered to be the high point of Medieval Indian
art.

A painting from Sittanavasal: Sittanavasal contains remnants of beautiful frescoes believed to

be from the 7th to 9th centuries.

Miniature Painting

Miniature painting is believed to have started in the eastern part of medieval India, as
exemplified by illustrations on palm-leaf religious manuscripts that are painted on the leaves and

30
wooden covers of the manuscripts. Some of the most common Buddhist illustrated manuscripts
include the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita, the Pancharaksa, the Karandavyuha, and the
Kalachakrayanatantra.

Detail of an illuminated manuscript: The detail on this piece of artwork was created circa 700–1100 CE.

Miniature painting is thought to have developed slightly later in western India, somewhere
between the 10th and 12th centuries, and it generally exists with Hindu and Jain texts.

Human figures are seen predominantly from a profile view, with large eyes, pointy noses, and
slim waists. The color palette often employs black, red, white, brown, blue, and yellow.

While it is believed that miniature painting came into existence during the medieval period, it
was to flourish extensively from the 16th to 19th centuries during the Mughal empire .

Greco-Buddhist Art

The art styles of Gandhāra and Mathura are noted for their distinctive style of Buddhist art
influenced by Greek culture.

 Gandhāra is the name of an ancient kingdom located in parts of modern-day northern

Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan that lasted from the early first millennium BCE to the
11th century CE.
 The Gandhāran art style flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from
the 1st to the 5th century. It declined and suffered destruction after the invasion of the
White Huns in the 5th century.
 Gandhāra is noted for its distinctive style of Buddhist art, which developed out of a
merger of Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Indian artistic influences. Gandhāran Buddhist
sculpture displays a Greek artistic influence that contributes to depictions of wavy hair,
drapery covering both shoulders, shoes, and sandals.

31
  Stucco was widely used by sculptors in Gandhāra for the decoration of monastic and cult
buildings; it provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity and enabled a high
degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture.
 Although based on a strong Indian tradition, the art of Mathura also incorporated
elements of the Hellenistic tradition, such as a general idealistic realism , and key design
elements, such as curly hair and folded garments.
 The Mathura and Gandhāra art styles strongly influenced each other, and it is still a
matter of debate whether the anthropomorphic representations of Buddha were essentially
a result of a local evolution of Buddhist art at Mathura or a consequence of Greek cultural
influence in Gandhāra.

Overview: Gandhāra and Mathura

In ancient art, anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha started to emerge from the 1st
century CE in Northern India. The two main centers of creation have been identified as Gandhāra
in today’s North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, and the region of Mathura in central
northern India.

Gandhāran Art-Introduction

Gandhāra is the name of an ancient kingdom located in parts of modern-day northern Pakistan
and eastern Afghanistan, mainly in the Peshawar Valley, the Pothohar Plateau, and the Kabul
River Valley. The Kingdom of Gandhāra lasted from the early first millennium BCE to the 11th
century CE.

The art style of the Kingdom flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from
the 1st to the 5th centuries; it then declined and suffered destruction after the invasion of the
White Huns in the 5th century.

Style

Gandhāra is noted for its distinctive style of Buddhist art, which developed out of a merger of
Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Indian artistic influences. This development began during the
Parthian Period (50 BCE–CE 75).

The art of Gandhāra benefited from centuries of interaction with Greek culture after the
conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE and the subsequent establishment of the Greco-
Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms, which led to the development of Greco-Buddhist art.

In Gandhāran art, the Buddha is often shown under the protection of the Greek god Herakles,
standing with his club (and later a diamond rod) resting over his arm. This unusual representation
of Herakles is the same as the one seen only on the back of of Demetrius’s coins, and it is
exclusively associated to him (and his son Euthydemus II).

32
Gandhāran Buddhist sculpture displays Greek artistic influence, and it has been suggested that
the concept of the man-god was essentially inspired by Greek mythological culture. Artistically,
the Gandhāran School of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both
shoulders, shoes, sandals, and acanthus leaf decorations.

Buddha Herakles: The Buddha and Vajrapani under the guise of Herakles.

Stone was widely used by sculptors in Gandhāra for the decoration of monastic and cult
buildings, and stucco provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity, enabling a high
degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture. Sculpting in stucco was popular wherever
Buddhism spread from Gandhāra: India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China.

Mathura Style-Introduction

Mathura is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The art of Mathura tends to be based
on a strong Indian tradition, exemplified by the anthropomorphic representation of divinities
such as the Yaksas, although in a style rather archaic compared to the later representations of the
Buddha.

The Mathuran school contributed to many new styles in art such as clothes of thin muslin that
only cover the left shoulder, the wheel on the palm, and the lotus seat.

33
Art of Mathura

The representations of the Buddha in Mathura are generally dated slightly later than those of
Gandhāra (although not without debate) and are also much less numerous. Mathura sculptures
incorporate many Hellenistic elements, such as a general idealistic realism, and key design
elements, such as curly hair and folded garments.

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. The art of Mathura also features frequent sexual imagery: female images with bare breasts
or nude below the waist, displaying labia and female genitalia, are common, making these
images more sexually explicit than those of earlier or later periods.

Relationship to Gandhāra Style

The Mathura and Gandhāra styles strongly influenced each other. During their artistic
florescence, the two regions were united politically under the Kushans, both being capitals of the
empire. It is still a matter of debate whether the anthropomorphic representations of Buddha
were essentially a result of a local evolution of Buddhist art at Mathura, or a consequence of
Greek cultural influence in Gandhāra through the Greco-Buddhist syncretism .

This iconic art was characterized from the start by a realistic idealism that combined realistic
human features, proportions, attitudes, and attributes, together with a sense of perfection and
serenity reaching to the divine. This expression of the Buddha as both man and God became the
iconographic canon for subsequent Buddhist art.

Influences and Legacy

Hindu art began to develop from the 1st to the 2nd century CE and found its first inspiration in
the Buddhist art of Mathura. It progressively incorporated a profusion of original Hindu stylistic
and symbolic elements, in contrast with the general balance and simplicity of Buddhist art.

The art of Mathura acquired progressively more Indian elements and reached a very high
sophistication during the Gupta Empire between the 4th and the 6th century CE. The art of the
Gupta Period is considered the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art.

Gandhara and Mathura Schools of Art

Both Gandhara and Mathura schools of art became well known as centers of Buddhist sculptures.
One of the main characteristics of this style of art was the anthropomorphic representation of
Buddha and Bodhisattvas, especially in its sculptural manifestations. In both Gandhara and
Mathura, human images of the Buddha began to appear at about the same time but can be
distinguished from one another. The Mathura images resemble Indian male fertility gods and
have shorter, curlier hair and lighter, more translucent robes. They also are not shown to be as
sensual as their Gandhara counterparts.

34
Gupta Buddha: A statue of Buddha from the Gupta Period, Musée Guimet, Paris./
Image 1. A Bodhisattva-Pakistan- second-third century-Gray schist-From Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck
Collection Mathura Buddha: The representations of the Buddha in Mathura are generally dated slightly later
than those of Gandhāra (although not without debate) and are also much less numerous.

The Gandhara school is different from the Mathura school because of the heavy influence of
Hellenistic features. The figures are clearly been inspired by Greek figures as they have similar
wavy hair texture and heavily pleated body-hugging garments. The Hellenistic ideal human form
was slender with visible muscles. The ideal body type to them was one of a Greek athlete who
was very fit. The heavily pleated garments on these bodies were inspired by Greek, Roman, and
Parthian dress styles.

35
The God Kumara-Pakistan-Second Century-Gray Schist.
A Divine Garland Bearer-Pakistan-Second Century-Gray Schist-William Randolph Hearst Collection

36
 CHAPTER 3
Greeks and their arts in India

‘India’ for our purposes includes modern Pakistan, all the Indus Valley up to the mountain
barrier before China, as well as much that is now east Afghanistan. Here we meet Buddhism, the
most conspicuous religion considered in this book, apart from the ‘classical’ where our interest
has been mainly iconographic.

Alexander had to face, and defeat, an Indian king, Poros, and there have been occasions already
to notice Indian connexions – as at Aï Khanoum, while even in the Bronze Age there had been
clear contacts between the Indus Valley civilizations and the Oxus, even with
Mesopotamia. After Alexander, the first major indications of Greek influence and presence
involve firstly the Mauryan dynasty (321–180 BC) and developing Buddhism, largely in the
north, and secondly the Sunga dynasty (185–75 BC), which succeeds the Mauryan, and
demonstrates a quite different character, mainly in north India itself (the Ganges Valley and
farther south). Thirdly we revert farther to the north, from the Mauryans on, notably in
Gandhara, with the continuing Greek presence, as at the city of Taxila, resulting in a strong
classical influence on Buddhist art which continued uninterrupted into centuries AD under the
Kushans.

The evidence will prove largely archaeological but here it is appropriate to discuss the few
literary sources.256 For our period there is little of historical importance in India, beyond the
record in the Milindapahna of the Greek King Menander’s discussions with the Buddhist sage
Nagasena. But there are several Greek sources, even apart from the historians whose interest was
largely in Alexander. In the early 3rd century BC Seleukos I sent to the court of Chandragupta,
whom we shall soon meet, the Greek Megasthenes, on the first of several missions, resulting in a
history (Indika) in four volumes. He spent most of his time in Pataliputra, far to the east, and
describes the country and its people as an ethnographer rather than a historian, with no little
interest in mythography and its connections with the Hellenic, notably Herakles (= Shiva) and
Dionysos (= Krishna or Indra). Of his text too little is preserved but he spent most of his time in
the east, quite far from areas most pervaded by Greeks and Greekness, though not altogether
immune to them, especially in architecture, as we shall see.

In the 1st century AD Apollonios of Tyana (in Cappadocia), a wandering philosopher/sage,

visited India and Taxila and spoke with their wise men, according to his biographer Philostratos
(two centuries later).258 India was always going to be a great resource for tales of the mysterious:
such as the giant Indian ants (really marmots) who dug for gold and might be related to the fossil
dragons of north India recorded by later Greeks. Later, the neo-Platonists and early Christians,
notably those from Syria and Alexandria, were to take an interest in the Brahmans and the
Buddha. But India had never been a total mystery to Greeks, from early classical times on.

In this chapter we shall also be addressing Buddhist art, mainly for the contribution made to it by
classicizing subjects and style – but it developed its own styles and narrative which owed less to
the west.

37
The Mauryans and Buddhism

Although the Mauryan dynasty had centred on the Ganges Valley, its rule and activity extended
well to the north, into Gandhara and areas permeated by Greeks. Its first king was well known to
the Greeks as Sandracotta (Chandragupta) – and according to Indian sources he had been assisted
to power by Greeks (‘Yavana’). Its third king Asoka (reigned 268–232 BC) converted to
Buddhism and this occasioned the creation of new monuments of architectural and sculptural
importance. The ‘stupas’ are a major source: domed structures meant to house relics of the
Buddha and surrounded by a walkway with monumental gates and steps lavishly adorned with
relief sculpture, highly colourful originally. We shall learn more about the Buddhist stupa shrines
with the Sunga dynasty, but Asoka especially celebrated his reign by the erection of single stone
pillars on which his edicts were inscribed, placed all across north India; his maxims, some hold,
were not without the influence of those of Greek origin, such as were displayed at Aï
Khanoum.262We have already noted his bilingual rock inscription at Kandahar. The pillars are
crowned by baluster capitals which may look somewhat Achaemenid (like Persian bases) but are
more probably a translation into stone of wooden pillars with cushion tops designed to support
tentage, and they are well endowed with varieties of Greek floral friezes. 263 But they are also
crowned by sculptures of a type without Indian precedent. A zebu bull is an eastern creature but
here (on the Rampurva pillar) carved realistically. The Sarnath pillar top (now the Indian
national symbol) is crowned by three seated lions whose semi-realism and box-like muzzles have
more Hellenistic/Persian about them than anything in preceding local art, and the relief animals
in panels beneath them are pure Greek in style, while the relief friezes of lotus and flame-
palmettes could hardly be more Hellenistic. It was perhaps these pillars that Strabo (3.5.6) or
Apollodoros found attributed to Dionysos or Herakles, and allegedly inscribed with their deeds.

Stone capital from Rampurva. A zebu bull; lotus and palmette on the plinth. 3rd cent. BC. The
Sunga dynasty

38
The Sunga dynasty (185–75 BC) was centred more in north India proper, along the Ganges
Valley and to the south, although it was essentially also the successor to the Mauryans. However,
the Greek elements of the Mauryan heritage in the arts are best pursued in the north, in
Gandhara, into centuries AD, and are considered below, while under the Sunga quite different
influences from the same quarter produced quite different results. These are more architectural in
content, while in sculpture they resemble most the Achaemenid response to Greek arts, by being
selective of motifs and patterns. In these respects they presage less the ‘Gandhara style’ than
does the record in the north.

The principal sites are major stupas at Sanchi and Bharhut, with a sculptural school also at
Mathura, and far to the east at Pataliputra, a site that has yielded important architectural
elements. We may recall that Indo-Greek kings, like Demetrios and perhaps Menander, were
bold enough to penetrate that far east with force of arms but to no significant effect that we can
detect.

Precedent styles of figure art in north India had been varied, more often in terracotta, often rather
fussily decorative and their treatment of the human, especially female, form had always
expressed that distinctive appreciation of the rotund, which was less evident in the hellenizing
arts though certainly not absent. Now it is expressed in new postures and compositions which are
broadly classical, with contrapposto and back views, and a new interest in free-standing figures.
On the stupas the small reliefs betray the west more in simple iconographic details, like the
flying figures with garlands, which are the eastern kin of classical Victories, or groups like a
frontal chariot of the sun god. For single monumental figures the influence is more selective and
strongly resembles the approach of Achaemenid sculptors some four centuries earlier,
introducing overlapping folds of dress on to what was otherwise foldless: in Greek terms almost
more archaic than classical. An exaggerated example of the motif appears on a figure from
Bharhut for what looks like an Indian rendering of a foreign figure with a long Asian sword. 266 It
seems more natural on a free-standing figure from Vidisa. On reliefs the hovering apsaras in
pairs, with flying dress, take the form of a Greek Nike/Victory, as seen in many an arch corner,
and as on our . In India too they may carry wreathes and the motif will have a very long history
in eastern Asia. Following this comes a more realistic treatment of the otherwise lush body forms
so familiar in Indian art for centuries to come, a manner which begins in Sanchi with figures
more voluptuous even than the Hellenistic, if sometimes less anatomically plausible (a trivial
point in the circumstances). The whole development of Sunga sculpture is best regarded as a
parallel rather than consecutive phenomenon to that of Gandhara.

39
 Relief of a warrior with long sword and archaizing classical dress, from Bharhut. 1st cent. BC. (Calcutta Museum.
After DCAA)/ In this relief from Bharhut, winged apsaras attend a stupa. 1st cent. BC. (Calcutta Museum.)

For architecture, Pataliputra offers a stone capital in the form of a Greek anta capital and with
Greek decoration – flame-palmettes, rosettes, tongues and bead-and-reel .The same form appears
elsewhere, better disguised. It all seems logically to follow on from what was becoming apparent
on the Mauryan columns. The early story that has Greek Saint (‘Doubting’) Thomas travel east
and build a palace for the Indo-Parthian King Gondophernes, may conceal more prosaic contacts
with Mediterranean practice that were encouraged by eastern kings. Monumentality was no
novelty for Indians. The Arthasastra of Kautilya of the late 4th century BC already prescribed
processional ways, colonnaded streets, arches, etc.

Bodh Gaya was where the Buddha received enlightenment and was to be well provided with
temples. The early one, from the Sunga period, has many classical features – the new styles of
folded drapery, and a variety of subjects for roundels including a mermaid, centaur and winged
elephant

Mathura was a Kushan capital and home to a vigorous sculptural school creating free-standing
figures and reliefs. The bucolic scenes, of drunkenness and wild dancing, are as redolent of their
Hellenistic ancestry as of much that we recognize readily in later Indian sculpture. The works are
in their way more monumental than what we shall see in Gandhara, but there is certainly a
connection.274 A perhaps indicates well enough the monumentality of the figure style and the
character of the subject matter. Wine is a constantly recurring theme in our story and this may be

40
as good a place as any to reflect upon it. In early days the Greek god Dionysos’ role was
portrayed as that of a world-conqueror who spread the word about the importance of wine, and
who found especial favour in India. Thus it was easy for a conqueror in the east like Alexander
to become assimilated to him. It was said that, in celebratory games which Alexander held for an
Indian philospher, Calanus, he included a contest in drinking unmixed wine, from the effects of
which all the contestants eventually died, including the victor (a Greek, Promachos). 276 We have
noted anecdotes relating to Greeks, wine and Alexander’s progress – on Nisa, Meros, etc. There
seems to have been at some level a real rapport in this respect at least between the Mediterranean
world and the Indian. Both Indian and Chinese sources praise the wines of the northwest, and, in
Gandharan times, those of Kapisa (Begram). Of all the Indian gods Siva has most to do with
Dionysos in behaviour but direct assimilation probably takes the matter too far: enough to
observe that Greek Dionysiac worship and practices found a ready echo in northwest India. And
there are other echoes of the Hellenistic world, as in the relief of an animal-eared man, naked,
with serpent legs A tympanum bears a centaur-like monster with lion forepart and wings a good
Hellenistic blend and here before a very Indian makara which will mate with the
Greek ketos. The isolated appearance of the Roman carnyx trumpet at Sanchi may be a relic of
Alexander’s Gaulish mercenaries.

 Anta capital of classical type from Pataliputra. 2nd cent. BC. (After BAI)/ 72 A centaur on a relief roundel from
Bodh Gaya. 2nd cent. BC. (After Coomaraswamy)

41
Relief from Mathura. 2nd cent. BC. (Delhi Museum)

Lintel relief: an animal-eared man with snake legs, from Mathura. 2nd cent. BC. (Mathura Museum.
Drawing, author)

42
 Tympanum from a doorway with two centauresses. From Mathura. 2nd cent. BC. (Boston, Museum of Fine
Arts)

Taxila and Gandhara

Chronologically we retrace here events already alluded to in discussion of the Greek record in
Asia, but the site at Taxila is the perfect introduction to any account of later Greek fortunes in the
east and their relationship to Buddhism and India, other than the earlier history of conflict,
largely with Macedonians. The early associations of Taxila and similar sites with India to the
south have also to be borne in mind.

The history of the city of Taxila far predates what we recognize as Buddhist art but its finds and
record are an essential introduction to it, and to what is recognized as Gandharan art. Its location
between the upper reaches of the Indus and Jhelum rivers set it at a crossroads of several major
routes, from northeastern India, from the west and Bactria, and from the steppe north. The
sprawling town included three city-sites, the Bhir Mound, which is the oldest, Sirkap where the
Greeks built, and Sirsukh, of the Kushan period. It was already a major city when Alexander
arrived and he is thought to have conversed with Brahmans there. On Bhir Mound was, no doubt,
the capital of Persia’s richest satrapy, the Indian, and it was from the Aramaic script of the
Persian Empire that Indian Kharoshti script was derived, as well as absorbing in time no little
from the Greek alphabet. Alexander spent time there, sacrificing and planning his progress
farther east. Only after the move of the Bactrian Indo-Greeks southward are there excavated
remains of Greek building – in what seems to be a deliberate bid to build a Greek city as
substantial as Aï Khanoum (recently abandoned) had been, but at a time when Taxila was still a
major Buddhist centre, having been established as such by Asoka himself in the mid-3rd century.
Of the Greeks moving south it was Demetrios, then Eukratides, who promoted Taxila as a Greek

43
capital for rather less than a century. King Menander was sufficiently acclimatized as to acquire
some reputation as a Buddhist scholar, and called himself soter (saviour) on his coins. In his
reign Greek rule probably reached its greatest extent. A successor, Antialkidas, is named by his
ambassador Heliodoros on a column he dedicated at Besnagar in honour of Vishnu, inscribed
‘Three are the steps to immortality which … followed lead to heaven: self-control, self-denial
and watchfulness’. The Greeks were clearly closely involved in the politics and ethos of
Buddhism and north India. On coinage this is revealed in the use of Kharoshti beside Greek and
even the appearance of square coins, an Indian preference, but now for Greek kings.

The site at Sirkap suited Greek taste – a large, fairly flat area with an isolated ‘acropolis’, and
defined by hills and streams. It was surrounded by a stone fortification wall some 3 miles (5 km)
in length, and must have been an almost ideal version of those ‘walled cities’ in which the
Greeks were said to live in Asia, even more so than Aï Khanoum. It had a broad Main Street
running north–south for three-quarters of a mile (over a kilometre), to beside a major fortified
gateway in the north, its Greek buildings replacing what amounted to a small suburb of the
earlier non-Greek occupancy of the Bhir Mound. Later occupation has somewhat obscured
details of the buildings of the Greek period but it is clear that they followed the expected pattern
– symmetrical insulae of houses designed in the usual Greek manner with rooms set around an
open courtyard. But the plans become less regular with time and the approach of the new
Scythian/Parthian settlement, since the city was not abandoned once the Greeks had moved on.
Not surprisingly, the Buddhist areas of Sirkap reveal much that is classical – a stupa whose body
is simply a large Corinthian capital and another where it is covered by an enormous acanthus leaf

Some 700 yards (650 m) north of the Sirkap city gate (at Jandial) lie the foundations of a temple
of broadly Greek type, but it lacks the usual peripteral columns and instead has thick walls
pierced by many windows. But there are the expected pairs of Ionic columns at the entrance [78]
and, just within, at the door to the main oikos, it is divided into the expected pronaos and naos,
behind which the mass of masonry suggests some towering superstructure, which is very difficult
to envisage on an otherwise Greek building. The columns are well constructed, canonical Ionic
but not fluted, the walls mainly coursed rubble, the upperworks no doubt wooden. The plan
suggests a somewhat different sort of compromise with local practice from that of the temple
with niches at Aï Khanoum. Philostratos, writing about Apollonios of Tyana who visited India in
the 1st century AD (see below), tells of a 100-ft (30-m) temple before the wall at Taxila, of shell-
like stone (so, calcareous limestone or stuccoed?), with a small sanctuary and containing plaques
illustrating the deeds of Alexander and the Indian King Poros. It is not wholly clear whether this
is the Jandial temple. But the probability is that the building as we know it does not belong to the
Greek period at Taxila but to a slightly later one, when Scythian/Saka or Parthian influence was
strong, and that this may even be the source of its ‘Greek’ features. As we have seen, in the 3rd
century AD Saint Thomas supposedly built a palace there for an Indo-Parthian king, when also
Apollonios visited the city and saw (he alleged) the altars to the Twelve Gods set up by
Alexander on the River Beas.288

44
76 Model stupa at Taxila with a Corinthian capital supporting the dome. 2nd century BC (?).
(After Taxila)

45
 Model stupa decorated with classical acanthus leaves, from Taxila. 2nd century BC (?). (After Taxila)//78 Ionic
column capital and base from the Jandial Temple, Taxila. 1st century AD (After Taxila)

Among other sites of the region Charsada (Pushkalavati) should be mentioned as a mini-Taxila,
yielding some rather less distinguished classicizing sculpture, but also a sealing from a gem with
a classical Athena.

The end of Greek rule at Taxila, or at least the end of the dominance of the Taxila site, comes
with the spread of Parthian rule to the east, followed by the arrival of nomads from the north,
part of the general southwards movement generated by the Yuehzhi, but in this case involving
the Saka (Scythians). Yet their first king there in the mid-1st century BC, Maues, mints coins of
Greek type on which he calls himself basileus in Greek and maharaja in Indian Kharoshti, and it
is clear that the culture of Taxila long remained dominated by, first, its occupancy before the
Greeks by Asokan Buddhism, and then by the Greeks themselves. The Saka penetrated far into
north India, before being replaced by the Parthians (Pahlavas). Maues was followed by the Saka
dynasty of Azes, which ruled in the Indus Valley and Punjab down to AD 30. Of nomad peoples
only the Yuehzhi seemed capable of developing a strong non-nomad society, even empire.
Throughout this period Greekness was everywhere apparent, the language was spoken and
written, the arts understood and practised, by Greeks and others.

The story, in the terms in which we are telling it, is demonstrated by the finds, and we can start
from Taxila. Greek ‘classical’ style on objects of Greek type is the least common phenomenon,
except on coinage, which has required separate treatment here in terms of both art and of Greek
presence. What we find more often is Greek style and subjects translated in various degrees for
objects or purposes not essentially Greek at all, not merely imitative of what might be regarded
as imported goods but rather inspired by a contemporary and Greek view of what the customer
required and understood. ‘Gandhara’ and its arts loom large enough here for the locality to give

46
its name to many of the relevant arts and artifacts. One word of caution. The overall appearance
of Gandharan stone sculptures is determined by the material, usually a relatively soft sandstone
of a reddish-brown aspect – frankly dull. We must remember that many if not all were gilt, of
which there are clear traces on numerous specimens, and there must have been much other
colour as well. As with ‘classical’ art our eyes and so our judgment are easily misled by the
monochrome appearance of works which originally were bright with colour and gold.

Stone palettes

A prime example of this lack of original decoration, and perhaps the earliest Gandharan
manifestation of it, is provided by the little stone palettes, well represented at Taxila and on
many other sites, and a common feature of museum collections worldwide. Trivial objects they
may be, but they are worth some detailed attention here since they best demonstrate the range of
Hellenistic figure devices copied in the east and the way they were adjusted, or not, for a
different climate and religion. They are like small saucers with a decorative border and usually a
plain underside. The shallow bowl is decorated with figures in relief, commonly over an open
area below, which may feature a Greek palmette or eastern lotus, and in time the figures are set
in smaller segments of the circle. We might assume that the cavities could serve as a repository
for oil or unguents, a view reinforced by the minority which also admit separate small
compartments. There is even a possible picture of their use, man to woman. But their decoration
does not reflect their use at all, and they are in this respect more like decorative miniature phialai
with classical subjects in the tondos. They are made of relatively soft stone – steatite and schist –
but the best are carefully turned to give a regular section. The general type was known in
Ptolemaic Egypt, with relief busts of gods as decoration, and in Anatolia, while versions are met
farther east, although nowhere as plentiful as in Gandhara. It is not clear whether the western
examples start at all or much earlier than the Gandharan, but this hardly means that they were
invented in the east. It is quite likely that their original practical function, no doubt for cosmetics,
was forgotten in favour of their appeal as small decorative objects, which is all they are,
especially if we think away the dull stony surface and add the gilding which is still apparent on a
few, and colour. We may think also of the many plaster-cast medallions found at Begram, taken
from Greek metalware, highly decorative and apparently prized for themselves (see below). It is
not an uncommon phenomenon in ancient art that the practical soon becomes purely decorative.

The earliest palettes roughly correspond with the foundation of Greek Taxila. There are none at
Aï Khanoum, where there are bigger compartmented bowls which might have contributed to the
development of the palette types.292 The palettes were still being made in the 1st centuries AD,
parallel with early Gandharan sculpture and serving the same market. A very Greek series,
carefully made and ‘turned’ in the soft schist, is followed by others in which more Parthian traits
can be discerned, then Indian, but with Greek subjects and style still clearly apparent. The whole
series was very carefully analyzed by Henri-Paul Francfort in 1979 but many more have since
become known, not seriously affecting his views but adding a great deal to the iconographic
record,294 rich enough for us to dwell upon.

We look at the purely Greek subjects first, and will find them treated in a manner not always
closely paralleled in the west, but often demonstrating close knowledge of the appropriate
iconography, and in a style that only slightly betrays its distance from the homeland. Thus, one

47
shows in a single scene two successive episodes in the Artemis/Actaeon story. At the left and
above, the naked bathing goddess is being spied on by the hunter; at the right she (now dressed)
supervises his punishment of being torn by his dogs. Another carries an expressive and welcome
Dionysiac scene. At the top centre the god sits beside a largely naked Ariadne who plies him
with wine; a woman harpist and a piping satyr are at the left, another satyr at the right. Below to
the right two men are treading grapes in a vat while a third attends with a jug, and at the left two
look to a wine crater, one of them tasting the brew; below them two drunkards sleep. There could
be no more evocative demonstration of the power of Dionysos and his role in the east, expressed
in a purely Greek idiom, though as a whole composition not to be closely paralleled at home. Yet
more evocative of both east and west is a palette with a sacrifice scene including a Dionysos-like
figure at an altar attended by a Greek Tyche (Fortuna = Hariti in India), an Indian girl with an
eastern horn cup, a boy with a goat, and another pouring wine

 Stone palette showing Actaeon spying on Artemis and being punished. 1st cent. BC (?). (London, British
Museum 1936.12-23)/ Stone palette showing a Dionysiac assembly. 1st cent. BC. (Delhi Museum 200/1932-3.
After Francfort)

Some simpler groups are apparently Greek mythological. A man assaulting a woman between
trees is quite likely to be Apollo with Daphne, who will take refuge by turning into a tree He is
dressed as a Greek and has short curly hair. A man wearing a mantle and a pointed cap
approaching a naked kneeling or seated girl in a rocky setting might be related (two examples) if
the girl is a Daphne exhausted from being chased, but the man’s dress seems distinctive of
someone else (but whom?). A burly satyr with a naked nymph is almost traditional in Greek
terms. In ill.  an Indian Aphrodite is attended by Eros, it seems; he holds a bow and a stick (a
club? – so Herakles?). Two horsemen could well be the Dioskouroi, known in the east, but might
be generic; they seem naked and could pass as Greek. Another horseman draws his bow at a
rampant lion and is accompanied by a dog. He seems an easterner, with tunic and trousers, but
the scene is familiar west to east in this period. Aphrodite chastising Eros is a familiar although
rare western motif.304 More obvious is a Europa on a Zeus-bull, holding a thunderbolt.

48
 Stone palette showing a sacrifice scene for Dionysos. 1st cent. BC. (Private coll.)/82 Stone palette: Apollo attacking
Daphne. 1st cent. BC. (New York, Metropolitan Museum 1987.142.108. W. 10 cm)

 Stone palette: Aphrodite and Eros. 1st cent. BC. (Peshawar Museum. After Francfort. W. 12.6
cm)

49
Stone palette: Aphrodite chastises Eros; from Narai. 1st cent. BC. (London, British Museum
1973.6-18. W. 12 cm)

 Stone palette: Herakles and Auge. 1st cent. BC. (London, Victoria & Albert Museum IS1218)
Stone palette: the death of Attis (?). From Taxila. 1st cent. BC. (Kansas City. Nelson Gallery. W.
12 .

We have seen, and shall see again, that Herakles had a good career in the east. On the palette in
ill.  it looks like him at the right, cowering beside his bow, and then the attendant woman might
be Auge, not too unlike western renderings. He figures also as a drunkard supported by two
women and attended by a lion. And similarly, busts only, on a fragmentary rectangular
palette.308 The scene in ill.  would pose questions of identification wherever found. A near-naked
youth lies prostrate, perhaps dead, over the body of a boar and being attended by satyrs – perhaps
he is Meleager but his undress suggests Attis, the emasculated consort of Kybele, famously
killed by a boar. A snake-legged giant wielding boulders is directly in the tradition of the Great
Altar at Pergamum, but has a female version too. A Poseidon with trident appears attended by
women, and there is even Eros riding a swan.

Some subjects seem certainly of Greek inspiration but defy closer identity. The figure in ill. 
should be Herakles since his quiver, club (below) and lionskin (head seen from above at the
right) would make this so. But he is unexpectedly, and very oddly, dressed, perhaps even
wearing a pointed cap like that worn by the countryside aggressor already noted. The victim
looks queenly and might be Omphale, but she was attacked in her palace not a woodland. One
wonders whether the creator had an easy explanation – he is master of a style, part Greek (the
man’s head), part eastern, of a type not easily paralleled.

50
 Stone palette: a giant. 1st cent. BC (Private, Colmar. After Francfort. W. 10 cm)/// Stone palette:
Herakles and Omphale? 1st cent. BC. (Bull Collection. After Francfort)

Greek subjects especially adjusted to local interests form a larger class. Of these the most notable
is the ketos sea monster, which was invented in Greece in the 5th century BC. There it had a long
fishy body, two flippers or forelegs (more or less feline), a head with a long muzzle, tall ears, a
louring forehead, and was in due course given the option of horns and a beard. The body can
boast seaweed or acanthus-like frills. We have met one already on a probably
Bactrian phalera and it proves to have a distinguished history elsewhere as well as on our current
concern, the palettes. It, and its Nereid companion, are common subjects for the tondi of
Hellenistic plate (for example, a group found in South Russia, neighbouring Central Asia). 315 In
Greece the ketos often serves as the mount for a Nereid who may carry new armour for Achilles
or a cup. She may appear dressed, rather formal, or near-naked, often sprawled on the beast as
commonly in later Hellenistic art. Both types appear in the east, as well as other riders. Most like
the Nereid is a woman in Greek dress, usually holding a cup like a phiale She once seems to feed
the monster from the phiale, which is something a Nereid might do. On others there are two
groups. But the other more exotic naked nymphs also appear, generally showing their backs and
dressed only with the crossed ribbons derived from Hellenistic Greek jewelry and much favoured
in Gandharan/Indian art. There are fine statuettes of such (un)dressed figures from Taxila, as
well as many reliefs which we shall come to shortly, and one palette has the bare lady, back to
us, seated beside two musicians, one of whom leans on a Greek lyre. 318 But first the ketea. On
other palettes the girl is clambering on to the beast from the side, as in – a very imaginative pose,
and on a piece where the gilding has been comparatively well preserved; on another she is
comfortably settled But both are attended by an Eros, showing that the measure of Greek identity
has not been forgotten. The nude back view could easily have beensuggested by the common
Greek motif of a naked Nereid, seen from the back, clambering on to or clutching the side of a
hippocamp. One variant palette has her alone on a hippocamp, not a ketos, and on others
the ketos has acquired a bull’s head, or a winged lion forepart, or a panther’s head with the girl
holding a snake (or dress?). On one she is accompanied by a real Triton What is most remarkable
here is that the Triton, who seems almost to carry her, is holding a dolphin on his arm, a motif
we have already met in ill. and one with possible associations with the River Oxus. Once the
Nereid is winged, and on one fragment she formed part of a groupThe popularity of the motif on
the palettes is difficult to fathom, unless, for the more formal one, a local identity had been
devised (like the Triton/Oxus); the nakedness of the others is in keeping with much from north

51
India of this date, such as the ivories from Begram and a number of somewhat bucolic reliefs We
shall see that the ketositself will find its kin in the Indian makara.

89 Stone palette: a Nereid on a ketos. (Alsdorf Collection. After Czuma 1985)90 Stone palette: a Nereid
mounting a ketos, greeted by Cupid. From Taxila. 1st cent. BC. (Taxila Museum 175/1932-3. After Francfort.
W. 8 cm)/91 Stone palette: a two-tailed Triton holding a dolphin embraces a naked Nereid. 1st cent. BC. (New
York, Metropolitan Museum 1987.142.4. W. 11.43 cm)

There are later ‘Parthian’ palettes, still very Greek in spirit and many retaining Greek subjects,
where the Nereid may be replaced by Eros or a youth, and once there are two youths
on ketea holding cups or where the monster’s head has become leonine and lost its special ketoid
character. A more typical subject for the ‘Parthian’ is a drinking couple, such as is found on
other Parthian works (buckles, etc.), with the remote possibility of being an echo of paired
Dionysos and Ariadne, as of much the same date.

The whole class starts with an iconography of pure Greek inspiration, deriving immediately from
Indo-Greek Bactria and sometimes quite novel. It comes to accept more and more the subjects
and even the style of later rulers in Gandhara – Parthians, Indians. It gives a vivid demonstration
of the ease with which Greek subjects could be copied, adapted and acclimatized in non-Greek
environments, and apparently become accepted as ‘native’.

It is tempting to associate with the palette form some roundels in silver with Greek ovolo
borders, figuring a goddess with a child on her lap on a bird-topped throne but in a more ‘Indian’
style of the early years AD– she is the local version of a mother-goddess type whose general
appearance and history ranges from the Mediterranean to the China Seas.

Gems and seals

Tantalizingly, much of what we might reasonably regard as Greek production in the Gandhara
area has no excavated context. This is commonly the case with seal stones, yet they are an
important source of evidence for the diffusion of types. We have already considered the ‘Greco-
Persian gems’ of the period of Persian domination. The type did not die with the Persian Empire,
and although new ‘Hellenistic’ styles soon found their way east, there was a very strong survival
of the Greco-Persian, in what I have called the Bern Group. These retain the scaraboid shape,
rarely the tabloid, and their style tends to exaggerate the bulbous carving (a globolo) of some of
the earlier series. Subjects include fewer with human figures although there are glimpses still of
52
the Macedonian. One has a pure Greco-Persian cavalry duel .The Persian seated ladies persist,
but there are also a few seals with scenes of sexual activity that seem almost a Greek comment
on superficial Persian respectability. Most subjects are animal and they soon begin to include
types such as the eastern zebu bull .There are also finger rings in the style, commonly with the
seated-lady motif. They are well diffused in the east, even to Ceylon (Sri Lanka), but it is hard to
tell just how late they might run. Some are certainly contemporary with the Taxilan (see below),
and their immediate successors, so they seem to represent a quite vigorous production which
chose to cling still to old Greco-Persian manners rather than the new Hellenistic. And they are
not confined to the east of the old empire. Far to the west there is a cylinder showing Celtic
mercenary troops and inscribed in Aramaic.

Impressions of seals: a jasper scaraboid from Ephesus showing a Persian horseman attacking a Greek, and a
chalcedony scaraboid showing a zebu bull. 2nd/1st cent. BC. (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum 1892.1596. W. 27 mm;
St Petersburg, Hermitage Museum. W. 15 mm.)

The more elaborate and heavy Hellenistic finger rings were also being produced with subjects of
mixed origin and style. One gold ring, still of the old oval shape, carries a dressed woman with a
wreath and a version of a satyr holding grapes, a slightly distorted rendition of a purely Greek
subject. Some are all-metal like one with seated and standing figures that seem broadly Greek in
style but Indian in subject Others have elaborately decorated hoops with relief figures, such as
one where the sides of the hoop bear low-relief groups of the big Garuda bird carrying a figure, a
scene which might derive from the Greek group of Zeus’ eagle carrying Ganymede. In this case
the bezel features a stone intaglio with a countrified version of a Greek Aphrodite and a half-
finished figure (?), such as was a frequent subject for these eastern stones well into centuries AD
and to as far away as Ceylon.

53
Silver finger ring: a woman offers a jug to another, seated. Inscribed in Kharoshti (Eilenberg Coll., Metropolitan
Museum. H. 29 mm.)// Three seals from Taxila featuring stags, two attacked by lions. 2nd/1st cent. BC.
(After GGFR)

But there is more of better Greek, but eastern pedigree. The most notable example is a brilliant
portrait of Alexander proclaimed as of eastern manufacture both by its very rare material
(elbaite, a variety of tourmaline) and the presence of a tiny inscription in the Indian Kharoshti
script at the neckline A sardonyx bought in Peshawar has a Hellenistic Aphrodite and is
inscribed ‘of Diodoros’. A seal-engraver at Taxila left three specimens of his work which relate
to the Greco-Roman in style and subject but not material At Tillya Tepe (1st century AD) there
are classical subjects worked in turquoise, the local material (notably from Chorasmia), as well
as gold finger rings, with Athenas and inscribed in a rather provincial Greek script. A turquoise
cameo of Herakles’ head (probably copied from a coin) combines the new local material with the
new hero for the east The head of his lover Omphale wearing his lionskin cap appears on a
cameo from Akra, Pakistan From the same regions is a fine intaglio with a plump indianized
Tyche Later comes a fine frontal Buddha head in a ruby-like corundum.

96 Turquoise cameo head of Herakles. 2nd cent. BC. (Missouri University)

54
97 Intaglio impression from northwest Pakistan showing Tyche, with cornucopia. 2nd cent. BC.
(Victoria & Albert Museum 14.1948.408A. Photo, author)

Given the Greek penchant for seal-engraving with figures and small groups, rather than the more
hieratic styles of Mesopotamia, we should not be surprised that the genre was well received in
Gandhara and north India. The Greco-Persian style dies hard, often embellished with the
Indian/oriental swastika or taurine (bull-head) sign. There is a plethora of classical subjects in
shapes of classical type in our area, serving, it seems, both Indo-Greeks and Indians, who
modestly adjust the style for sometimes more flamboyant figuresMany intaglios, notably in
glass, present local renderings of the most popular classical subjects – such as Herakles and the
Lion, Pegasus, or Nike. A seal impression in Oxford bears a long Kushan inscription, dating it to
the 2nd/3rd century AD, and bears an unmistakable Herakles fighting one of the horses of
Diomedes, in the familiar Greek group and in a broadly classical style Among the intaglios we
are as likely to find a Greek Pegasus as an Indian zebu bull, and, as in sculpture, a Hariti
masquerading as a Greco-Roman Tyche/Fortuna. The classical subjects are only slightly
adjusted, even those also bearing a Kharoshti inscription; we have, for example, a chalcedony
with an enthroned Tyche/Hariti with cornucopia attended by an Eros-like child There are no few
collections of such seals and sealings betraying a mixture of Greek, Greco-Persian and simply
Indian styles and choices of subject.

98 Seal impression. Herakles with one of the horses of Diomedes. 1st cent. AD. (Oxford, Ashmolean
Museum AN 1953.131)99 Chalcedony seal impression showing Tyche/Hariti with a child. 1st cent. AD
(After Callieri. Drawing, author)// 100 Gold statuette of Aphrodite and Eros, from Gandhara. 1st cent.
BC/AD. (London, British Museum 1962.11-12.1. H. 3.8 mm)

55
Jewelry

Jewelry was no less affected by Greek types, it seems. Bactrian-Greek arts included the
jeweller’s, and many basic types recur or are copied. There are gold spiral bracelets of Greek
type, tipped with the head of a snake, sea monster (ketos) or crocodile, and others with the Greek
artist’s signature and a Greek weight record.

There is considerable similarity west and east, sometimes in details such as earrings – Erotes as
earrings had a long currency east of the Mediterranean, as in Parthian Nimrud 353 – and there is
more than a superficial similarity between the undress of Greek figures and the Gandhara ladies
seated at a drinking party as well as the nymphs we have seen clambering on to sea monsters on
palettes. The near-nude look for women came naturally in a climate such as that of north India
and with the importance of fertility goddesses, just as it did in Greece where wealthy women
were would-be Aphrodites, and, at least for the courtesan market, dress of hardly more than
chains of gold linking ornate buckles, pectorals and the like, clearly occupied the time and
invention of goldsmiths. This elegant style of undress seems well represented especially in
western Asia Minor but is common to the whole Hellenistic world and very closely copied in the
undress afforded women at Sanchi, on Begram ivories and on palettes.

One purely Indian jewelry type is the necklet with matching terminals centre front, with some
central jewel or other decoration. (also ill. 1) seems to be one such, a little winged figure, rather
like a sphinx, wearing body jewelry of Greek/Indian type. But this is a reading sphinx, such as
Oedipus encountered, and on the scroll she holds we read, in Greek letters – ΘEA – ‘goddess’ –
an Indian devi. She is related to gold earrings found in the east, local versions of the
Hellenistic.354 In a similar position on a Gandhara Bodhisattva appear the familiar ketos heads,
while a classical bust, perhaps Herakles, sits at the centre of the same figure’s collar. Commoner
are small figures or groups of classical subjects in gold, barely if at all adjusted for the east: at
Taxila, a boy and girl group that recall Eros and Psyche, and later at Tillya Tepe the Aphrodite
sporting wings and an Asian caste mark on her forehead and another with butterfly wings (as
worn by Psyche in the west) and holding an Eros. A more completely in-the-round gold
Aphrodite has Eros clambering up her leg. A naked, dancing, kissing couple accompanied by
Eros are wholly Hellenistic, in relief on a blue glass roundel.

Plate

A notable feature of finds of silver plate in the east has been the number of late Hellenistic
drinking vessels with elaborate figure decoration and a rich repertoire of classical subjects – and
we may bear in mind also the casts of such material found at Begram in later years (see below).
The common shape, kantharoid, has its effect too. One in a hoard has a fine Dionysiac and
theatrical worship scene and from the same hoard are cups with centaurs, an old
Heraklean/Dionysiac lyre-player seated on a lion, the rending of Pentheus by three maenads, a
party of Erotes and rustic scenes. Cups with horizontal fluting recall the Persian. Greek, Persian,
Scythian and Indian names appear on them, and weights are given in various standards, Greek to
Indian. These give an important clue to one of the sources of unusual and up-to-date Hellenistic
motifs to inspire Greek and local artists.

56
101 The decoration on a silver cup showing a scene of the worship of Dionysos. 1st cent. BC.
(Kreitman Collection. After Crossroads. Drawing, Marion Cox)

 Painted glass model of the Lighthouse (Pharos) at Alexandria, from Begram. (Kabul Museum. H. 16.8
cm)/102 Silver cup from Buddhigharra featuring a drinking scene. 2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum
OA 1937.3-19.1. Diam. 25.1 cm)

A phiale (western shape) from Buddhigharra (Punjab) offers what amounts to an Indian
Dionysos and Ariadne drinking in a vineyard, and with the wavy fluting we see on western plate.
The style of the figures is in marked contrast with that in ill. , which is pure Greek.

The ordinary pottery of the Kushan world owes much to the tradition of Greco-Bactrian. 363 To
the north, it is remarkable how, even earlier, Greek potters in the east seem to have kept in step
with developments in the west, even in the common wares.

Begram

57
Before looking more closely at the ‘Gandhara style’, there is a site which is as important as
Taxila and which illustrates the distant connections of the area over much the same period, the
1st to 3rd centuries AD. It is Begram, a palace site in which two rooms were found walled up
and full of objects that seem to present a good cross section of the trading interests of Gandhara
in this period. A few are purely western of the early Roman period. More revealing are eastern
works that betray strongly the effect of Greek arts. The many ivory reliefs from furniture are
broadly in the style of the Sunga stupas and their successors in north India. A splendid ivory
plaque with incised figures of Indian women, largely naked, is bordered by a pattern of rinceaux
with birds which is purely Hellenistic, while at the corners are compositions of combined animal
heads just like the so-called grylli of contemporary western gem-engraving and some of the
whole figures of women copy western subjects more closely – one wringing her wet hair like any
Aphrodite.368 Free-standing ivory figures of women manage to combine western drapery
conventions with a marked degree of the Indian voluptuous treatment of the female form, and
broadly resemble a figure found in Pompeii, which is far stiffer in its pose.

 Ivory plaque from Begram depicting women at leisure, with a floral border. 2nd cent. AD.
(Kabul Museum)

58
An unusual group of objects in the rooms is of plaster casts made from metal vases and figurines,
displaying a very good range of relief figure styles of late Hellenistic type and of western
origin. It is not easy to understand their purpose but the practice of making casts from important
relief plate seems widespread and was remarked by Pliny (Nat. Hist. 33. 157, apropos of pieces
too valuable to cast in metal). They might have served as models for local metal-smiths but what
we can distinguish of such work obviously made in the east is never quite so ambitious.
Moreover, it would not explain why, among the relief casts, there is a cast of a life-size human
foot. It is more as though a set of casts in use by some western artist had been carried east as
curious works of art, or simply for their potential as decoration. A very few similar casts have
been found elsewhere in the east. We should probably not overvalue them as evidence for
sources of classicism in the east.

Otherwise Begram offers a fine range of good early Roman (or Alexandrian) glass, much of it
painted and one piece showing in relief the Pharos (Lighthouse of Alexandria) which may be a
clue to the source of much of the rest; and there are small western bust bronzes for perfume, even
a Roman type of folding chair (curule) on which a later Kushan king may be shown seated.

Greek and/or Roman – a memo

Inevitably, for our western comparanda, we turn to the Roman world, which by now
encompassed all of Greece and much of the Near East. For Mesopotamia and parts of Persia the
most impressive monuments are the great cities modelled on a Roman imperial style with
triumphal arches, massive forums and temples and colonnaded streets. But we might remember
that this is an area which had been used to monumental architecture from long before Rome was
founded, and, even given that ‘classical’ architecture began with Greece, that this is no good
reason to associate Greeks especially with the new building. Moreover, closer inspection reveals
how much of the east is still expressed in both the detail and use of the buildings. A temple of
Jupiter is also one of Baal, and often it is local religious practice rather than anything specifically
Roman (let alone Greek) that determined the layout, use and fortunes of such buildings.

Beyond Persia it is a different matter. Real Greek presence is obvious, and for the most part what
we observe copies most closely the work of those parts of the eastern Roman Empire which were
still Greek in language and tradition – more of Alexandria and Aphrodisias than of Italy, and
stylistically there is a certain divide still between east and west in the arts of the Mediterranean.
Contrast the effects of Roman metropolitan (in Italy) art in Roman Britain or Gaul. In Asia
Minor particularly the Romans were very active in the early centuries AD and on non-military
matters. Great new temples and civic structures were built, especially under Hadrian, who
himself visited Asia Minor twice. This activity certainly may have involved some degree of
Roman presence, tempered by a Greek population with skills in architecture. But it was the
Hellenistic tradition which survived and was influential to the east, where Hadrian’s successors
were more preoccupied with Parthia. Intellectually the Greeks of Asia Minor were if anything
more ambitious than the scholars of their homeland – philosophers (Dio Chrysostom, Epictetus),
historians (Strabo, Pausanias, Arrian), doctors (Galen), all born in Asia Minor. On the ground,
Latin inscriptions are very rare indeed.

59
When it comes to details in the representational arts, early Roman art certainly developed the
notion of continuous narrative, the same figure appearing in successive scenes, a style which the
physical disposition of Greek art seldom encouraged except on some series of temple metopes. It
well suited series of narrative scenes of the life of the Buddha, but these are generally more
naively composed. There is certainly some reason to look for direct inspiration from the arts of
imperial Rome even beyond what was developed in the Greek world, although there is little if
any evidence of such ‘Roman’ transmission so far to the east. In fact Indian types of narrative art
can be even more sophisticated than the Roman. In matters of dress the distinctive style of
wearing the Roman toga is not adopted rather than variations of the usual Hellenistic Greek
himation.

In general there is a great deal ‘classical’ of the early centuries AD in the east which, in
Mediterranean terms, one could judge as much graecized Roman as Greek – notably the many
bronze statuettes of gods. However, the overwhelmingly Greek character of all the coinage of
this period, and well into the centuries AD, and the absence of Roman coins or Latin, speaks
decisively for the principal source of classicism in the area beyond Persia.

Yet Augustan art in particular is picked out by some scholars as the inspiration for Gandharan
arts. In its way it exemplifies what Greek artists brought to Rome, to be developed for quite
different purposes. Almost all the artists’ names on monumental art of the period in Italy are
Greek and what they brought west was practised still at home in developing Hellenistic/Roman
styles. It would not be easy to say of any Gandharan motif that there was more of Rome than
Greece in it, nor does it much matter, and Roman motifs, such as the wolf with Romulus and
Remus, were current throughout the Roman Empire. The immediate access to the east was via
Egypt and Greek lands, where the Roman too could promote Greek arts at a high level (for
example, the emperor Hadrian) rather than overland through Mesopotamia and Persia. But even
allowing for the strong Greek tradition in architecture there are certainly some signs of
knowledge of Roman architectural practice.

For India a new route was opened through the Red Sea and across to the Indian Ocean (which the
Greeks called the Red Sea), by open sea rather than along the Persian Gulf, aiming for Barygaza
(Bharuch). Its starting point was among the ‘Greek Egyptians’ of Alexandria, and it moved a
Greek to write a sailor’s guide to the Ocean – in Greek. 381 This will have stimulated further trade
from India, notably in precious stones, which suddenly become more varied in their range in the
Mediterranean world. Some Roman pottery and coins arrive in the east too, but most
conspicuously in the south (including Ceylon) rather than the north, where connections seem
mainly with the east Roman/Greek world. Pliny says that India received at least five million
silver sesterces annually, selling back at a hundredfold profit. 382 Alexandria (which the writer
Lawrence Durrell called ‘the capital of Asiatic Europe’), remained a key factor in all this
commerce, and a 2nd-century AD papyrus deals with loans made there to finance trade with the
Ganges Valley – spices, ivory, textiles. 383 And the Greco-Egyptian link is nicely illustrated by a
classical bronze 1st-century BC/AD figure of Harpocrates, found at Taxila

The story of the Greek Eudoxos is illuminating (Strabo 2.3.4), whether or not, as alleged, he ever
circumnavigated Africa. He worked in Egypt for the Ptolemaic court (which also robbed him of
precious stones and spices) on the India run, and his cargoes out included craftsmen, dancing

60
girls and doctors. The Indians called their Greek (and probably any western) visitors Yavanas
(Yona, Yonaka) using a version of the old term (Yauna) employed first for them by the
Assyrians in Syria a millennium before. The evidence for trade links in the early centuries AD is
strong, with envoys passing west and east to 1st-and 2nd-century Roman emperors. 386 But Greek,
not Latin, scripts are in use, notably by the Kushans, and one of the earliest Kushan coins
showing the Buddha as a figure (and in the Greek manner) rather than a symbol, names him in
Greek letters, BODDO Strangely, the Greek alphabet continued in occasional use for non-Greek
languages; it (and Aramaic, which had largely disappeared) may have seemed in its way more
easy to use and understand than some local scripts, and it seems to have been spoken even as an
official language in the Kushan Empire.388 An inscription in Greek letters records a predecessor
of Kanishka setting up temples and the installation of figures of gods and kings. Aelian (12.48)
said that the Indians transcribe the poems of Homer into their own language and recite them.
Whether this practice could be a source for artistic invention also is another matter; I am
sceptical.

105 Bronze figure of Harpocrates from Taxila. 1st cent. AD. (Taxila Museum. After
Harle)106 Gold Kushan coin showing the Buddha. (London, British Museum. W. 20 mm)

Overall, Warwick Ball’s account of the problem is exemplary and he allows me to quote his last
paragraph: ‘Most of all it must be pointed out that the controversies over Greco-Bactrian versus
direct Roman versus Irano-Hellenistic origins for Gandharan art are not in
conflict: all hypotheses must be substantially correct. None of the hypotheses so far argued can
by themselves account for the unquestionable western character of the style. But the combination

61
of all forces and influences is the only possible explanation for perhaps the most extraordinary
syncretism in art history. To argue for one hypothesis over the others is to miss the point.’

The ‘Gandhara style’ in sculpture

The Gandhara style is generally applied to the relief sculpture from the stupas of Gandhara, and
to a range of statuettes and reliefs with comparable figures. Exploration of it has become a
fashionable pursuit for both classicists and scholars of Asia. It is taken to exemplify the effect of
Greek sculptural forms on Buddhist art of the 1st to 3rd centuries AD, in the period of Kushan
rule, and this, indeed, it does very well. It may be regarded as a Kushan-Indian invention based
on the pervasive classical ambience, and distinct from Kushan dynastic arts, which are more
closely dependent on northern and even Parthian practices. Immediate predecessors must be
sought in works discussed already, even the earlier palettes, and even far to the north at a site like
Khalchayan, north of the Oxus, which has produced classicizing works displaying a surprising
range of naturalism and expression, mainly in clay, even a helmeted goddess. 394 These are
perhaps more Parthian than earliest Gandhara/Kushan, but we do not know what by way of
major sculpture might have graced the home of the prince of the Tillya Tepe graves in the 1st
century AD.The phenomenon is worth a moment’s thought. Classical art, its realistic poses,
compositions and sometimes adjusted identities, are being used to demonstrate a different
religion and mythological world in a vastly different environment. Something of the same sort
was to happen again, but without the environmental change, when classical art was discovered
by Renaissance artists and used to illustrate the Bible and Christian traditions. A major
difference is that the emotional power of classicism, rather than its compositions and narrative,
was not as deeply exploited in the east as it was to be in Christian Europe, although much of the
power of calm figure groups is captured in some of the earlier reliefs, as also the techniques of
narrative.

The main series of the Gandharan reliefs are generally small and come from stairways on stupas,
whence there are also some triangular corner-pieces, or from pillars, but there are more
monumental works too. The stone is dull and often dark, uninspiring (mainly phyllite). We have
to remember again that, as for most parts of the ancient world, what we see is not what antiquity
saw. All classical and Indian sculpture was highly coloured, the classical realistically, the Indian
probably more lividly and much like the highly painted Hindu temples of the modern world.
Gilding too was widely employed. The Gandhara stone sculpture rarely shows signs of the
gilding, even less of the colour, but we should judge it in terms which allow for an appearance
very different indeed from what we see today. The copying by Renaissance artists of classical
works from which time had removed all colour has generated an expectation in the west, and
wherever western art has penetrated, that sculpture, in the round or relief, should be blank –
whence the appearance of all classicizing architectural sculpture, monuments and memorials,
which accounts for most of what is seen publicly in the west today. This gives us such a false
view of antiquity, which was a bright and colourful place, in Athens as much as India.

62
 Relief of couples in Greek style from Takht-I Bahi. 1st/2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum
OA 1900.4-14.13. W. 33 cm)/107 Relief of a man assaulting a woman, from Butkara. 2nd cent.
AD. (After ACSS)

One of the earliest sources is Butkara in the Swat Valley. 395 The erotic relief in ill. 107 is very
Greek in spirit and detail of dress (notice the female figleaf). 396 Some of the earliest reliefs from
the Buddhist monuments present subjects in which it is indeed difficult to detect Buddhism at all,
rather than a Greek ceremonial of some sort involving prince and consort. Such is seen in ill. ,
where the dress is wholly Greek and a man and woman are attended by others, one bearing a
large cup.397 There are several similar reliefs centring on a senior male and with, it seems, a
woman being presented. Where dress is concerned the treatment of drapery can sometimes look
even like ‘sub-archaic’ Greek, with the zigzag folds which had also attracted Achaemenid artists.
A striking example is a piece from Mathura. The feature may indeed be derived from Persian
graecizing practice but it is more probably a reflection of the renewed interest in such archaic
patterning in the Greek world itself – the ‘neo-Attic’ archaizing styles of the 1st century BC,
which exaggerated such patterning. Another feature of such reliefs and much else Gandharan is
their commitment to frontality where, in the classical world, most figures would be presented in
profile. This may be due in part to earlier Indian traditions and in part to the preference for
frontality by now found throughout the Parthian world.

What we might judge to be Dionysiac themes were especially popular, affecting style and
content.399 A festive group, with music, includes a male with a cup and very bare body and a
woman carrying a Greek wine amphora, none too accurately copied. Dionysiac group closely
based on western models has a typical drunken Silenus on his donkey, offered wine by a dressed
Indian maenad a commonplace of the Mediterranean world in the Hellenistic and later corpus of
such scenes, notably in the Triumph of Dionysos, celebrating the god’s victories in the
east.401 The ‘Stacy Silenus’ and Palikhera block feature corpulent drinking Sileni accompanied
by figures in Indian dress holding grapes and offering appropriate support, the former from the
Mathura area demonstrating a link already noted.402 These were pedestal blocks designed to
support large bowls, and they show how the themes could be adapted to an only slightly different

63
environment. The bare-backed ladies and their bibulous companions have been remarked already
apropos of their appearance on the Gandhara palettes.403 A relief in Lahore offers the near-naked
ladies at feast again on a relief of interesting shape, the sides taking the form of lion legs. This is
simply a copy of the side of a classical footstool, and the Indian versions do not always bother to
show the leonine details as here.

 Relief with drinkers and musicians, from Hadda. 1st/2nd cent. AD. (Paris, Guimet Museum)///
Relief with a drunken Indian Silenos on a mule. 2nd cent. AD. (Private coll. After
Boardman, Nostalgia)

64
 Relief in the shape of a stool side and showing drinking couples. 2nd cent. AD. (Lahore
Museum 1914)

Groups of marine heroes appear, posing like Greek athletes but with exaggerated physique and
acanthoid frills at the waist which seem a Greek addition to the human and monstrous in the
east.405 Other reliefs are simply new renderings of the putti and garlands which decorated
Roman-period sarcophagi of the Greek world, or versions of the architectural rinceaux of the
west407 such as we have seen already decorating an Indian ivory at Begram [103]. The putti with
garlands persist even on to the Kanishka casket-reliquary

Replica of the Kanishka casket (1st cent. AD), copper; original from Shah-jik-i-Dheri, Peshawar.
(London, British Museum OA 1880-270. H. 18 cm)

65
 Relief showing the Trojan Horse before the gates of Troy, barred by Cassandra. From Mardan. 1st/2nd
cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1990.10-13.1. W. 25.4 cm)//13 Relief of children (Cupids) with
swags. 1st/2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1940.7.-13.1)

The way the garlands often have swags of flowers or fruit hanging from them [113]409 is a feature
of sarcophagi from Asia Minor from the mid-2nd century AD on, rather than Italy. The
hellenized figure groups seem almost a logical succession to the ivory rhyta of Nisa [42–45].
And when, exceptionally, we find a rendering of the Trojan horse being pushed towards the gates
of Troy we have an iconographic scheme of purely western inspiration, even if not very closely
matched there, enhanced by a thoroughly oriental Cassandra trying to bar the way into the
city. And equally distanced from the original is another representation of the same scene where
there is just a Cassandra holding a cup (?) and the horse with a warrior emerging from its neck,
owing nothing to the west beyond the story.

Corner-pieces for the stupa steps are decorated sometimes with classical figures of Tritons and
the like, whose tailed bodies fit the angular frame well. Somewhat larger reliefs in the same style
concentrate on the Buddha and his adventures, and also his entourage, often including an
attendant Herakles as Parthian Vajrapani, with thunderbolt (ex-club), as attendant. 413 A far odder
Herakles/Vajrapani figure appears on a relief in an architectural setting, cloaked, booted and
hooded.414 Vajrapani’s iconographic derivation from Herakles is as striking as his frequent
attendance on the Buddha in art. There is also a far more classical young Herakles with
diminished lionskin from Swat .

A great eagle lifting a human figure. In the Greek world this is the Zeus-eagle carrying off
Ganymede. In the east the figure is female, and may be an Anahita. This practice of borrowing a
classical scheme or group for a different cast is carried further in relief groups which show a
pillar being lifted (to measure or crush the Buddha, it is not clear which) and are based on
classical groups of satyrs lifting a Dionysos herm, or Cupids with Herakles’ club, or raising a
trophy.

66
Relief showing a young Herakles, his head with a halo. From Swat. 2nd cent. AD. (After Fest. Fisch/115 Stair-
corner relief with a winged Triton, from Peshawar. 1st/2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1889.10-
16.2. H. 28.5 cm)

Many of the small reliefs are flanked by boxed columns which are versions of the classical
Corinthian. They may be inspired by the corner columns of some classical sarcophagi. In the east
their capitals are less basket-like (an exception being the stupa-capital in ill.  and have their
leaves flatter and spread, the whole subdivided horizontally rather than vertically. Larger
versions appear in the round and these may entertain figures seated among the leaves, even the
Buddha or a splendid version of the reclining Herakles/Verethagna with his cup, as he had
appeared long before at Bisitun on a capital from Karatepe on the Oxus There are several at
Butkara. From the market and somewhat later in date is a set of three with the Buddha and
attendants. And then there is the love affair between the orientalizing Greek leaf-and-dart
pattern, with pointed leaves, and the eastern lotus with rounded leaves. Hellenistic rinceaux of
spirals and waves of foliage appeared on the Begram ivories but also on Gandharan reliefs,
including even the small Eros-like familiars.

117 Corinthian capital with the figure of the Buddha. From Jamalgarhi. 2nd cent. AD. (London,
British Museum OA 1880.357)

67
 Corinthian capital with the figure of reclining Herakles. From Karatepe. 2nd cent. AD. (After ACSS)

Gold and turquoise plaque from Tillya Tepe. Dionysos and Ariadne, crowned by a Victory, ride
a lion. A satyr gleans drops from the god’s cup. 1st century AD. (Kabul Museum. 7 × 6.5 cm)

 Gold plaques. A fully armed warrior stands in an arbour, with lions, from Tillya Tepe. 1st
century AD. (Kabul Museum. 9 × 6.3 cm)

68
Gold hairpin tops, of acanthus and lotus leaves, from Tillya Tepe. 1st century AD. (Kabul
Museum. Diam. 7.5 cm)/ Gold plaque. Winged Aphrodite with Eros, standing between pillars.
From Tillya Tepe. 1st century AD. (Kabul Museum. 4.5 × 2.5 cm)

69
 Gold finial from a necklet. A siren holds a scroll inscribed ΘEA (‘goddess’). See also ill. 1.
(Kreitman Coll. After Crossroads. H. 3.8 cm)/ Gold plaque. Winged Aphrodite leaning on a
column. From Tillya Tepe. 1st century AD. (Kabul Museum. H. 5.0 cm)

 Stone palette showing two youths riding ketea. 2nd century AD. (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum
EA 1996.82. Photo, Museum)/ Stone pillar capital from Sarnath. Lions on a plinth decorated
with rosettes, a horse and zebu, over a bell-shaped member. 3rd century BC. (Calcutta, India
Museum H. 2.15 m)

70
 Silver roundel showing an enthroned goddess with a child on her lap, in an ovolo border.
(Oxford, Ashmolean Museum EA 1977.22. Photo, Museum)/XL Stone palette showing a woman
climbing onto the flank of a ketos and greeted by Cupid. Traces of gilding. (Unknown
whereabouts)

Two gold ring bezels (one with silver centre) showing the goddess Athena and inscribed with her
name, from Tillya Tepe. 1st century AD. (Kabul Museum. 1.6 × 1.2, 3 × 2.2 cm)

Clay head of a Bodhisattva, from Tapa Shutor. 2nd century AD. (New York, Metropolitan
Muuseum 1986.2. Photo, author)

71
 Stone head of a Bodhisattva from an acrolithic statue. 2nd century AD. (Ortiz Collection. H. 58
cm)

 Onyx cameo showing the head of Omphale wearing Herakles’ lion skin cap, from Akra.
(London, British Museum 1893.0502.1)/ Sasanian gilt silver cup showing Herakles tipping the
boar onto Eurystheus who hides in a pot. 5th/6th cent. AD. (Ortiz Collection. Diam. 19.9 cm)

72
 Sardonyx cameo showing a Sasanian king defeating a Roman. 5th cent. BC. (Paris, Bibl. Nat.
Babelon no. 360)

For figures in the round there is the Buddha himself, posed now in classical contrapposto,
dressed in his Indian robe rendered as a Greek himation, and with his distinctive topknot adjusted
to Hellenistic modes of hairdressing A striking example is the Ortiz head probably 2nd-century
in date, which offers even something of early Roman imperial portraiture. It is from near
Peshawar, and parts of its body have been identified which show that it was probably an
‘acrolith’, with dressed parts of the figure rendered in wood. It is of a Bodhisattva, a Buddhist
saint. A comparable younger head, in clay, is from Tapa Shutor Earlier, from Mathura, a cross-
legged figure seems also to boast something approximating to a classical portrait head. Most
Kushan royal sculpture is rendered in a strictly frontal manner that owes most to styles such as
the Parthian, and partly to the steppes, but there is much also which is classicizing.

119 Statue of the Buddha. From Mardan. 2nd cent. AD. (After DCAA)/120 Relief of Hariti and
Panchika under a tree. 2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1939.1-19.18. H. 19 cm)

More common are smaller groups in high relief or virtually in the round, depicting deities.
Figures generally identified as Panchika and Hariti, guardians of wealth and fertility, seem
popular. They are posed under a tree with Panchika like a near-naked Herakles, and Hariti any
Greek goddess wearing a low crown, and with the whole group reminiscent of a classical scene
of Herakles with one of the Hesperides beside the Tree of Life. 428 In ill. 121, in different classical
poses, the god is presented more like a Dionysos and Hariti as Tyche/Fortuna with her
cornucopia.429 The classical repertoire of figures, dress and attributes, could, it seems, readily be
adjusted to suit the presentation of Indian deities, without always one type being
monopolized.430 There are also many bronze statuettes of classical deities which offer no clue as

73
to their Indian identity, although we must assume that many had one, as well as some very
obvious classical origins and style.432 Rectangular stone weights, for the use of athletes, are
another Kushan genre on which classicizing motifs often appear in low relief

Relief of Hariti and Panchika, seated. From Takht-I Bahi. 3rd cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1950.7-26.2.
H. 27.3 cm)/Figures of Herakles/Vajrapani with thunderbolt, and Tyche/Hariti with cornucopia, flanking a Buddha
at Hadda. 2nd cent. AD. (In situ)

A river god. (Karachi Museum. After Ingholt)

74
Group of Herakles with the lion upright. (Calcutta Museum)/ Stone weight depicting Herakles
and the lion. (New York, Metropolitan Museum.)

In a more monumental setting the clearest example of iconography-borrowing is probably the

group at Hadda, where the Buddha is flanked by a Hellenistic Herakles typical for his features
and pose but holding a thunderbolt, not club, so Vajrapani, and at the other side another Hariti
derived directly from a classical Tyche. Comparable figures and groups regularly figure Herakles
(with the lion in ill. , but can run to a reclining river-god (like the Nile) [and kneeling figures
copying classical Atlas but deprived of his burden and sometimes winged the latter suiting
friezes in which they seem to support steps or an entablature. There is even a centauress from a
popular family of mixed creatures in western arts, which had intruded long before in Central
Asia. Hadda especially offers much of strong Hellenistic inspiration, from physical realism to
near-portraiture, sometimes recalling– a potent image still. And in high relief, the relaxed figure
in ill.  could pass as provincial Greek of superior quality with little dissent.

75
 A centauress from Dera Ismail Khan. 1st/2nd cent. AD. (London, British Museum OA 1888.11-
5.1. H. 14 cm)

Winged Atlas from Jamalgarhi. (London, British Museum OA 1880.182. H. 23 cm)

One Greek image – that of the sea monster (ketos) – has attracted attention already, and it finds a
special role in Indian reliefs, where it appears in its full classical form and even ridden by an
Eros In India it meets its Indian counterpart, the makara, which has a serpentine body but
commonly only two legs and a crocodilian head which grows more grotesque with time, even
elephantine.
Dionysos has been mentioned often already, but there is a less bucolic aspect of the god’s
function which also deserves consideration, outside art. In the classical world he was also the
god of the theatre. In the east there is a Greek theatre at Aï Khanoum, where fragments of the

76
text of a Greek play were found, and theatrical masks are not uncommon among the various
classicizing subjects for artists. We do not know what plays were performed in the Greek towns
– no doubt the traditional Greek repertoire, not the Roman. Alexander had with him the poet
Python whom he commissioned to write a satyr play, Agen, satirizing Harpalos and the
Athenians, and staged on the banks of the River Hydaspes, which could have been a precedent
for major and original local Greek productions. In India the Buddha was the subject for theatrical
events, and the first known Sanskrit playwright came from Gandhara and seems to have worked
for the Kushan King Kanishka. There is certainly the possibility that the narrative of the
Buddha’s life in the reliefs was echoed by stage presentation and perhaps even the existence of
theatrical guilds on the classical model. So it seems that Greek classical iconography and
theatrical practice, whether clearly reidentified or not, became a commonplace of Kushan
Buddhism, and contributed both in content and style to the future development of both the major
and the purely decorative Buddhist arts in India, perhaps even their literary and theatrical
presentation.

129 A male figure beside a pillar. (After UNESCO)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

https://erenow.net/ancient/the-greeks-in-asia/7.php

77
 CHAPTER4
Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism,

Greco-Buddhism, or Graeco-Buddhism, is the cultural syncretism between Hellenistic

culture and Buddhism, which developed between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE
in Bactria (modern day Afghanistan) and the Indian subcontinent. It was a cultural consequence of a
long chain of interactions begun by Greek forays into India from the time of Alexander the Great.
The Macedonian satraps were then conquered by the Mauryan Empire, under the reign
of Chandragupta Maurya. The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka would convert to Buddhism and spread the
religious philosophy throughout his domain, as recorded in the Edicts of Ashoka.
Following the collapse of the Mauryan Empire, Greco-Buddhism continued to flourish under
the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, Indo-Greek Kingdoms, and Kushan Empire. Mahayana Buddhism was
spread from Sanchi and Mathura in India into Gandhara and then Central Asia during the Mauryan
Era, where it became the most prevalent branch of Buddhism in Central Asia. Mahayana Buddhism
was later transmitted through the Silk Road into the Han Dynasty during the Kushan Era under the
reign of Emperor Kanishka.

The Indo-Greek Kingdoms in 100 BCE.

The introduction of Hellenistic Greece started when Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid

Empire and further regions of Central Asia in 334 BCE. Alexander would then venture
into Punjab (land of five rivers), which was conquered by Darius the Great before him. Alexander
crossed the Indus and Jhelum River when defeating Porus and appointing him as a satrap following
the Battle of the Hydaspes. Alexander's army would mutiny and retreat along the Beas River when
confronted by the Nanda Empire, thus wouldn't conquer Punjab entirely.
Alexander founded several cities in his new territories in the areas of the Amu Darya and Bactria,
and Greek settlements further extended to the Khyber Pass, Gandhara (see Taxila), and the Punjab.
Following Alexander's death on June 10, 323 BCE, the Diadochi or "successors" founded their own
kingdoms. General Seleucus set up the Seleucid Empire in Anatolia and Central Asia and extended
as far as India.

78
The Mauryan Empire, founded by Chandragupta Maurya, would first conquer the Nanda Empire.
Chandragupta would then defeat the Seleucid Empire during the Seleucid-Mauryan War. This
resulted in the transfer of the Macedonian satraps in the Indus Valley and Gandhara to the Mauryan
Empire. Furthermore, a marriage alliance was enacted which granted Seleucus's daughter as
Chandragupta's wife for diplomatic relations. The conflict additionally led to the transfer of 500 war
elephants to the Seleucid Empire from the Mauryan Empire, presumably as expenses of lives lost and
damages sustained.
The Mauryan Emperor Ashoka established the largest Indian empire. Following the
destructive Kalinga War, Ashoka converted to Buddhism. Abandoning an expansionist agenda,
Ashoka would adopt humanitarian reformation in place. [4] As ascribed in the Edicts of Ashoka, the
Emperor spread Dharma as Buddhism throughout his empire. Ashoka claims to have converted
many, including the Greek populations within his realm to Buddhism:
Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the
Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-
Gods' instructions in Dharma.[5]
The decline and overthrow of the Mauryans by the Shunga Empire, and of the revolt of Bactria in the
Seleucid Empire led to the formation of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom (250–125 BCE). The Greco-
Bactrians were followed by the Indo-Greek Kingdom (180 BCE – CE 10). Even though the region
was conquered by the Indo-Scythians and the Kushan Empire (1st–3rd centuries CE), Buddhism
continued to thrive.
Buddhism in India was a major religion for centuries until a major Hindu revival from around the 5th
century, with remaining strongholds such as Bengal largely ended during the Islamic invasions of
India.
Hellenistic influence on Indian art

The length of the Greek presence in Central Asia and northern India provided opportunities for
interaction, not only on the artistic, but also on the religious plane.

79
Alexander the Great in Bactria and India (331–325 BCE0

"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great, minted in Babylon c. 322 BCE, following his campaigns
in India.Obverse: Alexander being crowned by Nike.Reverse: Alexander attacking King Porus on his
elephant.Silver. British Museum.
When Alexander invaded Bactria and Gandhara, these areas may already have been
under Sramanic influence, likely Buddhist and Jain. According to a legend preserved in the Pali
Canon, two merchant brothers from Kamsabhoga in Bactria, Tapassu and Bhallika, visited Gautama
Buddha and became his disciples. The legend states that they then returned home and spread the
Buddha's teaching.[6]
In 326 BCE, Alexander conquered the Northern region of India. King Ambhi of Taxila, known
as Taxiles, surrendered his city, a notable Buddhist center, to Alexander. Alexander fought an epic
battle against King Porus of Pauravas in the Punjab, at the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BCE.
Mauryan empire (322–183 BC) Greco-Buddhist monasticism
The Indian emperor Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Maurya Empire, reconquered around
322 BC the northwest Indian territory that had been lost to Alexander the Great. However, contacts
were kept with his Greco-Iranian neighbours in the Seleucid Empire. Emperor Seleucus I
Nicator came to a marital agreement as part of a peace treaty, [7] and several Greeks, such as the
historian Megasthenes, resided at the Mauryan court.

80
81
The Hellenistic Pataliputra capital, discovered in Pataliputra, capital of the Maurya Empire, dated to the 3rd
century BC.

Chandragupta's grandson Ashoka embraced the Buddhist faith and became a great proselytizer in the
line of the traditional Pali canon of Theravada Buddhism, insisting on non-violence to humans and
animals (ahimsa), and general precepts regulating the life of lay people.
According to the Edicts of Ashoka, set in stone, some of them written in Greek [8] and some
in Aramaic, the official language of the Achaemenids, he sent Buddhist emissaries to the Greek lands
in Asia and as far as the Mediterranean. The edicts name each of the rulers of the Hellenistic period:
The conquest by Dharma has been won here, on the borders, and even six hundred yojanas [4,000
miles] away, where the Greek king Antiochos (Antiyoga) rules, and beyond there where the four
kings.named Ptolemy (Turamaya), Antigonos (Antikini), Magas (Maka)
and Alexander (Alikasu[n]dara) rule, likewise in the south among the Cholas, the Pandyas, and as far
as Tamraparni.[9]
Ashoka also claims he converted to Buddhism Greek populations within his realm:

82
Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas, the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the
Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-
Gods' instructions in Dharma.
Finally, some of the emissaries of Ashoka, such as the famous Dharmaraksita, are described
in Pali sources as leading Greek ("Yona") Buddhist monks active in Buddhist proselytism
(the Mahavamsa, XII), founding the eponymous Dharmaguptaka school of Buddhism.[11]
Greek presence in Bactria (325–125 BC)-Greco-Bactrian Kingdom

The Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum (c. 300–145 BC) was located at the doorstep of India.

Alexander had established in Bactria several cities (Ai-Khanoum, Bagram) and an administration that
were to last more than two centuries under the Seleucid Empire and the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, all
the time in direct contact with Indian territory. The Greeks sent ambassadors to the court of
the Maurya Empire, such as the historian Megasthenes under Chandragupta Maurya, and
later Deimachus under his son Bindusara, who reported extensively on the civilization of the Indians.
Megasthenes sent detailed reports on Indian religions, which were circulated and quoted throughout
the Classical world for centuries: [12]
Megasthenes makes a different division of the philosophers, saying that they are of two kinds, one of
which he calls the Brachmanes, and the other the Sarmanes..." Strabo XV. 1. 58-60.
The Greco-Bactrians maintained a strong Hellenistic culture at the door of India during the rule of
the Maurya Empire in India, as exemplified by the archaeological site of Ai-Khanoum. When the
Maurya Empire was toppled by the Shunga Empire around 180 BC, the Greco-Bactrians expanded
into India, where they established the Indo-Greek Kingdom, under which Buddhism was able to
flourish.

83
Indo-Greek Kingdom and Buddhism (180 BC – AD 10)

Greek Gods and the "Wheel of the Law" or Dharmachakra: Left: Zeus holding Nike, who hands a victory wreath over a
Dharmachakra (coin of Menander II). Right: Divinity wearing chlamys and petasus pushing a Dharmachakra, with legend
"He who sets in motion the Wheel of the Law" (Tillya Tepe Buddhist coin).

Indo-Greek Kingdom
The Greco-Bactrians conquered parts of North India from 180 BC, whence they are known as the
Indo-Greeks. They controlled various areas of the northern Indian territory until AD 10.
Buddhism prospered under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested that their invasion of
India was intended to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Shungas (185–
73 BC), who had overthrown the Mauryans. Zarmanochegas was a śramana (possibly, but not
necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo, Cassius
Dio and Nicolaus of Damascus traveled to Antioch and Athens while Augustus (died AD 14) was
ruling the Roman Empire.
Coinage
The coins of the Indo-Greek king Menander I (reigned 160–135 BC), found from Afghanistan to
central India, bear the inscription "Saviour King Menander" in Greek on the front. Several Indo-
Greek kings after Menander, such as Zoilos I, Strato I, Heliokles
II, Theophilos, Peukolaos, Menander II and Archebius display on their coins the title "Maharajasa
Dharmika" (lit. "King of the Dharma") in Prakrit written in Kharoshthi.
Some of the coins of Menander I and Menander II incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the eight-
spoked wheel, associated with the Greek symbols of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory
wreath handed over by the goddess Nike. According to the Milinda Pañha, at the end of his reign
Menander I became a Buddhist arhat, a fact also echoed by Plutarch, who explains that his relics
were shared and enshrined.

84
Vitarka Mudra gestures on Indo-Greek coinage. Top: Divinities Tyche and Zeus. Bottom: Depiction of the Indo-Greek

kings Nicias and Menander IIA coin of Menander I (r.160–135 BC) with a dharmacakra and a palm.

The ubiquitous symbol of the elephant in Indo-Greek coinage may also have been associated with
Buddhism, as suggested by the parallel between coins of Antialcidas and Menander II, where the
elephant in the coins of Antialcidas holds the same relationship to Zeus and Nike as the Buddhist
wheel on the coins of Menander II. When the Zoroastrian Indo-Parthian Kingdom invaded North
India in the 1st century AD, they adopted a large part of the symbolism of Indo-Greek coinage, but
refrained from ever using the elephant, suggesting that its meaning was not merely geographical.
Finally, after the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers, such as Amyntas
Nikator, Nicias, Peukolaos, Hermaeus, Hippostratos and Menander II, depicted themselves or their
Greek deities forming with the right hand a benediction gesture identical to the Buddhist
vitarka mudra (thumb and index joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism
signifies the transmission of Buddha's teaching.
Cities
According to Ptolemy, Greek cities were founded by the Greco-Bactrians in northern India.
Menander established his capital in Sagala (modern Sialkot, Punjab, Pakistan) one of the centers of
the blossoming Buddhist culture. A large Greek city built by Demetrius and rebuilt by Menander has
been excavated at the archaeological site of Sirkap near Taxila, where Buddhist stupas were standing
side-by-side with Hindu and Greek temples, indicating religious tolerance and syncretism.
Scriptures
Evidence of direct religious interaction between Greek and Buddhist thought during the period
include the Milinda Pañha or "Questions of Menander", a Pali-language discourse in the Platonic
style held between Menander I and the Buddhist monk Nagasena.

85
According to the Mahavamsa, the Ruwanwelisaya in Anuradhapura, Sri Lanka, was dedicated by a 30,000-
strong Yona delegation from Alexandria on the Caucasus around 130 BC.

The Mahavamsa, chapter 29, records that during Menander's reign, a Greek thera (elder monk)
named Mahadharmaraksita led 30,000 Buddhist monks from "the Greek city of Alexandria"
(possibly Alexandria on the Caucasus, around 150 kilometres (93 mi) north of today's Kabul in
Afghanistan), to Sri Lanka for the dedication of a stupa, indicating that Buddhism flourished in
Menander's territory and that Greeks took a very active part in it
Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such as that of the
Greek meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus, describing in Kharosthi how he
enshrined relics of the Buddha. The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the
reign of Menander or one of his successors in the 1st century BC. [20] Finally, Buddhist tradition
recognizes Menander as one of the great benefactors of the faith, together with Ashoka and Kanishka
the Great.
Buddhist manuscripts in cursive Greek have been found in Afghanistan, praising various Buddhas
and including mentions of the Mahayana figure of "Lokesvararaja Buddha". These manuscripts have
been dated later than the 2nd century AD
Kushan empire (1st–3rd century AD
The Kushan Empire, one of the five tribes of the Yuezhi, settled in Bactria around 125 BC,
displacing the Greco-Bactrians and invading the northern parts of Pakistan and India from around
AD 1. By that time they had already been in contact with Greek culture and the Indo-Greek
kingdoms for more than a century. They used the Greek script to write their language, as exemplified
by their coins and their adoption of the Greek alphabet.

86
Hellenistic culture in the Indian subcontinent: Greek clothes, amphoras, wine and music. Detail from Chakhil-
i-Ghoundi Stupa, Hadda, Gandhara, 1st century AD.

The Kushan King Kanishka, who honored Zoroastrian, Greek and Brahmanic deities as well as the
Buddha and was famous for his religious syncretism, convened the Fourth Buddhist council around
100 in Kashmir in order to redact the Sarvastivadin canon. Some of Kanishka's coins bear the earliest
representations of the Buddha on a coin (around 120), in Hellenistic style and with the word "Boddo"
in Greek script.
Kanishka also had the original Gandhari Prakrit Mahāyāna sūtras translated into Sanskrit, "a turning
point in the evolution of the Buddhist literary canon" [22]
The Kanishka casket, dated to the first year of Kanishka's reign in 127, was signed by a Greek artist
named Agesilas, who oversaw work at Kanishka's stupas (cetiya), confirming the direct involvement
of Greeks with Buddhist realizations at such a late date.
Several Greek philosophers, including Pyrrho, Anaxarchus, and Onesicritus accompanied Alexander
in his eastern campaigns. During the 18 months they were in India, they were able to interact with
Indian ascetics, generally described as gymnosophists ("naked philosophers").
Pyrrhonism
Pyrrho returned to Greece and founded Pyrrhonism, the first Western school of skepticism. The
Greek biographer Diogenes Laërtius explained that Pyrrho's equanimity and detachment from the
world were acquired in India.
Pyrrho was directly influenced by Buddhism in developing his philosophy, which is based on
Pyrrho's interpretation of the Buddhist three marks of existence.
Cynicism
Another of these philosophers, Onesicritus, a Cynic, is said by Strabo to have learnt in India the
following precepts: "That nothing that happens to a man is bad or good, opinions being merely
dreams. ... That the best philosophy [is] that which liberates the mind from [both] pleasure and grief".
[13]
 Cynicism, particularly the Cynic Peregrinus Proteus was further influenced by the tales of
the gymnosophists, particularly the examples set by Kalanos, Dandamis, and Zarmanochegas.

87
Cyrenaicism
The Cyrenaic philosopher Hegesias of Cyrene, from the city of Cyrene where Magas of
Cyrene ruled, is thought by some to have been influenced by the teachings of Ashoka's Buddhist
missionaries
Greco-Buddhist art

Numerous works of Greco-Buddhist art display the intermixing of Greek and Buddhist influences in
such creation centers as Gandhara. The subject matter of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist,
while most motifs were of Western Asiatic or Hellenistic origin.
Anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha

An aniconic representation of Mara's assault on the Buddha, 2nd century AD, Amaravathi village, Guntur
district, India.

Although there is still some debate, the first anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha himself
are often considered a result of the Greco-Buddhist interaction. Before this innovation, Buddhist art
was "aniconic": the Buddha was only represented through his symbols (an empty throne, the Bodhi
Tree, Buddha footprints, the Dharmachakra).
This reluctance towards anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, and the sophisticated
development of aniconic symbols to avoid it (even in narrative scenes where other human figures
would appear), seem to be connected to one of the Buddha's sayings reported in the Digha
Nikaya that discouraged representations of himself after the extinction of his body.
Probably not feeling bound by these restrictions, and because of "their cult of form, the Greeks were
the first to attempt a sculptural representation of the Buddha. In many parts of the Ancient World, the

88
Greeks did develop syncretic divinities, that could become a common religious focus for populations
with different traditions: a well-known example is Serapis, introduced by Ptolemy I Soter in Egypt,
who combined aspects of Greek and Egyptian Gods. In India as well, it was only natural for the
Greeks to create a single common divinity by combining the image of a Greek  god-king (Apollo, or
possibly the deified founder of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, Demetrius I of Bactria), with the
traditional physical characteristics of the Buddha.

Standing Buddha, Gandhara, 1st century AD.// Herculean depiction of Vajrapani (right), as the protector of the Buddha,
2nd century AD Gandhara, British Museum.

Many of the stylistic elements in the representations of the Buddha point to Greek
influence: himation, the contrapposto stance of the upright figures, such as the 1st–2nd century
Gandhara standing Buddhas, the stylized curly hair and ushnisha apparently derived from the style of
the Apollo Belvedere (330 BC) and the measured quality of the faces, all rendered with strong
artistic realism. A large quantity of sculptures combining Buddhist and purely Hellenistic styles
and iconography were excavated at the modern site of Hadda, Afghanistan. The curly hair of Buddha
is described in the famous list of the physical characteristics of the Buddha in the Buddhist sutras.
The hair with curls turning to the right is first described in the Pāli canon; we find the same
description in the Dāsāṣṭasāhasrikā prajñāpāramitā.[
Greek artists were most probably the authors of these early representations of the Buddha, in
particular the standing statues, which display "a realistic treatment of the folds and on some even a
hint of modelled volume that characterizes the best Greek work. This is Classical or Hellenistic
Greek, not archaizing Greek transmitted by Persia or Bactria, nor distinctively Roman."
The Greek stylistic influence on the representation of the Buddha, through its idealistic realism, also
permitted a very accessible, understandable and attractive visualization of the ultimate state
of enlightenment described by Buddhism, allowing it to reach a wider audience:
One of the distinguishing features of the Gandharan school of art that emerged in
north-west India is that it has been clearly influenced by the naturalism of the
Classical Greek style. Thus, while these images still convey the inner peace that
results from putting the Buddha's doctrine into practice, they also give us an
impression of people who walked and talked, etc. and slept much as we do. I feel
this is very important. These figures are inspiring because they do not only depict
the goal, but also the sense that people like us can achieve it if we try.
89
 — 14th Dalai Lama
During the following centuries, this anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha defined the canon
of Buddhist art, but progressively evolved to incorporate more Indian and Asian elements.
Hellenized Buddhist pantheon
Several other Buddhist deities may have been influenced by Greek gods. For example, Heracles with
a lion-skin, the protector deity of Demetrius I of Bactria, "served as an artistic model for Vajrapani, a
protector of the Buddha".[30][31] In Japan, this expression further translated into the wrath-filled and
muscular Niō guardian gods of the Buddha, standing today at the entrance of many Buddhist temples.
According to Katsumi Tanabe, professor at Chūō University, Japan, besides Vajrapani, Greek
influence also appears in several other gods of the Mahayana pantheon such as the Japanese  Fūjin,
inspired from the Greek divinity Boreas through the Greco-Buddhist Wardo, or the mother
deity Hariti inspired by Tyche.
In addition, forms such as garland-bearing cherubs, vine scrolls, and such semihuman creatures as
the centaur and triton, are part of the repertory of Hellenistic art introduced by Greco-Roman artists
in the service of the Kushan court.
Gandharan proselytism in the East- Silk Road transmission of Buddhism, Greco-
Buddhist monasticism, and Dayuan

A Buddhist coin of Kanishka I, with legend ΒΟΔΔΟ "Boddo" (=the Buddha) in Greek script on the
reverse.
Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription (Greek and Aramaic) 3rd century BC by Indian Buddhist King Ashoka. This edict
advocates the adoption of "godliness" using the Greek term Eusebeia for Dharma. Kabul Museum.///Blue-eyed Central
Asian monk teaching East-Asian monk. A fresco from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, dated to the 9th or 10th
century (Kara-Khoja Kingdom).

Greek monks played a direct role in the upper hierarchy of Buddhism, and in its early dissemination.
During the rule (165–135 BC) of the Greco-Bactrian King Menander I (Pali:
"Milinda"), Mahadharmaraksita (literally translated as 'Great Teacher/Preserver of the Dharma') was
"a Greek (Pali: Yona, lit. Ionian) Buddhist head monk," according to the Mahavamsa (Chap. XXIX),

90
who led 30,000 Buddhist monks from "the Greek city of Alasandra" (Alexandria of the Caucasus,
around 150 km north of today's Kabul in Afghanistan), to Sri Lanka for the dedication of the Great
Stupa in Anuradhapura. Dharmaraksita (Sanskrit), or Dhammarakkhita (Pali) (translation: Protected
by the Dharma), was one of the missionaries sent by the Mauryan emperor Ashoka to proselytize
the Buddhist faith. He is described as being a Greek (Pali: "Yona", lit. "Ionian") in the Mahavamsa,
and his activities are indicative of the strength of the Hellenistic Greek involvement during the
formative centuries of Buddhism. Indeed, Menander I was famously converted to Buddhism
by Nagasena, who was a student of the Greek Buddhist monk Dharmaraksita. Menander is said to
have reached enlightenment as an arhat under Nagasena's guidance and is recorded as a great patron
of Buddhism. The dialogue of the Greek King Menander I (Pali "Milinda") with the
monk Nagasena comprises the Pali Buddhist work known as the Milinda Panha.
Buddhist monks from the region of Gandhara in Afghanistan, where Greco-Buddhism was most
influential, later played a key role in the development and the transmission of Buddhist ideas in the
direction of northern Asia. Greco-Buddhist Kushan monks such as Lokaksema (c. AD 178) travelled
to the Chinese capital of Loyang, where they became the first translators of Buddhist scriptures into
Chinese.[33] Central Asian and East Asian Buddhist monks appear to have maintained strong
exchanges until around the 10th century, as indicated by the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha
Caves frescos from the Tarim Basin. In legend too Bodhidharma, the founder of Chán-Buddhism,
which later became Zen, and the legendary originator of the physical training of the Shaolin monks
that led to the creation of Shaolin Kung Fu, is described as a Buddhist monk from Central Asia in the
first Chinese references to him (Yan Xuan-Zhi in 547). Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is
depicted as a rather ill-tempered, profusely bearded and wide-eyed barbarian, and he is referred as
"The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" (碧眼胡; Bìyǎn hú) in Chinese Chan texts. In 485, according to the 7th
century Chinese historical treatise Liang Shu, five monks from Gandhara travelled to the country
of Fusang ("The country of the extreme East" beyond the sea, probably eastern Japan), where they
introduced Buddhism:
"Fusang is located to the east of China, 20,000 li [1,500 km] east of the state of Da Han (itself east of
the state of Wa in modern Kyūshū, Japan). (...) In former times, the people of Fusang knew nothing
of the Buddhist religion, but in the second year of Da Ming of the Song dynasty [AD 485], five
monks from Kipin (Kabul region of Gandhara) travelled by ship to Fusang. They propagated
Buddhist doctrine, circulated scriptures and drawings, and advised the people to relinquish worldly
attachments. As a result the customs of Fusang changed." (Chinese: " 扶桑在大漢國東二萬餘里,地
在中國之東(...)其俗舊無佛法,宋大明二年,罽賓國嘗有比丘五人游行至其國,流通佛法,經像,教令
出家,風 俗遂改.")
Two half-brothers from Gandhara, Asanga and Vasubandhu (4th century), created the Yogacara or
"Mind-only" school of Mahayana Buddhism, which through one of its major texts, the Lankavatara
Sutra, became a founding block of Mahayana, and particularly Zen, philosophy.
Greco-Buddhism in the West
Intense westward physical exchange at that time along the Silk Road is confirmed by the Roman
craze for silk from the 1st century BC to the point that the Senate issued, in vain, several edicts to
prohibit the wearing of silk, on economic and moral grounds. This is attested by at least three
authors: Strabo (64/63 BC – c. AD 24), Seneca the Younger (c. 3 BC – AD 65), and Pliny the
Elder (AD 23–79). The aforementioned Strabo and Plutarch (c. 45–125) also wrote about Indo-Greek
Buddhist king Menander, confirming that information about the Indo-Greek Buddhists was
circulating throughout the Hellenistic world.

91
Zarmanochegas (Zarmarus) (Ζαρμανοχηγὰς) was a monk of the Sramana tradition (possibly, but not
necessarily a Buddhist) who, according to ancient historians such as Strabo and Dio Cassius,
met Nicholas of Damascus in Antioch while Augustus (died AD 14) was ruling the Roman Empire,
and shortly thereafter proceeded to Athens where he burnt himself to death. His story and tomb in
Athens were well-known over a century later. Plutarch (died AD 120) in his Life of Alexander, after
discussing the self-immolation of Calanus of India (Kalanos) witnessed by Alexander writes: "The
same thing was done long after by another Indian who came with Caesar to Athens, where they still
show you 'the Indian's Monument,'" referring to Zarmanochegas' tomb in Roman Athens.
Another century later the Christian church father Clement of Alexandria (died 215) mentioned
Buddha by name in his Stromata (Bk I, Ch XV): "The Indian gymnosophists are also in the number,
and the other barbarian philosophers. And of these there are two classes, some of them called
Sarmanæ and others Brahmins. And those of the Sarmanæ who are called "Hylobii" neither inhabit
cities, nor have roofs over them, but are clothed in the bark of trees, feed on nuts, and drink water in
their hands. Like those called Encratites in the present day, they know not marriage nor begetting of
children. Some, too, of the Indians obey the precepts of Buddha (Βούττα) whom, on account of his
extraordinary sanctity, they have raised to divine honours.”
Indian gravestones from the Ptolemaic period have been found in Alexandria in Egypt. The presence
of Buddhists in Alexandria at this time is important, since "It was later in this very place that some of
the most active centers of Christianity were established".
The pre-Christian monastic order of the Therapeutae is possibly a deformation of the Pāli word
"Theravāda",a form of Buddhism, and the movement may have "almost entirely drawn (its)
inspiration from the teaching and practices of Buddhist asceticism".They may even have been
descendants of Asoka's emissaries to the West. While Philo of Alexandria's description of the
doctrines and practices of the Therapeutae leaves great ambiguity about what religion they are
associated with, analysis by religious scholar Ullrich R. Kleinhempel indicates that the most likely
religion the Therapeutae practiced was Buddhism.
Buddhism and Christianity

Queen Māyā's white elephant dream, and the conception of the Buddha. Gandhara, 2nd–3rd century AD.

Although the philosophical systems of Buddhism and Christianity have evolved in rather different
ways, the moral precepts advocated by Buddhism from the time of Ashoka through his edicts do have
some similarities with the Christian moral precepts developed more than two centuries later: respect
for life, respect for the weak, rejection of violence, pardon to sinners, tolerance.

92
One theory is that these similarities may indicate the propagation of Buddhist ideals into the Western
World, with the Greeks acting as intermediaries and religious syncretists.
"Scholars have often considered the possibility that Buddhism influenced the early development of
Christianity. They have drawn attention to many parallels concerning the births, lives, doctrines, and
deaths of the Buddha and Jesus" (Bentley, Old World Encounters).
The story of the birth of the Buddha was well known in the West, and possibly influenced the story
of the birth of Jesus: Saint Jerome (4th century) mentions the birth of the Buddha, who he says "was
born from the side of a virgin," and the influential early Christian church father  Clement of
Alexandria (died 215) mentioned Buddha (Βούττα) in his Stromata (Bk I, Ch XV). The legend of
Christian saints Barlaam and Josaphat draws on the life of the Buddha.
Human representations of the Buddha were made centuries after his death. Therefore, certain
attributes, such as the elongated earlobes and the ushnisha on top of his head were used to
identify him when he was made in human form. The ushnisha on his head was modeled after
greek hairstyles from Hellenistic times. This concept of characteristic features was a Hellenistic
tradition as the Greeks created symbols to represent their divinities and heroes. The Nimbus or
aureole indicated on the figures represent a transcendent status which was similar to solar deities.
Buddha was modeled after Apollo, the Greek god of the sun. It was also through image sizes that
certain characters were deemed to be important than others.

93
 CHAPTER 6

The Pataliputra capital

The Pataliputra.capital is.monumental rectangular capital with volutes and Classical
Greek designs, that was discovered in the palace ruins of the ancient Mauryan
Empire capital city of Pataliputra (modern Patna, northeastern India). It is dated to the
3rd century BCE.

Discovery

Front [1] and the back [2] views of the Pataliputra capital (drawing). The back has a few
broken portions (top right corner), and a slightly less detailed and slightly coarser
design.

The monumental capital was discovered in 1895 at the royal palace in Pataliputra, India,
in the area of Bulandi Bagh in Patna, by archaeologist L.A. Waddell in 1895. It was
found at a depth of around 12 feet (4 meters), and dated to the reign of Ashoka or soon
after, to the 3rd century BCE. [3] The discovery was first reported in Waddell's book
"Report on the excavations at Pataliputra (Patna)". "The capital is currently on display
in the Patna Museum.

94
Construction

The capital is made of unpolished buff sandstone. It is quite massive, with a length of 49

inches (1.23 meters), and a height of 33.5 inches (0.85 meters). It weighs approximately
1,800 lbs (900 kg). During the excavations it was found next to a thick ancient wall and
a brick pavement.

The Pataliputra capital is generally dated to the early Maurya Empire period, 3rd
century BCE. This would correspond to the reign of Chandragupta, his son Bindusara or
his grandson Ashoka, who are all known to have welcomed Greek ambassadors at their
court (respectively Megasthenes, Deimachus and Dionysius), who may well have come
to Pataliputra with presents and craftsmen as suggested by classical sources. [7]
[8]
 The Indo-Greeks again possibly had a very direct presence in Pataliputra about a
century later, circa 185 BCE, when they may have captured the city, although briefly,
from the Sungas after the fall of the Maurya Empire.

95
Design content

Pataliputra capital front and side view. Bihar Museum.

The top is made of a band of rosettes, eleven in total for the fronts and four for the sides.
Below that is a band of bead and reel pattern, then under it a band of waves, generally
right-to-left, except for the back where they are left-to-right. Further below is a band
of egg-and-dart pattern, with eleven "tongues" or "eggs" on the front, and only seven on
the back. Below appears the main motif, a flame palmette, growing among pebbles.

The front and the back of the Pataliputra capital are both highly decorated, although the
back has a few differences and is slightly coarser in design. The waves on the back are
left-to-right, that is reverse of the waves on the front. Also, the back only has seven
"eggs" in the egg-and-dart band (4th decorative band from the top), compared to eleven
for the front. Lastly, the bottom pebble design is simpler on the back, with less pebbles
being shown, and a small plinth or band visually supports them.

Influences-Hellenistic style

96
The Classical designs on the Pataliputra capital include rosettes, bead and
reels, waves, beaded moldings, volutes with inserted rosette, and stylicized flame
palmette.

The capital is decorated with Classical Greek designs, such as the row of

repeating rosettes, the ovolo, the bead and reel moulding, the wave-like scrolls as well as
the central flame palmette and the volutes with central rosettes. It has been described as
quasi-Ionic, displaying definite Near Eastern influence, or simply Greek in design and
origin.

The Archaeological Survey of India, an Indian government agency attached to

the Ministry of Culture that is responsible for archaeological research and the
conservation and preservation of cultural monument in India, straightforwardly
describes it as "a colossal capital in the Hellenistic style".

The Pataliputra capital may reflect the influence of the Seleucid Empire or the
neighboring Greco-Bactrian kingdom on early India sculptural art. In particular the city
of Ai-Khanoum being located at the doorstep of India, interacting with the Indian
subcontinent, and having a rich Hellenistic culture, was in a unique position to influence
Indian culture as well. It is considered that Ai-Khanoum may have been one of the
primary actors in transmitting Western artistic influence to India, for example in the
creation of the manufacture of the quasi-Ionic Pataliputra capital or the floral friezes of
the Pillars of Ashoka, all of which were posterior to the establishment of Ai-
Khanoum. The scope of adoption goes from designs such as the bead and reel pattern,
the central flame palmette design and a variety of other moldings, to the lifelike
rendering of animal sculpture and the design and function of the Ionic anta capital in
the palace of Pataliputra.

97
Achaemenid influence

Achaemenid influence has also been noted, especially in relation to the general shape,
and the capital has been called a "Persianizing capital, complete with stepped impost,
side volutes and central palmettes", which may be the result of the formative influence
of craftsmen from Persia following the disintegration of the Achaemenid Empire after
the conquests of Alexander the Great. Some authors have remarked that the architecture
of the city of Pataliputra seems to have had many similarities with Persian cities of the
period.

These authors stress that they are no known precedents in India (baring the
hypothetical possibility of now-lost wooden structures), and that therefore the formative
influence must have come from the neighbouring Achaemenid Empire.

Hellenistic anta capital

However, according to art historian John Boardman, everything in the capital goes back
to Greek influence: the "pilaster capitals with Greek florals and a form which is of Greek
origin go back to Late Archaic."

The Pataliputra capital ( Top left) compared with three Greek Ionic anta capitals: Top right: Erechtheion ( Athens,
circa 410 BCE). See also in Chios: Chios capital. Bottom left: Temple of Apollo in Didyma, ( Ionia, 4th century
BCE. [21] Bottom right: Priene (4th century BCE).

For him, the Pataliputra capital is an anta capital (a capital at the top of the front edge of
a wall), with Greek shape and Greek decorations. The general shape of flat, slaying
capital is well known among Classical anta capitals, and the rolls or volutes on the side

98
are also a common feature, although more generally located at the top end of the capital.
[23]
 He gives several examples of Greek anta capitals of similar designs from the Late
Archaic period.

This type of anta capital with side volutes are considered as belonging to the Ionic order,
starting from the archaic period. They are generally characterized by various moldings
on the front, arranged in a rather flat manner in order not to protrude from the wall,
with superposed volutes on curved sides broadening upwards.

The central motif of the Pataliputra capital is the flame palmette, the first appearance of
which goes back to the floral akroteria of the Parthenon (447–432 BCE), and slightly
later at the Temple of Athena Nike, and which spread to Asia Minor in the 3rd century
BCE, and can be seen at the doorstep of India in Ai-Khanoum from around 280 BCE,
in antefix and mosaic designs.

Central "flame palmette" designs in Greek art

Anta capital at the Temple of Apollo in Didyma, front and profile. 4th century BCE.Pile capital from 
Megara Hyblaea with palmettes between volutes. 0.55 meters tall. 5th century BCE./Greek
Corinthian anta capital./A pillar, or pile, capital, positioned on a square column, Priene.

Ionic pillar capital from Priene.

99
Construction-Structure as a pillar capital

Illustration with Bharhut pillar arrangement. Left: Bharhut relief. Right: illustration with

Pataliputra capital. An actual Bharhut capital, using a similar, if more complex, arrangement, with a
central crowning capital with rosette, beads-and-reels and central palmette designs very similar to
the Pataliputra capital.

Since both sides of the Pataliputra capital are decorative (there is no blank side
corresponding to a wall abutment), it is normally not structurally an anta capital, but
rather a pile or pillar capital: the capital of an independent supporting column of square,
rectangular or possibly round section. Such capitals, if set on a square column, typically
retain the design of an anta capital, but are decorated in all directions, whereas an anta
capital is only decorated on the three sides that do not connect to the wall. If set on a
round column such as one similar to a pillar of Ashoka, an intermediary piece of round
section would be placed between the pillar and the capital, such as a lotus-shaped
bulbus capital as those seen on the Ashoka pillars. Rather similar arrangements can be
seen, for example, at the Ajanta cave. The Pataliputra capital has two holes on the top,
which would imply a mode of fixation with a structural element overhead.

According to architectural historian Dr. Christopher Tadgell, the Pataliputra capital is

similar to the capitals which are visible in the reliefs of Sanchi and Bharhut, dated to the
2nd century BCE. The Bharhut pillars are formed of a cylindrical or octagonal shaft, a
bell capital and a crowning capital of trapezoid shape crisscrossed with incisions to
achieve a decorative illusion (or a floral composition in more detailed examples), and
often ended with a volute in each top corner. To him, the main characteristic of the
Pataliputra capital would be that it has vertically arranged volutes, and clear motifs of
west-Asiatic origin.

100
Parallel with Bharhut pillar capitals

Another similar pillar arrangement from a relief in Bharhut (detail).

An actual Bharhut capital, used to support the main Bharhut gateway, and presently in
the Kolkota Indian Museum, uses a similar, if more complex arrangement, with four
joined pillars instead of one, and incumbent lions on the top, sitting around a central
crowning capital which has much similarity in design to the Pataliputra capital,
complete with central palmette design, rosettes, and bead and reel motifs.

Location in Pataliputra

101
Location of the Pataliputra capital (in red, site of Bulandi Bagh) in the ancient city of Pataliputra
and modern Patna, northwest of the main excavation site. 

102
The site where the Pataliputra capital was excavated is marked by Waddell as the top-right
corner of the area known today as Bulandi Bagh, northwest of the main excavation site.[31]

According to the reconstitution of the city of Pataliputra by Prof. Dr. Dieter Schlingloff, the
pillared hall discovered at the other excavation site of Kumhrar was located outside of the city
wall, on the banks of the former Sona river (called Erannoboas by Megasthenes). It is located
about 400 meters to the South of the portions of the wooden palissade that have been excavated,
and just north of the former banks of the Sona river. Therefore, the pillared hall could not have
been the Mauryan palace, but rather "a pleasure hall outside the city walls".

By the same reconstitution, the site of Bulandi Bagh where the Pataliputra capital was found,
straddles the old wooden city palissades, so that the Pataliputra capital was probably located in a
stone structure just inside the old city palissade, or possibly on a stone portion or a stone gate of
the palissade itself.

Later variations-Hellenistic designs in the Pillars of Ashoka

Rampurva bull capital, detail of the abacus, with two "flame palmettes" framing a lotus

surrounded by small rosette flowers.

The designs used in the Pataliputra capital are echoed by other known examples of Maurya
architecture, especially the Pillars of Ashoka. Many of these design elements can also be found
in the decoration of the animal capitals of the Pillars of Ashoka, such as the palmettes or rosette
designs. Various foreign influences have been described in the design of these capitals. The
animal on top of a lotiform capital reminds of Achaemenid column shapes. The abacus also often
seems to display a strong influence of Greek art: in the case of the Rampurva bull or
the Sankassa elephant, it is composed of honeysuckles alternated with stylized palmettes and
small rosettes, as well as rows of beads and reels.[35] A similar kind of design can be seen in the
frieze of the lost capital of the Allahabad pillar, as well as the Diamond throne built
by Ashoka in Bodh Gaya.

Evolution of the Indian load-bearing pillar capital

Evolution of the load-bearing pillar capital, down to 1st century Sanchi

103
 1. Mauryan Pataliputra capital (anta capital with flame palmette and motifs)
4th-3rd c. BCE/Sarnath capital/Sarnath, 3rd-1st c. BCE
2. Bharhut capital (lions with flame palmette and motifs)
2nd c. BCE
3. Bodh Gaya capital (lions with anta capital and central flame palmette)
1st c. BCE

Sanchi capital (elephants with riders and central flame palmette).

1st c. BCE/CE/Sanchi capital (lions with central flame palmette)/1st c. BCE/CE

Similarities have been found in the designs of the capitals of various areas of northern India from
the time of Ashoka to the time of the Satavahanas at Sanchi: particularly between the Pataliputra
capital at the Mauryan Empire capital of Pataliputra (3rd century BCE), the pillar capitals at
the Sunga Empire Buddhist complex of Bharhut (2nd century BCE), and the pillar capitals of the
Satavahanas at Sanchi (1st centuries BCE/CE).

The earliest known example in India, the Pataliputra capital (3rd century BCE) is decorated with
rows of repeating rosettes, ovolos and bead and reel mouldings, wave-like scrolls and
side volutes with central rosettes, around a prominent central flame palmette, which is the main
104
motif. These are quite similar to Classical Greek designs, and the capital has been described as
quasi-Ionic. Greek influence, as well as Persian Achaemenid influence have been suggested.

The Sarnath capital is a pillar capital discovered in the archaeological excavations at the

ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath. The pillar displays Ionic volutes and palmettes. It has been
variously dated from the 3rd century BCE during the Mauryan Empire period, to the 1st century
BCE, during the Sunga Empire period. One of the faces shows a galopping horse carrying a
rider, while the other face shows an elephant and its mahaut.

The pillar capital in Bharhut, dated to the 2nd century BCE during the Sunga Empire period, also
incorporates many of these characteristics, with a central anta capital with many rosettes, beads-
and-reels, as well as a central palmette design. Importantly, recumbent animals (lions, symbols
of Buddhism) were added, in the style of the Pillars of Ashoka.

The Sanchi pillar capital is keeping the general design, seen at Bharhut a century earlier, of
recumbent lions grouped around a central square-section post, with the central design of a flame
palmette, which started with the Pataliputra capital. However the design of the central post is
now simpler, with the flame palmette taking all the available room. Elephants were later used to
adorn the pillar capitals (still with the central palmette design), and lastly, Yakshas (here the
palmette design disappears).

Ionic capitals

Sarnath capital.

Another capitals in India has been identified as having the same compositional structure as the
Pataliputra capital, the Sarnath capital. It is from Sarnath, at a distance of 250 km from
Pataliputra. This other capital is also said to be from the Mauryan period. It is, together with the
Pataliputra capital, considered as "stone brackets or capitals suggestive of the Ionic order".

This capital is smaller in size however, at 33 cm high, and 63 cm wide when complete. A similar
capital with an elephant as the central motif has also been found in Sarnath.

105
 pillar capital in Bharhut, dated to the 2nd century BCE during the Sunga Empire period, is an
amalgam of the lions of the Pillars of Ashoka and a central anta capital with many Hellenistic
elements (rosettes, beads-and-reels), as well as a central palmette design similar to that of the
Pataliputra capital. Monumental capitals with a central palmette design can still be found several
centuries later in examples such as the Mathura lion capital (1st century CE).

A later capital found in Mathura dating to the 2nd or 3rd century (Kushan period) displays a
central palmettes with side volutes in a style described as "Ionic", in the same kind of
composition as the Pataliputra capital but with a coarser rendering. (photograph).

Indo-Corinthian capitals

Left image: Classical Greek Corinthian anta capital.

Right image: An Indo-Corinthian capital with a palmette and the Buddha at its centre, 3-4th
century, Gandhara.

The Corinthian order later became overwhelmingly popular in the Greco-Buddhist

art of Gandhara, during the first centuries of our era. Various designs involving central palmettes
with volutes are closer to the later Greek Corinthian anta or pilaster capital. Many such examples
of Indo-Corinthian capitals can be found in the art of Gandhara.

106
Later Indian pillars-Implications

Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription ( Greek and Aramaic) by king Ashoka,

from Kandahar. Kabul Museum.Fa-Hien at the ruins of Ashoka's palace in Pataliputra (artist
impression).

The existence of such an Hellenistic capital so far east in the capital of the Maurya
Empire suggests at the very least the presence of a Greek or Greek-inspired stone structure in the
city. Although Pataliputra was originally built of wood, various accounts describe Ashoka as a
remarkable builder of stone buildings, and he is known for certain to have built many stone
pillars.[51][52] Ashoka is often credited with the beginning of stone architecture in India, possibly
following the introduction of stone-building techniques by the Greeks after Alexander the
Great[53] (a Greek ambassador named Dionysius is reported to have been at the court of Ashoka,
sent by Ptolemy II Philadelphus. Before Ashoka's time, buildings were probably built in non-
permanent material, such as wood, bamboo or thatch. Ashoka may have rebuilt his palace
in Pataliputra by replacing wooden material by stone, and may also have used the help of foreign
craftmen.

The 4th century Chinese pilgrim Fa-Hien also commented admiringly on the remains of the
palace of Ashoka in Pataliputra:

It was the work not of men but of spirits which piled up the stones, reared the walls and gates,
and executed elegant carvings and in-laid sculptured works in a way which no human hand of
this world could accomplish.

The influence of Greek art is also well attested in some of the Pillars of Ashoka, such as
the Rampurva capital with its Hellenistic floral scrolls. It is also known that Ashoka redacted
some of his stone edicts in excellent Greek in Kandahar, on the doorstep to the

107
neighboring Seleucid Empire and Greco-Bactrian kingdom: the Kandahar Bilingual Rock
Inscription and the Kandahar Greek Edict of Ashoka.

The presence in Pataliputra of Greek diplomats such as Megasthenes is well known, but the
capital raises the possibility of simultaneous artistic influence and even the possibility that
foreign artists were present in the capital. According to Boardman, such foreign influence on
India was important, just as many other Old World empires have been influenced by foreign
cultures as well:

The visual experience of many Ashokan and later city dwellers in India was considerably
conditioned by foreign arts, translated to an Indian environment, just as the archaic Greek had
been by the Syrian, the Roman by the Greek, and the Persian by the arts of their whole empire.

108
 PART II
The IMPACT of

 Ἀλέξανδρος (Aléxandros)

109
 CHAPTER 6
Alexander the Great

Alexander the Great was famous for his military power and is a legendary figure in history.
Much of what we know about Alexander the Great is unreliable and steeped in myth; a lot of
these mythologies were used by Alexander’s successors.

In the Kingdom of Thrace, during the reign of Lysimachus—a successor of Alexander the Great
who lived from 361 BCE to 281 BCE—an interesting coin was issued. This coin, which featured
the head of Alexander the Great with ram’s horns on either side of his crown, was issued in the
ancient city of Parium, in the northwestern region of modern-day Turkey. The horns were the
symbol of the Egyptian god Amun—or Zeus, who is often conflated with Amun—from whom
Alexander claimed descent. Flanked with these godlike horns, Alexander attained the status of a

110
Silver coins; left, front,, head of Alexander the Great wearing the horns of Zeus Ammon; right, seated Athena.

Diety. Surprisingly, Alexander himself did not issue coins with his own image; his successors
did. Why would his successors refer back to their deceased predecessor as they established new
empires? The reason is that Alexander the Great was—and still is—a powerful symbol of power,
military genius, and conquest, whether or not this description of him is historically accurate. His
image, name, and legendary power remained resonant—and politically visible—long after his
death.
We have ancient narratives of Alexander’s life, written between 30 BCE and the third century
CE—hundreds of years after his death. The earliest known account is by the Greek historian
Diodorus, but we also have histories written by other historians, including Roman historians;
these writers are called the Alexander historians. They interpreted written accounts from shortly
after Alexander’s death, penned by those who fought alongside Alexander on his campaigns.

It’s unclear how reliable these narratives are, however, as they are mingled with the propaganda
of various Greek and Roman states, who were ruled by emperors that used Alexander’s image to
cement their own power. In order to get a fuller picture, historians interpret sources from other
regions of Alexander the Great’s empire, like Babylon. On one Babylonian tablet, for example,
Alexander’s death is recorded with an inscription in Akkadian that reads “on the 29th day, the
king died.”

111
Clay tablet; fragment of a Babylonian astronomical diary in which astronomical and meteorological phenomena observed during
the year 323-322 BC are recorded; in month two, mention is made of the death on the 29th day of the lunar month of Alexander
the Great, who is referred to simply as "the king" Clay tablet; fragment of a Babylonian astronomical diary in
which astronomical and meteorological phenomena observed during the year 323-322 BC are
recorded; in month two, mention is made of the death on the 29th day of the lunar month of
Alexander the Great, who is referred to simply as "the king". Image credit: British Museum
The fact that we can gather evidence about Alexander the Great’s life and military campaigns
from places so far away from one another paints a picture of an expansive empire. We know that
Alexander was a powerful military leader. He led important campaigns and expanded his empire
from Greece to Persia, Babylon, Egypt and beyond, taking advantage of local political contexts
as he conquered new territory.
It’s also important to remember that history is not comprised simply of the stories of great men.
Alexander the Great’s empire developed not only because of his military prowess but also
because of his father’s success, which took advantage of an unstable political context in Greece.
Alexander’s own conquests happened in very specific political contexts as well, which facilitated
his ability to expand his empire rapidly and with little resistance.
Ultimately, Alexander’s reign was very short—only about a decade. Perhaps the greatest effect
of his empire was the spread of Greek culture through the successor empires that long outlasted
Alexander’s rule.

Mosaic of Alexander the Great, created for the owner of the House of the Faun in Pompeii; unknown artist; 100 BCE;
National Archaeological Museum, Naples.

112
Mosaic of Alexander the Great, created for the owner of the House of the Faun in Pompeii;
unknown artist; 100 BCE; National Archaeological Museum, Naples.
The rise of an empire
After the Peloponnesian war, the Greek poleis, or city-states, were divided and had exhausted
many of their resources. This set the stage for a takeover by their northern neighbors, the
Macedonians, whose leaders were gaining strength and consolidating their power. Macedonia
was generally regarded by the Greeks as a backwards land, good for little more than timber and
pasture for sheep. The Macedonians spoke a Greek dialect and, unlike the separate Greek city-
states, were ruled by a monarchy and many semi-autonomous clans. One of the most powerful
monarchs was Phillip II of Macedon.

Although he is often only remembered for being the father of Alexander the Great, Philip II of
Macedon—who reigned from 359 to 336 BCE—was an accomplished king and military
commander in his own right. His accomplishments set the stage for his son’s victory over Darius
III and the conquest of Persia. Philip inherited a weak, underdeveloped society with an
ineffective, undisciplined army and molded them into an efficient military force that eventually
subdued the territories around Macedonia and subjugated most of Greece. He used bribery,
warfare, and threats to secure his kingdom. Without his insight and determination, history would
never have heard of Alexander.

Alexander’s reign
In 336 BCE, after Philip was killed, Alexander was quickly crowned as the king. After subduing
any serious threats to his rule, and with the Greek city-states now firmly under Macedonian rule
following Charonea, Alexander embarked on the great campaign his father had been planning:
the conquest of the mighty Persian Empire.

Bust of Philip II of Macedon.

113
Alexander was able to take advantage of political instability in Persia, and he expanded beyond
Persia into Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Bactria. Alexander did not, however,
drastically challenge existing administrative systems. Rather, he adapted them for his purposes.
Alexander was not interested in imposing his own ideas of truth, religion, or behavior upon
conquered populations as long as they willingly kept the supply lines open to feed and equip his
troops, which was an important aspect of his ability to rule vast areas. This does not mean,
however, that he did not ruthlessly suppress uprisings or hesitate to viciously annihilate those
who opposed him.

114
Over the course of his conquests, Alexander founded some 20 cities that bore his name, most of
them east of the Tigris River. The first, and greatest, was Alexandria in Egypt, which would
become an important Mediterranean urban center. The cities' locations reflected trade routes as
well as defensive positions. At first, the cities must have been inhospitable and little more than
defensive garrisons. Following Alexander's death, many Greeks who had settled in these cities
tried to return to Greece. However, a century or so after Alexander's death, many of these
communities were still thriving and featured elaborate public buildings and substantial
populations that included both Greek and local peoples.
Alexander’s cities were most likely intended to be administrative headquarters for his empire,
primarily settled by Greeks, many of whom had served in Alexander’s military campaigns. The
purpose of these administrative centers was to control the newly conquered subject populations.
This purpose was not realized during Alexander’s life, however. Alexander attempted to create a
unified ruling class in conquered territories like Persia, often using marriage ties to intermingle
the conquered with conquerors. He also adopted elements of the Persian court culture,
implementing his own version of their royal robes and imitating some court ceremonies. Many
Macedonians resented these policies, believing hybridization of Greek and foreign cultures to be
irreverent. Alexander’s attempts at unification also extended to his army. He placed Persian
soldiers, some of who had been trained in the Macedonian style, within Macedonian ranks,
solving chronic manpower problems.In 327 BCE, with the Persian Empire firmly under his
control, Alexander turned his attention to India. He had some victories before reaching the
Ganges river, which he intended to cross in order to conquer more of India. However, his
exhausted troops mutinied and refused to go farther. Shortly thereafter, as the troops headed back
home, Alexander died in 323 BCE, likely due to disease.
Alexander's death was so sudden that when reports of his death reached Greece, they were not
immediately believed. Alexander had no obvious or legitimate heir because his son, Alexander
IV, was born after Alexander's death. https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-
history/ancient-medieval/alexander-the-great/a/alexander-the-great

115
A map showing the route that Alexander the Great took to conquer Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, and Bactria. Image
credit: US Military Academy, uploaded by Jan van der Crabben, on December 20, 2011, public domain

116
 CHAPTER 7
CAMPAIGNS of ALEXANDER

The Indian subcontinent campaign of Alexander the Great began in 326 BC. After

conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king Alexander, launched a
campaign into the Indian subcontinent in present-day Pakistan, part of which formed the
easternmost territories of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the
Indus Valley (late 6th century BC).
After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city
of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab, where he engaged in battle against the regional
king Porus, whom Alexander defeated in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, but he was so
impressed by the demeanor with which the king carried himself that he allowed Porus to
continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap. Although victorious, the Battle of the Hydaspes
was possibly also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians.
Alexander's march east put him in confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Magadha. According
to the Greek sources, the Nanda army was supposedly five times larger than the Macedonian
army. His army, exhausted, homesick, and anxious by the prospects of having to further face
large Indian armies throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas
River) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after a meeting with his officer, Coenus, and
after hearing about the lament of his soldiers, eventually relented being convinced that it was
better to return. This caused Alexander to turn south, advancing through southern Punjab
and Sindh, along the way conquering more tribes along the lower Indus River, before finally
turning westward.
Alexander died in Babylon on 10 or 11 June 323 BC. In c. 322 BC, one year after Alexander's
death, Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha founded the Maurya Empire in India.
Of those who accompanied Alexander to India, Aristobulus, Onesicritus, and Nearchus wrote
about the Indian campaign. The only surviving contemporary account of Alexander's Indian
campaign is a report of the voyage of the naval commander Nearchus who was tasked with
exploring the coast between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. This report is preserved
in Arrian's Anabasis (c. AD 150). Arrian provides a detailed account of Alexander's campaigns,
based on the writings of Alexander's companions and courtiers.
Arrian's account is supplemented by the writings of other authors, whose works are also based on
the accounts of Alexander's companions: these authors include Diodorus (c. 21 BC), Strabo (c.
AD 23), and Plutarch (c. AD 119).

117
Socio-political conditions in India Alexander's incursion into India was limited to the Indus
River basin area, which was divided among several small states. These states appear to have
been based on dominance of particular tribes, as the Greek writers mention tribes such as
the Malloi as well as kings whose name seem to be tribal designations (such as Porus of
the Puru tribe). The Achaemenid Empire of Persia had held suzerainty over the Indus valley
in the previous decades, but there was no trace of Achaemenid rule beyond the Indus river when
Alexander's army arrived in the region. Strabo, sourcing his information from the earlier
writer Eratosthenes, states that the Achaemenid king controlled the area to the west of the
Indus.[  This area (including the Kapisa-Gandhara region) was probably the territory of the
Indians, who according to the Greek accounts, fought alongside their overlord Darius III at
the Battle of Gaugamela.
Greek writings as well archaeological excavations indicate the existence of an urban economy
dependent on agriculture and trade in the Indus basin. The Greeks mention the existence of cities
and fortified towns such as Taxila. Arrian mentions that after defeating Porus, Alexander
marched eastwards towards the Chenab River, and captured 37 towns: the smallest of these
towns had 5,000 or more inhabitants. In the Swat valley, Alexander is said to have seized
230,000 oxen (possibly Zebu), intending to send them to Macedonia for ploughing land.
[10]
 Aristobulus saw rice being grown in paddy fields, Onesicritus reported the existence of a crop
called bosmoran (possibly the pearl millet), and Nearchus wrote of "honey-yielding reeds"
(presumably the sugarcane). Nearchus also mentions that Indians wore clothes made
of cotton. Rock salt was extracted from the Salt Range, and supplied to other parts of India.
[15]
 Some primitive communities existed in the forest, desert, and coastal regions of the
subcontinent. For example, Nearchus mentions that people around the Tomeros river (Hingol)
subsisted on fishing, and used stone tools instead of iron ones
The Greek writers mention the priestly class of Brahmanas (as "Brachmanes"), who are
described as teachers of Indian philosophy. They do not refer to the existence of any religious
temples or idols in India, although such references commonly occur in their descriptions of
Alexander's campaigns in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran. Greek accounts mention naked ascetics
called gymnosophists. A philosopher named Calanus (probably a Greek transcription of the
Indian name "Kalyana") accompanied Alexander to Persepolis, where he committed suicide on a
public funeral pyre: he was probably a Jain or an Ajivika monk. Curiously, there is no reference
to Buddhism in the Greek accounts.
Other than their mention of the Brahmanas, the Greek narratives about Alexander's invasion do
not directly mention the caste system. Some Brahmanas acted as advisors to local princes:
Alexander had groups of Brahmanas hanged in present-day Sindh for instigating the rulers
Musicanus and Sambus to revolt against him. The Greek writings attest the existence of slavery
in at least two places: Onesicritus describes slavery in the territory ruled by Musicanus, and
Aristobulus mentions poor people selling their daughters publicly in Taxila. Aristobulus also
observed Sati, the practice of widows immolating themselves on their husbands' pyre, at Taxila.
The practice of exposing dead bodies to vultures, similar to the Magian practice of Tower of
Silence, was also prevalent in Taxila.
Nearchus mentions that Indians wrote letters on closely woven cloth; it is possible that this is a
reference to a precursor of the Kharoshthi script, which may have developed from the Aramaic
alphabet during the Achaemenid rule. While describing a tribe on the coast of present-
day Balochistan, Nearchus mentions that they were different from Indians in "their language and
118
customs", which implies that he associated a particular language with the Indians. This does not
mean that the Indians spoke a single language: the language that Nearchus associated with India
might have been a lingua franca used for official and commercial purposes. This lingua franca
was most probably the Gandhari Prakrit, as the Greek names (e.g. "Taxila" and "Sandrokottus")
for Indian people and places seem to be derived from this language (e.g. "Takhasila" and
"Chandagutta") rather than Sanskrit (e.g. "Takshashila" and "Chandragupta").
Nearchus attests the existence of medical science in India: he mentions that when the Greek
physicians failed to provide remedies for snake-bites to Alexander, the king gathered Indian
healers who were also able to cure other diseases and painful conditions. The Greek accounts do
not mention any other sciences of contemporary India.
Alexander's preparation

Ancient Indian warriors (from left to right: Sattagydian, Gandharan, Hindush) circa 480

BC. Naqsh-e Rostam reliefs of Xerxes I.

After the death of Spitamenes and his marriage to Roxana (Raoxshna in Old Iranian) in 326 BC
to cement his relations with his new Central Asian satrapies, Alexander was finally free to turn
his attention to India. For Alexander, the invasion of India was a natural consequence of his
subjugation of the Achaemenid Empire, as the areas of the Indus valley had long been under
Achaemenid control, since the Achaemenid conquest of the Indus Valley circa 515 BC.

119
[19]
 Alexander was only taking possession of territories which he had obtained from the
Achaemenids, and now considered rightfully his own.
Alexander invited all the chieftains of the former satrapy of Gandhara, to come to him and
submit to his authority. Ambhi (Greek: Omphis), ruler of Taxila, whose kingdom extended from
the Indus to the Jhelum (Greek: Hydaspes), complied. At the end of the spring of 327 BC,
Alexander started on his Indian expedition leaving Amyntas behind with 3,500 horse and 10,000
foot soldiers to hold the land of the Bactrians.
Cophen Campaign: Alexander personally took command of the shield-bearing guards, foot-
companions, archers, Agrianians, and horse-javelin-men and led them against the clans –
the Aspasioi of Kunar valleys, the Guraeans of the Guraeus (Panjkora) valley, and the Assakenoi
of the Swat and Buner valleys.
Alexander faced resistance from Hastin (or Astes), chief of the Ilastinayana (called the Astakenoi
or Astanenoi) tribe, whose capital was Pushkalavati or Peukelaotis. [21] He later defeated
Asvayanas and Asvakayanas and captured their 40,000 men and 230,000 oxen. Asvakayanas of
Massaga fought him under the command of their queen, Cleophis, with an army of 30,000
cavalry, 38,000 infantry, 30 elephants, and 7,000 mercenaries. Other regions that fought
Alexander were Abhisara, Aornos, Bazira, and Ora or Dyrta.
A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which Alexander himself was
wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them
were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry,
and 30 elephants. They had fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to the invader in
many of their strongholds such as the cities of Ora, Bazira, and Massaga. The fort of Massaga
could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself was
wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme
command of the army went to his old mother, Cleophis, who also stood determined to defend her
motherland to the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of
the military also brought the entire population of women of the locality into the
fighting. Alexander was only able to reduce Massaga by resorting to political strategem and
actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire
population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles".A similar slaughter then
followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi.

Statute in Macedonia

120
Siege of Aornos

The Aornos is located to the north of Taxila, Pakistan.

In the aftermath of general slaughter and arson committed by Alexander at Massaga and Ora,

numerous Assakenians fled to a high fortress called Aornos (not definitely identified but
somewhere between Shangla, in Swat, and the Kohistan region, both in northern Pakistan).
Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort. The Siege of
Aornos was Alexander's last siege, "the climax to Alexander's career as the greatest besieger in
history", according to Robin Lane Fox. The siege took place in April 326 BC. It presented the
last threat to Alexander's supply line, which stretched, dangerously vulnerable, over the Hindu
Kush back to Balkh, though Arrian credits Alexander's heroic desire to outdo his
kinsman Heracles, who allegedly had proved unable to take the place Pir-Sar, which the Greeks
called Aornis. The site lies north of Attock in what is now the Punjab, Pakistan, on a strongly
reinforced mountain spur above the narrow gorges in a bend of the upper Indus. Neighboring
tribesmen who surrendered to Alexander offered to lead him to the best point of access.
At the vulnerable north side leading to the fort, Alexander and his catapults were stopped by a
deep ravine. To bring the siege engines within reach, an earthwork mound was constructed to
bridge the ravine. A low hill connected to the nearest tip of Pir-Sar was soon within reach and
taken. Alexander's troops were at first repelled by boulders rolled down from above. Three days
of drumbeats marked the defenders' celebration of the initial repulse, followed by a surprise
retreat. Hauling himself up the last rockface on a rope, Alexander cleared the summit, slaying

121
some fugitives – inflated by Arrian to a massacre – and erected altars to Athena Nike, Athena of
Victory, traces of which were identified by Stein. Sisikottos, or Saśigupta, who had helped
Alexander in this campaign, was made the governor of Aornos.
After reducing Aornos, Alexander crossed the Indus to begin campaigning in the Punjab region.
Battle of the Hydaspes River- PUNJAB

A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting Alexander and Porus (Puru) during the Battle of the
Hydaspes.

The Battle of the Hydaspes was fought in 326 BC between Alexander the Great and King

Porus of the Paurava kingdom on the banks of the Jhelum River (known to the Greeks as
Hydaspes) in the Punjab region of the Indian subcontinent (modern-day Punjab, Pakistan). The
battle resulted in a Greek victory and the surrender of Porus.[a] Large areas of the Punjab between
the Hydaspes (Jhelum) and Hyphasis (Beas) rivers were absorbed into the Alexandrian Empire,
and Porus was reinstated as a subordinate ruler.
Alexander's decision to cross the monsoon-swollen river despite close Indian surveillance, in
order to catch Porus's army in the flank, has been referred to as one of his
"masterpieces". Although victorious, it was also the most costly battle fought by the
Macedonians. The resistance put up by King Porus and his men won the respect of Alexander,
who asked Porus to become one of his satraps.
The battle is historically significant for opening up the Indian subcontinent to Ancient
Greek political (Seleucid, Greco-Bactrian, Indo-Greek) and cultural influences (Greco-Buddhist
art), which continued to have an impact for many centuries.

122
Location: The battle took place on the east bank of the Hydaspes River (now called the Jhelum
River, a tributary of the Indus River) in what is now the Punjab Province of Pakistan. Alexander
later founded the city of Nicaea on the site; this city has yet to be discovered. [23] Any attempt to
find the ancient battle site is complicated by considerable changes to the landscape over time.
[23]
 For the moment, the most plausible location is just south of the city of Jhelum, where the
ancient main road crossed the river and where a Buddhist source mentions a city that may be
Nicaea. The identification of the battle site near modern Jalalpur/Haranpur is certainly erroneous,
as the river (in ancient times) meandered far from these cities.
Background : fter Alexander defeated the last of the Achaemenid Empire's forces
under Bessus and Spitamenes in 328 BC, he began a new campaign to further extend his empire
towards India in 327 BC. After fortifying Bactria with 10,000 men, Alexander commenced his
invasion of India through the Khyber Pass. Whilst possessing a much larger army, at the battle,
an estimated 40,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry crossed the river in time to engage the enemy.
[6]
 During this battle, Alexander suffered heavy losses compared to his earlier victories.
The primary Greek column entered the Khyber Pass, but a smaller force under the personal
command of Alexander went through the northern route, taking the fortress of Aornos (modern-
day Pir-Sar) along the way—a place of mythological significance to the Greeks as, according to
legend, Herakles had failed to occupy it when he campaigned in India. Here, the Hindu clans
of Hindu Kush gave Alexander's army the toughest opposition they had faced, but Alexander still
emerged victorious, despite being outnumbered, depending on the source, somewhere between
3:1 and 5:1.
In early spring of the next year, Alexander formed an alliance with Taxiles (also known as
Ambhi Kumar), the King of Taxila. They combined their forces against Taxiles's neighbour, the
King of Hydaspes, King Porus, who had chosen to spurn Alexander's command for him to
surrender and was preparing for war.
Alexander had to subdue King Porus in order to keep marching east.[ To leave such a strong
opponent at his flanks would have endangered any further exploits. Alexander could not afford
to show any weakness if he wanted to keep the loyalty of the already subdued Indian princes.
Porus had to defend his kingdom and chose the perfect spot to check Alexander's advance.
Although he lost the battle, he became the most successful recorded opponent of Alexander.
According to historian Peter Green, Porus's performance in the battle out-classed both Memnon
of Rhodes and Spitamenes.

Alexander's crossing of the Hydaspes River./Porus awaits the attack of Alexander July 326 BC.

123
Alexander fixed his camp in the vicinity of the town of Jhelum on the right banks of the river.
[27]
 In the spring of 326 BC, Porus drew up on the south bank of the Jhelum River to repel any
crossing.[27] The Jhelum River was deep and fast enough that any attempt at a crossing would
probably doom the attacking force. Alexander knew that a direct approach had little chance of
success and tried to find alternative fords. He moved his mounted troops up and down the river
bank each night while Porus shadowed him.
Eventually, Alexander found and used a suitable crossing, about 27 km (17 mi) upstream of his
camp. This was where an uninhabited, wood-covered island divided the river. While leading his
troops across, he landed on the island, while his troops waded across. [29] His plan was a
classic pincer manoeuvre. He would eventually attack Indian cavalry flanking both sides of
Porus's main force from the right. He left his general, Craterus, behind with most of the army, to
make sure Porus would not find out about his crossing, while he crossed the river upstream with
a strong contingent, consisting, according to the 2nd century AD Greek historian Arrian, of 6,000
on foot and 5,000 on horseback, though it was probably larger. Craterus was ordered to either
ford the river and attack if Porus faced Alexander with all his troops or to hold his position if
Porus faced Alexander with only part of his army. ] The other forces commanded
by Meleager, Attalus, and Gorgias were ordered to cross the river in various places during the
manoeuvre.
Alexander's crossing of the Hydaspes in the face of Indian forces on the opposite bank was a
notable achievement. The complex preparations for the crossing were accomplished with the use
of numerous feints and other forms of deception. Porus was kept continuously on the move until
he decided it was a bluff and relaxed. On every visit to the site of the crossing, Alexander made a
detour inland to maintain the secrecy of the plan. It was also reported that there was an
Alexander look-alike who held sway in a mock royal tent near the base.
Alexander quietly moved his part of the army upstream and then traversed the river in utmost
secrecy, using ‘skin floats filled with hay’ as well as ‘smaller vessels cut in half, the thirty oared
galleys into three’.[30] Furthermore, Craterus engaged in frequent feints suggesting that he may
cross the river. As a result, Porus, 'no longer expecting a sudden attempt under cover of darkness,
was lulled into a sense of security.' Alexander mistakenly landed on an island, but soon crossed
to the other side. Porus perceived his opponent's manoeuvre and sent a small cavalry and chariot
force under his son, also named Porus, to fight them off, hoping that he would be able to prevent
his crossing. By chance a storm occurred that night which drowned out the sounds of the
crossing.
Having crossed the river, Alexander advanced towards the location of Porus's camp with all his
horsemen and foot archers, leaving his phalanx to follow up behind. Upon meeting with young
Porus's force, his horse archers showered the latter with arrows, while his heavy cavalry
immediately charged without forming into line of battle. Young Porus also faced an unexpected
disadvantage: his chariots were immobilized by the mud near the shore of the river. [18] His small
force was completely routed by Alexander's outnumbering cavalry, with he himself among the
dead.[33] As news reached the elder Porus, he understood that Alexander had crossed to his side
of the river and hastened to face him with the best part of his army, leaving behind a small
detachment to disrupt the landing of Craterus's force should he attempt to cross the river.

124
 BATTLE

Combined attack of cavalry and infantry./An imagined Indian war elephant against Alexander's army, by
Johannes van den Avele

Eventually the two forces met and arrayed themselves for the battle. The Indians were poised
with cavalry on both flanks, fronted by their chariots, while their center comprising infantry
with war elephants stationed every fifty feet in front of them, to deter the Macedonian cavalry.
The Indian war elephants were heavily armoured and had castle-like howdahs on their back
carrying a trio of archers and javelin men. The Pauravan soldiers were dressed in flamboyantly
hued outfits with steel helmets, bright scarves and baldrics, and wielded axes, lances and maces.
Porus, eschewing the usual tradition of Indian kings fighting from a chariot, was mounted atop
his tallest war elephant. This animal in particular was not equipped with a howdah, as the king
was clad in chain mail armour and hence had no need of the additional protection of a tower.
Alexander, noticing that Porus's disposition was strongest in the center, decided to attack with
his cavalry first on the flanks, having his phalanx hold back until the Indian cavalry had been
neutralized.[35] The Macedonian heavy infantry phalanx were outnumbered 1:5 against the Indian
infantry. However the latter were at significant disadvantage in close combat due to their lack of
armour and the long reach of their opponent's sarissas. Even their heavy armour-piercing bows
were inaccurate because of the slippery ground, though the muddy ground was also an advantage
to the lighter-armored Indians.

125
Alexander commenced the battle by sending his Dahae horse archers to harass the Indian right-
wing cavalry. His armoured Companion Cavalry was sent to attack their outnumbered Indian
counterparts on the left wing, with Alexander himself leading the charge as was his habit. The
rest of the Indian cavalry galloped to the aid of their hard-pressed kinsmen from the right wing,
but Coenus's squadrons promptly followed their movement and attacked them from the rear. The
Indian horsemen tried to form a double phalanx to face both attacks, but the necessary
complicated manoeuvres brought even more confusion into their ranks, making it easier for the
Macedonian cavalry to defeat them. The Indian cavalry were thus routed, and fled to the safety
of their elephants.
The war elephants now advanced against the Macedonian cavalry, only to be confronted by the
Macedonian phalanx. The powerful beasts caused heavy losses among the Macedonian foot,
impaling many men with their steel-clad tusks and heaving some of them into the air before
pulverizing them, and trampling and disorganizing their dense lines. Nevertheless, the
Macedonian infantry resisted the attack bravely, with light infantry who tossed javelins at the
elephants' mahouts and eyes while the heavy infantry attempted to hamstring the elephants with
the two-sided axes and kopisMeanwhile, the Indian horsemen attempted another sally, only to be
repulsed once again by Alexander's cavalry squadrons, who had all massed together. The
elephants were eventually repulsed and fled back to their own lines. Many of their mahouts had
been struck down by Macedonian missiles before they could kill their panicked mounts with
poisoned rods, and hence the maddened animals wrought enormous havoc, trampling many of
their own infantry and cavalry to death. Finally, the Macedonian pezhetairoi locked their shields
and advanced upon the confused enemy mass, while the Macedonian cavalry charged from the
rear in a classic "hammer and anvil" manoeuvre, putting the entire Paurava army to
rout. Meanwhile, Craterus and his force in the base camp had succeeded in crossing the river,
and arriving just at the right moment proceed to conduct a thorough pursuit on the fleeing
Indians.
Throughout the battle, Alexander is said to have observed with growing admiration the valour of
Porus, and understood that Porus intended to die in combat rather than be captured. Hoping to
save the life of such a competent leader and warrior, Alexander commanded Taxiles to summon
Porus for surrender. However, Porus became enraged on the very sight of his nemesis and tossed
a spear at him in fury without bothering to listen to his proposal. Porus's aggressive response
forced Taxiles to take flight on his steed. In a similar manner, many other messengers dispatched
by the determined Alexander were spurned until at last Meroes, a personal friend of Porus,
convinced him to listen to Alexander's message. Overpowered by thirst, the weary Porus finally
dismounted his war elephant and demanded water. After being refreshed, he allowed himself to
be taken to Alexander. On hearing that the Indian King was approaching, Alexander himself rode
out to meet him and the famous surrender meeting took place.
According to Arrian, Macedonian losses amounted to 80 foot soldiers, ten horse archers, twenty
of the Companions and 200 other horsemen. However the military historian J.F.C. Fuller saw
Diodorus's casualty figures of 1,000 men killed as more realistic. This was certainly a high figure
for the victorious army, and more than the Macedonian losses at Gaugamela, yet not improbable
considering the partial success of the Indian war elephants.[43] Indian losses amounted to 23,000
according to Arrian, 12,000 dead and over 9,000 men captured according to Diodorus. The last
two numbers are remarkably close, so it might be assumed that Arrian added any prisoners to the
total Indian casualties. Among the Indian leadership, two sons of Porus and his relative and ally

126
Spitakes were killed during the battle, as well as most of his chieftains. [41] Around 80 elephants
were captured alive. Alexander also acquired an additional 70 war elephants due to the late
arrival of reinforcements called for by King Porus after the battle was already over, who readily
surrendered and offered these beasts as a tribute.
Aftermath and Legacy :

A painting by Charles Le Brun depicting Alexander and Porus during the Battle of the Hydaspes.

When asked by Alexander how he wished to be treated, Porus replied "Treat me as a king would
treat another king".[49] Impressed, Alexander indeed treated him like a king, allowing him to
retain his lands. Following the battle, Alexander founded two cities in this region, one at the spot
of the battle called Nicaea (Greek for Victory) in commemoration of his success and one on the
other side of the Hydaspes called Alexandria Bucephalus, to honour his faithful steed, which
died soon after this battle.
In 326 BC, the army of Alexander approached the boundaries of the Nanda Empire. His army,
exhausted from the continuous campaigning and concerned at the prospect of facing yet another
gigantic Indian army, demanded that they should return to the west. This happened at
the Hyphasis (modern Beas). Historians do not consider that this action by Alexander's troops
represented a mutiny but called it an increase in military unrest amongst the troops, which forced
Alexander to finally give in. Instead of immediately turning back, however, he ordered the army
to march south, along the Indus, securing the banks of the river as the borders of his empire.

127
Defeat of Porus by the Macedonians.
The main reasons for the Pauravans' defeat were Alexander's use of tactics, and the Macedonians'
superior discipline and technology. The Pauravans used chariots which were inferior to the
Greek's cavalry and phalanx. They did not have a well supported military infrastructure or
a standing army. The Pauravan infantry and cavalry were poorly armoured, lacking in metal
armour, and their short swords were no match against the long spears of the Macedonians. Porus
himself failed to take the initiative, mainly trying to counter his opponent's moves. Greek
historians agree that Porus fought bravely until the end.
During the later rule of the Maurya Empire, tactician Kautilya took the Battle of the Hydaspes as
a lesson and highlighted the need for military training before battle. The first Mauryan
emperor, Chandragupta, maintained a standing army. The chariot corps played a marginal role in
Mauryan military infrastructure.[

128
"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great, minted in Babylon c. 322 BC, following his campaigns in the Indian
subcontinent. Obverse: Alexander being crowned by Nike. Reverse: Alexander attacking king Porus on his elephant.
Silver. British Museum.

The force was easily routed, and according to Arrian, Porus' son was killed. Porus now saw that
the crossing force was larger than he had expected, and decided to face it with the bulk of his
army. Porus's army were poised with cavalry on both flanks, the war elephants in front, and
infantry behind the elephants. These war elephants presented an especially difficult situation for
Alexander, as they scared the Macedonian horses.
Alexander started the battle by sending horse archers to shower the Porus's left cavalry wing, and
then used his cavalry to destroy Porus's cavalry. Meanwhile, the Macedonian phalanxes had
crossed the river to engage the charge of the war elephants. The Macedonians eventually
surrounded Porus's force.
Diodorus wrote about the battle tactics of war elephants:
Upon this the elephants, applying to good use their prodigious size and strength, killed some of
the enemy by trampling under their feet, and crushing their armour and their bones, while upon
other they inflicted a terrible death, for they first lifted them aloft with their trunks, which they
twisted round their bodies and then dashed them down with great violence to the ground. Many
others they deprived in a moment of life by goring them through and through with their tusks.
The fighting style of Porus' soldiers was described in detail by Arrian:
The foot soldiers carry a bow made of equal length with the man who bears it. This they rest
upon the ground, and pressing against it with their left foot thus discharges the arrow, having
drawn the string far backwards for the shaft they use is little short for three yards long, and
there is nothing can resist an Indian archer's shot, neither shield nor breast plate, nor any
stronger defence if such there be.
According to Curtius Quintus, Alexander towards the end of the day sent a few ambassadors to
Porus:
Alexander, anxious to save the life of this great and gallant soldier, sent Texile the Indian to him (to
Porus). Texile rode up as near as he dared and requested him to stop his elephant and hear what message
Alexander sent him, escape was no longer possible. But Texiles was an old enemy of the Indian King, and
Porus turned his elephant and drove at him, to kill him with his lance; and he might indeed have killed
him, if he had not spurred his horse out of the way in the nick of the time. Alexander, however, far from

129
 resenting this treatment of his messenger, sent a number of others, last of whom was Indian named
Meroes, a man he had been told had long been Porus' friend.
According to Plutarch this was one of Alexander's hardest battles:
The combat then was of a more mixed kind; but maintained with such obstinacy, that it was not
decided till the eighth hour of the day.
Plutarch also wrote that the bitter fighting of the Hydaspes made Alexander's men hesitant to
continue on with the conquest of India, considering that they would potentially face far larger
armies than those of Porus if they were to cross the Ganges River.
Porus was one of many local kings who impressed Alexander. Wounded in his shoulder,
standing over 2 m (6 ft 7 in) tall, but still on his feet, he was asked by Alexander how he wished
to be treated. "Treat me, Alexander, the way a King treats another King", Porus responded. Other
historians question the accuracy of this entire event, noting that Porus would never have said
those words. Philostratus the Elder in the Life of Apollonius of Tyana writes that in the army of
Porus there was an elephant who had fought bravely against Alexander's army and Alexander
dedicated it to Helios (Sun) and named it Ajax, because he thought that a so great animal
deserved a great name. The elephant had gold rings around its tusks and an inscription was on
them written in Greek:
"Alexander the son of Zeus dedicates Ajax to Helios" (ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΣ Ο ΔΙΟΣ ΤΟΝ
ΑΙΑΝΤΑ ΤΩΙ ΗΛΙΩΙ).
Alexander did not continue, thus leaving all the headwaters of the Indus River unconquered. He
later founded Alexandria Nikaia (Victory), located at the battle site, to commemorate his
triumph. He also founded Alexandria Bucephalus on the opposite bank of the river in memory of
his much-cherished horse, Bucephalus, who carried Alexander through the Indian subcontinent
and died heroically during the Battle of Hydaspes.
Musicanus (Ancient Greek: Μουσικανὸς, Indian: Mûshika was an Indian king at the head of
the Indus, who raised a rebellion against Alexander the Great around 323 BC. Peithon, one of
Alexander's generals, managed to put down the revolt:
"Meantime he was informed that Musicanus had revolted. He dispatched the viceroy,
Peithon, son of Agenor, with a sufficient army against him, while he himself marched
against the cities which had been put under the rule of Musicanus. Some of these he razed
to the ground, reducing the inhabitants to slavery; and into others he introduced garrisons
and fortified the citadels. After accomplishing this, he returned to the camp and fleet. By
this time Musicanus had been captured by Peithon, who was bringing him to Alexander."
- Arrian Anabasis
The King of Patala came to Alexander and surrendered. Alexander let him keep possession
of his own dominions, with instructions to provide whatever was needed for the reception of
the army.
Asia in 323 BCE, the Nanda Empire and neighboring Gangaridai of Ancient India in relation
to Alexander's Empire and neighbors.

East of Porus's kingdom, near the Ganges River (the Hellenic version of the Indian
name Ganga), was the powerful Nanda Empire of Magadha and the Gangaridai

130
Empire of Bengal. Fearing the prospects of facing other powerful Indian armies and
exhausted by years of campaigning, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis River (the
modern Beas River), refusing to march further east.

Alexander's troops beg to return home from India in plate 3 of 11 by Antonio Tempesta of
Florence, 1608.
As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and
stayed their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an
enemy who mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently
opposed Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which,
as they learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the
further side were covered with multitudes of men-at-arms and horsemen and elephants. For
they were told that the kings of the Ganderites and Praesii were awaiting them with eighty
thousand horsemen, two hundred thousand footmen, eight thousand chariots, and six
thousand fighting elephants.
— Plutarch's Lives

Chandraketugarh in West Bengal, India is believed to be the capital of Gangaridai. The

Gangaridai army, with its 4,000 elephant force, may have led to Alexander's retreat from
India.
Gangaridai, a nation which possesses a vast force of the largest-sized elephants. Owing to
this, their country has never been conquered by any foreign king: for all other nations dread
the overwhelming number and strength of these animals. Thus Alexander the Macedonian,
after conquering all Asia, did not make war upon the Gangaridai, as he did on all others; for
when he had arrived with all his troops at the river Ganges, he abandoned as hopeless an
invasion of the Gangaridai when he learned that they possessed four thousand elephants well
trained and equipped for war.

131
— Megasthenes,  Indika

Alexander, using the incorrect maps of the Greeks, thought that the world ended a mere
1,000 kilometres (620 mi) away, at the edge of India. He therefore spoke to his army and
tried to persuade them to march further into India, but Coenus pleaded with him to change
his mind and return, saying the men "longed to again see their parents, their wives and
children, their homeland". Alexander, seeing the unwillingness of his men, agreed and turned
back.
Mallian Campaign

Along the way, his army conquered the Malli clans (in modern-day Multan). During a siege,
Alexander jumped into the fortified city with only two of his bodyguards and was wounded
seriously by a Mallian arrow. His forces, believing their king dead, took the citadel and
unleashed their fury on the Malli who had taken refuge within it, perpetrating a massacre,
sparing no man, woman or child. However, due to the efforts of his surgeon, Kritodemos of
Kos, Alexander survived the injury. Following this, the surviving Malli surrendered to
Alexander's forces, and his beleaguered army moved on, conquering more Indian tribes
along the way.

Ptolemy coin with Alexander wearing an elephant scalp, symbol of his conquests in southern Asia.//The
army crosses the Gedrosian Desert, by Andre Castaigne (1898-1899).

Alexander sent much of his army to Carmania (modern southern Iran) with his

general Craterus, and commissioned a fleet to explore the Persian Gulf shore under his
admiral Nearchus while he led the rest of his forces back to Persia by the southern route
through the Gedrosian Desert (now part of southern Iran) and Makran (now part of Pakistan).
In crossing the desert, Alexander's army took enormous casualties from hunger and thirst,
but fought no human enemy. They encountered the "Fish Eaters", or Ichthyophagi, primitive
people who lived on the Makran coast of the Arabian Sea, who had matted hair, no fire, no
metal, no clothes, lived in huts made of whale bones, and ate raw seafood obtained

132
by beachcombing. During the crossing, Alexander refused as much water as possible, to
share the sufferings of his men and to boost the morale of the army.
In the territory of the Indus, Alexander nominated his officer Peithon as a satrap, a position
he would hold for the next ten years until 316 BC, and in the Punjab he left Eudemus in
charge of the army, at the side of the satrap Porus and Taxiles. Eudemus became ruler of a
part of the Punjab after their death. Both rulers returned to the West in 316 BC with their
armies. In c. 322 BC BC, Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha, founded the Maurya Empire in
India and conquered the Macedonian satrapies during the Seleucid–Mauryan war (305–
303 BC).

Alexander's Indian campaign

Alexander's
Indian campaign
Cophen (327 BC)
Aornos (326 BC)
Hydaspes (326 BC)
Mallian Campaign (326 BC)

Early life
Argead dynasty
Education
Personal relationships

Ascent to power
Rise of Macedon
League of Corinth
Philip II 
Assassination
Campaigns and landmarks of Alexander's invasion of
northwest Indian subcontinent
Early rule
Date of power
327–325 BC
Consolidation
Location Indus Valley
Result Macedonia conquers much of the Indus
Amyntas IV
Valley, yet has to stop the advance into
Eurydice the Ganges Plain.
Attalus
Balkan Belligerents
campaign 
Pelium
Thebes
Macedonia various

Commanders and leaders

Alexander the Great 133 various

Conquest of the Persian Empire
Achaemenid Empire
Asia Minor 
Granicus
Halicarnassus
Syria 
Issus
Tyre
Egypt 
Gaza
Mesopotamia 
Gaugamela
Persia 
Persian Gate
Persepolis
Bactria 
Cyropolis
Sogdian Rock

Expedition into India

Indian campaigns

Cophen
Aornos
Hydaspes
Mallian

Death
Prophecy of Kalanos
Death
Tomb

Collapse of Alexander's empire

Partition of Babylon
Partition of Triparadisus
Wars of the Diadochi

134
The Indian subcontinent campaign of Alexander the Great began in 326 BC. After
conquering the Achaemenid Empire of Persia, the Macedonian king Alexander, launched a
campaign into the Indian subcontinent in present-day Pakistan, part of which formed the
easternmost territories of the Achaemenid Empire following the Achaemenid conquest of the
Indus Valley (late 6th century BC).
After gaining control of the former Achaemenid satrapy of Gandhara, including the city
of Taxila, Alexander advanced into Punjab, where he engaged in battle against the regional
king Porus, whom Alexander defeated in the Battle of the Hydaspes in 326 BC, but he was so
impressed by the demeanor with which the king carried himself that he allowed Porus to
continue governing his own kingdom as a satrap.  Although victorious, the Battle of the
Hydaspes was possibly also the most costly battle fought by the Macedonians.
Alexander's march east put him in confrontation with the Nanda Empire of Magadha. According
to the Greek sources, the Nanda army was supposedly five times larger than the Macedonian
army. His army, exhausted, homesick, and anxious by the prospects of having to further face
large Indian armies throughout the Indo-Gangetic Plain, mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas
River) and refused to march further east. Alexander, after a meeting with his officer, Coenus, and
after hearing about the lament of his soldiers,  eventually relented. being convinced that it was
better to return. This caused Alexander to turn south, advancing through southern Punjab
and Sindh, along the way conquering more tribes along the lower Indus River, before finally
turning westward.
Alexander died in Babylon on 10 or 11 June 323 BC. In c. 322 BC, one year after Alexander's
death, Chandragupta Maurya of Magadha founded the Maurya Empire in India.
Sources
Of those who accompanied Alexander to India, Aristobulus, Onesicritus, and Nearchus wrote
about the Indian campaign.[9] The only surviving contemporary account of Alexander's Indian
campaign is a report of the voyage of the naval commander Nearchus,] who was tasked with
exploring the coast between the Indus River and the Persian Gulf. This report is preserved
in Arrian's Anabasis (c. AD 150). Arrian provides a detailed account of Alexander's campaigns,
based on the writings of Alexander's companions and courtiers.
Arrian's account is supplemented by the writings of other authors, whose works are also based on
the accounts of Alexander's companions: these authors include Diodorus (c. 21 BC), Strabo (c.
AD 23), and Plutarch (c. AD 119).
Socio-political conditions in India
Alexander's incursion into India was limited to the Indus River basin area, which was divided
among several small states. These states appear to have been based on dominance of particular
tribes, as the Greek writers mention tribes such as the Malloi as well as kings whose name seem
to be tribal designations (such as Porus of the Puru tribe). The Achaemenid Empire of Persia had
held suzerainty over the Indus valley in the previous decades, but there was no trace of
Achaemenid rule beyond the Indus river when Alexander's army arrived in the region.[12] Strabo,
sourcing his information from the earlier writer Eratosthenes, states that the Achaemenid king
controlled the area to the west of the Indus.  This area (including the Kapisa-Gandhara region)
was probably the territory of the Indians, who according to the Greek accounts, fought alongside
their overlord Darius III at the Battle of Gaugamela

135
Greek writings as well archaeological excavations indicate the existence of an urban economy
dependent on agriculture and trade in the Indus basin. The Greeks mention the existence of cities
and fortified towns such as Taxila. Arrian mentions that after defeating Porus, Alexander
marched eastwards towards the Chenab River, and captured 37 towns: the smallest of these
towns had 5,000 or more inhabitants. [  In the Swat valley, Alexander is said to have seized
230,000 oxen (possibly Zebu), intending to send them to Macedonia for ploughing land.[
Aristobulus saw rice being grown in paddy fields, Onesicritus reported the existence of a crop
called bosmoran (possibly the pearl millet), and Nearchus wrote of "honey-yielding reeds"
(presumably the sugarcane). Nearchus also mentions that Indians wore clothes made
of cotton. Rock salt was extracted from the Salt Range, and supplied to other parts of India.
[15]
 Some primitive communities existed in the forest, desert, and coastal regions of the
subcontinent. For example, Nearchus mentions that people around the Tomeros river (Hingol)
subsisted on fishing, and used stone tools instead of iron ones.
The Greek writers mention the priestly class of Brahmanas (as "Brachmanes"), who are
described as teachers of Indian philosophy.[16] They do not refer to the existence of any religious
temples or idols in India, although such references commonly occur in their descriptions of
Alexander's campaigns in Egypt, Mesopotamia and Iran. Greek accounts mention naked ascetics
called gymnosophists. A philosopher named Calanus (probably a Greek transcription of the
Indian name "Kalyana") accompanied Alexander to Persepolis,

136
 CHAPTER 8
Hellenization

Hellenization (other British spelling Hellenisation) or Hellenism is the historical spread

of ancient Greek culture, religion, and, to a lesser extent, language over foreign peoples
conquered by Greeks or brought into their sphere of influence, particularly during the Hellenistic
period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great in the fourth century BC. The result of
Hellenization was that elements of Greek origin combined in various forms and degrees with
local elements, and these Greek influences spread from the Mediterranean basin as far east as
modern-day Pakistan. In modern times, Hellenization has been associated with the adoption of
modern Greek culture and the ethnic and cultural homogenization of Greece.
The first known use of a verb meaning "to Hellenize" was in Greek (ἑλληνίζειν) and
by Thucydides (5th century BC), who wrote that the Amphilochian Argives were Hellenized as
to their language by the Ambraciots, which shows that the word perhaps already referred to more
than language. The similar word Hellenism, which is often used as a synonym, is used in 2
Maccabees[4] (c. 124 BC) and the Book of Acts (c. 80–90 AD) to refer to clearly much more than
language, though it is disputed what that may have entailed.

137
Map of the Hellenized Macedonian Empire, established by the military conquests of Alexander
the Great in 334–323 BC.
By the 4th century BC, the process of Hellenization had started in southwestern
Anatolia's Lycia, Caria and Pisidia regions. (1st century fortifications at Pelum in Galatia, on Baş
Dağ in Lycaonia and at Isaura are the only known Hellenistic-style structures
in central and eastern Anatolia). When it was advantageous to do so, places
like Side and Aspendos invented Greek-themed origin myths; an inscription published
in SEG shows that in the 4th century BC Aspendos claimed ties to Argos, similar to Nikokreon
of Cyprus who also claimed Argive lineage. (Argos was home to the Kings of Macedon.) Like
the Argeads, the Antigonids claimed descent from Heracles, the Seleucids from Apollo, and
the Ptolemies from Dionysus.
The Seuthopolis inscription was very influential in the modern study of Thrace. The inscription
mentions Dionysus, Apollo and some Samothracian gods. Scholars have interpreted the
inscription as evidence of Hellenization in inland Thrace during the early Hellenistic, but this has
been challenged by recent scholarship.
Hellenization, however, had its limitations. For example, areas of southern Syria that were
affected by Greek culture entailed mostly Seleucid urban centres, where Greek was commonly
spoken. The countryside, on the other hand, was largely unaffected, with most of its inhabitants
speaking Syriac and clinging to their native traditions.
Archaeological evidence alone gives only an incomplete picture of Hellenization; it is often not
possible to state with certainty whether particular archaeological findings belonged to Greeks,
Hellenized indigenous peoples, indigenous people who simply owned Greek-style objects or
some combination of these groups. Thus, literary sources are also used to help researchers
interpret archaeological findings.
Grecomans

In 1909, a commission appointed by the Greek government reported that a third of the villages
of Greece should have their names changed, often because of their non-Greek origin. [2] In other
instances, names were changed from a contemporary name of Greek origin to the ancient Greek
name. Some village names were formed from a Greek root word with a foreign suffix or vice
versa. Most of the name changes took place in areas populated by ethnic Greeks in which a strata
of foreign or divergent toponyms had accumulated over the centuries. However, in some parts of
northern Greece, the population was not Greek-speaking, and many of the former toponyms had
reflected the diverse ethnic and linguistic origins of their inhabitants.
The process of the change of toponyms in modern Greece has been described as a process of
Hellenization.[2] A modern use is in connection with policies pursuing "cultural harmonization
and education of the linguistic minorities resident within the modern Greek state" (the Hellenic
Republic): the Hellenization of minority groups in modern Greece. [3] The term Hellenisation (or
Hellenization) is also used in the context of Greek opposition to the use of the Slavic dialects of
Greece.
In 1870, the Greek government abolished all Italian schools in the Ionian islands, which had
been annexed to Greece six years earlier. That led to the diminution of the community of Corfiot

138
Italians, which had lived in Corfu since the Middle Ages; by the 1940s, there were only 400
Corfiot Italians left.
Regions: Hellenization reached Pisidia and Lycia sometime in the 4th century BC, but the
interior remained largely unaffected for several more centuries until it came under Roman rule in
the 1st century BC. Ionian, Aeolian and Doric settlers along Anatolia's Western coast seemed to
have remained culturally Greek and some of their city-states date back to the Archaic Period. On
the other hand, Greeks who settled in the southwestern region of Pisidia and Pamphylia seem to
have been assimilated by the local culture.
Crimea-Bosporan Kingdom
Panticapaeum (modern day Kerch) was one of the early Greek colonies in Crimea. It was
founded by Miletus around 600 BC on a site with good terrain for a defensive acropolis. By the
time the Cimmerian colonies had organized into the Bosporan Kingdom around much of the
local native population had been Hellenized. Most scholars date the establishment of the
kingdom to 480 BC, when the Archaeanactid dynasty assumed control of Panticapaeum, but
classical archaeologist Gocha R. Tsetskhladze has dated the kingdom's founding to 436 BC,
when the Spartocid dynasty replaced the ruling Archaeanactids.
Palestine-  Hellenistic Judaism
The Hellenistic Seleucid and Ptolemaic kingdoms that formed after Alexander's death were
particularly relevant to the history of Judaism. Located between the two kingdoms, Palestine
experienced long periods of warfare and instability. Judea fell under Seleucid control in 198 BC.
By the time Antiochus IV Epiphanes became king of Judea in 175 BC, Jerusalem was already
somewhat Hellenized. In 170 BC, both claimants to the High Priesthood, Jason and Menelaus,
bore Greek names. Jason had established institutions of Greek education and in later years
Jewish culture started to be suppressed including forbidding circumcision and observance of
the Sabbath.
Hellenization of members of the Jewish elite included names, clothes but other customs were
adapted by the rabbis and elements that violated the halakha and midrash were prohibited. One
example is the elimination of some aspects of Hellenistic banquets such as the practice of
offering libations to the gods, while incorporating certain elements that gave the meals a more
Jewish character. Discussion of Scripture, the singing of sacred songs and attendance of students
of the Torah was encouraged. One detailed account of Jewish-style Hellenistic banquets comes
from Ben Sira. There is literary evidence from Philo about the extravagance of Alexandrian
Jewish banquets and The Letter of Aristeas discusses Jews dining with non-Jews as an
opportunity to share Jewish wisdom.
Parthia

139
Head of a statue of a  Parthian wearing a Hellenistic helmet from  Nisa. The Parthians adopted
both  Achaemenid and Hellenistic cultures./Rhyton terminating in the forepart of a wild cat  showing
Hellenistic influences

Pisidia and Pamphylia

Pamphylia is a plain located between the highlands of Lycia and Cilicia. The exact date of Greek
settlement in the region is not known; one possible theory is that settlers arrived in the region as
part of Bronze Age maritime trade between the Aegean, Levant and Cyprus, while another
attributes it to population movements during the instability of the Bronze Age Collapse. The
Greek dialect established in Pamphylia by the Classical period was related to Arcado-Cypriot.
Mopsus is a legendary founder of several coastal cities in southwestern Anatolia,
including Aspendos, Phaselis, Perge and Sillyon. A bilingual Phoenician and neo-
Hittite Luwian inscription found at Karatepe, dated to 800 BC, says that the ruling dynasty there
traced their origins to Mopsus. Mopsus, whose name is also attested to in Hittite documents, may
originally have been an Anatolian figure that became part of the cultural traditions of
Pamphylia's early Greek settlers. Attested to in Linear B texts, he is given a Greek genealogy as
a descendant of Manto and Apollo.
For centuries the indigenous population exerted considerable influence on Greek settlers, but
after the 4th century BC this population quickly started to become Hellenized. Very little is
known about Pisidia prior to the 3rd century BC, but there is quite a bit of archeological evidence
that dates to the Hellenistic period. Literary evidence, however, including inscriptions and coins
are limited. During the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE, native regional tongues were abandoned in
favor of koine Greek and settlements began to take on characteristics of Greek polis.
The Iron Age Panemoteichos I may be an early precursor to later regional Hellenistic settlements
including Selge, Termessos and Sagalassos (believed to be the three most prominent cities of
Hellenistic Pisidia. The site is evidence of "urban organization" that predates the Greek polis by
500 years. Based on Panemoteichos I and other Iron Age sites, including the Phrygian Midas
şehri and the Cappadocian fortification of Kerkenes, experts believe that "behind the Greek
influence that shaped the Hellenistic Pisidian communities there lay a tangible and important
Anatolian tradition."
According to the writings of Arrian the population of Side, who traced their origins
to Aeolian Cyme, had forgotten the Greek language by the time Alexander arrived at the city in

140
334 BC. There are coins and stone inscriptions that attest to a unique script from the region but
the language has only been partially deciphered.
Phrygia
The latest dateable coins found at the Phrygian capital of Gordion are from the 2nd century BC.
Finds from the abandoned Hellenistic era settlement include imported and locally produced
imitation Greek-style terracotta figurines and ceramics. Inscriptions show that some of the
inhabitants had Greek names, while others had Anatolian or
possibly Celtic names. Many Phrygian cult objects were Hellenized during the Hellenistic
period, but worship of traditional deities like the Phrygian mother goddess persisted. [27] Greek
cults attested to include Hermes, Kybele, the Muses and Tyche.
Syria
Greek art and culture reached Phoenicia by way of commerce before any Greek cities were
founded in Syria. but Hellenization of Syrians was not widespread until it became a Roman
province. Under Roman rule in the 1st century BC there is evidence of Hellenistic style funerary
architecture, decorative elements, mythological references, and inscriptions. However, there is a
lack of evidence from Hellenistic Syria; concerning this, most scholars view it as a case of
"absence of evidence is not evidence of absence".
Bactria
The Bactrians, an Iranian ethnic group who lived in Bactria (northern Afghanistan), were
Hellenized during the reign of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and soon after various tribes in
northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent underwent Hellenization during the reign of
the Indo-Greek Kingdom.
The periodization of the Hellenistic Age, between the conquests of Alexander the Great up
to Octavian's victory at the Battle of Actium, has been attributed to the 19th-century historian J.
G. Droysen. According to this model the spread of Greek culture during this period made the rise
of Christianity possible. Later, in the 20th century, scholars questioned this 19th-
century paradigm for failing to account for the contributions of Semitic and other Near
Eastern cultures.
The twentieth century witnessed a lively debate over the extent of Hellenization in the Levant,
particularly among the ancient Jews, which has continued until today. Interpretations on the rise
of Early Christianity, which was applied most famously by Rudolf Bultmann, used to
see Judaism as largely unaffected by Hellenism, and the Judaism of the diaspora was thought to
have succumbed thoroughly to its influences. Bultmann thus argued that Christianity arose
almost completely within those Hellenistic confines and should be read against that background,
as opposed to a more traditional Jewish background. With the publication of Martin Hengel's
two-volume study Hellenism and Judaism (1974, German original 1972) and subsequent
studies Jews, Greeks and Barbarians: Aspects of the Hellenisation of Judaism in the pre-
Christian Period (1980, German original 1976) and The 'Hellenisation' of Judaea in the First
Century after Christ (1989, German original 1989), the tide began to turn decisively. Hengel
argued that virtually all of Judaism was highly Hellenized well before the beginning of the
Christian era, and even the Greek language was well known throughout the cities and even the
smaller towns of Jewish Palestine. Scholars have continued to nuance Hengel's views, but almost

141
all believe that strong Hellenistic influences were throughout the Levant, even among the
conservative Jewish communities, which were the most nationalistic.
In his introduction to the 1964 book Meditations, Anglican priest Maxwell Staniforth discussed
the profound influence of Stoic philosophy on Christianity:
Again in the doctrine of the Trinity, the ecclesiastical conception of Father, Word, and Spirit
finds its germ in the different Stoic names of the Divine Unity. Thus Seneca, writing of the
supreme Power which shapes the universe, states, 'This Power we sometimes call the All-ruling
God, sometimes the incorporeal Wisdom, sometimes the holy Spirit, sometimes Destiny.' The
Church had only to reject the last of these terms to arrive at its own acceptable definition of the
Divine Nature; while the further assertion 'these three are One', which the modern mind finds
paradoxical, was no more than commonplace to those familiar with Stoic notions.
Byzantine Empire- Hellenization in the Byzantine Empire

The Greek East was one of the two main cultural areas of the Roman Empire and began to be
ruled by an autonomous imperial court in 286 AD under Diocletian. However, Rome remained
the nominal capital of both parts of the empire, and Latin was the state language. When the
Western Empire fell and the Roman Senate sent the regalia of the Western Emperor to the
Eastern Emperor Zeno in 476 AD, Constantinople (Byzantium in Ancient Greek) was recognized
as the seat of the sole Emperor. A process of political Hellenization began and led, among other
reforms, to the declaration of Greek as the official language in 610 AD.
Hellenistic Culture
The influence of Greek language, philosophy and culture on Jews and early Christians.

142
 C H A P T E R 9
JEWISH DIALOGUE WITH HELLENISTIC CULTURE
Harold W. Attridge:
The Lillian Claus Professor of New Testament Yale Divinity School

Can you give just a general definition of what's meant by the term the Hellenistic world?

The Hellenistic world is that world that was created after the
conquests of the near east by Alexander the Great at the end of the
fourth century B.C. And his conquest, which extended from India
all the way through Egypt, [was] divided into three main areas
within 20 years after his death. And the two major areas that
survived down to the first century B.C. would have been the Syrian
kingdom, the Seleucid kingdom, and the Ptolemaic kingdom which
survived in Egypt, which was finally taken over by Rome in 31
B.C.

And what was the language and culture of the Hellenistic world?

The language and culture of the Hellenistic world was Greek. That became the lingua franca of
all of these subject peoples. It was to that world what English is to the modern world in many
ways, what French was to the world of the 19th century.

How Hellenized was the Jewish religious culture of the time?

Jewish culture and civilization during the Hellenistic period was in intense dialogue with
Hellenistic culture and civilization, beginning with the translation of Hebrew scriptures into
Greek, a translation which survives and which we know as the Septuagint. That's certainly an

143
example of the way in which Greek literary forms and Greek language impacted Jewish
civilization and literary traditions. That impact extends far beyond scripture, and we see during
the Hellenistic period Jews adopting literary forms of the Greek tradition, and writing plays, epic
poems, lyric poems, all in the Greek language. Much of this activity would have centered in
Alexandria, the capital of Egypt, but there was similar activity going on in Palestine, and some of
these literary products that survive in some cases only in fragments, were probably written in
Palestine, by Jews who were adopting these Hellenistic literary modes.

PHILO

Who was Philo and what did he do?

Philo was an example of the intense Hellenization of Judaism. He was a philosopher and
scriptural interpreter who lived in Alexandria from around 30 B.C. to around 40 of the Common
Era. He tried to effect a synthesis between scripture and Platonic philosophy. For instance, in
saying that the word of God that we encounter in scripture is the logos or the divine reason, by
which he meant a combination of the ideas, Plato's ideas, which by that time were conceived by
philosophers as being in the mind of God. And also at the same time the immanent rationality of
the world, taking over a Stoic idea that reason constitutes the inner working of the world.

How would all of this have influenced Jesus?

Things like Platonic philosophy and Stoic philosophy at the level it was appropriated by a person
like Philo, probably would not have had a direct impact on Jesus. Both of those strands of
Hellenistic tradition as appropriated by Jewish philosophers like Philo, did, however, have an
impact on Christians of a later generation who tried to make sense of Jesus and his teaching
within the broader framework of Greek and Roman culture.

And how would the Hellenistic world have influenced Jesus?

Jesus apparently grew up in Galilee which was at that time under Herod Antipas undergoing a
form of Hellenization. There was a continuation of the program of Herod the Great, the father of
Herod Antipas. And that Hellenization was most visible in a place like Sepphoris which was
being reconstructed during the youth of Jesus. It was visible in several other cities around
Galilee. A place like Beth-shean, for instance, which still has a magnificent theater dating from
the Hellenistic period. We have clear evidence in all of that architectural remains Hellenism was
having a strong impact even on Galilee during this period.

CHRISTIANITY AND GREEK PHILOSOPHY

What was at the heart of the debate between Christianity and Greek philosophy?

Early Christianity engaged Hellenistic culture generally, and more specifically Greek
philosophy, from the end of the first century on. We see bits and pieces of this in passages such
as the prologue of the 4th Gospel where this concept of the logos comes to play. During the
second century and beyond there's a continuing engagement over a variety of issues. Some of
144
them having to do with fundamental philosophical issues such as the nature of reality and the
nature of God. Some of them having to do with issues of ethics and morality. These are two
poles around which the dialogue develops during the course of the subsequent centuries.

JUSTIN MARTYR

By the middle of the century we see someone like Justin Martyr, for instance, one of the early
Christian apologists, that is, one of the people who was trying to explain Christianity to the
Greco-Roman world and doing so in the context of and using the categories of Greco-Roman
thought. We see this fellow Justin Martyr active in Rome around the middle of the century trying
to explain the nature of Christ and the nature of his relationship to God in terms of certain
philosophical theories, the philosophical theory that comes ultimately from stoicism that
postulates a dichotomy between speech that is external and thought that's internal....

Justin has a theology of the word of God that wrestles with the issue of what kind of status Jesus
has as an intermediary between God and humankind. And increasingly in the philosophical
environment of the second and third centuries belief was becoming widespread that God was a
very transcendent kind of being, that is, a being who is very distant from human kind. And
therefore to say that Jesus was in some way God incarnate presents a philosophical conundrum,
because it's impossible to conceive of the transcendent as immanent, as embodied in human
flesh, the way that Christians were coming to proclaim.

Was monotheism a big issue in Justin's debate as well with his pagan audience?

Justin and other Christian apologists certainly argued that the tradition of polytheistic belief and
practice that was current in the Greco-Roman world was wrong, was immoral, and was
philosophically deficient. Insofar as they were making that last point -- that polytheism was
philosophically insufficient -- they were saying something similar to what Greek philosophers
were saying. Because among Greek philosophers there was a growing appreciation for the unity
of the divine and for the notion that there may be a single simple divine principle underlying all
things. But no Greek philosopher of the second or third century would have thought that that
divine principle could somehow have been enfleshed.

L. Michael White:
Professor of Classics and Director of the Religious Studies Program University of Texas at
Austin

HELLENISTIC INFLUENCE

What do you mean when you say Hellenistic?

Hellenization, or Hellenism, refers to the spread of Greek culture that had begun after the
conquest of Alexander the Great in the fourth century, B.C.E. One must think of the
development of the eastern Mediterranean, really, in two major phases. The first, the conquest by

145
Alexander, which brought Greek culture to the middle eastern territories. And then, subsequent
to that, the Roman imperial expansion, which would take that over politically. But, Rome didn't
immediately transform everything into a kind of Latin-Roman culture. Rather, they worked with
the Greek idiom. And so, much of what we see in the culture of these cities, like Caesarea
Maritima, is a kind of Greek city structure with a Roman political organization, playing off
between the different elements of Roman and Greek city life.

How would this affect Jewish life?

For many Jews, it seemed not to be a problem at all. There was a high degree of comfort or
acculturation with many aspects of Greek life and thought. Just as we see in major Jewish
communities in Egypt at this same time as well, and had been there for two hundred years
before. So for some it probably meant no more than what it would be like to live in a modern city
with a very mixed culture. For others, however, for other people in the Jewish tradition, it
probably was more of a problem that Herod, supposedly a Jewish king, would have been so
willing to turn himself over, as it were, to Roman religious interests and Roman imperial
ideology.

The Hellenistic World (from the Greek word Hellas for Greece) is the known world after the

conquests of Alexander the Great and corresponds roughly with the Hellenistic Period of ancient
Greece, from 323 BCE (Alexander's death) to the annexation of Greece by Rome in 146 BCE.
Although Rome's rule ended Greek independence and autonomy it did nothing to significantly
change nor did it in any way halt the Hellenization of the world of the day; in fact, it encouraged
it.

Alexander the Great (r. 336-323 BCE) of Macedon led his army on a series of campaigns which
successfully conquered the then-known world from Macedon, through Greece, down to Egypt,
across Persia, to India. Alexander's tutor was the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
who impressed upon him the value of Greek culture and philosophy. As Alexander campaigned,
he spread Greek thought and culture in his wake, thus "hellenizing" (to make `Greek' in culture
and civilization) those he conquered.

146
 Perga / Perge/by Irene Fanizza (Copyright)

After Alexander's death his Empire was divided among his four generals (known in Latin as the
Diadochi, the name by which they are still referenced, from the Greek, Diadokhoi, meaning
"successors"):

 Lysimachus - who took Thrace and much of Asia Minor.

 Cassander - controlled Macedonia and Greece.
 Ptolemy I - ruled Egypt, Palestine, Cilicia, Petra and Cyprus. He founded the Ptolemaic
Dynasty which lasted until the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE.  
 Seleucus I Nicator - ruled the remainder of Asia and founded the Seleucid Empire which
was comprised of Mesopotamia, the Levant, Persia, and part of India.

To greater or lesser extents, all of these regions were Hellenized as Greek culture and religious
beliefs influenced those of the indigenous people.

AFTER ALEXANDER'S DEATH HIS EMPIRE WAS DIVIDED AMONG HIS FOUR
GENERALS - THE DIADOCHI OR SUCCESSORS.

147
Greek Culture & Philip II of Macedon

Alexander of Macedon was the son of Philip II (r. 359-336 BCE) who recognized that his
neighbors considered Macedon a backward region of little importance and decided to change that
view dramatically. Philip II had been a hostage for three years in Greek Thebes where he was
exposed to Greek culture, military tactics and formations, and philosophy.

Although he made the greatest use of the military information, he decreed a complete overhaul of
his country's educational methods and goals to create a significant center of learning at his
capital of Pella. He invited the great Greek philosopher Aristotle to tutor his son and his son's
peers. As the reputation of the school at Pella grew, Philip II encouraged the nobles of Greece to
send their sons to Pella which not only improved the nation's reputation but gave Philip II
valuable hostages which prevented the Greeks from attacking him.

Greece at this time was not a unified nation but a loose confederation of city-states each of which
had its own patron deity, social structure, coinage, and government. These city-states would
sometimes ally and sometimes war on each other but their only common bond was their
language and, to a greater or lesser extent, their religious belief structure. They celebrated
different festivals at different times of the year and made war in different ways.

Pella, Macedonia- by Carole Raddato (CC BY-NC-ND)

If they could agree on one thing, however, it was their dislike of foreigners, whom they referred to as
`barbarians', meaning anyone who could not speak Greek. Greek culture at this time encompassed every
aspect of civilization from literature to philosophy, science, architecture, the arts, mathematics,

148
astronomy, law, medicine, war, and so on. The Greeks were justifiably proud of their intellectual
achievements and tended to look down on non-Greeks.  

The region of Macedon spoke a dialect of Greek but its people were still considered barbarians
by the Greeks because they did not feel it had any culture. Macedon was thought to be good for
raw materials but little else until Philip II established the school at Pella and, even then, the
reputation of the school came from the Greek scholars Philip employed, not from any
Macedonian.

At the same time Phillip was encouraging education and culture in his capital, however, he was
reorganizing his army and enlarging it but the Greeks did not seem to notice. They became aware
of his military strength in 356 BCE during the so-called Third Social War in which he defeated
the Phocians who had seized the sacred site of Delphi. At the Battle of Crocus Field in 352 BCE
he completely defeated the Phocians and then engaged in a series of campaigns between 355-348
BCE during which he captured a number of Greek cities, renaming the city of
Crenides Philippi in honor of himself.

Greek Phalanx- by CA (Copyright)

The Athenian orator Demosthenes (c.384-322 BCE) delivered a number of speeches denouncing Philip II
but these did nothing to halt Macedon's growing power. The Greek city-states continued to war with each
other while Philip II was calmly taking their cities for his own and enlarging his treasury. At the Battle of
Chaeronea in 338 BCE, Philip II and his 18-year old son Alexander defeated the combined forces
of Athens and Thebes and this victory enabled him to form the Pan-Hellenic Congress, with himself as its
head, which established peace and effectively brought Greece under Macedonian control. Philip did not
enjoy his great victory for long, however, as he was assassinated in 336 BCE and Alexander took the
throne.

149
The Campaigns of Alexander the Great

Alexander inherited not only a vast standing army but a healthy treasury, infrastructure, and an
entire nation which was now subject to his will. He did not need to make bargains or concessions
with any other country in order to initiate his policies. He had enough power and wealth to do
whatever he pleased and he chose to fulfil his father's desire to conquer Persia and topple what
was then the greatest empire in the world.

ALEXANDER DECISIVELY DEFEATED DARIUS AT THE BATTLE OF GAUGAMELA &

WAS NOW SUPREME RULER OF THE REGIONS FORMERLY BELONGING TO
THE PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

He crossed from Greece into Asia Minor in 334 BCE with an army of 32,000 infantry and 5,100
cavalry and sacked the city of Baalbek and took Ephesus. In 333 at the Battle of Issos he
defeated Darius the Great of Syria but could not capture him. He went on to take Syria from
the Persians in 332 BCE and Egypt in 331 BCE. Throughout all these campaigns, Alexander
spread the culture of Greece while allowing the people of the various regions to continue
worshipping the gods of their choice and conducting themselves as they pleased – as long as they
caused him no trouble and kept his supply lines open – while simultaneously investigating and
recording the culture and other aspects of each land. Scholar Ian Worthington comments:

Homer was Alexander's bible and he took Aristotle's edition with him to Asia...During his

campaigns Alexander was always intent on finding out everything he could about the areas
through which he passed. He took with him an entourage of scientists to record and analyse this
information, from botany, biology, zoology and meteorology, to topography. His desire to learn,
and to have information recorded as scientifically as possible, probably stemmed from Aristotle's
teachings and enthusiasm. (34-35)

150
Alexander the Great, Marble Head-by Carole Raddato

In 331 BCE Alexander decisively defeated Darius at the Battle of Gaugamela and was now
supreme ruler of the regions formerly belonging to the Persian Empire. He adopted the tile
ShahanShah (King of Kings) and introduced Persian customs into his army while, at the same
time, sharing Greek culture with the people of Persia. He carried this culture with him to India in
his 327 BCE invasion which was halted only because his men threatened mutiny if he did not
turn back. He was allegedly contemplating another move to expand his empire when he died,
after ten days of fever, in June of 323 BCE. As he did not name a successor, his four generals
divided his empire between them.    

The Diadochi & Hellenization

These generals, Lysimachus, Cassander, Ptoelmy, and Seleucus, initially spent their time warring
with each other for more territory but even as they ravaged the land with battles, their very

151
presence in the region encouraged the diffusion of Hellenization which had been established by
Alexander.

Easily the most successful of these four, in this regard as in others, was Ptolemy I (r.323-282
BCE). While the other three continued their wars against each other (and against even more of
Alexander's officers or family members), Ptolemy I made an honest attempt at furthering
Alexander's vision of a multicultural world. His efforts at Alexandria produced an almost
seamless blending of Egyptian and Greek cultures as epitomized in his personal god Serapis.

Serapis was a combination of Egyptian and Greek gods (Osiris, Apis, and Zeus) and his worship
was established as a state religion by Ptolemy I. Although other gods continued to be venerated,
Ptolemy I encouraged the cult of Serapis by building the great temple of the Serapeum in
Alexandria and the Great Library to accompany it. The library drew scholars from around the
world and elevated Alexandria to a center of learning which rivaled even Athens. Under Ptolemy
I, construction of the Lighthouse at Alexandria (one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World)
began and the city, as well as the entire region under his control, flourished.   

Map of the Successor Kingdoms, c. 303 BCE- by Javierfv1212 (Public Domain)

As the wars of the Diadochi settled down and finished, Hellenic influence continued to spread

throughout their regions and Greek dedications, statues, architecture and inscriptions have been
found in abundance in every locale. The Great Library at Alexandria steadily grew to become the
most important center for learning in the ancient world, drawing scholars from all over who then
returned to their native towns and cities inspired by Hellenic beliefs and scientific
methods. Greek theatre flourished throughout the lands conquered by Alexander and held by his
generals and the amphitheaters built during the Hellenistic Period show markedly Greek features
no matter the nationality of the architect nor the country of construction, one example being, Ai-
Khanoum on the edge of Bactria, modern day Afghanistan.

152
Greek language introduced Greek literature into the former Persian Empire, thereby influencing
the philosophical thought and writing of the region and the same held true for the area known as
Palestine where Greek literature found its way into the religious thought and scripture
of Judaism and, later, Christianity. Hellenization, in fact, inspired one of the most popular Jewish
holidays, Chanukah, which celebrates the liberation of the Temple of Jerusalem from the Syrian
Greeks under Antiochus IV Epiphanes (175-164 BCE) who, according to the traditional story,
tried to force Hellenic gods on the Jewish people and instigated the Maccabean Revolt of c. 168
BCE.

Recent scholarship suggests, however, that the revolt was actually a civil war between Jewish
factions: Hellenic Jews who embraced Greek values and traditionalists who resisted them. In this
version of the story, Antiochus IV Epiphanes becomes involved in this civil war on the behalf of
the Hellenistic Jews and his participation is forced as opposed to the traditional story in which he
is depicted as imposing his will on the Jewish people of Palestine. Either way, Hellenism played
a crucial role in the revolt of the Maccabees who would later found the Hasmonean Dynasty
which, through its wars with the neighboring Kingdom of Nabatea, would attract the attention of
Rome and lead to the eventual conquest of the region.

-
Demetrius I Tetradrachm- by Mark Cartwright (CC BY-NC-SA)
Hellenistic thought is evident in the narratives which make up the books of the Bible as the
Hebrew Scriptures were revised and canonized during the Second Temple Period (c.515 BCE-70
CE), the latter part of which was during the Hellenic Period of the region. The gospels and
epistles of the Christian New Testament were written in Greek and draw on Greek
philosophy and religion as, for example, in the first chapter of the Gospel of John in which the
word becomes flesh, a Platonic concept.   

The spread of Greek influence and language is also shown through coinage. Portraits became
more realistic, and the obverse of the coin was often used to display a propaganda image,
commemorating an event or displaying the image of a favored god. The use of Greek-style
153
portraits and Greek language continued into the Parthian period (247 BCE-224 CE), even as
Greek as a language was in decline.

With the rise of the Republic of Rome and then the Roman Empire, Greek language,
attitudes, philosophy, understanding, and overall culture spread even further. The Romans
borrowed much of their civilization from the Greeks and as they conquered various regions
which had previously been held by Alexander's generals, they encouraged Hellenic thought and
culture.

The Romans were far from tolerant of the beliefs of other nations unless they corresponded
closely with their own. Adherence to Hellenic thought, therefore, was a popular alternative to
persecution for the citizens of these regions. Greek thought, language, and culture spread north
to Europe through trade and, further, by Roman conquest of regions such as modern-day France,
Spain, and Britain, Hellenizing the entire world of antiquity and influencing virtually every
culture which has contributed to the formation of learning and understanding in the world today.

How far can the kingdoms in Bactria and India, ruled by kings with Greek names, be called
Hellenistic, and how far were they simply native? These pages were put together with this
question in view; they have no claim to be more than an attempt to get certain problems stated, to
which some day some further answer may be given by the spade. The series of these kings
stretches from the revolt of Diodotos, about 250 B.C., to the final merger of Indo-Greek rule in
that of the Indo-Scyths in 26 B.C. The period is bisected by the conquest of Bactria by the Yue-
tche, which probably took some little while to complete, but with respect to which our
information centres on the year 128 B.C. By the time of Augustus, a number of merchantmen
were sailing directly from the Red Sea to India, a rare event under the Ptolemies; and this traffic
increased later, when in the reign of Nero was made that discovery, or rediscovery, of the
monsoons which is associated with the name of Hippalos. To arrive, therefore, at any ideas about
the kingdoms of Alexander's successors beyond Parthia, it is necessary to distinguish as carefully
as possible the information with regard to India, and the traces of western influence on things
Indian, which can be dated later than (say) the Christian era, (and which belong rather to the
history of Rome), from information which can be, or may be, dated prior to 26 B.C., or I might
almost say prior to 100 B.C., (the time between these two dates being for my purpose a blank);
and only to make use of the former sources when they clearly refer to something that falls within
the period under consideration. The general result appears to be, that one meets with more of the
Iranian and less of the Greek than one expected.

Background:
Though India had maintained its trade and commercial contacts with other parts of the world, a
new dimension was added by the invasion of the great Greek hero Alexander in the last
quarter of 4th century B.C.

154
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Macedonian_Army_Alexander.jpg
Alexander did not prefer to remain confined within the state of Greece. He dreamt of ruling over
a large empire. So he came in direct conflict with the Persian emperor. In 330 B.C. Alexander
brought an end to the powerful Persian rule in the battle at Arbela. After the Persian defeat the
traffic between India and the West slowed down. After Persia, Alexander’s next programme was
to march towards India. He had already heard a lot about the Indian riches. Besides he had an
insatiable desire to conquer new lands. So Alexander marched up to the north-western frontiers
of India. He fought the Battle of Hydaspes with the Indian King Porus in 326 B.C. But
Alexander did not march into the interiors of Indian sub-continent for its harsh climatic condition
and because of his other domestic engagements. But even after his short stay in India he left
behind a rich legacy of Greek culture. This legacy not only influenced India but also brought
new manifestations in different spheres.

During the time of Alexander, Greece had reached the pinnacle of glory in the realms of art,
literature, philosophy and science. The Greeks were also aware of the richness of Indian culture.
It is also believed by some scholars that Alexander did not venture to enter India seeing the high
cultural life of the Indians. However, when these two culturally rich countries came close to each
other a cultural synthesis emerged whose magnificent results were felt in all spheres.

155
image source:
813.medialib.glogster.com/thumbnails/4b1bbb6ef905ecf4a5f7b7122f2dfa83e62ceee8f14933b1c73b847d651aa1
41/alexander-the-great-project-mrs-imhoff-source.jpg

156
Political Intercourse:
The Hellenic influence was considerably felt first in the realm of political life. When Alexander
returned from India he left the charge of the conquered Indian territories among his generals
which ultimately paved the way for the rise of Maurya dynasty in Indian history. The young and
ambitious Indian hero Chandragupta Maurya liberated the north-western frontier of India from
the clutches of the Greeks and founded the Maurya dynasty.

image source: relationalbuddhism.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/2013-1-Relational-Buddhism-Karma-

Transformation-Ancient-Greek-Buddhism.jpg

The first three Maurya kings Chandragupta, Bindusara and Ashoka maintained intimate
relationship with the Greeks. Indeed, Chandragupta had married the daughter of Seleucus
Nikator, a Greek king of Syria and a former General of Alexander’s army. This friendship was
cemented by the arrival of Meghasthenes and Daimachus as ambassadors of Seleucus.

157
Meghasthenes’s account of India in his book Indica refers to a great extent the cultural
interactions between the two countries.

This relationship was strengthened further during the reign of Chandragupta Maurya’s son
Bindusara who had asked the Greek King Antiochus to send Greek wine and raisins that were in
great demand in India. The diplomatic relationship between India and the West are recorded in
the Rock Edict XIII of Ashoka where Ashoka had referred to the names of five Greek rulers in
whose kingdoms Buddhist missionary activities were undertaken. Due to the increase of
commercial as well as political intercourse the number of visitors between India and the West
also increased. Such contacts are recorded in great detail in works like Strabo’s Geography,
Arrian’s Indica, Pliny’s Natural History, The Periplus of Erythrean Sea and Ptolemy’s
Geography. Moreover, there are also references to conversion of many Greeks to Hinduism.
Many Greeks adopted Hinduism with open hearts. The conversion of the Greek King Menander
to Buddhism is a glaring example. Some Greeks also offered donations in the Buddhist caves at
Karle.

The Garuda Pillar at Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh was the work of Heliodorous, son of Dion, a
Greek envoy. Thus India had come to occupy an important position in the Greek world. The
other side of the story is equally fascinating. The Greeks also asserted tremendous influence on
the cultural life of India in the fields of art and architecture, philosophy, coinage, drama and
science.

Art and Architecture:

The Hellenic impact on Indian art tradition was tremendous. It manifested itself in the form of an
entirely new school known as Gandhara School of Art. As the name suggests this school of art
developed from the particular region of Gandhara in the north-west, now in Afghanistan. Later it
spread over to Taxila, Mathura and Sarnath. This style of art chiefly concentrated on images and
relics of Buddha. They were made of either stone or stucco. Most of the ruins of this form of art
found at Bimaran, Dehri, Sakra and Hastanagar are now preserved in the museum of Peshawar in
Pakistan.

image source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/BharutRelief.jpg

158
It is otherwise called as Graeco Buddhist School of Art. Gandhara art is generally considered as
an eastern expansion of Hellenic civilisation mixed with Indian elements or a western expansion
of Indian culture. Prof. R.C. Majumdar has rightly remarked, “The Gandhara artists had the
hands of a Greek and the hearts of an Indian.” This form of art actually originated in Bactria and
Parthia under the Greek rulers. In course of time the local artists began to construct Buddhist
images applying Greek techniques but with Indian spirit and style.

The chief characteristics of Gandhara School of art are as follows:

1. Anthropomorphic representation of Buddha and Bodhisattvas that is the emergence of
Buddhist images on sculpture.

2. The images had more resemblance with the Greek god Apollo with heavy ornamentation,
drapery and headdress which were alien to Indian concept.

3. Refinement and polish of the images were of high order.

3. Indian theory of Karma and rebirth had influenced Plato’s Republic and Pythagorian ‘tabus’.

159
image source:bigviewbuddhism.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/karma.jpg
4. Influence of Indian conception of Vach on the idea of Logos in Neo-Platonism.

5. Indian philosophy of monasticism also influenced the philosophy and lifestyle of monks in
Greece.

4. The images were seated in the typical Indian Yogic posture. It was an actual observation of
Indian ascetics rather than on any western prototype.

160
Thus, with Hellenic influence, Gandhara school of art established itself firmly on Indian soil. At
the same time to counterbalance and supplement the trends of this school, an indigenous school
of art also developed known as the Mathura School of Art.

Philosophy:
In the realm of philosophy the cultural interaction between the two countries was more marked.
Scholars have found similarities among different branches of philosophy professed in India and
Greece.

image source: ericgerlachdotcom.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/greek-banquet-symposium.jpg

They are explained in the following manner:

1. Greek mystical philosophy of Orphic and Pythagoran schools have Indian resemblances.

2. Similarities between the philosophy of Eleatics and the theory of Thales with the doctrines of
the Upanishads of India.

Coinage:
Indians were acquainted with the system of coinage for quite long because a large number of
coins have been found from different parts of the country. All these coins are punch-marked
coins made of copper and silver. But the Greeks introduced a new dimension to the art of coin
making.

161
image source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7a/KingEndybisEthiopia227-235CE.jpg

The idea of striking both the obverse and reverse sides of the coins was learnt from the Greeks.
One side contained the picture and symbol of the ruler while the other side had a picture of some
other devices. Further, the technique of die cutting with refined polish was also learnt from the
Greeks.

By introducing such new Hellenic techniques to the previously rude Indian coinage system, the
Indians were able to produce coins of finer variety. In course of time the Sakas and the Parthians
adopted this Greek technique which got further impetus under the Imperial Guptas.

Drama:
Prominent scholars like Weber, Windisch and Schroder are of the opinion that Indian stage
drama was very much influenced by Hellenism. According to them the idea of using screens and
curtains and the presence of a clown were mainly of Greek origin though play writing was
exclusively done by the Indian authors.

162
image source: printsasiaimages.com/531332116/130401040113yHce9m0p.jpg
In the field of literature, however, the Greeks borrowed the concept of folklore from the Indians.
The Panchatantra stories of Indian tradition appeared in numerous Greek stories and fables. At
the same time it is also true that in the sphere of language and script very few references of
Hellenism have been found. Neither a single inscription in Greek language nor any linguistic or
scriptural documents have been found so far. So Hellenism had insignificant influence on Indian
language, script writing and other techniques of dramatic presentation.

Science:
Indian science came under tremendous influence of Hellenism, especially in the field of
astronomy. The Greeks were the inheritors of a glorious cultural heritage. Their advanced way of
thinking with high pedigree influenced the Indians to a large extent.

Though the Greeks were treated as Yavanas or outsiders by the Hindus, their outstanding
astronomical knowledge compelled the Indians to follow their methods. Gargi Samhita openly
appreciates their intellectual superiority in astronomy. The sign of zodiac, the seven day week
and the hour concepts were brought from the Greeks. The existence of planets, change of lunar
appearances in relation to the stars was made known to the Indians through this

image source: upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Woman_teaching_geometry.jpg Hellenic channel.

163
 CHAPTER 10
Cultural links between India & the Greco-Roman world
by Sanujit

Cyrus the Great (558-530 BCE) built the first universal empire, stretching from Greece to the
Indus River. This was the famous Achaemenid Dynasty of Persia. An inscription at Naqsh-i-
Rustam, the tomb of his able successor Darius I (521-486 BCE), near Persepolis, records Gadara
(Gandhara) along with Hindush (Hindus, Sindh) in the long list of satrapies of the Persian
Empire.

By about 380 BC the Persian hold on Indian regions slackened and many small local kingdoms
arose. In 327 BCE Alexander the Great overran the Persian Empire and located small political
entities within these territories. The next year, Alexander fought a difficult battle against the
Indian monarch Porus near the modern Jhelum River. East of Porus' kingdom, near
the Ganges River, was the powerful kingdom of Magadha, under the Nanda Dynasty.
Plutarch (46 – 120 CE) was a Greek historian, biographer and essayist, known primarily for
his Parallel Lives and Moralia. He gives an interesting description of the situation:
As for the Macedonians, however, their struggle with Porus blunted their courage and stayed
their further advance into India. For having had all they could do to repulse an enemy who
mustered only twenty thousand infantry and two thousand horse, they violently opposed
Alexander when he insisted on crossing the river Ganges also, the width of which, as they
learned, was thirty-two furlongs, its depth a hundred fathoms, while its banks on the further side
were covered with multitudes of men-at arms and horsemen and elephants.
Exhausted and frightened by the prospect of facing another giant Indian army at the Ganges
River, his army mutinied at the Hyphasis (modern Beas River), refusing to march further East.
Alexander left behind Greek forces which established themselves in the city of Taxila, now in
Pakistan.

After the death of Alexander in 323 BCE, Seleucus was nominated as the satrap of Babylon in

320 BCE. Antigonus forced Seleucus to flee from Babylon, but, supported by Ptolemy, he was
able to return in 312 BCE. Seleucus' later conquests include Persia and Media. He invaded what
is now Punjab in northern India and Pakistan in 305 BCE.

Early allusion to the Greeks in India

Long before the arrival of Alexander the Great on India's north-western border, there are
references in early Indian literature calling the Greeks Yavanas. Pāṇini, an
ancient Sanskrit grammarian, was acquainted with the word yavana in his composition.
Katyaanaa explains the term yavanānī as the script of the Yavanas. Nothing much is known
about Pāṇini's life, not even the century he lived in. The scholarly mainstream favours  4th
century BCE. Pāṇini's grammar, known as Ashtadhyayi , meaning eight chapters, defines
classical Sanskrit, so that Pāṇini by definition lived at the end of the Vedic period: An important
hint for the dating of Pāṇini is the occurrence of the word yavanānī  (in 4.1.49, either "Greek

164
woman", or "Greek script"). It is unlikely there would have been first-hand knowledge of Greeks
in Gandhara before the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 330s BCE, but it is likely that the
name was known via the Old Persian word yauna, so that the occurrence of yavanānī taken in
isolation allows for as early as 520 BC, i.e. the time of Darius the Great's conquests in India.
Katyayana (3rd century BCE) was Sanskrit grammarian, mathematician and Vedic priest who
lived in ancient India. He explains the term yavanānī as the script of the Yavanas. He takes the
same line as above that the Old Persian term yauna became Sanskrtised to name all Greeks. In
fact, this word appears in the Mahabharata.

Hellenization: The Cultural Legacy

The start of the so-called Hellenistic Period is usually taken as 323 BCE, the year of death of
Alexander in Babylon. During the previous decade of invasion, he had conquered the whole
Persian Empire, overthrowing King Darius. The conquered lands included Asia Minor,
the Levant, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Media, Persia and parts of modern Afghanistan, Pakistan and
parts of the steppes of central Asia, almost the entire earth known to the Greeks at that time.

The Empire of Alexander the Great- by Captain Blood (CC BY-SA)

As Alexander marched deeper into the East, distance alone presented him with a serious
problem: how was he to remain in touch with the Greek world left behind? A physical link was
vital as his army drew supplies and reinforcement from Greece and, of course, Macedonia. He
had to be sure he was never cut off. He thought of a unique plan.
He went on planting military colonies and cities in strategic places. At those places Alexander
left Greek mercenaries and Macedonian veterans who were no longer involved in active
campaign. Besides keeping the supply routes open, those settlements served the purpose of
dominating the countryside around them.

Their military significance apart, Alexander's cities and colonies became powerful instruments in
the spread of Hellenism throughout the East. Plutarch described Alexander's achievements:
Having founded over 70 cities among barbarian peoples and having planted Greek magistracies
in Asia, Alexander overcame its wild and savage way of life.
Alexander had indeed opened the East to an enormous wave of immigration, and his successors
continued his policy by inviting Greek colonists to settle in their realms. For seventy-five years
after Alexander's death, Greek immigrants poured into the East. At least 250

165
new Hellenistic colonies were set up. The Mediterranean world had seen no comparable
movement of peoples since the days of Archilochus (680 - 645 BCE) when wave after wave of
Greeks had turned the Mediterranean basin into a Greek-speaking region.

One concrete and almost exotic example of these trends comes from the newly discovered
Hellenistic city of Ay Khanoum. Situated on the borders of Russia and Afghanistan and not far
from China, the city was mostly Greek. It had the typical Greek trappings of a gymnasium, a
choice of temples, and administration buildings. It was not, however, purely Greek. It also
contained an oriental temple and artistic remains that showed that the Greeks and the natives had
already embraced aspects of each other's religions. One of the most curious discoveries was a
long inscription written in Greek verse by Clearchus, a pupil of Aristotle. The inscription, carved
in stone, was put up in a public place for all to see. Clearchus had simply copied the precepts of
famous Greeks. The inscription was philosophy for the common people, a contribution to
popular culture. It provided the Greeks with a link to their faraway homeland. It was also an easy
way to make at least some of Greek culture available to residents.

Alexander's settlement of Greek colonists and culture in the east resulted in a new Hellenistic
culture, aspects of which were evident until the mid-15th century CE. The overall result of
Alexander's settlements and those of his successors was the spread of Hellenism as far east as
India. Throughout the Hellenistic period, Greeks and Easterners became familiar with and
adapted themselves to each other's customs, religions, and ways of life. Although Greek culture
did not entirely conquer the East, it gave the East a vehicle of expression that linked it to the
West. Hellenism became a common bond among the East, peninsular Greece, and the western
Mediterranean. This pre-existing cultural bond was later to prove quite valuable to Rome, itself
strongly influenced by Hellenism in its efforts to impose a comparable political unity on the
known world.

Hellenization is a term coined by the German historian Johann Gustav Droysen to denote the
spread of Greek language, culture, and population into the former Persian Empire after
Alexander's conquest. That this export took place is certain, and can be seen in the great
Hellenistic cities such as Alexandria in Egypt (one of around twenty towns founded by
Alexander), Antioch in modern Syria and Seleucia south of modern Baghdad. However, just how
widespread and deeply permeating this was, and to what extent it was a conscious policy, is
debatable. Alexander's successors openly rejected such policies after his death.

Trade in the Hellenic World

In many respects the Hellenistic city resembled a modern city. It was a cultural centre with
theatres, temples, and libraries. It was a seat of learning, home of poets, writers, teachers, and
artists. It was a place where people could find amusement. The Hellenistic city was also an
economic centre that provided a ready market for grain and produce raised in the surrounding
countryside. The city was an emporium, scene of trade and manufacturing. In short, the
Hellenistic city offered cultural and economic opportunities but did not foster a sense of united,
integrated enterprise.

The Seleucid and Ptolemaic dynasties traded as far afield as India, Arabia, and sub-

Saharan Africa. Overland trade with India and Arabia was conducted by caravan and was largely

166
in the hands of Easterners. The caravan trade never dealt in bulk items or essential commodities;
only luxury goods could be transported in this very expensive fashion. Once the goods reached
the Hellenistic monarchies, Greek merchants took a hand in the trade.

Essential to the caravan trade from the Mediterranean to Afghanistan and India were the northern
route to Dura on the Euphrates River and the southern route through Arabia. The desert of
Arabia may seem at first unlikely and inhospitable terrain for a line of commerce, but to the east
of it lay the plateau of Iran, from which trade routes stretched to the south and still farther cast to
China. Commerce from the East arrived in Egypt and at the excellent harbours
of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Syria. From these ports goods flowed to Greece, Italy, and Spain.
The backbone of this caravan trade was the camel - shaggy, ill-tempered, but durable.

Hellenistic Trade Routes, 300 BCE- by Jan van der Crabben (CC BY-NC-SA)

Over the caravan routes travelled luxury goods that were light, rare, and expensive. In time these
luxury items became more of a necessity than a luxury. In part this development was the result of
an increased volume of trade. In the prosperity of the period more people could afford to
buy gold, silver, ivory, precious stones, spices, and a host of other easily transportable goods.
Perhaps the most prominent goods in terms of volume were tea and silk. Indeed, the trade in silk
gave the major route the name "Silk Road", for not only was this route prominent in antiquity,
but it was used until early modern times. In return the Greeks and Macedonians sent east
manufactured goods, especially metal weapons, cloth, wine, and olive oil.
Although these caravan routes can trace their origins to earlier times, they became far more
prominent in the Hellenistic period. Business customs developed and became standardized, so
that merchants from different nationalities communicated in a way understandable to all of them.

167
Innovative years on the borders of India.

There was a succession of more than thirty Hellenistic kings, often in conflict with each other,
from 180 BC to around 10 CE. This era is known as the Indo-Greek kingdom in the pages of
history. The kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian King Demetrius invaded India in
180 BCE, ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian
kingdom centred in Bactria (today's northern Afghanistan). Since the term "Indo-Greek
Kingdom" loosely described a number of various dynastic polities, it had several capitals, but the
city of Taxila in modern Pakistan was probably among the earliest seats of local Hellenic rulers,
though cities like Pushkalavati and Sagala (apparently the largest of such residences) would
house a number of dynasties in their times.

During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian
languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended ancient
Greek, Hindu and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their
cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism. The Indo-Greek kings seem to have
achieved a level of cultural syncretism with no equivalent in history, the consequences of which
are still felt today, particularly through the diffusion and influence of Greco-Buddhist art.
According to Indian sources, Greek ("Yavana") troops seem to have assisted Chandragupta
Maurya in toppling the Nanda Dynasty and founding the Mauryan Empire. By around 312
BCE Chandragupta had established his rule in large parts of the north-western Indian territories
as well.

In 303 BCE, Seleucus I led an army to the Indus, where he encountered Chandragupta.
Chandragupta and Seleucus finally concluded an alliance. Seleucus gave him his daughter in
marriage, ceded the territories of Arachosia (modern Kandahar), Herat, Kabul and Makran. He in
turn received from Chandragupta 500 war elephant which he used decisively at the Battle of
Ipsus.

The peace treaty, and "an intermarriage agreement" (Epigamia, Greek: Επιγαμια), meaning either
a dynastic marriage or an agreement for intermarriage between Indians and Greeks was a
remarkable first feat in this campaign.

Megasthenes, first Greek ambassador

Megasthenes (350 – 290 BCE) was a Greek ethnographer in the Hellenistic period, author of the
work Indica. He was born in Asia Minor (modern day Turkey) and became an ambassador of
Seleucus I to the court of Sandrocottus, who possibly was Chandragupta Maurya in Pataliputra
(modern Patna in Bihar state), India. However the exact date of his embassy is uncertain.
Scholars place it before 288 BCE, the date of Chandragupta's death.
At the start of the Indica, Megasthenes talks about the older Indians who knew about the
prehistoric arrival of Dionysus and Hercules in India. This story was quite popular amongst the
Greeks during the Alexandrian period. He describes geographical features of India, such as the
Himalayas and the island of Sri Lanka.

Especially important are his comments on the religions of the Indians. He mentions the devotees
of Hercules (Shiva) and Dionysus (Krishna or Indra), but he does not write a word on Buddhists,
168
something that gives ground to the theory that Buddhism was not widely spread in India before
the reign of Asoka (269 BCE to 232 BCE).

Indica served as an important source to many later writers such as Strabo and Arrian. The 1st
century BCE Greek historian Apollodorus, quoted by Strabo, affirms that the Bactrian Greeks,
led by Demetrius I and Menander, conquered India and occupied a larger territory than the
Macedonians under Alexander the Great, going beyond the Hyphasis (modern Beas River)
towards the Himalayas.

Indo-Greek Campaigns- by PHGCOM (GNU FDL)

The Roman historian Justin also cited the Indo-Greek conquests, describing Demetrius as "King
of the Indians" ("Regis Indorum"), and explaining that Eucratides in turn "put India under his
rule" ("Indiam in potestatem redegit"). "India" only meant the upper Indus for Alexnder the
Great. Since the appearance of Megasthenes, "India" meant to the Greeks most of the northern

169
half of the Indian subcontinent. Greek and Indian sources tend to indicate that the Greeks
campaigned as far as Pataliputra until they were forced to retreat following a coup in Bactria in
170 BCE.

Appearance of coins as the first landmark

It is really difficult to know today where the idea of coinage first evolved. Based on available
evidences, it appears that the notion of money (as coins, which by definition here would be a
piece of metal of defined weight stamped with symbol of authority for financial transaction), was
conceived by three different civilizations independently and almost simultaneously. Coins were
introduced as a means to trade things of daily usage in Asia Minor, India and China in 6th
century BC. Most historians agree that the first coins of world were issued by Greeks living
in Lydia and Ionia (located on the western coast of modern Turkey). These first coins were
globules of Electrum, a naturally occurring alloy of gold and silver. These were crude coins of
definite weight stamped with punches issued by the local authorities in about 650 BCE.

Both, literary and archaeological evidence confirm that the Indians invented coinage somewhere
between the 5th and 6th centuries BCE. A hoard of coins discovered at Chaman Huzuri in 1933
CE contained 43 silver punch-marked coins (the earliest coins of India) mixed with Athenian
(coins minted by Athens city of Greece) and Achaemenid (Persian) coins. The Bhir (Taxila in
modern Pakistan) hoard discovered in 1924 CE contained 1055 punch-marked coins in very
worn-out condition and two coins of Alexander in mint condition. This archaeological evidence
clearly indicates that the coins were minted in India long before the 4th century BCE — i.e.
before Greeks advanced towards India. Pānini wrote his Ashtadhyayi in the 4th or 5th  century
BCE in which he mentioned Satamana, Nishkas, Sana, Vimastika, Karshapana and its various
sub-divisions to be used in financial transactions. Thus, coins were known in ancient Indian
literature from 500 BCE. There is also a strong belief that silver as a metal which was not
available in Vedic India (pre 600 BCE). It became abundantly available by 500-600 BCE. Most
of the silver came from Afghanistan and Persia as a result of international trade.

The first Greek coins to be minted in India, those of Menander I and Appolodotus I bear the
mention "Saviour king" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), a title with high value in the Greek world. For
instance, Ptolemy I had been Soter (saviour) because he had helped save Rhodes from Demetrius
the Besieger, and Antiochus I because he had saved Asia Minor from the Gauls. The title was
also inscribed in Pali (the Kharoṣṭhī script) as Tratarasa on the reverse of their coins. Menander
and Apollodotus may indeed have been saviours to the Greek populations residing in India.

Most of the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in
Pali on the back, a superb concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world.
From the reign of Apollodotus II, around 80 BCE, Kharoshthi letters started to be used as
mintmarks on coins in combination with Greek monograms and mintmarks. It suggested the
participation of local technicians to the minting process. Incidentally, these bilingual coins of the
Indo-Greeks were the key in the decipherment of the Kharoṣṭhī script by James Prinsep (1799 –
1840 CE).
The Kharoṣṭhī script, is an ancient abugida (or "alphasyllabary") used by the Gandhara culture,
nestled in the historic northwest South Asia to write the Gāndhārī and Sanskrit languages. It was
in use from the middle of the 3rd century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd

170
century CE. It was also in use in Kushan, Sogdiana and along the Silk Road where there is some
evidence it may have survived until the 7th century CE in the remote way stations of Khotan and
Niya.
The coinage of the Indo-Greeks remained in fact influential for several centuries throughout the
Indian subcontinent:
 The Indo-Greek weight and size standard for silver drachms was adopted by the
contemporary Buddhist kingdom of the Kunindas in Punjab, the first attempt by an Indian
kingdom to produce coins that could compare with those of the Indo-Greeks.
 In central India, the Satavahanas (2nd century BCE- 2nd century CE) adopted the
practice of representing their kings in profile, within circular legends.
 The direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in the northwest, the Indo-Scythians and Indo-
Parthians continued displaying their kings within a legend in Greek, and on the obverse,
Greek deities.
 To the south, the Western Kshatrapas (1st-4th century CE) represented their kings in
profile with circular legends in corrupted Greek.
 The Kushans (1st-4th century CE) used the Greek language on their coinage until the first
few years of the reign of Kanishka, whence they adopted the Bactrian language, written
with the Greek script.
 The Guptas (4th-6th century CE), in turn imitating the Western Kshatrapas, also showed
their rulers in profile, within a legend in corrupted Greek, in the coinage of their western
territories.
The latest use of the Greek script on coins corresponds to the rule of the Turkish Shahi of Kabul,
around 850 CE.

Rise of Menander
Menander (Milinda), originally a general of Demetrius, is probably the most successful Indo-
Greek king, and the conqueror of the vastest territory. The finds of his coins are the most
numerous and the most widespread of all the Indo-Greek kings. From at least the 1st century AD,
the "Menander Mons", or "Mountains of Menander", came to designate the mountain chain at the
extreme east of the Indian subcontinent, today's Naga Hills and Arakan, as indicated in the
Ptolemy world map of the 1st century. Menander is also remembered in Buddhist literature
(the Milinda Panha) as a convert to Buddhism: he became an arhat (Buddhist ascetic) whose
relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha. He also introduced a
new coin type, with Athena Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") on the reverse, which was
adopted by most of his successors in the East.

Coming of Buddhism in India

It is necessary to deal with the coming of Buddhism in India as a turning point in the world of art
and culture, philosophy and religion. More than all other religious faiths, the Greco-Indian
approach to the new dawn across Asia and Europe was mainly due to the Buddhism during the
centuries under discussion here.

Buddha passed away at the age of eighty, sometime between the years 486 and 473 BCE,
probably nearer the former date than the latter. A few modern authorities believe that Buddha
never intended to set up a new religion and he never looked on his doctrine as distinct from the
popular cults of the time. However questionable this view may be, his simpler followers raised

171
his status almost to divinity during his lifetime, and after his death, worshipped him through his
symbols—the stupa, recalling his parinirvana  and the Bodhi tree, recalling his enlightenment.
According to tradition, disciples and the neighbouring rulers divided his ashes, and the recipients
built stupas over them. In the third century BCE, Ashoka uncovered the ashes from their original
resting places and dispersed those, creating stupas all over India.

The carvings on the stupas of Bharhut and Sanchi, crafted in the second and third centuries BCE,
show crowds of adoring worshippers leaning down towards the symbol of the Buddha. Indeed, in
all the Buddhist sculpture of the period, there is no show of the Buddha himself, but displayed by
such emblems as a wheel, an empty throne, a pair of footprints or a pipal tree.

Gandhara art, exquisite touch of Buddhism

The Gandhara Schools of art and sculpture in the lower Kabul Valley and the upper Indus around
Peshawar and Mathura, both of which flourished under the Kushan kings, vie for the honour of
producing the first images of the Buddha. Most Indian authorities, however, believe that the
Buddha image originated at Mathura, south of Delhi.
Around the time of Menander's death in 140 BCE, the Central Asian Kushans overran Bactria
and ended Greek rule there. Around 80 BCE, the Sakas, diverted by their Parthian cousins from
Iran, moved into Gandhara and other parts of Pakistan and Western India. Eventually an Indo-
Parthian dynasty succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. The Parthians continued to support
Greek artistic traditions.

The Kushan period is considered the golden period of Gandhara. Gandharan art flourished and
produced some of the best pieces of Indian sculpture.
The Gandhara civilization peaked during the reign of the great Kushan King Kanishka (128–151
CE). The cities of Taxila (Takshasila) at Sirsukh and Peshawar flourished. Peshawar became the
capital of a great empire stretching from Bengal, the easternmost province of India to Central
Asia. Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread farther from Central
Asia to the Far East, where his empire met the Han Empire of China. Gandhara became a holy
land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims to see monuments associated with many Jataka
tales.

In Gandhara, Mahāyāna Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form.
Under the Kushans new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of
the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built a great
tower to a height of 400 feet at Peshawar. This tower was reported by Faxian (Fa-hsien),
Songyun (Sung-yun) and Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang). This structure was destroyed and rebuilt
many times until it was at last destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century CE.

172
 Buddha Statue, Gandhara
by World Imaging (Public Domain)

Search for the Gandhara ruins

In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking interest in the ancient
history of the Indian subcontinent. In the 1830s CE coins of the post-Ashoka period were
discovered and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Charles Masson, James
Prinsep, and Alexander Cunningham deciphered the Kharosthi script in 1838 CE. Chinese
records provided locations and site plans of Buddhists shrines. Along with the discovery of
coins, these records provided necessary clues to piece together the history of Gandhara. In 1848
CE Cunningham found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of
Taxila in the 1860s CE. From then on a large number of Buddhist statues have been discovered
in the Peshawar valley.

173
John Marshall performed an excavation of Taxila from 1912 to 1934 CE. He discovered separate
Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of stupas and monasteries. These
discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and
its art.

Kanishka's coins from the beginning of his reign bear legends in Greek script and depict Greek
divinities. Later coins bear legends in Bactrian, the Iranian language that the Kushans in fact
spoke, and Greek divinities were replaced by corresponding Iranic ones. All of Kanishka's coins
- even ones with a legend in the Bactrian language - were written in a modified Greek script that
had one additional glyph  to represent /š/ (sh), as in the word 'Kushan' and 'Kanishka'.
The Buddhist coins of Kanishka are comparatively rare. Several show Kanishka on the obverse
and the Buddha standing on the reverse, in Hellenistic style. The standing Buddha is in
Hellenistic style, bearing the mention "Boddo" in Greek script, holding the left corner of his
cloak in his hand, and forming the abhaya mudra ((gesture of reassurance). Only six Kushan
coins of the Buddha are known. The ears are oddly large and long, a symbolic exaggeration
possibly made necessary by the small size of the coins, but otherwise visible in some later
Gandharan statues of the Buddha typically dated to the 3rd-4th century CE. He has an abundant
topknot covering, often highly stylised in a curly or often globular manner, also visible on later
Buddha statues of Gandhara. On several designs, a moustache is apparent.

Curious touch in the artistic model

The Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius I (205-171 BCE) himself may have been the prototype for
the image of the Buddha.
The earliest Hellenistic statues of the Buddha portray him in a style reminiscent of a king.
Demetrius may have been deified, and the first Hellenistic statues of the Buddha we know may
be representations of the idealized Greek king, princely, yet friendly, protective and open to
Indian culture. As they often incorporated more Buddhist elements, they became central to the
Buddhist movement, and influenced the image of the Buddha in Greco-Buddhist art.
Another characteristic of Demetrius is associated to the Buddha: they share the same protector
deity. In Gandharan art, the Buddha is often shown under the protection of the Greek
god Herakles, standing with his club (and later a diamond rod) resting over his arm. This
unusual representation of Herakles is the same as the one on the back of Demetrius' coins, and it
is exclusively associated to him (and his son Euthydemus II), seen only on the back of his coins.

174
 Buddha with Hercules Protector-by World Imaging (CC BY-SA)

Deities from the Greek mythological pantheon also tend to be incorporated in Buddhist

representations, displaying a strong blend. In particular, Herakles (of the type of the Demetrius
coins, with club resting on the arm) has been used aplenty as the symbol of Vajrapani, the
protector of the Buddha. Other Greek deities freely used in Greco-Buddhist art are view of Atlas,
and the Greek wind god Boreas. Atlas in particular tends to be involved as a sustaining element
in Buddhist architectural elements. Boreas became the Japanese wind god Fujin through the
Greco-Buddhist Wardo. The mother deity Hariti was inspired by Tyche.
Soon, the figure of the Buddha was incorporated within architectural designs, such as Corinthian
pillars and friezes. Scenes of the life of the Buddha are typically depicted in a Greek architectural
environment, with protagonist wearing Greek clothes.

Mathura art
Mathura, 145 km south of Delhi, is by tradition the birthplace of Krishna, one of the two chief
deities in Hindu religion. Mathura is also famous as one of the first two centres of production for
images of the Buddha, the other being Gandhara. Human images of the Buddha began to appear

175
at about the same time in both centres in the 1st Century CE but can be distinguished from one
another as the Gandharan images are very clearly Greco-Roman in inspiration with the Buddha
wearing wavy locks tucked up into a chignon and heavier toga-like robes. The Buddha figurines
produced in Mathura more closely resemble some of the older Indian male fertility gods and
have shorter, curlier hair and lighter, more translucent robes. Mathuran art and culture reached its
zenith under the Kushan dynasty which had Mathura as one of their capitals, the other being
Purushapura (Peshawar).

The Mathura images are related to the earlier yakṣa (male nature deity) figures, a likeness mostly
evident in the colossal standing Buddha images of the early Kushān period. The sculptors
worked for centuries in the speckled, red sandstone of the locality and the pieces carried far and
wide. In these, and in the more representative seated Buddhas, the overall effect is one of
enormous energy. The shoulders are broad, the chest swells, and the legs are firmly planted with
feet spaced apart. Other characteristics are the shaven head; the usnīsa (knob on the top of the
head) indicated by a tiered spiral; a round smiling face; the right arm raised in abhaya-mudrā
(gesture of reassurance); the left arm akimbo or resting on the thigh; the drapery closely
moulding the body and arranged in folds over the left arm, leaving the right shoulder bare; and
the presence of the lion throne rather than the lotus throne. Later, the hair began to be treated as a
series of short flat spirals lying close to the head, the type that came to be the standard
representation throughout the Buddhist world.

The female figures at Mathura, carved in high relief on the pillars and gateways of both Buddhist
and Jaina monuments, are truly sensuous in their appeal. These richly bejewelled ladies, ample
of hip and slender of waist, standing suggestively, are reminiscent of the dancing girls of
the Indus Valley. Their gay, impulsive sensuality in the backdrop of a resurgent doctrine of piety
and renunciation is an example of the remarkable tolerance of the ancient Indian outlook on life,
which did not find such display of art and culture improper. These delightful nude or semi-nude
figures are shown in a variety of toilet scenes or in association with trees, indicating their
continuance of the yakṣī (female nature deity) tradition seen also at other Buddhist sites, such as
Bhārhut and Sānchi. As auspicious emblems of fertility and abundance they commanded a
popular appeal that persisted with the rise of Buddhism.

176
Yakshi-by Ackland Art Museum (Copyright)

Infusion of literature
All this did not remain confined in sculptures and statues alone. They seeped into the language as
well in northern India during the Greek rule. A few common Greek words were adopted in
Sanskrit, such as words related to writing and warfare:
 "ink" (Sankrit: melā, Greek: μέλαν "melan")
 "pen" (Sanskrit:kalamo, Greek:κάλαμος "kalamos")
 "book" (Sanskrit: pustaka, Greek: πύξινον "puksinon")
 "bridle", a horse's bit (Sanskrit: khalina, Greek: χαλινός "khalinos")
 "centre" (Sanskrit: kendram, Greek: κενδρον "kendron")
 a "siege mine" (used to undermine the wall of a fortress): (Sanskrit: surungā,
Greek: σύριγγα "suringa")

177
  "barbarian, blockhead, stupid" (Sanskrit: barbara, Greek:βάρβαρος "barbaros")
also: "a shell" cambuka from σαμβύκη, "flour" samita from σεμίδαλις.
Phraotes, the Indo-Parthian King of Taxila received a Greek education at the court of his father
and spoke Greek fluently. The Greek philosopher Apollonius  recounts a talk on this:

"Tell me, O King, how you acquired such a command of the Greek tongue, and
whence you derived all your philosophical attainments in this place?" The king
replies, “My father, after a Greek education, brought me to the sages at an age
somewhat too early perhaps, for I was only twelve at the time, but they brought me
up like their own son; for any that they admit knowing the Greek tongue they are
especially fond of, because they consider that in virtue of the similarity of his
disposition he already belongs to themselves."

Greek was still in official use until the time of Kanishka (120 CE): "He (Kanishka) issued (?) an
edict(?) in Greek and then he put it into the Aryan language". …but when Kanishka refers to "the
Aryan language" he surely means Bactrian …”By the grace of Auramazda, I made another text
in Aryan, which previously did not exist". It is difficult not to associate Kanishka's emphasis here
on the use of the "Aryan language" with the replacement of Greek by Bactrian on his coinage.
The numismatic evidence shows that this must have taken place very early in Kanishka's reign
…” — Prof. Nicholas Sims-Williams (University of London).
The Greek script was used not only on coins, but also in manuscripts and stone inscriptions as
late as the period of Islamic invasions in the 7th-8th century CE.

Astronomy & astrology

Vedanga Jyotisha is dated to around 135 BCE. It is an Indian text on Jyotisha (astrology and
astronomy), compiled by Lagadha. The text is the earliest groundwork in India to the Vedanga
discipline of Jyotisha.  The text describes rules for tracking the motions of the sun and the moon
in horoscopic astrology and advanced astronomical knowledge. Next to this compilation, one of
the earliest Indian writings on astronomy and astrology, titled the Yavanajataka or "The Saying
of the Greeks", is a translation from Greek to Sanskrit made by "Yavanesvara" ("Lord of the
Greeks") in 149–150 CE under the rule of the Western Kshatrapa King Rudrakarman I. The
Yavanajataka contains instructions on calculating astrological charts (horoscopes) from the time
and place of one's birth. Astrology flourished in the Hellenistic world (particularly Alexandria)
and the Yavanajataka reflects astrological techniques developed in the Greek-speaking world.
Various astronomical and mathematical methods, such as the calculation of the 'horoskopos' (the
zodiac sign on the eastern horizon), were used in the service of astrology.

Another set of treatises, the Paulisa Siddhanta and the Romaka Siddhantas, are attributed to later
Greco-Roman influence in India. The Paulisa Siddhanta has been tentatively identified with the
works of Paulus Alexandrinus, who wrote a well-known astrological hand-book.
Indian astronomy is widely acknowledged to be influenced by the Alexandrian school, and its
technical nomenclature is essentially Greek: "The Yavanas are barbarians, yet the science of
astronomy originated with them and for this they must be reverenced like gods", this is a
comment in Brihat-Samhita by the mathematician Varahamihira. Several other Indian texts show
appreciation for the scientific knowledge of the Yavana Greeks.

178
Spur on Indian & Greek thought & religion
The impact of the Indo-Greeks on Indian thought and religion is unknown. Scholars believe that
Mahāyāna Buddhism as a distinct movement began around the 1st century BCE in the North-
western Indian subcontinent, corresponding to the time and place of Indo-Greek flowering.
The Mahāyāna tradition is the larger of the two major traditions of Buddhism existing today, the
other being that of the Theravāda school. According to the teachings of Mahāyāna traditions,
"Mahāyāna" also refers to the path of seeking complete enlightenment for the benefit of all
sentient beings, also called "Bodhisattvayāna", or the "Bodhisattva Vehicle. Among the earliest
and most important references to the term Mahāyāna are those that occur in the Lotus Sūtra
dating between the 1st century BC and the 1st century CE. Seishi Karashima has suggested that
the term first used in an earlier Gandhāri Prakrit version of the Lotus Sūtra was not the term
mahāyāna but the Prakrit word mahājāna in the sense of mahājñāna (great knowing). At a later
stage when the early Prakrit word was converted into Sanskrit, this mahājāna, being phonetically
ambivalent, was mistakenly converted into mahāyāna, possibly due to what may have been a
double meaning

Intense multi-cultural influences have indeed been suggested in the appearance of Mahāyāna.
According to Richard Foltz, "Key formative influences on the early development of the
Mahāyāna and Pure Land movements, which became so much part of East Asian civilization,
are to be sought in Buddhism's earlier encounters along the Silk Road".  As Mahāyāna Buddhism
emerged, it received "influences from popular Hindu devotional cults (bhakti), Persian and
Greco-Roman theologies which filtered into India from the northwest". 
Many of the early Mahāyāna theories of reality and knowledge can be related to Greek
philosophical schools of thought: Mahāyāna Buddhism has been described as "the form of
Buddhism which (regardless of how Hinduized its later forms became) seems to have originated
in the Greco-Buddhist communities of India, through a conflation of the Greek Democritean-
Sophistic-Skeptical tradition with the rudimentary and unformulated empirical and sceptical
elements already present in early Buddhism". However, this view can hardly explain the origin
of the bodhisattva ideal, already delineated in the Aagamas, which also already contained a well
developed theory of selflessness (anaatman) and emptiness (shunyaata), none of these essential
Mahāyāna tenets being traceable to Greek roots.

https://www.ancient.eu/article/208/cultural-links-between-india--the-greco-roman-worl/
Hellenistic influence on Indian art
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

179
 CHAPTER 11
Hellenistic influence on Indian art

The Pataliputra capital, a Hellenistic anta capital found in the Mauryan Empire palace of Pataliputra,

India, dated to the 3rd century BCE.

Hellenistic influence on Indian art reflects the artistic influence of the Greeks on Indian

art following the conquests of Alexander the Great, from the end of the 4th century BCE to the
first centuries of the common era. The Greeks in effect maintained a political presence at the
doorstep, and sometimes within India, down to the 1st century CE with the Greco-Bactrian
Kingdom and the Indo-Greek Kingdoms, with many noticeable influences on the arts of
the Maurya Empire (c.321–185 BCE) especially.[1] Hellenistic influence on Indian art was also
felt for several more centuries during the period of Greco-Buddhist art.

180
Pre-Hellenistic influences (518–327 BCE)

Athenian coin (minted c. 500/490 – 485 BCE) discovered in Pushkalavati, Gandhara. This coin

is the earliest known example of its type to be found so far east.[3]
See also: Chaman Hazouri hoard, Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley, and  Coinage of
India
Coin finds in the Chaman Hazouri hoard in Kabul or the Shaikhan Dehri hoard
in Pushkalavati have revealed numerous Achaemenid coins as well as many Greek coins from
the 5th and 4th centuries BCE were circulating in the area, at least as far as the Indus during the
rule of the Achaemenids, who were in control of the areas as far as Gandhara.[4][5][6][7] In 2007 a
small coin hoard was discovered at the site of ancient Pushkalavati (Shaikhan Dehri) in Pakistan,
containing a tetradrachm minted in Athens c. 500/490 – 485 BCE, together with a number of
local types as well as silver cast ingots. The Athens coin is the earliest known example of its type
to be found so far to the east.[8]
According to Joe Cribb, these early Greek coins were at the origin of Indian punch-marked
coins, the earliest coins developed in India, which used minting technology derived from Greek
coinage.[6] Daniel Schlumberger also considers that punch-marked bars, similar to the many
punch-marked bars found in northwestern India, initially originated in the Achaemenid Empire,
rather than in the Indian heartland:
“The punch-marked bars were up to now considered to be Indian (...) However the weight
standard is considered by some expert to be Persian, and now that we see them also being
uncovered in the soil of Afghanistan, we must take into account the possibility that their country
of origin should not be sought beyond the Indus, but rather in the oriental provinces of the
Achaemenid Empire"
— Daniel Schlumberger, quoted from Trésors Monétaires, p. 42.[7]
Hellenistic period (327 BCE onward)[edit]

181
"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great, minted in Babylon c. 322 BCE, following his
campaigns in the subcontinent.Obv: Alexander being crowned by Nike./Rev: Alexander
attacking king Porus on his elephant./Silver. British Museum.

The Greek conquests in India under Alexander the Great were limited in time (327–326 BCE)

and in extent, but they had extensive long term effects as Greeks settled for centuries at the
doorstep of India.[9] Soon after the departure of Alexander, the Greeks (described
as Yona or Yavana in Indian sources from the Greek "Ionian") may then have participated,
together with other groups, in the armed uprising of Chandragupta Maurya against the Nanda
Dynasty around 322 BCE, and gone as far as Pataliputra for the capture of the city from the
Nandas. The Mudrarakshasa of Visakhadutta as well as the Jaina work Parisishtaparvan talk of
Chandragupta's alliance with the Himalayan king Parvatka, often identified with Porus.
According to these accounts, this alliance gave Chandragupta a composite and powerful army
made up
of Yavanas (Greeks), Kambojas, Shakas (Scythians), Kiratas (Nepalese), Parasikas (Persians)
and Bahlikas (Bactrians) who took Pataliputra.
After these events, the Greeks were able to maintain a structured presence at the door of India for
about three centuries, through the Seleucid Empire and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom, down to the
time of the Indo-Greek kingdoms, which ended sometimes in the 1st century CE. During that
time, the city of Ai-Khanoum, capital of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom, and the capitals of the
Indo-Greek Kingdom, the cities of Sirkap, founded in what is now Pakistan on the
Greek Hippodamian grid plan, and Sagala, now located in Pakistan 10 km from the border with
India, interacted heavily with the Indian subcontinent. It is considered that Ai-Khanoum and
Sirkap may have been primary actors in transmitting Western artistic influence to India, for
example in the creation of the quasi-Ionic Pataliputra capital or the floral friezes of the Pillars of
Ashoka. Numerous Greek ambassadors, such as Megasthenes, Deimachus and Dionysius, stayed
at the Mauryan court in Pataliputra.

The scope of adoption goes from designs such as the bead and reel pattern, the central flame
palmette design and a variety of other moldings, to the lifelike rendering of animal sculpture and
the design and function of the Ionic anta capital in the palace of Pataliputra.[15] After the 1st
century CE, Hellenistic influence continued to be perceived in the syncretic Greco-Buddhist
art of Gandhara, down to the 4th–5th centuries CE. Arguably, Hellenistic influence continued to
be felt indirectly in India arts for many centuries thereafter.

Influence on Indian monumental ston architecture (268–180 BCE)

During the Maurya period (c. 321–185 BCE), and especially during the time of
Emperor Ashoka (c.268–232 BCE), Hellenistic influence seems to have played a role in the
establishment of Indian monumental stone architecture. Excavations in the ancient palace
of Pataliputra have brought to light Hellenistic sculptural works, and Hellenistic influence appear
in the Pillars of Ashoka at about the same period.

According to John Boardman, there were Hellenistic influences on Indian stone architecture.
However, the sites and sources of these influences are "not always properly identified or yet
identifiable". Three broad theories have been proposed. One was held by early scholars such
as Percy Brown in which stone Indian architecture used immigrant craftsmen experienced in the

182
Persian Achaemenid imperial style, which included much Greek input, to which further more
direct Hellenistic influence was added. The second was held by later scholars such as John Irwin
who favour mostly indigenous Indian inspiration, and a third held by S.P. Gupta and others, who
favour a combination.

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom and the Hellenistic city of Ai-Khanoum were located at the very

doorstep of India./Ashoka's Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription in Greek and Aramaic.

Boardman compares the appearance of stone architecture in Persia and India; to some extent the
new empires of the Achaemenids and Mauryans faced similar issues in "creating stone
architecture suitable to the aspirations of empire", when neither country had a tradition of
building in stone. Persian conquests had included areas with important traditions of large-scale
building in brick or stone; in India there was probably a tradition of large and intricate building
in wood, although remains of this are naturally very few. It is possible that the difficult pass
through the Hindu Kush and locations to the northwest of it such as Ai-Khanoum, a Greek city of
Bactria in 3rd-century BCE and about 600 kilometres (370 mi) from Kabul, could have provided
the conduit to connect the Hellenistic and Indian artists. Alternatively, the influence could have
come from the ancient Persian Persepolis, now near Shiraz in southwest Iran and about 2,200
kilometres (1,400 mi) from Kabul. However, a major issue that this proposal faces is that
Persepolis was destroyed about 80 years before the first Buddhist stone architecture and arts
appeared. This leaves the question whether, to what extent and how knowledge was preserved or
transferred over the generations between the fall of Persepolis (330 BCE) and the rise of
Ashokan era art to its east (after 263 BCE).

Extent of relations
Numerous contacts have been recorded between the Maurya Empire and the Greek
realm. Seleucus I Nicator attempted to conquer India in 305 BCE, but he finally came to an
agreement with Chandragupta Maurya, and signed a treaty which, according to Strabo, ceded a
number of territories to Chandragupta, including large parts of what is now Afghanistan and

183
Pakistan. A "marital agreement" was also concluded, and Seleucus received five hundred war
elephants, a military asset which would play a decisive role at the Battle of Ipsus in 301 BCE.

Later, numerous ambassadors visited the Indian court in Pataliputra, especially Megasthenes to

Chandragupta, later Deimakos to his son Bindusara, and later again Ptolemy II Philadelphus, the
ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt and contemporary of Ashoka, is also recorded by Pliny the Elder as
having sent an ambassador named Dionysius to the Mauryan court.[21] Ashoka made
communications with Greek populations on the site of Alexandria Arachosia (Old Kandahar),
using the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription or the Kandahar Greek Inscription.

The Greco-Bactrian Kingdom with its capital of Ai-Khanoum maintained a strong Hellenistic

presence at the doorstep of India from 280–140 BCE, and after that date went into India itself to
form Indo-Greek kingdoms which would last until the 1st century CE. At the same time, Ashoka
wrote some of his edicts in Greek, and claimed to have sent ambassadors to Greek rulers as far as
the Mediterranean, suggesting his willingness to communicate with the Hellenistic realm.

Instances of Hellenistic influence

During that period, several instance of artistic influence are known, particular in the area of
monumental stone sculpture and statuary, an area with no known precedents in India. The main
period of stone architectural creation seems to correspond to the period of Ashoka's reign (c.?
268–232 BCE).[16] Before that, Indians may have had a tradition of wooden architecture, but no
remains have ever been found to prove that point. However remains of wooden palisades were
discovered at archaeological sites in Pataliputra, confirmed Classical accounts that the city had
such wooden ramparts. The first examples of stone architecture were also found in the palace
compound of Pataliputra, with the distinctly Hellenistic Pataliputra capital and a pillared hall
using polished-stone columns. The other remarkable example of monumental stone architecture
is that of the Pillars of Ashoka, themselves displaying Hellenistic influence.[22] Overall, according
to Boardman, "the visual experience of many Ashokan and later city dwellers in India was
considerably conditioned by foreign arts, translated to an Indian environment, just as the archaic
Greek had been by the Syrian, the Roman by the Greek, and the Persian by the art of their whole
empire".
Pataliputra capital (3rd century BCE

Front of the Pataliputra capital, found in Pataliputra and dated to the 3rd century BCE.
Main article: Pataliputra capital

The Pataliputra capital is a monumental rectangular capital with volutes and Classical designs,

that was discovered in the palace ruins of the ancient Mauryan Empire capital city

184
of Pataliputra (modern Patna, northeastern India). It is dated to the 3rd century BCE. It is,
together with the Pillars of Ashoka one of the first known examples of Indian stone architecture,
as no Indian stone monuments or sculptures are known from before that period. [1] It is also one of
the first archaeological clues suggesting Hellenistic influence on the arts of India, in this case
sculptural palatial art. The Archaeological Survey of India, an Indian government agency
attached to the Ministry of Culture that is responsible for archaeological research and the
conservation and preservation of cultural monument in India, straightforwardly describes it as "a
colossal capital in the Hellenistic style".

Although this capital was a major piece of architecture in the Mauryan palace of Pataliputra,
since most of Pataliputra was not excavated, and remains hidden under the modern city of Patna,
it is impossible to know the exact nature or extent of the monuments or the buildings that
incorporated it.

One capital from Sarnath is known, which seems to be an adaptation of the design of the
Pataliputra capital. This other capital is also said to be from the Mauryan period. It is, together
with the Pataliputra capital, considered as "stone brackets or capitals suggestive of the Ionic
order".A later capital found in Mathura dating to the 2nd or 3rd century (Kushan period) displays
a central palmette with side volutes in a style described as "Ionic", in the same kind of
composition as the Pataliputra capital but with a coarser rendering. (photograph).[26]
Pillars of Ashoka (3rd century BCE

Greek votive columns such as the Sphinx of Naxos, Delphi, 560 BCE (left), may have influenced
the creation of the Pillars of Ashoka, 250 BCE (here at Lauria Nandangarh).

185
The Pillars of Ashoka were built during the reign of the Maurya Empire Ashoka c. 250 BCE.
They were new attempts at mastering stone architecture, as no Indian stone monuments or
sculptures are known from before that period.

There are altogether seven remaining capitals, five with lions, one with an elephant and one with
a zebu bull. One of them, the four lions of Sarnath, has become the State Emblem of India. The
animal capitals are composed of a lotiform base, with an abacus decorated with floral, symbolic
or animal designs, topped by the realistic depiction of an animal, thought to each represent a
traditional direction in India.

The horse motif on the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka, is often described as an example of

Hellenistic realism.

Various foreign influences have been described in the design of these capitals

Greek columns of the 6th century BCE such as the Sphinx of Naxos, a 12.5m Ionic column
crowned by a sitting animal in the religious center of Delphi, may have been an inspiration for
the pillars of Ashoka.
Many similar columns crowned by sphinxes were discovered in ancient Greece, as
in Sparta, Athens or Spata, and some were used as funerary steles.[27] The Greek sphinx, a lion
with the face of a human female, was considered as having ferocious strength, and was thought
of as a guardian, often flanking the entrances to temples or royal tombs. [29] Placing animals on
top of a lotiform capital also reminds of Achaemenid columns.
The animals, especially the horse on the Sarnath Lion Capital of Ashoka or the bull of
the Rampurva capital are said to be typically Greek in realism, and belong to a type of highly
realistic treatment which cannot be found in Persia.

The abacus parts also often seem to display a strong influence of Greek art: in the case of
the Rampurva bull or the Sankassa elephant, it is composed of flame palmettes alternated with
stylized lotuses and small rosettes flowers. A similar kind of design can be seen in the frieze of
the lost capital of the Allahabad pillar. These designs likely originated in Greek and Near-
Eastern arts. They would probably have come from the neighboring Seleucid Empire, and
specifically from a Hellenistic city such as Ai-Khanoum, located at the doorstep of India.

186
Diamond throne of Bodh Gaya (3rd century BCE

Greek and Indian flame palmettes. Left: Flame palmette at Didyma, Ionia, c.300 BCE. Middle: Pataliputra

capital, India, c.3rd century BCE. Right: Ashoka's Diamond throne, Bodh Gaya, India, 250 BCE.

Temple architecture (3rd century BCE)

Remains of the circular temple at Bairat. A stupa was located in the center, with a colonnade and a circular wall
around./Ashoka's circular Mahabodhi Temple. Bharhut/Plan of a Greek Tholos temple.

Some of the earliest free-standing temples in India are thought to have been of a circular type, as
the Bairat Temple in Bairat, Rajasthan, formed of a central stupa surrounded by a circular
colonnade and an enclosing wall, built during the time of Ashoka and near which were found
several Minor Rock Edicts. Ashoka also built the Mahabodhi Temple in Bodh Gaya c. 250 BCE,
also a circular structure, in order to protect the Bodhi tree. Representations of this early temple
structure are found on a 100 BCE relief from the stupa railing at Bhārhut, as well as
in Sanchi. These circular-type temples were also found in later rock-hewn caves such as Tulja
Caves or Guntupalli.

It has been suggested that these circular structures with colonnades may have originated with the
Greek circular Tholos temple, as in the Tholos of Delphi, but circular wooden huts in India could
also have been an inspiration.

187
The Diamond throne, or Vajrasana, is a throne in the Mahabodhi Temple at Bodh Gaya, built by
king Ashoka c. 260 BCE, in order to mark the place where the Buddha reached enlightenment.
[35]
 Ashoka is thought to have visited Bodh Gaya around 260 BCE, about 10 years into his reign,
as explained by his Rock Edict number VIII.
The Diamond throne contains carvings of honeysuckles and geese, which can also be found on
several of the pillar capital of Ashoka.

Decorative moldings and sculptures

Rampurva bull capital, detail of the abacus, with two "flame palmettes" framing a lotus

surrounded by small rosette flowers.

Two lotuses framing a "flame palmette" surrounded by small rosette flowers, over a band
of beads and reels. Allahabad pillar, circa 250 BCE.

Hellenistic "flame palmette" designs have also been identified on Mauryan ringstones, here
framing the image of a goddess.[38]
Flame palmette
The flame palmette, central decorative element of the Pataliputra pillar is considered as a purely
Greek motif. The first appearance of "flame palmettes" goes back to the stand-alone
floral akroteria of the Parthenon (447–432 BCE), and slightly later at the Temple of Athena
Nike. Flame palmettes were then introduced into friezes of floral motifs in replacement of the
regular palmette. Flame palmettes are used extensively in India floral friezes, starting with the
floral friezes on the capitals of the pillar of Ashoka, and they are likely to have originated with
Greek or Near Eastern art. A monumental flame palmette can be seen on the top of
the Sunga gateway at Bharhut (2nd century BCE).

Botanical combinations[
According to Boardman, although lotus friezes or palmette friezes were known
in Mesopotamia centuries before, the unnatural combination of various botanical elements which
have no relationship in the wild, such as the palmette, the lotus and sometimes rosette flowers, is
a purely Greek innovation, which was then adopted on a very broad geographical scale.

188
Bead and reel
According to art historian John Boardman, the bead and reels motif was entirely developed in
Greece from motifs derived from the turning techniques used for wood and metal, and was first
employed in stone sculpture in Greece during the 6th century BCE. The motif then spread
to Persia, Egypt and the Hellenistic world, and as far as India, where it can be found on the
abacus part of some of the Pillars of Ashoka or the Pataliputra capital.[42]
Influence on monumental statuary

The Mathura Herakles. A statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion, from Mathura.

Also: [18]. Kolkota Indian Museum.

Hellenistic arts may have been influential in early statuary (Mauryan and Sunga periods). A few
monumental Yakshas are considered as the earliest free-standing statues in India .[43] The
treatment of the dress especially, with lines of geometric folds, is considered as a Hellenistic
innovation. There are no known previous example of such statuary in India, and they closely
resemble Greek Late Archaic mannerism which could have been transmitted to India
through Achaemenid Persia. This motif appears again in the Sunga works of Bharhut, especially
on a depiction of on a foreign soldier, but the same treatment of the dress is also visible on purely
Indian figures.

189
In some cases, a clear influence from the art of Gandhara can also be felt, as in the case of the
Hellenistic statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion, discovered in Mathura, and now in
the Kolkota Indian Museum, as well as Bacchanalian scenes. 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.

Comparison of Bodh Gaya quadriga relief of Surya (left) and Classical example of Phoebus

Apollo on quadriga (right).

A famous relief from Bodh Gaya showing the Indian god Surya on a quadriga is also often
mentioned as a possible example of Hellenistic influence on Indian art.[50][51] The Surya depiction
is indeed very similar to some Greek reliefs of Apollo on his quadriga horse chariot. Other
authors point to the influence of Greco-Bactrian coinage in which similar quadriga scenes
sometimes appear, as on the coinage of Plato of Bactria

Yaksha Manibhadra, Parkham near Mathura with detail of the dress with geometric fold of
the hem.
 

Sculpture of woman from ancient Braj-Mathura c. 2nd century CE.

First visual representations of Indian deities

190
Coin of Greco-Bactrian king Agathocles with Hindu deities: Vasudeva–Krishna and Balarama–
Samkarshana.

Indian coinage of Agathocles, with Buddhist lion and dancing woman holding lotus, possible Indian
goddess Lakshmi, a Goddess of abundance and fortune for Buddhists.

One of the last Greco-Bactrian kings, Agathocles of Bactria (r. 190–180 BCE), issued

remarkable Indian-standard square coins bearing the first known representations of Indian
deities, which have been variously interpreted as Vishnu, Shiva, Vasudeva, Buddha or Balarama.
Altogether, six such Indian-standard silver drachmas in the name of Agathocles were discovered
at Ai-Khanoum in 1970. Some other coins by Agathocles are also thought to represent
the Buddhist lion and the Indian goddess Lakshmi. The Indian coinage of Agathocles is few but
spectacular. These coins at least demonstrate the readiness of Greek kings to represent deities of
foreign origin. The dedication of a Greek envoy to the cult of Garuda at the Heliodorus
pillar in Besnagar could also be indicative of some level of religious syncretism.

Direct influence in Northwestern India (180 BCE – 20 CE)

The Indo-Greek period (180 BCE – 20 CE) marks a time when Bactrian Greeks established
themselves directly in the northwestern parts of the Indian subcontinent following the fall of
the Maurya Empire and its takeover by the Sunga.

Religious building

191
The Butkara stupa was reinforced and decorated from the Indo-Greek period on.
Indo-Greek territories seems to have been highly involved with Buddhist. Numerous stupas,
which had been set up during the time of Ashoka, were then reinforced and embellished during
the Indo-Greek period, using elements of Hellenistic sculpture. A detailed archaeological
analysis was made especially at the Butkara stupa which allowed to define precisely what had
been made during the Indo-Greek period, and what came later. The Indo-Greeks are known for
the additions and niches, stairs and balustrades in Hellenistic architectural style. These efforts
would then continue during the Indo-Scythian and Kushan periods.

Greeks in Indian stone reliefs

Numerous depictions of Greeks are known from the area of Gandhara. The Buner reliefs in
particular have some of the clearest depictions of revelers and devotees in Greek attire.[56]

Foreign devotees and musicians on the Northern Gateway of Stupa I, Sanchi.

Buddhist monuments in the heartland of India also have such depictions. Some of the friezes
of Sanchi show devotees in Greek attire. The men are depicted with short curly hair, often held

192
together with a headband of the type commonly seen on Greek coins. The clothing too is Greek,
complete with tunics, capes and sandals, typical of the Greek travelling costume. The musical
instruments are also quite characteristic, such as the double flute called aulos. Also visible
are carnyx-like horns. They are all celebrating at the entrance of the stupa. These men would be
foreigners from north-west India visiting the Stupa, possibly Mallas, Sakas or Indo-Greeks .[57]
Three inscriptions are known from Yavana donors at Sanchi, the clearest of which reads
"Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam" ("Gift of the Yona of Setapatha"), Setapatha being an uncertain
city.

Another rather similar foreigner is also depicted in Bharhut, the Bharhut Yavana, also wearing a
tunic and a royal headband in the manner of a Greek king, and displaying a Buddhist triratna on
his sword.

Greeks celebrating, Buner relief, Victoria and Albert Museum

The story of the Trojan horse in the art of Gandhara. British Museum.
Greek clothes, amphoras, wine and music (Detail of Chakhil-i-Ghoundi stupa, Hadda.
 

Foreign horse riders, Southern Gateway of Stupa 3, Sanchi./

Foreigner fighting a Makara, Southern Gateway of Stupa 3, Sanchi./
The Yavana at the Bharhut Stupa.

193
Depiction of the Buddha in human form

Gautama Buddha in Greco-Buddhist style, 1st–2nd centuries CE, Gandhara (modern eastern

Afghanistan).

Numerous Greek artifacts were found in the city of Sirkap, near Taxila in modern Pakistan and
in Sagala, a city in modern Pakistan 10 km from the border with India. Sirkap was founded as a
capital of the Indo-Greek Kingdom and was laid-out on the Greek Hippodamian city plan; Sagala
was also an Indo-Greek capital. Individuals in Greek dress an be identified on numerous friezes.
Although there is still some debate, the first anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha
himself are often considered a result of the Greco-Buddhist interaction. Before this
innovation, Buddhist art was aniconic, or very largely so: the Buddha was only represented
through his symbols (an empty throne, the Bodhi Tree, Buddha footprints, the Dharmachakra).
Probably not feeling bound by these restrictions, and because of "their cult of form, the Greeks
were the first to attempt a sculptural representation of the Buddha". In many parts of the Ancient
World, the Greeks did develop syncretic divinities, that could become a common religious focus
for populations with different traditions: a well-known example is Serapis, introduced
by Ptolemy I Soter in Egypt, who combined aspects of Greek and Egyptian Gods. In India as
well, it was only natural for the Greeks to create a single common divinity by combining the
image of a Greek god-king (Apollo, with the traditional physical characteristics of the Buddha).
Some authors have argued that the Greek sculptural treatment of the dress has been adopted for
the Buddha and Bodhisattvas throughout India. It is, even today, a hallmark of numerous
Buddhist sculptures as far as China and Japan.

194
Coinage

Gold coin of Kanishka, with a depiction of the Buddha, with the legend "Boddo" in Greek
script;Ahin Posh.
Coin of the Audumbaras influenced by Indo-Greek coin styles. 2nd century BCE
Coin of the Kunindas influenced by Indo-Greek coin styles. 2nd century BCE

Indo-Greek coinage is rich and varied, and contains some of the best coins of antiquity. Its
influence on Indian coinage was far-reaching.[63] The Greek script became used extensively on
coins for many centuries, as was the habit of depicting a ruler on the obverse, often in profile,
and deities on the reverse. The Western Satrap, a western dynasty of foreign origin adopted Indo-
Greek designs. The Kushans (1st–4th centuries CE) used the Greek script and Greek deities on
their coinage. Even as late as the Gupta Empire (4th-6th centuries CE), Kumaragupta I issued
coins with an imitation of Greek script.

Coin of Gupta Chandragupta II with pseudo-Greek legend in the obverse. 4th century CE

Greco-Buddhist art

195


Heracles depiction of Vajrapani as the protector of the Buddha, 2nd

century Gandhara, British Museum.
Hellenistic temple with Ionic columns at Jandial, Taxila.
A tetrastyle prostyle early Gupta period temple of almost Classical appearance at Sanchi, an
example of Buddhist architecture

The full bloom of Greco-Buddhist art seems to have postdated the Indo-Greek Kingdom,
although it has been suggested that individual Greek artisans and artist probably continued to
work for the new masters. It is apparently during the rule of the Indo-Scythian, the Indo-
Parthian and Kushan that Greco-Buddhist art evolved to become a dominant art form in the
northwest of the Indian Subcontinent. Whereas other areas of India, especially the area
of Mathura received the influence of the Greco-Buddhist school remains a matter of debate.
Many Indian scholars have argued that the notion of Greco-Buddhism, originated by European
scholars, goes too far towards relocating Gandharan art as close to Greek and sometimes Persian
art and defining ancient Indian art in terms of classical Greco Roman art itself. The
archaeologist John Marshall on his visit to Taxila and Gandhara was reported stating, 'it seemed
as I had lighted on a bit of Greece itself' and I felt then there was something appealingly Greek in
the countryside itself'. Pierre Dupont thought of his trip to Pakistan in 1954 as 'a pious trip to the
Greco-Buddhist country'. G. W. Leitner coined the term 'Greco-Buddhist' for pieces of
Gandharan art which had reached Europe in 1870 and hailed them as a new page in the history of
'Greek Art' instead of 'Indian Art'’

John Marshall, writing on the 'Primitive religion of the Eastern Indians and their art' declared that
during the Ashokan period, the religion of Eastern India asserted its indigenous character through
a veneer of Perso-Hellenistic polish and finish and that, Magadhan artists would receive their
initial training under foreign masters from the Ashokan school. Stressing on the Persian
influences on Mauryan sculpture John Marshall commented on how the upper portion of
the yaksha statue displayed a Perso- Median influence in its drapery and style while the stiffness

196
of the lower half exemplified the indigenous Indian art existing side by side with advanced
exotic Perso-Hellenistic art.

Bronze Age artifact of Red Jasper torso despite being excavated by from Harappan mound was
assigned to historic Gupta period by archaeologist John Marshal because of its classical Greek
art appearance.

197
 CHAPTER 12
GREEK INFLUENCE ON INDIAN CULTURE

Greek civilization influenced India in the period after Alexander's Indian campaign (circa 326
BCE). Greek influences on Indian sculpture, literature and astronomy persist to this day and have
become part of India's cultural heritage. 

The Greeks left important influences on Indian culture after Greco-Bactrian warrior kings from
Central Asia overran parts of northern India (and modern day Pakistan). Greek artistic techniques
influenced Indian art via the Gandharan School of art and sculpture. Indian classical texts like the
Mahabharata and the Yuga Purana make special mentions of the Greeks referring to them as the
Yavanas . The Greeks also influenced Indian astronomy- notably by introducing the signs of the
Zodiac. 

198
The Greeks in ancient India 

Several Greco-Bactrian kingdoms were established after Alexander's conquest of Central Asia.
Alexander's invasion of India was motivated by a desire to conquer the known world,but the
exhaustion of his army prevented further advances into the country. The Greeks were able to take
over parts of north India, after the decline of the Mauryan empire, and their presence was
prevalent in the Indian culture.. 

The Greeks and Classical Indian literature 

 The Greeks are mentioned  in Indian Classical texts, like the Yuga Purana and the Mahabharata,
and Buddhist texts were also influenced by the Greek presence in Ancient India. The Greeks
were known as Yavanas to the ancient Indians. 

The Yuga Purana (composed circa. 250 BCE), describes the Indo-Greek invasions in detail. The
text gives special praise to Greco-Bactrian King Demetrius, referring to him as Dharmamitra, or
'Friend of Dharma'. The Mahabharata, a major Indian epic, features Bhagadatta, described as a
Yavana King, who plays a prominent role in the epic's climactic war. 

King Menander, a successor of  Demetrius, conquered large parts of northern India and features
in a major Buddhist text, the Milindapanha (Questions of Milinda). A philosophical dispute
about Buddhism, between Milinda and the Buddhist sage Nagasena, comprises the bulk of the
text. 

Greek influences on Indian Sculpture 

Greek artistic techniques influenced Indian art, largely via the Buddhist tradition;a trend that
remained into the Gupta era. The Greeks are the first to give the Buddha a human form in Indian
sculpture. 

Having been persecuted by the eastern Sunga dynasty, the Buddhists joined the Greeks in their
campaigns and this brought the two cultures even closer; Greek art greatly influenced Buddhism
and the famous Gandharan School of art was born. 
The Greek innovation of sculpting the Buddha in human form grew to become a major part of
Buddhist iconography. The Greeks also introduced their own architectural and sculptural
elements, like cupids, friezes and Corinthian columns into the Buddhist school. Several Greek
Gods were incorporated into Buddhist architecture, including Heracles, who became equated to
Vajrapani, the mythological protector of the Buddha. 

199
Greek techniques survived well into the Gupta period, whose realistic anthropomorphic
representations of the Buddha reflect the legacy of the Greek artistic influence. 

The Greeks and Indian Astronomy 

Indian astronomy is indebted to that of the ancient Greeks. The Gargi Samhita of the Yuga
Purana credits the Greeks as the originators of astronomy, and Aryabhata attributes the Zodiac to
the Greeks. 

200
The Greek astronomical tradition introduced other innovations in Indian astronomy, like giving
names to the days of the week and a more precise calculation of the year's length.

Conclusion 

The Greeks influenced Indian culture thanks to a complex of social and political factors. Some of
these influences persist to this day: the Milindapanha is a valued Buddhist text, Milind is a
common Indian name, and the Zodiac is widely known in Indian astrological practice. Ancient
Indian temples and especially Buddhist stupas are major Indian heritage sites. The Greek
influence is now a prominent part of India's cultural heritage. 
___________________________________________________________________
Source   https://www.indianetzone.com/στις June 16, 2019
Αντιδράσεις
:

201
 CHAPTER 13
Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara
Gandhāra (Sanskrit: गन्धार) was an ancient region in the Peshawar basin in the far north-west of
the ancient Indian subcontinent, corresponding to present-day north-west Pakistan and north-
east Afghanistan. The centre of the region was at the confluence of the Kabul and Swat rivers,
bounded by the Sulaiman Mountains on the west and the Indus River on the east. The Safed
Koh mountains separated it from the Kohat region to the south. This being the core area of
Gandhara, the cultural influence of "Greater Gandhara" extended across the Indus river to
the Taxila region and westwards into the Kabul and Bamiyan valleys in Afghanistan, and
northwards up to the Karakoram range. During the Achaemenid period and Hellenistic period, its
capital city was Pushkalavati (Greek: Πευκελαώτις), modern Charsadda. Later the capital city
was moved to Peshawar[  by the Kushan emperor Kanishka the Great in about 127 AD.

Gandhara's existence is attested since the time of the Rigveda (c. 1500 – c. 1200 BC), as well as
the Zoroastrian Avesta, which mentions it as Vaēkərəta, the sixth most beautiful place on earth
created by Ahura Mazda. Gandhara was one of sixteen mahajanapadas (large conglomerations
of urban and rural areas) of ancient India mentioned in Buddhist sources such as Anguttara
Nikaya. Gandhara was conquered by the Achaemenid Empire in the 6th century BC. Conquered
by Alexander the Great in 327 BC, it subsequently became part of the Maurya Empire and then

202
the Indo-Greek Kingdom. The region was a major centre for Greco-Buddhism under the Indo-
Greeks and Gandharan Buddhism under later dynasties. It was also a central location for the
spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and East Asia.It was also a centre of Hinduism.

Famed for its local tradition of Gandhara (Greco-Buddhist) Art, Gandhara attained its height
from the 1st century to the 5th century under the Kushan Empire. Gandhara "flourished at the
crossroads of Asia," connecting trade routes and absorbing cultural influences from diverse
civilizations; Buddhism thrived until the 8th or 9th centuries, when Islam first began to gain
sway in the region. Pockets of Buddhism persisted in Pakistan's Swat Valley until the 11th
century.

The Persian term Shahi is used by historian Al-Birunito refer to the ruling dynasty that took over
from the Kabul Shahi and ruled the region during the period prior to Muslim conquests of the
10th and 11th centuries. After it was conquered by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1001 AD, the name
Gandhara disappeared. During the Muslim period, the area was administered from Lahore or
from Kabul. During Mughal times, it was an independent district which included the Kabul
province.

Cremation urn, Gandhara grave culture, Swat Valley, c. 1200 BC.//Female spouted figure,

terracotta, Charsadda, Gandhara, 3rd to 1st century BC Victoria and Albert Museum

203
 CHAPTER 13
Gandhara
Timeline
 c. 2300 – c. 1900 BC Indus Valley civilization
 c. 1900 – c. 520 BC No written records. Indo-Aryan migrations.
 c. 1500 – c. 500 BC Gandhara grave culture
 c. 1200 – c. 800 BC Gandhari people mentioned in Rigveda and Atharvaveda.
 c. 520 – c. 326 BC Persian Empire. Under direct Persian control and/or local control
under Achaemenid suzerainty.
 c. 326 – c. 305 BC Occupied by Alexander the Great and Macedonian generals
 c. 305 – c. 180 BC Controlled by the Maurya dynasty, founded by Chandragupta.
Converted to Buddhism under King Ashoka (273–232 BC)
 c. 185 – c. 97 BC Under control of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, with some incursions of
the Indo-Scythians from around 100 BC
 c. 97 BC – c. 7 AD Saka (Indo-Scythian) Rule
 c. 7 – c. 75 Parthian invasion and Indo-Parthian Kingdom, Rule of
Commander Aspavarman?.
 c. 75 – c. 230 Kushan Empire
 c. 230 – c. 440 Kushanshas under Persian Sassanid suzerainty
 c. 450 – c. 565 White Huns (Hephthalites)
 c. 565 – c. 644 Nezak kingdom, ruled from Kapisa and Udabhandapura
 c. 650 – c. 870 Kabul Shahi, ruled from Kabul
 c. 870 – 1021 Hindu Shahi, ruled from Udabhandapura
 c. 1032 – 1350 Conquered and controlled by the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni.

Gandhara was known in Sanskrit as गन्धार gandhāra, in Avestan as Vaēkərəta, in Old

Persian as Gadāra (Gandhara).

One proposed origin of the name is from the Sanskrit word गन्ध gandha, meaning "perfume" and
"referring to the spices and aromatic herbs which they [the inhabitants] traded and with which
they anointed themselves.".The Gandhari people are a tribe mentioned in the Rigveda,
the Atharvaveda, and later Vedic texts. They are recorded in the Avestan language
of Zoroastrianism under the name Vaēkərəta. The name Gāndhāra occurs later in the classical
Sanskrit of the epics.
A Persian form of the name, Gandara, mentioned in the Behistun inscription of Emperor Darius
I, was translated as Paruparaesanna (Para-upari-sena, meaning "beyond the Hindu Kush")
in Babylonian and Elamite in the same inscription.

204
Kandahar is sometimes etymologically associated with Gandhara. However, Kandahar was not
part of the territory of Gandhara It is instead etymologically related to "Alexandria".
The boundaries of Gandhara varied throughout history. Sometimes the Peshawar Valley
and Taxila were collectively referred to as Gandhara; sometimes the Swat
Valley (Sanskrit: Suvāstu) was also included. The heart of Gandhara, however, was always
the Peshawar Valley. The kingdom was ruled from capitals at Kapisa (Bagram),
[24]
 Pushkalavati (Charsadda), Taxila, Puruṣapura (Peshawar) and in its final days
from Udabhandapura (Hund) on the River Indus.

In addition to Gandhara proper, the province also encompassed the Kabul

Valley, Swat and Chitral.

HISTORY

Mother Goddess (fertility divinity), possibly derived from the Indus Valley

Civilization, terracotta, Sar Dheri, Gandhara, 1st century BC, Victoria and Albert Museum

Stone age
Evidence of the Stone Age human inhabitants of Gandhara, including stone tools and burnt
bones, was discovered at Sanghao near Mardan in area caves. The artefacts are approximately
15,000 years old. More recent excavations point to 30,000 years before the present.
Vedic Gandhara

Gandhara was an ancient kingdom of the Peshawar Valley, extending between the Swat valley

and Potohar plateau regions of Pakistan as well as the Jalalabad district of

205
northeastern Afghanistan. In an archaeological context, the Vedic period in Gandhara
corresponds to the Gandhara grave culture.
The name of the Gandhāris is attested in the Rigveda (RV 1.126.7).The Gandhāris, along with
the Balhikas (Bactrians), Mūjavants, Angas, and the Magadhas, are also mentioned in
the Atharvaveda (AV 5.22.14), as distant people. Gandharas are included in
the Uttarapatha division of Puranic and Buddhistic traditions. The Aitareya Brahmana refers to
King Nagnajit of Gandhara who was a contemporary of Janaka, king of Videha.[26]
Mahajanapada

Kingdoms and cities of ancient India, with Gandhara located in the northwest of the Indian
subcontinent, during the time of the Buddha (c. 500 BC).

Gandhara was one of sixteen mahajanapadas of ancient India. The primary cities of Gandhara

were Puruṣapura (Peshawar), Takṣaśilā (Taxila), and Pushkalavati (Charsadda). The latter
remained the capital of Gandhara down to the 2nd century AD, when the capital was moved to
Peshawar. An important Buddhist shrine helped to make the city a centre of pilgrimage until the
7th century. Pushkalavati, in the Peshawar Valley, is situated at the confluence of
the Swat and Kabul rivers, where three different branches of the River Kabul meet. That specific
place is still called Prang (from Prayāga) and considered sacred; local people still bring their
dead there for burial. Similar geographical characteristics are found at site of Prang in Kashmir
and at the confluence of the Ganges and Yamuna, where the sacred city of Prayag is situated,
west of Benares. There are some legends in which the two rivers are said to be joined here by the
underground Sarasvati River, forming a triveṇī, a confluence of three rivers.
However, Rigvedic texts, and modern research, suggest that the path of the Sarasvati River was
very different. It ended in the ocean at Kutch in modern Gujrat and not at Prayag. The
Gandharan city of Taxila was an important Buddhist and Hindu centre of learning from the 5th
century BC[27] to the 2nd century.

Gandhara is mentioned in the Hindu epics, the Mahabharata and the Ramayana, as a western

kingdom. In Treta Yuga, before Lord Rama, during the reigns of Muchukunda and Mandhatri,
the kingdom of Gandhara was founded by the Druhyu prince Gandhara who was the son of King
Angara of Druhyu Dynasty. During Ramayana time King Nagnajit(1) who was a contemporary
of Lord Rama was defeated and killed by Rama's brother Bharata and Bharata's 1st son Taksha
established Takshasila (Taxila) in Gandhara Kingdom on the banks of river Sindhu and Pushkara

206
established Pushkaravati or Purushapura (Pushkar) in Gandharva tribe on the banks of river
Saraswati after defeating and killing its king Sailusha who was the father-in-law of Vibhishana.
In Dvapara Yuga, Gandhara prince Shakuni was the root of all the conspiracies
of Duryodhana against the Pandavas, which finally resulted in the Kurukshetra War. Shakuni's
sister was the wife of the Kuru king Dhritarashtra and was known as Gandhari. Gandhara was in
modern Pakistan. Puskalavati, Takshasila (Taxila) and Purushapura (Peshawar) were cities in
this Gandhara kingdom. Takshasila was founded by Raghava Rama's brother Bharata. Bharata's
descendants ruled this kingdom afterwards. During epic period it was ruled by Shakuni's
father Suvala, Shakuni and Shakuni's son. Arjuna defeated Shakuni's son during his post-war
military campaign for Yudhishthira's Aswamedha Yagna.

Achaemenid Gandhara
Main articles: Achaemenid invasion of the Indus Valley, Gandāra, and Mahajanapadas

Eastern border of the Achaemenid Empire and ancient kingdoms and cities of India (c. 500 BC).

Athens coin (c. 500/490–485 BC) discovered in Pushkalavati. This coin is the earliest known
example of its type to be found so far east. Such coins were circulating in the area as currency, at
least as far as the Indus, during the reign of the Achaemenids.

The main Vedic tribes remaining in the Indus Valley by 550 BC were

the Kamboja, Sindhu, Taksas of Gandhara, the Madras and Kathas of the River
Chenab, Mallas of the River Ravi and Tugras of the River Sutlej. These several tribes and
principalities fought against one another to such an extent that the Indus Valley no longer had
one powerful Vedic tribal kingdom to defend against outsiders and to wield the warring tribes
into one organized kingdom. The area was wealthy and fertile, yet infighting led misery and
despair. King Pushkarasakti of Gandhara was engaged in power struggles against his local rivals
and as such the Khyber Pass remained poorly defended. King Darius I of the Achaemenid
Empire took advantage of the opportunity and planned for an invasion. The Indus Valley was
fabled in Persia for its gold and fertile soil and conquering it had been a major objective of his
predecessor Cyrus The Great. In 542 BC, Cyrus had led his army and conquered the Makran
coast in southern Balochistan. However, he is known to have campaigned beyond Makran (in the

207
regions of Kalat, Khuzdar, Panjgur) and lost most of his army in the Gedrosian
Desert (speculated today as the Kharan Desert).

Xerxes I tomb, Gandharian soldier, c. 470 BC./ Xerxes I tomb, Gandharian soldier, c. 470

BC (detail).

In 518 BC, Darius led his army through the Khyber Pass and southwards in stages, eventually
reaching the Arabian Sea coast in Sindh by 516 BC. Under Persian rule, a system of centralized
administration, with a bureaucratic system, was introduced into the Indus Valley for the first
time. Provinces or "satrapy" were established with provincial capitals:
Gandhara satrapy, established 518 BC with its capital at Pushkalavati (Charsadda).[34] Gandhara
Satrapy was established in the general region of the old Gandhara grave culture, in what is
today Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. During Achaemenid rule, the Kharosthi alphabet, derived from the
one used for Aramaic (the official language of Achaemenids), developed here and remained the
national script of Gandhara until 200 AD.

Gandhara Kingdom/Takshila in Punjab was conquered by the Achaemenid empire in 518

BC. During this time, King Pushkarasakti, a contemporary of Emperor Bimbisara (558–491 BC)
of the Magadha empire of Haryanka dynasty, was the king of Gandhara. King Pushkarasakti was
engaged in power struggles against his local rivals. The Achaemenids under Darius penetrated to
the region in 516 BC and annexed other parts of modern-day Punjab, Pakistan west to the Indus
river and Sindh.

The inscription on Darius' (521–486 BC) tomb at Naqsh-i-Rustam near Persepolis records

Gadāra (Gandāra) along with Hindush (Hənduš, Sindh) in the list of satrapies. By about 380 BC
the Persian hold on the region had weakened. Many small kingdoms sprang up in Gandhara. In
327 BC, Alexander the Great conquered Gandhara as well as the Indian satrapies of the Persian
Empire. The expeditions of Alexander were recorded by his court historians and
by Arrian (around 175 AD) in his Anabasis Alexandri and by other chroniclers many centuries
after the event.

Sir Mortimer Wheeler conducted some excavations there in 1962, and identified

various Achaemenid remains.

208
Macedonian Gandhara
Main articles: Indian campaign of Alexander the Great and Macedonian Empire

"Victory coin" of Alexander the Great, minted in Babylon c. 322 BC, following his campaigns in Bactria and
the Indus Valley. Obverse: Alexander being crowned by Nike. Reverse: Alexander attacking king Porus on his
elephant. Silver. British Museum.

In the winter of 327 BC, Alexander invited all the chieftains in the remaining five Achaemenid
satraps to submit to his authority. Ambhi, then ruler of Taxila in the former Hindush satrapy
complied, but the remaining tribes and clans in the former satraps of Gandhara, Arachosia,
Sattagydia and Gedrosia rejected Alexander's offer.

The first tribe they encountered were the Aspasioi tribe of the Kunar Valley, who initiated a
fierce battle against Alexander, in which he himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart.
However, the Aspasioi eventually lost and 40,000 people were enslaved. Alexander then
continued in a southwestern direction where he encountered the Assakenoi tribe of
the Swat & Buner valleys in April 326 BC. The Assakenoi fought bravely and offered stubborn
resistance to Alexander and his army in the cities of Ora, Bazira (Barikot) and Massaga. So
enraged was Alexander about the resistance put up by the Assakenoi that he killed the entire
population of Massaga and reduced its buildings to rubble. A similar slaughter then followed at
Ora,[36] another stronghold of the Assakenoi. The stories of these slaughters reached numerous
Assakenians, who began fleeing to Aornos, a hill-fort located between Shangla and Kohistan.
Alexander followed close behind their heels and besieged the strategic hill-fort, eventually
capturing and destroying the fort and killing everyone inside. The remaining smaller tribes either
surrendered or like the Astanenoi tribe of Pushkalavati (Charsadda) were quickly neutralized
where 38,000 soldiers and 230,000 oxen were captured by Alexander. [37] Eventually Alexander's
smaller force would meet with the larger force which had come through the Khyber Pass met
at Attock. With the conquest of Gandhara complete, Alexander switched to strengthening his

209
military supply line, which by now stretched dangerously vulnerable over the Hindu Kush back
to Balkh in Bactria.

After conquering Gandhara and solidifying his supply line back to Bactria, Alexander combined
his forces with the King Ambhi of Taxila and crossed the River Indus in July 326 BC to begin
the Archosia (Punjab) campaign. Alexander founded several new settlements in
Gandhara, Punjab and Sindh.[38] and nominated officers as Satraps of the new provinces:
In Gandhara, Oxyartes was nominated to the position of Satrap by Alexander in 326 BC.
Mauryan Empire

Coin of Early Gandhara Janapada: AR Shatamana and one-eighth Shatamana (round), Taxila-
Gandhara region, c. 600–300 BC

A monetary silver coin of the satrapy of Gandhara about 500–400 BC. Obv: Gandhara symbol
representing 6 weapons with one point between two weapons; At the bottom of the point, a
hollow moon. Rev: Empty. Dimensions: 14 mm Weight: 1.4 g.

Chandragupta Maurya, the founder of the Mauryan dynasty, is said to have lived in Taxila when
Alexander captured the city. According to tradition, he trained under Kautilya, who remained his
chief adviser throughout his reign. Supposedly using Gandhara and Vahika as his base,
Chandragupta led a rebellion against the Magadha Empire and ascended the throne
at Pataliputra in 321 BC. However, there are no contemporary Indian records of Chandragupta
Maurya and almost all that is known is based on the diaries of Megasthenes, the ambassador of
Seleucus at Pataliputra, as recorded by Arrian in his Indika. Ambhi hastened to relieve Alexander
of his apprehension and met him with valuable presents, placing himself and all of his forces at
his disposal. Alexander not only returned Ambhi his title, and the gifts, but he also presented him
with a wardrobe of: "Persian robes, gold and silver ornaments, 30 horses and 1000 talents in
gold". Alexander was emboldened to divide his forces, and Ambhi
assisted Hephaestion and Perdiccas in constructing a bridge over the Indus where it bends at
Hund (Fox 1973), supplied their troops with provisions, and received Alexander himself, and his
whole army, in his capital city of Taxila, with every demonstration of friendship and the most
liberal hospitality.

210
On the subsequent advance of the Macedonian king, Taxiles accompanied him with a force of
5000 men and took part in the battle of the Hydaspes River. After that victory he was sent by
Alexander in pursuit of Porus, to whom he was charged to offer favourable terms, but narrowly
escaped losing his life at the hands of his old enemy. Subsequently, however, the two rivals were
reconciled by the personal mediation of Alexander; and Taxiles, after having contributed
zealously to the equipment of the fleet on the Hydaspes, was entrusted by the king with the
government of the whole territory between that river and the Indus. A considerable accession of
power was granted him after the death of Philip (son of Machatas); and he was allowed to retain
his authority at the death of Alexander himself (323 BC), as well as in the subsequent partition of
the provinces at Triparadisus, 321 BC. Later Ambhi was deposed and killed by Chandragupta
Maurya, emperor of the Mauryan Empire. Gandhara was acquired from
the Greeks by Chandragupta Maurya.

After a battle with Seleucus Nicator (Alexander's successor in Asia) in 305 BC,

the Mauryan Emperor extended his domain up to and including present Southern Afghanistan.
With the completion of the Empire's Grand Trunk Road, the region prospered as a centre of
trade. Gandhara remained a part of the Mauryan Empire for about a century and a half. Ashoka,
the grandson of Chandragupta, was one of the greatest Indian rulers. Like his grandfather,
Ashoka also started his career in Gandhara as a governor. Later he became a Buddhist and
promoted Buddhist Dharma and amongst other things, a vegetarian diet and he forbid the killing
of any animal, either domestic and wild, in his empire. He built many stupas in Gandhara.
Mauryan control over the northwestern frontier, including the Yonas, Kambojas, and the
Gandharas, is attested from the Rock Edicts left by Ashoka. According to one school of scholars,
the Gandharas and Kambojas were cognate people. It is also contended that
the Kurus, Kambojas, Gandharas and Bahlikas were cognate people and all had Iranian affinities
or that the Gandhara and Kamboja were nothing but two provinces of one empire and hence
influencing each other's language. However, the local language of Gandhara is represented by
Panini's conservative bhāṣā ("language"), which is entirely different from the Iranian (Late
Avestan) language of the Kamboja that is indicated by Patanjali's quote of Kambojan śavati 'to
go' (= Late Avestan šava(i)ti).

Graeco-Bactrians, Sakas, and Indo-Parthians

Greco-Buddhist statue of standing Buddha, Gandhara (1st–2nd century), Tokyo National Museum

211
The decline of the Empire left the Indian subcontinent open to Greco-Bactrian invasions.
Present-day southern Afghanistan was absorbed by Demetrius I of Bactria in 180 BC. Around
about 185 BC, Demetrius moved into Indian subcontinent; he invaded and conquered Gandhara
and the Punjab. Later, wars between different groups of Bactrian Greeks resulted in the
independence of Gandhara from Bactria and the formation of the Indo-Greek
kingdom. Menander I was its most famous king. He ruled from Taxila and later
from Sagala (Sialkot). He rebuilt Taxila (Sirkap) and Pushkalavati. He became a Buddhist and is
remembered in Buddhist records for his discussions with the great Buddhist
philosopher, Nāgasena, in the book Milinda Panha.

Marine deities, Gandhara.

Around the time of Menander's death in 140 BC, the Central Asian Kushans overran Bactria and
ended Greek rule there. Around 80 BC, the Sakas, diverted by their Parthian cousins from Iran,
moved into Gandhara and other parts of Pakistan and Western India. The most famous king of
the Sakas, Maues, established himself in Gandhara.

By 90 BC the Parthians had taken control of eastern Iran and, around 50 BC, they put an end to
the last remnants of Greek rule in today's Afghanistan. Eventually an Indo-Parthian dynasty
succeeded in taking control of Gandhara. The Parthians continued to support Greek artistic
traditions. The start of the Gandharan Greco-Buddhist art is dated to about 75–50 BC. Links
between Rome and the Indo-Parthian kingdoms existed. [44] There is archaeological evidence that
building techniques were transmitted between the two realms. Christian records claim that
around 40 AD Thomas the Apostle visited the Indian subcontinent and encountered the Indo-
Parthian king Gondophares.

Kushan Gandhara

Casket of Kanishka the Great, with Buddhist motifs

212
The Parthian dynasty fell about 75 to another group from Central Asia. The Kushans, known
as Yuezhi in the Chinese source Hou Han Shu (argued by some to be ethnically Asii) moved
from Central Asia to Bactria, where they stayed for a century. Around 75 CE, one of their tribes,
the Kushan (Kuṣāṇa), under the leadership of Kujula Kadphises gained control of Gandhara. The
Kushan empire began as a Central Asian kingdom, and expanded into Afghanistan and
northwestern India in the early centuries CE.

The Kushan period is considered the Golden Period of Gandhara. Peshawar Valley and Taxila
are littered with ruins of stupas and monasteries of this period. Gandharan art flourished and
produced some of the best pieces of sculpture from the Indian subcontinent. Many monuments
were created to commemorate the Jatakas.

Head of a bodhisattva, c. 4th century AD/

The Seated Buddha, dating from 300 to 500 AD, was found near Jamal Garhi, and is now on
display at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Gandhara's culture peaked during the reign of the great Kushan king Kanishka the Great (127 CE
– 150 CE). The cities of Taxila (Takṣaśilā) at Sirsukh and Purushapura (modern day Peshawar)
reached new heights. Purushapura along with Mathura became the capital of the great empire
stretching from Central Asia to Northern India with Gandhara being in the midst of it.
Emperor Kanishka was a great patron of the Buddhist faith; Buddhism spread
from India to Central Asia and the Far East across Bactria and Sogdia, where his empire met
the Han Empire of China. Buddhist art spread from Gandhara to other parts of Asia.
Under Kanishka, Gandhara became a holy land of Buddhism and attracted Chinese pilgrims
eager to view the monuments associated with many Jatakas.

In Gandhara, Mahayana Buddhism flourished and Buddha was represented in human form.

Under the Kushans new Buddhists stupas were built and old ones were enlarged. Huge statues of
the Buddha were erected in monasteries and carved into the hillsides. Kanishka also built a great
400-foot tower at Peshawar. This tower was reported by Chinese monks Faxian, Song Yun,
and Xuanzang who visited the country. This structure was destroyed and rebuilt many times until
it was finally destroyed by Mahmud of Ghazni in the 11th century.

213
Hephthalite Empire

Gandhara fortified city depicted in a Buddhist relief

The Hūṇas (as they were known in India) were initially based in the Oxus basin in Central Asia
and established their control over Gandhara in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent
by about 465 CE. From there, they fanned out into various parts of northern, western, and central
India. The Hūṇas are mentioned in several ancient texts such as
the Rāmāyaṇa, Mahābhārata, Purāṇas, and Kalidasa's Raghuvaṃśa.

Numerous incidents of violence were reported during this period. The Dharmarajika

Stupa at Takṣaśilā has given evidence of severed heads, dismembered bodies, and skulls bearing
the marks of blows. The charred wood and half burnt wheat in one of the monastic courts
suggests fire, and a burned birch-bark manuscript bears testimony to a violent episode. The
skeletal remains belong to only six individuals, but still even if the scale of killing and
destruction may be less than what one would expect in a massacre, the archaeological evidence
does clearly point to some kind of violent event took place.[49] Mihirakula is said to have become
a "terrible persecutor" of Buddhism which may have contributed to decline of Buddhism in the
Gandhara region.[50] Xuanzang tells us that initially Mihirakula was interested in learning
about Buddhism, and asked the monks to send him a teacher; the monks insulted him by
recommending a servant of his own household for the purpose. This incident is said to have
turned Mihirakula virulently anti-Buddhist.

Although historian Upinder Singh has raised some questions over the anti-Buddhist reputation
of Mihirakula while considering these episodes of violence:-

Was this reputation based on actual religious persecution? Or was Mihirakula cast into the role
of a cruel anti-Buddhist king because one of his arch political opponents, king Baladitya of
Magadha (sometimes identified with a later Gupta emperor Narasimhagupta), at whose hands he
apparently suffered a crushing defeat, was an ardent patron of the Buddhist sangha? The
interesting thing is that ninth- and tenth-century Jaina texts describe Mihirakula as a wicked,
oppressive tyrant who was anti-Jaina. Are the textual references evidence of active political
persecution and violence? Or are they merely expressions of resentment at a lack of royal
patronage and support? Are they recastings of political conflicts into religious molds?

214
It is possible that Mihirakula, who from one of his inscriptions and the symbols on his coins
seems to have been inclined toward Shaivism (although his coins also have representations of
other deities such as the goddess Lakshmi), was inimical toward both Buddhists and Jainas.[51]
She concludes that:-
Even if the extent of the persecution of kings such as Mihirakula and Shashanka (king of unified
Bengal polity; circa. 590 CE - 625 CE) was exaggerated, it is significant that such perceptions of
violent royal persecution and oppression on religious lines existed.
But Mihirakula and Shashanka are exceptions to the general trends of royal religious policy of
that period

The travel records of many Chinese Buddhist pilgrims record that Gandhara was going through a
transformation during these centuries. Buddhism was declining, and Hinduism was rising.
Faxian traveled around 400, when Prakrit was the language of the people, and Buddhism was
flourishing. 100 years later, when Song Yun visited in 520, a different situation was described:
the area had been destroyed by the White Huns and was ruled by Lae-Lih, who did not practice
the laws of the Buddha. Xuanzang visited India around 644 and found Buddhism on the wane in
Gandhara and Hinduism in the ascendant. Gandhara was ruled by a king from Kabul, who
respected Buddha's law, but Taxila was in ruins, and Buddhist monasteries were deserted

Kabul Shahi

Sharing of the Buddha's relics, above a Gandhara fortified city.

After the fall of the Sassanid Empire to the Arabs in 651 CE, the region south of
the Hindukush along with Gandhara came under pressure from Muslims. After failure of
multiple campaigns by Arabs they failed to extend their rule to Gandhara.
Gandhara was ruled from Kabul by the Kabul Shahi for next 200 years. Sometime in the 9th
century the Kabul Shahi were replaced by the Hindu Shahi. Based on various records it is
estimated that this occurred in 850 CE. According to Al-Biruni (973–1048), Kallar, a Brahmin
minister, founded the Hindu Shahi dynasty around 843 CE. The dynasty ruled from Kabul, later
moved their capital to Udabhandapura. They built great temples all over their kingdoms. Some of
these buildings are still in good condition in the Salt Range of the Punjab.

Decline

Jayapala was the last great king of the Hindu Shahi dynasty. His empire extended from west of
Kabul to the river Sutlej. However, this expansion of Gandhara kingdom coincided with the rise

215
of the powerful Ghaznavid Empire under Sabuktigin. Defeated twice by Sabuktigin and then
by Mahmud of Ghazni in the Kabul valley, Jayapala gave his life on a funeral pyre. Anandapala,
a son of Jayapala, moved his capital near Nandana in the Salt Range. In 1021 the last king of this
dynasty, Trilochanapala, was assassinated by his own troops which spelled the end of Gandhara.
Subsequently, some Shahi princes moved to Kashmir and became active in local politics.
The city of Kandahar in Afghanistan is said to have been named after Gandhara. According to
H.W. Bellow, an emigrant from Gandhara in the 5th century brought this name to modern
Kandahar. Faxian reported that the Buddha's alms-bowl existed in Peshawar Valley when he
visited around 400 (chapter XII). In 1872 Bellow saw this huge begging bowl (seven feet in
diameter) preserved in the shrine of Sultan Wais outside Kandahar. When Olaf Caroe wrote his
book in 1958 (Caroe, pp. 170–171), this relic was reported to be at Kabul Museum. The present
status of this bowl is unknown.

Writing in c. 1030, Al Biruni reported on the devastation caused during the conquest of

Gandhara and much of north-west India by Mahmud of Ghazni following his defeat of Jayapala
in the Battle of Peshawar at Peshawar in 1001:

Now in the following times no Muslim conqueror passed beyond the frontier of Kâbul and the
river Sindh until the days of the Turks, when they seized the power in Ghazna under the Sâmânî
dynasty, and the supreme power fell to the lot of Nâṣir-addaula Sabuktagin. This prince chose
the holy war as his calling, and therefore called himself al-Ghâzî ("the warrior/invader"). In the
interest of his successors he constructed, in order to weaken the Indian frontier, those roads on
which afterwards his son Yamin-addaula Maḥmûd marched into India during a period of thirty
years and more. God be merciful to both father and son ! Maḥmûd utterly ruined the prosperity
of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms
of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Their scattered
remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims. This is the reason,
too, why Hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us,
and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to Kashmir, Benares, and other places.
And there the antagonism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment
both from political and religious sources.

During the closing years of the tenth and the early years of the succeeding century of our
era, Mahmud the first Sultan and Musalman of the Turk dynasty of kings who ruled at Ghazni,
made a succession of inroads twelve or fourteen in number, into Gandhar – the
present Peshawar valley – in the course of his proselytizing invasions of Hindustan.[54]
Fire and sword, havoc and destruction, marked his course everywhere. Gandhar which was
styled the Garden of the North was left at his death a weird and desolate waste. Its rich fields and
fruitful gardens, together with the canal which watered them (the course of which is still partially
traceable in the western part of the plain), had all disappeared. Its numerous stone built cities,
monasteries, and topes with their valuable and revered monuments and sculptures, were sacked,
fired, razed to the ground, and utterly destroyed as habitations.

216
Many stupas, such as the Shingerdar stupa in Ghalegay, are scattered throughout the region
near Peshawar.

Comeback:By the time Gandhara had been absorbed into the empire of Mahmud of Ghazni,
Buddhist buildings were already in ruins and Gandhara art had been forgotten. After Al-Biruni,
the Kashmiri writer Kalhaṇa wrote his book Rajatarangini in 1151. He recorded some events
that took place in Gandhara, and provided details about its last royal dynasty and
capital Udabhandapura.

In the 19th century, British soldiers and administrators started taking an interest in the ancient
history of the Indian Subcontinent. In the 1830s coins of the post-Ashoka period were
discovered, and in the same period Chinese travelogues were translated. Charles Masson, James
Prinsep, and Alexander Cunningham deciphered the Kharosthi script in 1838. Chinese records
provided locations and site plans for Buddhist shrines. Along with the discovery of coins, these
records provided clues necessary to piece together the history of Gandhara. In 1848 Cunningham
found Gandhara sculptures north of Peshawar. He also identified the site of Taxila in the 1860s.
From then on a large number of Buddhist statues were discovered in the Peshawar valley.
Archaeologist John Marshall excavated at Taxila between 1912 and 1934. He discovered
separate Greek, Parthian, and Kushan cities and a large number of stupas and monasteries. These
discoveries helped to piece together much more of the chronology of the history of Gandhara and
its art.

After 1947 Ahmed Hassan Dani and the Archaeology Department at the University of

Peshawar made a number of discoveries in the Peshawar and Swat Valley. Excavation of many
of the sites of Gandhara Civilization are being done by researchers from Peshawar and several
universities around the world.

Swat Valley in Pakistan has many Buddhist carvings, and stupas, and Jehanabad contains a

Seated Buddha statue.  Kushan era Buddhist stupas and statues in Swat valley were demolished
after two attempts by the Taliban and the Jehanabad Buddha's face was dynamited. Only
the Buddhas of Bamiyan were larger than the carved giant Buddha statues in Swat
near Manglore which the Taliban attacked. The government did nothing to safeguard the statue
after the initial attempts to destroy the Buddha, which did not cause permanent harm. But when a
second attack took place on the statue, the feet, shoulders, and face were demolished. [60] Islamists
such as the Taliban, and looters, destroyed many of Pakistan's Buddhist artefacts from the
Buddhist Gandhara civilization especially in the Swat Valley. The Taliban deliberately targeted
Gandhara Buddhist relics for destruction. The Christian Archbishop of Lahore, Lawrence John

217
Saldanha, wrote a letter to Pakistan's government denouncing the Taliban's activities in Swat
Valley including their destruction of Buddha statues and their attacks on Christians, Sikhs, and
Hindus.[63] Gandhara Buddhist artefacts were illegally looted by smugglers. A group of Italians
helped repair the Buddha. An ancient Buddha statue unearthed by ditch-diggers in Pakistan was
smashed up with hammers after a local cleric warned it was un-Islamic. [66] Labourers found the
statue while digging an irrigation channel in farmland outside the city of Mardan in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province.

Local reports said the contractor had consulted a local cleric who warned that the life-size statue
would cause the man to lose his faith .A rare life-sized statue of Buddha that was smashed into
pieces in Pakistan belonged to the Gandhara civilisation and was nearly 1,700 years old Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa's old name is Ghandhara and the region is a highly revered place for the followers
of Buddhism. In 2017, two rare and ancient Buddha statues were unearthed at an archeological
site in Bhamala in Hariput district. The largest ever statue found at the site depicts the death of
Buddha and the second statue was a Buddha with a double halo.

The Gandharan Buddhist texts are both the earliest Buddhist as well as Asian manuscripts

discovered so far. Most are written on birch bark and were found in labelled clay pots. Panini has
mentioned both the Vedic form of Sanskrit as well as what seems to be Gandhari, a later form of
Sanskrit, in his Ashtadhyayi.

Gandhara's language was a Prakrit or "Middle Indo-Aryan" dialect, usually called Gāndhārī. The
language used the Kharosthi script, which died out about the 4th century.
However, Punjabi, Hindko, and Kohistani, are derived from the Indo-Aryan Prakrits that were
spoken in Gandhara and surrounding areas. However, a language shift occurred as the ancient
Gandharan culture gave way to Iranian invaders, such as the Pashtun tribes from Central Asia
that began settling the region.

Silk Road transmission of Buddhism and Gandharan Buddhism

Bronze statue of Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. Fearlessness mudrā. 3rd century AD, Gandhāra/

Maitreya Bodhisattva, Gautama Buddha, and Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva. 2nd–3rd century AD,
Gandhāra

218
Mahāyāna Buddhism
Mahāyāna Pure Land sutras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as 147
AD, when the Kushan monk Lokakṣema began translating some of the first Buddhist sutras into
Chinese. The earliest of these translations show evidence of having been translated from the
Gāndhārī language. Lokakṣema translated important Mahāyāna sūtras such as the Aṣṭasāhasrikā
Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, as well as rare, early Mahāyāna sūtras on topics such as samādhi, and
meditation on the Buddha Akṣobhya. Lokaksema's translations continue to provide insight into
the early period of Mahāyāna Buddhism. This corpus of texts often includes and emphasizes
ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration:

Paul Harrison has worked on some of the texts that are arguably the earliest versions we have of
the Mahāyāna sūtras, those translated into Chinese in the last half of the second century AD by
the Indo-Scythian translator Lokakṣema. Harrison points to the enthusiasm in the Lokakṣema
sūtra corpus for the extra ascetic practices, for dwelling in the forest, and above all for states of
meditative absorption (samādhi). Meditation and meditative states seem to have occupied a
central place in early Mahāyāna, certainly because of their spiritual efficacy but also because
they may have given access to fresh revelations and inspiration.

Some scholars believe that the Mahāyāna Longer Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra was compiled in the age
of the Kushan Empire in the 1st and 2nd centuries AD, by an order of Mahīśāsaka bhikṣus which
flourished in the Gandhāra region. However, it is likely that the longer Sukhāvatīvyūha owes
greatly to the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda sect as well for its compilation, and in this sutra
there are many elements in common with the Lokottaravādin Mahāvastu. There are also images
of Amitābha Buddha with the bodhisattvas Avalokiteśvara and Mahāsthāmaprāpta which were
made in Gandhāra during the Kushan era

The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa records that Kaniṣka of the Kushan Empire presided over the

establishment of the Mahāyāna Prajñāpāramitā teachings in the northwest. Tāranātha wrote that
in this region, 500 bodhisattvas attended the council at Jālandhra monastery during the time of
Kaniṣka, suggesting some institutional strength for Mahāyāna in the north-west during this
period.[74] Edward Conze goes further to say that Prajñāpāramitā had great success in the north-
west during the Kushan period, and may have been the "fortress and hearth" of early Mahāyāna,
but not its origin, which he associates with the Mahāsāṃghika branch of Buddhism.

Buddhist translators
Gandharan Buddhist missionaries were active, with other monks from Central Asia, from the 2nd
century AD in the Han-dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) at China's capital of Luoyang, and
particularly distinguished themselves by their translation work. They promoted scriptures
from Early Buddhist schools as well as those from the Mahāyāna. These translators included:
 Lokakṣema, a Kushan and the first to translate Mahāyāna scriptures into Chinese (167–
186)
 Zhi Yao (fl. 185), a Kushan monk, second generation of translators after Lokakṣema
 Zhi Qian (220–252), a Kushan monk whose grandfather had settled in China during 168–
190
 Zhi Yue (fl. 230), a Kushan monk who worked at Nanjing
 Dharmarakṣa (265–313), a Kushan whose family had lived for generations at Dunhuang

219
 Jñānagupta (561–592), a monk and translator from Gandhāra
 Śikṣānanda (652–710), a monk and translator from Oḍḍiyāna, Gandhāra
 Prajñā (fl. 810), a monk and translator from Kabul, who educated the Japanese Kūkai in
Sanskrit texts
Textual finds
The Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a Lokottaravāda monastery in the 7th century,
at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. The site of this monastery has since been rediscovered by
archaeologists.[76] Birchbark and palm leaf manuscripts of texts in this monastery's collection,
including Mahāyāna sūtras, have been discovered at the site, and these are now located in
the Schøyen Collection. Some manuscripts are in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script,
while others are in Sanskrit and written in forms of the Gupta script. Manuscripts and fragments
that have survived from this monastery's collection include the following source texts:[76]
 Pratimokṣa  Vibhaṅga of the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda (MS 2382/269)
 Mahāparinirvāṇa Sūtra, a sūtra from the Āgamas (MS 2179/44)
 Caṃgī Sūtra, a sūtra from the Āgamas (MS 2376)
 Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2385)
 Bhaiṣajyaguru Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2385)
 Śrīmālādevī Siṃhanāda Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2378)
 Pravāraṇa Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2378)
 Sarvadharmapravṛttinirdeśa Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2378)
 Ajātaśatrukaukṛtyavinodana Sūtra, a Mahāyāna sūtra (MS 2378)
 Śāriputrābhidharma Śāstra (MS 2375/08)

A Sanskrit manuscript of the Bhaiṣajyaguruvaiḍūryaprabhārāja Sūtra was among the textual

finds at Gilgit, Pakistan, attesting to the popularity of the Medicine Buddha in Gandhāra.The
manuscripts in this find are dated before the 7th century, and are written in the upright Gupta
script.

Greco-Buddhist Portraits from the site of Hadda, Gandhara, 3rd century, Guimet Museum

Gandhāra is noted for the distinctive Gandhāra style of Buddhist art, which shows influence
of Parthian, Scythian, Roman, Graeco-Bactrian and local Indian influences from the Gangetic
Valley. This development began during the Parthian Period (50 BC – 75 AD). The Gandhāran
style flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from the 1st to the 5th centuries.

220
It declined and was destroyed after the invasion of the White Huns in the 5th century. Siddhartha
shown as a bejeweled prince (before the Sidhartha renounces palace life) is a common motif.[79]
Stucco, as well as stone, were widely used by sculptors in Gandhara for the decoration of
monastic and cult buildings. Stucco provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity,
enabling a high degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture. Sculpting in stucco was
popular wherever Buddhism spread from Gandhara – Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Central Asia,
and China.
Buddhist imagery combined with some artistic elements from the cultures of the Hellenistic
world. An example is the youthful Buddha, his hair in wavy curls, similar to statutes of Apollo.[

Sacred artworks and architectural decorations used limestone for stucco composed by a mixture
of local crushed rocks (i.e. schist and granite which resulted compatible with the outcrops located
in the mountains northwest of Islamabad.

Standing Bodhisattva (1st–2nd century)

 

221
 CHAPTER 14
Overview: Gandhāra and Mathura

In ancient art, anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha started to emerge from the 1st
century CE in Northern India. The two main centers of creation have been identified as Gandhāra
in today’s North West Frontier Province in Pakistan, and the region of Mathura in central
northern India.
Gandhāran Art
Introduction
Gandhāra is the name of an ancient kingdom located in parts of modern-day northern Pakistan
and eastern Afghanistan, mainly in the Peshawar Valley, the Pothohar Plateau, and the Kabul
River Valley. The Kingdom of Gandhāra lasted from the early first millennium BCE to the 11th
century CE.
The art style of the Kingdom flourished and achieved its peak during the Kushan period, from
the 1st to the 5th centuries; it then declined and suffered destruction after the invasion of the
White Huns in the 5th century.

222
Style
Gandhāra is noted for its distinctive style of Buddhist art, which developed out of a merger of
Greek, Syrian, Persian, and Indian artistic influences. This development began during the
Parthian Period (50 BCE–CE 75).
The art of Gandhāra benefited from centuries of interaction with Greek culture after the
conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE and the subsequent establishment of the Greco-
Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms, which led to the development of Greco-Buddhist art.
In Gandhāran art, the Buddha is often shown under the protection of the Greek god Herakles,
standing with his club (and later a diamond rod) resting over his arm. This unusual representation
of Herakles is the same as the one seen only on the back of of Demetrius’s coins, and it is
exclusively associated to him (and his son Euthydemus II).
Gandhāran Buddhist sculpture displays Greek artistic influence, and it has been suggested that
the concept of the man-god was essentially inspired by Greek mythological culture. Artistically,
the Gandhāran School of sculpture is said to have contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both
shoulders, shoes, sandals, and acanthus leaf decorations.

Buddha Herakles: The Buddha and Vajrapani under the guise of Herakles.
Stone was widely used by sculptors in Gandhāra for the decoration of monastic and cult
buildings, and stucco provided the artist with a medium of great plasticity, enabling a high
degree of expressiveness to be given to the sculpture. Sculpting in stucco was popular wherever
Buddhism spread from Gandhāra: India, Afghanistan, Central Asia, and China.
Mathura Style
Introduction
Mathura is a city in the North Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The art of Mathura tends to be based
on a strong Indian tradition, exemplified by the anthropomorphic representation of divinities

223
such as the Yaksas, although in a style rather archaic compared to the later representations of the
Buddha.
The Mathuran school contributed to many new styles in art such as clothes of thin muslin that
only cover the left shoulder, the wheel on the palm, and the lotus seat.
Art of Mathura
The representations of the Buddha in Mathura are generally dated slightly later than those of
Gandhāra (although not without debate) and are also much less numerous. Mathura sculptures
incorporate many Hellenistic elements, such as a general idealistic realism, and key design
elements, such as curly hair and folded garments.
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. The art of Mathura also features frequent sexual imagery: female images with bare breasts
or nude below the waist, displaying labia and female genitalia, are common, making these
images more sexually explicit than those of earlier or later periods.

Mathura Buddha: The representations of the Buddha in Mathura are generally dated slightly later than those
of Gandhāra (although not without debate) and are also much less numerous.

224
Relationship to Gandhāra Style
The Mathura and Gandhāra styles strongly influenced each other. During their artistic
florescence, the two regions were united politically under the Kushans, both being capitals of the
empire. It is still a matter of debate whether the anthropomorphic representations of Buddha
were essentially a result of a local evolution of Buddhist art at Mathura, or a consequence of
Greek cultural influence in Gandhāra through the Greco-Buddhist syncretism .
This iconic art was characterized from the start by a realistic idealism that combined realistic
human features, proportions, attitudes, and attributes, together with a sense of perfection and
serenity reaching to the divine. This expression of the Buddha as both man and God became the
iconographic canon for subsequent Buddhist art.
Influences and Legacy
Hindu art began to develop from the 1st to the 2nd century CE and found its first inspiration in
the Buddhist art of Mathura. It progressively incorporated a profusion of original Hindu stylistic
and symbolic elements, in contrast with the general balance and simplicity of Buddhist art.
The art of Mathura acquired progressively more Indian elements and reached a very high
sophistication during the Gupta Empire between the 4th and the 6th century CE. The art of the
Gupta Period is considered the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art.

Gupta Buddha: A statue of Buddha from the Gupta Period, Musée Guimet, Paris.
Buddhist Architecture of India

225
 The earliest Buddhist monuments in India are attributable to Asoka (273-232 A.D) who
exerted his energies and resources of his empire for propagation of Buddhism.  Three main
types of structures are associated with buddhist architecture in India, they are:
Stupas
Viharas

Chaityas
Apart from these building, Pillars (Stamba) also form an integral element of buddhist design and
architecture
Buddhist Architecture: A. Stupas
Mound-like structure containing Buddhist Relics
Construction: Brick work , surface of dome finished of with a thick layer of lime water
PARTS OF STUPAS
 Anda is the Hemishperical dome.
Harmika: Top of dome is ‘Harmika’ , square balcony in decorative form enclosing a pedestal
Chattra: A 3 tiered stone / wooden umbrella chhatrayasti raised over pedestal which was the
vedic alter of sacrifice and represented the village shrine.
Vedica: Stupa is enclosed with a wooden / stone railing called vedica.
Toranas : They were cermonial gateways placed at cardial point similar to Aryan village
gates .
Medhi : Medhi (predestrian Path) for devotees to wave in homage to stupa. Medhi was
approached by double staircase sopana .

226
  Example: Sanchi Stupa

Sanchi Stupa
 Located at Sanchi – 3 Stupa on hill – Great Stupa (biggest)
 Laid by Ashoka (3rdBC)
 Large hemispherical dome which is flat at the top
 Crowned by a triple umbrella or Chattra on a pedestal surrounded by a square railing
or Karmika
 Exquisitely carved gateways or Toranas in the North, South, East and West
 Another stone Balustrade and two flights of steps leading to the circular terrace
 Reconstructed during
 Shunga Period
 Satvahana –King Stakarni
 Gupta Period
Amravati Stupa:
 New architectural forms, i.e. a quadrangular monastery, square and rectangular image
shrine, pillared hall and a. small stupa on a square platform

227
 Other Stupa’s

Nagapattinam Vihara in Tamilnadu

 It was built by Sailendra Kings of Sumatra

228
 Chola emperor Rajaraja 1 had made an official charter to pay for the expenses of
running this Vihara.
Ajanta Caves:
 Sahyadri Hills – U-shaped gorge on the small river Waghora (or Wagura)
 1st phase: Satavahana dynasty, 2nd Phase- 5th century-during reign of Harisena –
Vakataka dynasty
 There are 30 caves in Ajanta of which 5 are chaitya-grihas(9, 10, 19, 26 and 29) and
the rest are monasteries
 All paintings centre around Buddha, Bodhisattvas, incidents from the life of Buddha
and the Jatakas.
 The paintings are executed on a ground of mud-plaster in the tempera technique.
 Abandoned in AD 650 in favour of Ellora
 First mentioned by Chinese pilgrim Huen Tsang – visited India between 629 – 645
AD.
Ellora Caves (5 th  -13th  Cen AD)
 Representing 3 major religion of india- Hinduism, Buddhism & Jainism.
 Lies on ancient trade route- dakshinpatha.
 12 Buddhist caves(1-12)
 17 Hindu Caves(13-29)
 5 Jaina Caves(30-34)
 Best example of Religious Harmony

229
 Other Monasteries:

 
Buddhist Architecture: C. Chaityas
 Chaityas were Temples or Assembly halls where monks used to Pray.
 Opened by small rectangular doorways to vaulted hall with apisidal end .
 Divided longitudinally by 2 colonnades forming a broad nave    in the centre and two
side aisles.
 The roof is usually semi – circular .
 The chaityas resemble to that of church

230
 Other Examples of Chaitya:
 Barabar Hills: The Lomas Rishi & Sudama
 Nagarjuni Hills: Sita Marhi Caves
 Gunta Palli: Largest brick chaitya
 Ajanta Caves: Caves 9, 10
 Ellora Caves: 12 Caves
 Bagh Chaitya
 Kondane
Karle Caves, Pune
 Largest Chaitya-grihaamong all Buddhist monuments in India
 Has a huge lion pillars in front of Chaitya-griha. (only two caves have this design-
Karla and Kanheri)
 stupa has cylindrical drum shape
 Octagone shaped pillars behind Stupa, without any decoration
Kanheri, Mumbai
 Second largest Chaityagriha in India, after Karle caves.
 Lion Pillarsat the Entrance. (Just like Karle caves)
 Podhis: water cisterns for rainwater harvesting
 Images of both Standing Buddha and sitting Buddha flanked by Bodhisattvas
 Famous Satvahan king Gautamiputra Satakarni’s namementioned in the inscriptions
here.
Bhaja, Pune
 Hinayana faith
 has Woodenceiling over Chaitya-griha.
 Stupa has a hole on top, for inserting wooden
 Verandaha has woodenreliefs showing royal women driving chariots over a demon.

231
 Vihara for resting monks with rock cut seats and benches.
Pandavleni, Nasik
 Also known as Pandava’s caves
 Inscriptions mention King Gautamiputra Satakarni’s motherGautami Balasri had
financed the construction of third cave.
 Contains a panel depicting Buddha’s Mahaprinirvana
Buddhist Architecture: D. STAMBHAS OR LATS
 Buddhist pillars bearing inscriptions on their shafts, with emblems or animals on their
capital.
 Typical Buddhist column are of two types: one is based on persepolitian type and
other graeco-roman
 Persepolitian type is a octagonal with bell shaped capital supporting animal sculpture.
The shaft is highly polished and has a vase-shaped base.
 Graeco-roman type is rectangular with shallow flutes. They are tall and slender; the
height nearly six to eight times its lower diameter. At the top is a capital usually with a fluted
vase motif.

 Ashokan Pillars:19 surviving, Sarnath Pillar best example

 Sarnath pillar is 15 m high .
 Four lions surmounting capital; supporting metal wheel containing 24 spokes
and called wheel of lane .
 The wheel symbolizes first summon of Buddha , which is alsoadopted as
national emblem of India .
 Sarnath lion capital (restored) of monolithic column showing buddhist symbols.
 
Although the initial craftsmen for stone reliefs in Sanchi seem to have come from Gandhara,
with the first reliefs being carved at Sanchi Stupa No.2 circa 115 BCE,[27] the art of Sanchi
thereafter developed considerably in the 1st century BCE/CE and is thought to predate the
blooming of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, which went on to flourish until around the 4th
century CE. The art of Sanchi is thus considered as the ancestor of the didactic forms of Buddhist
art that would follow, such as the art of Gandhara. It is also, with Bharhut, the oldest.As didactic
Buddhist reliefs were adopted by Gandhara, the content evolved somewhat together with the
emergence of Mahayana Buddhism, a more theistic understanding of Buddhism. First, although
many of the artistic themes remained the same (such as Maya's dream, The Great Departure,
Mara's attacks...), many of the stories of the previous lives of the Buddha were replaced by the

232
even more numerous stories about the Bodhisattvas of the Mahayana pantheon.[136] Second,
another important difference is the treatment of the image of the Buddha: whereas the art of
Sanchi, however detailed and sophisticated, is aniconic,[138] the art of Gandhara added
illustrations of the Buddha as a man wearing Greek-style clothing to play a central role in its
didactic reliefs.
The presence of Greeks at or near Sanchi at the time is known (Indo-
Greek ambassador Heliodorus at Vidisha circa 100 BCE, the Greek-like foreigners illustrated at
Sanchi worshiping the Great Stupa, or the Greek "Yavana" devotees who had dedicatory
inscriptions made at Sanchi[), but more precise details about exchanges or possible routes of
transmission are elusive.

Ruins of the Southern Gateway, Sanchi in 1875.-A Gate to the Stupa of Sanchi 1932 //The Great
Stupa as breached by Sir Herbert Maddock in 1822. Watercolor by Frederick Charles Maisey, in
1851.

General Henry Taylor (1784–1876) who was a British officer in the Third Maratha War of 1817–
1819, was the first known Western historian to document in 1818 (in English) the existence of
Sanchi Stupa. The site was in a total state of abandon. The Great Stupa was clumsily breached
by Sir Herbert Maddock in 1822, although he was not able to reach the center, and he then
abandoned. Alexander Cunningham and Frederick Charles Maisey made the first formal survey
and excavations at Sanchi and the surrounding stupas of the region in 1851.
Amateur archaeologists and treasure hunters ravaged the site until 1881, when proper restoration
work was initiated. Between 1912 and 1919 the structures were restored to their present
condition under the supervision of Sir John Marshall.

19th Century Europeans were very much interested in the Stupa which was originally built by
Ashoka. French sought the permission of Shahjehan Begum to take away the eastern gateway
which was quite well preserved, to a museum in France. English, who had established
themselves in India, majorly as a political force, were interested too in carrying it to England for
a museum. They were satisfied with plaster-cast copies which were carefully prepared and the

233
original remained at the site, part of Bhopal state. The rule of Bhopal, Shahjehan Begum and her
successor Sultan Jehan Begum, provided money for the preservation of the ancient site. John
Marshall, Director-General of the Archaeological Survey of India from 1902 to 1928,
acknowledged her contribution by dedicating his important volumes on Sanchi to Sultan Jehan.
She had funded the museum that was built there. As one of the earliest and most important
Buddhist architectural and cultural pieces, it has drastically transformed the understanding of
early India with respect to Buddhism. It is now a marvellous example of the carefully preserved
archaeological site by the Archeological Survey of India. The place of Sanchi Stupa in Indian
history and culture can be gauged from the fact that Reserve Bank of India introduced new 200
Indian Rupees notes with Sanchi Stupa in 2017.

Since Sanchi remained mostly intact however, only few artefacts of Sanchi can be found in
Western Museum: for example, the Gupta statue of Padmapani is at the Victoria and Albert
Museum in London, and one of the Yashinis can be seen at the British Museum.
Today, around fifty monuments remain on the hill of Sanchi, including three main stupas and
several temples. The monuments have been listed among other famous monuments in
the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 1989.

The reliefs of Sanchi, especially those depicting Indian cities, have been important in trying to
imagine what ancient Indian cities look like. Many modern simulations are based on the urban
illustrations of Sanchi.
 

Chetiyagiri Vihara
The bone relics (asthi avashesh) of Buddhist Masters along with the reliquaries, obtained by
Maisey and Cunningham were divided and taken by them to England as personal trophies.
[145]
 Maisey's family sold the objects to Victoria and Albert Museum where they stayed for a long
time. The Buddhists in England, Sri Lanka and India, led by the Mahabodhi Society demanded
that they be returned. Some of the relics of Sariputta and Moggallana were sent back to Sri
Lanka, where they were publicly displayed in 1947.[146] It was such a grand event where the
entire population of Sri Lanka came to visit them. However, they were later returned to India.
But a new temple Chetiyagiri Vihara was constructed to house the relics, in 1952. [147] In a
nationalistic sense, this marked the formal reestablishment of the Buddhist tradition in India.
Some of the relics were obtained by Burma.

Stupa 1 Northern Gateway

The Northern Gateway is the best preserved of all the gateways, and was the second to be
erected. The numerous panels relate various events of the life of the Buddha. Only one atypical
panel (Right pillar, Inner face/ Top panel) shows Foreigners making a dedication at the
Southern Gateway of Stupa No 1.

234
 made circa 115 BCE/Lakshmi with lotus and two child attendants, probably derived
from similar images of Venus[33]
The stupas which seem to have been commissioned during the rule of the Shungas are the
Second and then the Third stupas (but not the highly decorated gateways, which are from the
following Satavahana period, as known from inscriptions), following the ground balustrade and
stone casing of the Great Stupa (Stupa No 1). The reliefs are dated to circa 115 BCE for the
medallions, and 80 BCE for the pillar carvings, slightly before the reliefs of Bharhut for the
earliest, with some reworks down to the 1st century CE.

Sunga period railings were initially blank (left: Great Stupa), and only started to be decorated
circa 115 BCE with Stupa No.2 (right).
Stupa No. 2 was established later than the Great Stupa, but it is probably displaying the earliest
architectural ornaments.[26] For the first time, clearly Buddhist themes are represented,
particularly the four events in the life of the Buddha that are: the Nativity, the Enlightenment, the
First Sermon and the Decease.
The decorations of Stupa No. 2 have been called "the oldest extensive stupa decoration in
existence",[29] and this Stupa is considered as the birthplace of Jataka illustrations.[30] The reliefs
at Stupa No.2 bear mason marks in Kharoshthi, as opposed to the local Brahmi script.[27] This
seems to imply that foreign workers from the north-west (from the region of Gandhara,
where Kharoshthi was the current script) were responsible for the motifs and figures that can be
found on the railings of the stupa.[27] Foreigners from Gandhara are otherwise known to have
visited the region around the same time: in 115 BCE, the embassy of Heliodorus from Indo-
Greek king Antialkidas to the court of the Sungas king Bhagabhadra in nearby Vidisha is
recorded, in which Heliodorus established the Heliodorus pillar in a dedication to Vāsudeva.
This would indicate that relations had improved at that time, and that people traveled between
the two realms.
Stupa No. 2. Shunga structures and decorations
(end of 2nd century BCE)

Griffin with Brahmi script inscription./Female riding a Centaur./Lotus within beads and reels motif.

235
Stupa No. 3
Stupa No. 3 was built during the time of the Shungas, who also built the railing around it as well
as the staircase. The Relics of Sariputra and Mahamoggallana, the disciples of the Buddha are
said to have been placed in Stupa No. 3, and relics boxes were excavated tending to confirm this.
[34]

The reliefs on the railings are said to be slightly later than those of Stupa No. 2.[24]
The single torana gateway oriented to the south is not Shunga, and was built later under
the Satavahanas, probably circa 50 BCE.
Sunga Pillar

Sunga pillar No25 with own capital on the side./The southern gateway of the Great Stupa (Stupa
1) at Sanchi was, according to an inscription (see arrow), donated under the rule of "King
Satakarni",
Pillar 25 at Sanchi is also attributed to the Sungas, in the 2nd–1st century BCE, and is considered
as similar in design to the Heliodorus pillar, locally called Kham Baba pillar, dedicated
by Heliodorus, the ambassador to the Indo-Greek king Antialkidas, in nearby Vidisha circa 100
BCE. That it belongs to about the period of the Sunga, is clear alike from its design and from the
character of the surface dressing.
The height of the pillar, including the capital, is 15 ft, its diameter at the base 1 ft. 4 in. Up to a
height of 4 ft. 6 in. the shaft is octagonal; above that, sixteen-sided. In the octagonal portion all
the facets are flat, but in the upper section the alternate facets are fluted, the eight other sides
being produced by a concave chamfering of the arrises of the octagon. This method of finishing
off the arris at the point of transition between the two sections are features characteristic of the
second and first centuries BCE. The west side of the shaft is split off, but the tenon at the top, to

236
which the capital was mortised, is still preserved. The capital is of the usual bell-
shaped Persepolitan type, with lotus leaves falling over the shoulder of the bell. Above this is a
circular cable necking, then a second circular necking relieved by a bead and lozenge pattern,
and, finally, a deep square abacus adorned with a railing in relief. The crowning feature,
probably a lion, has disappeared.
Satavahana gateways (from 50 - 0 BCE)

The inscription appears on the relief of a stupa at the center of the top architrave, at the rear. It is
written in three lines in early Brahmi script over the dome of the stupa in this relief.
Dated circa 50 BCE- 0 CE.
The Satavahana Empire under Satakarni II conquered eastern Malwa from the Shungas.[39] This
gave the Satavahanas access to the Buddhist site of Sanchi, in which they are credited with the
building of the decorated gateways around the original Mauryan Empire and Sunga stupas.
[40]
 From the 1st century BCE, the highly decorated gateways were built. The balustrade and the
gateways were also colored.[6] Later gateways/toranas are generally dated to the 1st century CE.
[26]

The Siri-Satakani inscription in the Brahmi script records the gift of one of the top architraves of

the Southern Gateway by the artisans of the Satavahana king Satakarni II:[
𑀭𑀸𑀜𑁄 𑀲𑀺𑀭𑀺 𑀲𑀸𑀢𑀓𑀡𑀺𑀲  (Rāño Siri Sātakaṇisa)
𑀆𑀯𑁂𑀲𑀡𑀺𑀲 𑀯𑀸𑀲𑀺𑀣𑀻𑀧𑀼𑀢𑀲  (āvesaṇisa vāsitḥīputasa)
𑀆𑀦𑀁𑀤𑀲 𑀤𑀸𑀦𑀁 (Ānaṁdasa dānaṁ)
"Gift of Ananda, the son of Vasithi, the foreman of the artisans of rajan Siri Satakarni"
— Inscription of the Southern Gateway of the Great Stupa[38]
There are some uncertainties about the date and the identity of the Satakarni in question, as a
king Satakarni is mentioned in the Hathigumpha inscription which is sometimes dated to the 2nd
century BCE. Also, several Satavahana kings used the name "Satakarni", which complicates the
matter. Usual dates given for the gateways range from 50 BCE to the 1st century CE, and the
builder of the earliest gateways is generally considered to be Satakarni II, who ruled in 50-25
BCE. Another early Satavahana monument is known, Cave No.19 of king Kanha (100-70 BCE)
at the Nasik Caves, which is much less developed artistically than the Sanchi toranas.
Material and carving technique
From ivory to stone carving under the Satavahanas

237
Pompeii Lakshmi, 1st century CE./Yashini, East Gateway, Sanchi.// Inscription "Vedisakehi
daṃtakārehi rupakaṃmaṃ kataṃ" (𑀯𑁂𑀤𑀺𑀲𑀓𑁂𑀨𑀺 𑀤𑀁𑀢𑀓𑀸𑀭𑁂𑀨𑀺 𑀭𑀼𑀧𑀓𑀁𑀫𑀁 𑀓𑀢𑀁 ,
"Ivory workers from Vidisha have done the carving").

Although made of stone, the torana gateways were carved and constructed in the manner of
wood and the gateways were covered with narrative sculptures. It has also been suggested that
the stone reliefs were made by ivory carvers from nearby Vidisha, and an inscription on the
Southern Gateway of the Great Stupa ("The Worship of the Bodhisattva's hair") was dedicated
by the Guild of Ivory Carvers of Vidisha. The inscription reads: "Vedisakehi damtakārehi
rupakammam katam" meaning "The ivory-workers from Vidisha have done the carving".Some
of the Begram ivories or the "Pompeii Lakshmi" give an indication of the kind of ivory works
that could have influenced the carvings at Sanchi.The reliefs show scenes from the life of the
Buddha integrated with everyday events that would be familiar to the onlookers and so make it
easier for them to understand the Buddhist creed as relevant to their lives. At Sanchi and most
other stupas the local population donated money for the embellishment of the stupa to attain
spiritual merit. There was no direct royal patronage. Devotees, both men and women, who
donated money towards a sculpture would often choose their favourite scene from the life of the
Buddha and then have their names inscribed on it. This accounts for the random repetition of
particular episodes on the stupa (Dehejia 1992).

On these stone carvings the Buddha was never depicted as a human figure, due to aniconism in
Buddhism. Instead the artists chose to represent him by certain attributes, such as the horse on
which he left his father's home, his footprints, or a canopy under the bodhi tree at the point of his
enlightenment. The human body was thought to be too confining for the Buddha.

Architecture: evolution of the load-bearing pillar capital

Evolution of the Indian load-bearing pillar capital, down to 1st century Sanchi

238
Mauryan capital (Pataliputra capital)/4th-3rd c. BCE/Sarnath capital,
Sarnath, c.3rd-1st c. BCE/Bharhut capital 2nd c. BCESanchi lion capital 1st c. BCE

Sanchi elephant capital-1st c. BCE/CE/Sanchi Yakshas capital’1st c. CE

Similarities have been found in the designs of the capitals of various areas of northern India from
the time of Ashoka to the time of the Satavahanas at Sanchi: particularly between the Pataliputra
capital at the Mauryan Empire capital of Pataliputra (3rd century BCE), the pillar capitals at
the Sunga Empire Buddhist complex of Bharhut (2nd century BCE), and the pillar capitals of the
Satavahanas at Sanchi (1st centuries BCE/CE).

The earliest known example in India, the Pataliputra capital (3rd century BCE) is decorated with
rows of repeating rosettes, ovolos and bead and reel mouldings, wave-like scrolls and
side volutes with central rosettes, around a prominent central flame palmette, which is the main
motif. These are quite similar to Classical Greek designs, and the capital has been described as
quasi-Ionic. Greek influence, as well as Persian Achaemenid influence have been suggested.
The Sarnath capital is a pillar capital discovered in the archaeological excavations at the
ancient Buddhist site of Sarnath. The pillar displays Ionic volutes and palmettes. It has been
variously dated from the 3rd century BCE during the Mauryan Empire period, to the 1st century
BCE, during the Sunga Empire period. One of the faces shows a galopping horse carrying a
rider, while the other face shows an elephant and its mahaut.

The pillar capital in Bharhut, dated to the 2nd century BCE during the Sunga Empire period, also
incorporates many of these characteristics, with a central anta capital with many rosettes, beads-
and-reels, as well as a central palmette design. Importantly, recumbent animals (lions, symbols
of Buddhism) were added, in the style of the Pillars of Ashoka.
The Sanchi pillar capital is keeping the general design, seen at Bharhut a century earlier, of
recumbent lions grouped around a central square-section post, with the central design of a flame

239
palmette, which started with the Pataliputra capital. However the design of the central post is
now simpler, with the flame palmette taking all the available room. Elephants were later used to
adorn the pillar capitals (still with the central palmette design), and lastly, Yakshas (here the
palmette design disappears).
Main themes of the reliefs

The Great Stupa at the time of the Satavahanas.

Jataka tales
Various Jatakas are illustrated. These are Buddhist moral tales relating edifying events of the
former lives of the Buddha as he was still a Bodhisattva. Among the Jatakas being depicted are
the Syama Jataka, the Vessantara Jataka and the Mahakapi Jataka.
Miracles
Numerous miracles made by the Buddha are recorded. Among them:
 The miracle of the Buddha walking on water.[60]
 The miracle of fire and wood
Temptation of the Buddha
Numerous scene refer to the temptation of the Buddha, when he was confronted with the
seductive daughters of Mara and with his army of demons. Having resisted the temptations of
Mara, the Buddha finds enlightenment. Other similar scenes on the same subject:
 Temptation of the Buddha with Mara's army fleeing.
 Enlightenment of the Buddha with Mara's army fleeing.

Temptation of the Buddha, with the Buddha on the left (symbolized by his throne only)
surrounded by rejoicing devotees, Mara and his daughters (center), and the demons of Mara
fleeing (right)

240
War over the Buddha's Relics
See also: Śarīra and  Relics associated with Buddha
The southern gate of Stupa No1, thought to be oldest and main entrance to the stupa, has several
depictions of the story of the Buddha's relics, starting with the War over the Relics.
After the death of the Buddha, the Mallas of Kushinagar wanted to keep his ashes, but the other
kingdoms also wanting their part went to war and besieged the city of Kushinagar. Finally, an
agreement was reached, and the Buddha's cremation relics were divided among 8 royal families
and his disciples.[64][65] This famous view shows warfare techniques at the time of the
Satavahanas, as well as a view of the city of Kushinagar of the Mallas, which has been relied on
for the understanding of ancient Indian cities.
Other narrative panels related to the War over the Buddha's Relics at Sanchi are:
 "The King of the Mallas bringing the relics of the Buddha to Kushinagara", right after the
death of the Buddha, before the War itself. In this relief, the king is seen seated on an
elephant, holding the relics on his head.[66]
 "The siege of Kushinagara by the seven kings", another relief on the same subject.

War over the Buddha's Relics, kept by the city of Kushinagar, South Gate, Stupa no.1, Sanchi.[67]
Removal of the relics by Ashoka According to Buddhist legend, a few centuries later, the relics
would be removed from the eight guardian kingdoms by King Ashoka, and enshrined into 84,000
stupas. Ashoka obtained the ashes from seven of the guardian kingdoms, but failed to take the
ashes from the Nagas at Ramagrama who were too powerful, and were able to keep them. This
scene is depicted in one of the transversal portions of the southern gateway of Stupa No1 at
Sanchi. Ashoka is shown on the right in his charriot and his army, the stupa with the relics is in
the center, and the Naga kings with their serpent hoods at the extreme left under the trees.

241
King Ashoka visits Ramagrama, to take relics of the Buddha from the Nagas, but he failed, the
Nagas being too powerful. Southern gateway, Stupa 1, Southern Gateway, Sanchi
Building of the Bodh Gaya temple by Ashoka

Ashoka in grief, supported by his two queens, in a relief at Sanchi. Stupa 1, Southern gateway.
The identification with Ashoka is confirm by a similar relief from Kanaganahalli inscribed "Raya
Asoko"./Bodhi tree temple depicted in Sanchi, Stupa 1, Southern gateway.
Ashoka went to Bodh Gaya to visit the Bodhi Tree under which the Buddha had his
enlightenment, as described his Major Rock Edict No.8. However Ashoka was profoundly
grieved when he discovered that the sacred pipal tree was not properly being taken care of and
dying out due to the neglect of Queen Tiṣyarakṣitā
As a consequence, Ashoka endeavoured to take care of the Bodhi Tree, and built a temple around
it. This temple became the center of Bodh Gaya. A sculpture at Sanchi, southern gateway of
Stupa No1, shows Ashoka in grief being supported by his two Queens. Then the relief above
shows the Bodhi Tree prospering inside its new temple. Numerous other sculptures at Sanchi

242
show scenes of devotion towards the Bodhi Tree, and the Bodhi Tree inside its temple at Bodh
Gaya.
Other versions of the relief depicting the temple for the Bodhi Tree are visible at Sanchi, such as
the Temple for the Bodhi Tree (Eastern Gateway).

Foreign devotees
Foreign devotees and musicians on the Northern Gateway of Stupa I
Some of the friezes of Sanchi also show devotees in Greek attire, wearing kilted tunics and some
of them a Greek piloi hat. They are also sometimes described as Sakas, although the historical
period seems too early for their presence in Central India, and the two pointed hats seem too
short to be Scythian. The official notice at Sanchi describes "Foreigners worshiping Stupa".] The
men are depicted with short curly hair, often held together with a headband of the type
commonly seen on Greek coins. The clothing too is Greek, complete with tunics, capes and
sandals, typical of the Greek travelling costume. The musical instruments are also quite
characteristic, such as the "thoroughly Greek" double flute called aulos. Also visible are carnyx-
like horns.
The actual participation of Yavanas/Yonas (Greek donors) to the construction of Sanchi is
known from three inscriptions made by self-declared Yavana donors:
 The clearest of these reads "Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam" ("Gift of the Yona of
Setapatha"),Setapatha being an uncertain city, possibly a location near Nasik, a place where
other dedications by Yavanas are known, in cave No.17 of the Nasik Caves complex, and on
the pillars of the Karla Caves not far away.
 A second similar inscription on a pillar reads: "[Sv]etapathasa (Yona?)sa danam", with
probably the same meaning, ("Gift of the Yona of Setapatha").
 The third inscription, on two adjacent pavement slabs reads "Cuda yo[vana]kasa bo
silayo" ("Two slabs of Cuda, the Yonaka").
Around 113 BCE, Heliodorus, an ambassador of the Indo-Greek ruler Antialcidas, is known to
have dedicated a pillar, the Heliodorus pillar, around 5 miles from Sanchi, in the village
of Vidisha.
Another rather similar foreigner is also depicted in Bharhut, the Bharhut Yavana (circa 100
BCE), also wearing a tunic and a royal headband in the manner of a Greek king, and displaying a
Buddhist triratna on his sword. Another one can be seen in the region of Odisha, in the Udayagiri
and Khandagiri Caves.

243
ABOUT THE AUTHOR- S RISHTIDOKRAS

An Architect by choice and design, she completed a BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE Degree from
the now famous Institute of Design Education and Architectural Studies, Nagpur,India.

Her distinguished design and architectural experience has taken her to Mumbai, Pondicherry
and Hyderabad. She has also visited Dubai, Australia and Seattle, USA as a visiting architect.
Srishti has worked for Vivek Varma Architects , Mumbai ,Uday Dighe and Associates , Mumbai,
Ashok Mokha Architects Nagpur ,and Shama Dalvi in Auroville.Currently working in the REVIT
domain in BASE 4 corporation at Nagpur, the main work center of Base4,USA. She has been a
part of the design map of the Nagpur Metro; Google corporate office Hyderabad, residential
houses in the city of Pondicherry –AUROVILLE, India and Nagpur, India. Restaurant Designs for
Kettle and Brew Beverages Pvt Ltd, PUNE,India

She has attended the bamboo and earth construction workshop , Auroville • Attended
construction workshop organizedby Indian Institute of Engineers • Participated in N.A.S.A. 2015
• Held 1st position in Product Design/Competition “ Light em up ” at Regional Level •
Shortlisted for S.A. Deshpande Trophy/organized by Indian Institute of Architects , Nagpur

Visiting Architectural scholar at Melbourne, Sydney , Australia and Seattle, Deira Dubai and New
Jersey USA

Srishti has published 46 research and allied papers and 5 books on CREATIVITY &
ARCHITECTURE. She also contributed a chapter on REVIT software for the book Human
Resources in Project Management. Her particular area of interest is INTERIORS DESIGN. Some
of the Collected works of Srishti: 1. The GREAT WALL of CHINA an Architectural Foray 2.
Architecture of Hotels 3. The Vastu-Purusha-Mandala in Temple Architecture 4. Prambanan, a
Hindu temple in Indonesia-general architectural and morphological analysis 5. HINDU TEMPLE
ARCHITECTURE of BHARAT-SOME MUSINGS 6. Autodesk Revit for Project Management 7.
VERTICAL GARDENS - an Architectural Perspective.pdf 8. Theme Park and Architecture 9.
Philosophy and Architecture 10. AYODHYA in ITS ARCHITECTURE Myth and Reality 11. The

244
Nagara Architecture of Khajuraho 12. Hotel Design- Architectural Breviary 13. Hindu Temple
Architecture 14. Lanka 15. Cambodia and Angkor Vat 16. reativity and Architecture

245
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR DR UDAY DOKRAS

About the Author

The author has worked for 30 years in the human resources arena in India and abroad.
He was Group Vice -President of MZI Group in New Delhi and has anchored Human
Relations in Go Air and Hotel Holiday Inn;was General Manager-Health Human
Resources at the Lata Mangeshkar Hospital amd Medical college. Is currently Consultant
to Gorewada International Zoo,Nagpur and visiting Faculty at the Central Institute of
Business Management and Research, Nagpur.

246
In Sweden he anchored HR in Stadbolaget RENIA, SSSB and advisor to a multi
millionaire. He has studied in Nagpur, India where he obtained degrees of Bachelor of
Science, Bachelor of Arts(Managerial Economics) and Bachelor of Laws. He has done his
Graduate Studies in labour laws from Canada at the Queen's University, Kingston; a
MBA from USA, and Doctorate from Stockholm University, Sweden. Apart from that he
has done a Management Training Program in Singapore.

A scholar of the Swedish Institute, he has been an Edvard Cassel Fund and Wineroth
Fund Awardee.A scholar for the Swedish Institute for 5 years.

In 1984 he was involved with the Comparative Labour Law Project of the University of

California, Los Angeles, U.S.A. He was also visiting lecturer there. In 1985 he was invited
by the President of Seychelles to do a study of the efficacy of the labour laws of
Seychelles.

Author of a book on a Swedish human resource law, his brief life sketch is part of the
English study text book of 7 th Class Students in Sweden -“Studying English. SPOTLIGHT
7”- and 8th Class students in Iceland - “SPOTLIGHT 8- Lausnir.”

RESEARCH PAPERS-320 + in Researchgate and academia.edu & scribd

Followers(readers) 65,000 consolidated as on 26 th September,2020.

247
 Authors-DR Uday DOKRAS

Dr. Uday Dokras

B.Sc., B.A. (Managerial Economics), LL.B., Nagpur University, India
Certificat'e en Droit, Queen’s University. Ontario, Canada,

MBA, CALSTATE,Los-Angeles, USA,

Ph.D. Stockholm University, Sweden,

Management and Efficacy Consultant, India

248
 Reviews of the Book PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

The authors highlight the benefits of paying attention to human resources and offer success and
failure factors guideline for a variety of potential practitioners and students in global project
marketplace.
Ms.Ylva Arnold, Head HR- Norstedts Publishers, Stockholm SWEDEN

249
From the Newspaper Times of India March 24,
2018

250
Iceland Sweden both countries use the English Text SPOTLIGHT-one of the lessons in
which is about Dr Uday Dokras

251
Prof. S.Deshpande,President of the Indian Instituye of Architects, New Delhi INDIA
releasing the book of Dr Dokras HINDU TEMPLES on the web in CARONA gimes( May
2010)

252
253
254
255
256
Some of my books

257
258
259
260
261
 Unravelling the

SCIENTIFIC
BORUBUDUR

Dr Uday Dokras-Srishti Dokras - Kinjal Shah

262
 53 BOOKS BY DR UDAY DOKRAS
Published by
The Indo Swedish Author’s Collective Stockholm
The Indo Swedish Author’s Collective Finland

Dr. Uday Dokras

Tamil People as Traders and Voyagers

263
 The Cambodian Trilogy

I.HINDU CAMBODIA

II.HYDROLOGY of ANGKOR
ANGKOR is known as a Hydraulic city- full or canals and river and
waterways. It is this water system they say that brought the downfall of this
intrinsic kingdom. But is that TRUE?

264
 III.ENTER…… THE KINGDOM THAT
VANISHED- Angkor

Building Materials of the Hindu Temple

In depth study of how Building Materials of the Hindu Temple was used in
India,Indonesia and Cambodia and India

The Art & Architecture of THE GOLDEN TEMPLE

COMPLEX, AMRITSAR
265
Mathematics in Temple Designs

Jain ART
Book on Jain Art and Iconography

Jain Temples- Part I -Complete Compendium-

Book I
A to Z of the architecture, Design,Cosmology,Philosophy of Jain temples in
266
 Jain Temples II
DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARCHITECTURE OF JAIN TEMPLES AND THE
ACTUAL PHOTOGRAPHS(ORIGINAL) OF 3JAIN TEMPLES of Nagpur

DWARKA- CELESTIAL MYSTERIES of the Lost

CITY of KRISHNA

TIRUPATI TEMPLE Book part I

267
TIRUPATI TemplePart II

Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods

Vahanas- the vehicles of Hindu Gods. Animals in Hinduism. demi Gods

SATYANARAYAN PUJA-The Complete Compendium

Satyanarayan Puja or 9 Graha Puja( a puja of 9 planets) has been
performed by most Hindus not only now but for 1,000’s of years.

268
MAHALAXMI Puja
Hindu Goddess MAHALAXMI Puja

ARCHITECTURE OF PALESTINE

Palestine my Love
Palestine my Love is about the culture arts and crafts of palestine so we
recognize it as a entity that is fighting for recognition of not only its
legitimacy but also its cultural heritage

QUINTET (5) BOOKS ON MANDALA

269
Unravelling the MAZE of the MANDALA BOOK I
First part of a two book treatise on MANDALAS. This introductory phase
introduces mandalas

Maze of MANDALA BOOK II

Advanced Mandala routine for those who want to know more about
MANDALAS

Mandala BOOK III on Nakshatra

BOOK IV MANDALA & ARCHITECTURE

270
The Use of Mandalas in Building Temples and Modern Buildings

Book V on Mandala of the Oriental Kingdoms

Islamic Architectureal Arts of of Imam Ali's 2

Shrines

Hindu Gods in Scandinavia

Did the Hindu Gods originate or live in Scandinavia once? Find out

271
Book on Divinity and Architecture
What is divinity? How has man tried to harness architecture to create magic
in space

Virat Hridaya Padma-sthalam CHIDAMBARAM

Temple -Celestial Mysteries
This book is about a mysterious and revered tempe built by the Chola
Kings of South India 2000 years ago

T2- Temple Tech. A Book

How are Hindu temples built and the technology that follows this craft.
From A to Z Complete Guide.

272
Rendezvous with Sri RAM Portfolio of Temple Art
by Srishti Dokras, Architect Special section on
Hindu Foods by Karan Dokras, Product Guru

Best Foot Forward

The story of Footwear through the ages up to COVID times

Hindu Temple Panorama-Celestial Mysteries

A to Z of Temples. A total Panoramic View of design and architecture of
Hindu temples in 350 page...
273
 DUOLOGY (2) on JAINISM
Ativir
ATIVIR means Very Brave and is the name given to Lord Mahavir the 24 th
Saint(TIRTHANKAR) Contains rare translations of the Dialogue of the
Mahavir with his disciples called GHANDHARVAVAD

Vardhaman-वर्धमान
IThis book is about Jainism- written by a non-

THE TRILOGY(3) on DEVRAJA The God

kIngs of Khemer

274
Book I DEVRAJ- The God Kings of Indo China-
Cambodia.
This is the first Book of a Trilogy that traces the growth of Hinduism in
South East Asia.

BOOK I I DEVRAJA- The Great Civilizations of

South East Asia -HINDU Era
How Hinduism reached Cambodia and how the Hindu Kings called Devraj
Built these magnificent structures

Devraja BOOK II I Devraja and Raj Dharma God

King and Kingly Religion The HINDU Era of
Great Civilizations of Khemer
Book 2 of a Trilogy that traces the advent of Hinduism on South East Asian
and Indo-Chinese

275
Vayu- Man's taming of the winds
Man's conquest of nature spans a million years. How was wind tamed by
him. Here is the full story... more 

VIMANA Ancient Conquests of Wind

Ancient flying machines of Gods and Men(?) Were they true. Did they really
exist. 7000 years ago?

LIGHT HOUSES In words and pictures

BOOK Architecture of the Lighthouse of

Alexandria-BOOK
Indo Swedish Author's Collective, 2020

276
The lighthouse was built on an island off the coast of Alexandria called
Pharos. Its name, legend

Cosmology of lotus
Indo Nordic Author's Collective, 2020

The Lotus is the king of the flower world but few know it as a part of
creation. Find out the Cosmology.

Celestial Mysteries of the Borobudur Temple

Borobudur remains a mystery even today. The largest Buddhist Stupa in
the world has many unanswered...

Win with this new DIET

277
Hindu tempel of India , Cambodia and Indonesia
Hindu Temples dot India, Cambodia and Indonesia

DISRUPTION-Book

Book Architecture Creativity

Creativity and Architecture are linked and go hand in hand. This Book is a
culmination of 16 publications that have been put together as a book

Project HR Management
Indo Swedish Author's Collective

278
PROJECT HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT/'Dr UDAY DOKRAS The
project sphere has not been valued appropriately

Human Resource Engineering in Theme Parks.

by Dr. Uday Dokras and Mansse Bhandari

As theme parks evolve into facilitating for greater thrill seeking

audience,the role of human res... more 

Health Human Resource Management

Management of Health care workers in hospitals and the human resource
practices to be followed in hospitals.

279
WIN DIET Lose fat-Diet and Exercise Book ONLY
BODY SHAPING GUIDE YOU NEED

The Act on Co-determination at Work – an Efficacy

study
Thesis of the Author for the degree of Doctor of Law

Stockholm University, SWEDEN 1990

Author’s earlier book

SCIENTIFIC BOROBUDUR

280
U.DOKRAS-S. DOKRAS-K. SHAH

Empire of the Winds

THE MYSTERIOUS SRIVIJAYA EMPIRE
281
 Dr UDAY DOKRAS
Architect SRISHTI DOKRAS
Ms. KINJAL SHAH

Grecian Influence on INDIAN

Architectural
ENGINEERING

282
 Dr UDAY DOKRAS
ARCHITECT SRISHTI DOKRAS

Indo Nordic Author’s Collective

283