Less than 1% of the population of modern India is Buddhist. Therefore, it is reasonable to say that India's importance for Buddhism and its art is mainly its historical influence. Not only is India the country where the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, lived and taught, but it is the land where the first images of the Buddha were produced and where Buddhist iconography and symbolism evolved. Being a student whose family originates in India, I am interested in some of the historical aspects and influences of Buddhist Art in India. Therefore, my study of this topic extends to two of the most important periods of Buddhist art in India, the Kushan and the Gupta Periods. The Kushan period is the period in which the first human images of the Buddha appeared. This paper will briefly discuss the Mathura region and will primarily focus on the styles and attributes of sculptures from the Gandharan region. This discussion will illustrate how regional differences contributed in developing two distinct styles of art within the same period. Therefore, I will briefly discuss the history and location of the Gandharan region. I will focus on the Gandharan Bodhisattva (2nd/3rd century, made of sch

The way in which the robes hang, the facial features, executed in accordance with the standards of the Hellenistic school, are combined with the traditional meditative poses of Buddhist art. It probably stood on a base whose front was carved with a scene of worship. Gandharan Bodhisattvas are considered the most elaborate adorned and regal of all gods represented in Indian art, yet they display a human vulnerability by wearing charms. These figures are accompanied by a plain halo, which indicates their divinity eventhough their other attire represents a secular prince. In summary, we see a Bodhisattva who is decorated with jewelry to symbolize his humanity, but is obviously a divine figure stylized to fit the ideals and influences of Greco-Roman sculpture.

Fisher, Robert E. Buddhist Art and Architecture. London: Thames and Hudson LTD, 1993.

Williams, Joanna G. The Art of Gupta: Empire and Province. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1982.

Gandhara's regional location was vital to this Hellenistic development. Gandhara was located just east of the famous Khyber Pass, comprising what is now north-western Pakistan. The art of the Roman Empire was probably brought to Gandhara because much of the Mediterranean trade with Asia was channeled through such mountain passes. This region's sculpture had some chief characteristics, especially its degree of realism inherited from its Greek antecedents in the area combined with ideals of its own native tradition. "The stance of the figures, the style of the draperies, and even the proportions of the idealized features of the heads with their straight noses, oval eyebrows and tranquil expressions owe much to Greek prototypes" (Penny 103).

We can observe the Greco-Roman influence on the sculpture of Gandharan art by observing the Gandharan Bodhisattva at the Art Institute. As a beginning student in Buddhist Art, the stylistic differences in this sculpture are quite obvious. After conducting research on Gandharan sculptures, I found that the sense of volume conveyed in the outline of the Buddha's garment is characteristic of Gandhara sculptures. Both the folds of the clothing and the body underneath are modeled with a greater sense of naturalism compared to the sculptures can be seen in images from Mathura. It is important to note that although most sculptures from the Gandhara region share certain stylistic and iconographic features, a tremendous variety may be seen in its works. However, "in general sculptures are characterized by naturalism in body forms, drapery, and pictorial scale, reveling a debt to Hellenistic, Roman, and other western influences" (Huntington 134). This example of a Gandharan Bodhisattva probably once stood in a stupa or temple. This sculpture is made from the material schist. According to the book "The Materials of Sculpture, Schist is a metamorphic rock of foliate character and dark silvery gray color, sometimes tending to blue or green. Used for the great school of Buddhist sculpture in Gandhara" (Penny 310). The hard schist material allowed the sculptors of Gandhara to carve the folds of the garments and details of features and jewelry much more crisply and with greater volume than materials such as sandstone (Pal 152). "Originally [such sculptures] may have been polychromed or gilded." (Pal 307). The structures made of schist were often covered with gold leaf, sometimes applied directly to the stone, sometimes over red priming. This often made such statues appear golden. Unfortunately, the sculpture in the art institute has lost its shine with age, but if you look closely you can see gold sparkles across the image.

The Kushan and Gupta periods of Indian art are two of the most important eras of Buddhist sculpture in India. To analyze the Kushan period I focused on the Gandharan Bodhisattva in the Art Institute. The two major regions of the Kushan dynasty, Mathura and Gandhara, were less than 500 miles apar

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