Gandhāran Buddhism was the Buddhist culture of ancient Gandhāra, which was a major center of Buddhism in the northwest of Indian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE to approximately 1200 CE.Salomon, Richard, The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra, An introduction with Selected Translations. p. xviiKurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 11 Ancient Gandhāra corresponds to modern day north Pakistan, mainly the Peshawar Valley and Potohar Plateau as well as Kabul Valley in Afghanistan. The region has yielded the Gandhāran Buddhist texts written in Gāndhārī Prakrit, the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (1st century CE). Gandhāra was also home to a unique Buddhist artistic and architectural culture which blended elements from Indian, Hellenistic, Roman and Parthian art.Kurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 10 Buddhist Gandhāra was also influential as the gateway through which Buddhism spread to Central Asia and China.Lancaster, Lewis R. "The Korean Buddhist Canon: A Descriptive Catalogue". www.acmuller.net. Retrieved 4 September 2017.
Overview Buddhism first took root in Gandhāra 2,300 years ago under the Mauryan emperor Ashoka who sent missionaries to the Kashmira-Gandhāra region following the Third Buddhist council in Pataliputra (modern Patna).
Majjhantika, a monk from the city of Varanasi in India, was assigned by Ashoka to preach in Kashmir and Gandhara. In the view of Buddhist sources, Gandhāra was one of the great regions (mahajanapadas) of ancient India. Under the Mauryan Empire (ca. 300–185 BCE), its capital was the city of Taxila.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 49-50 The center of ancient Gandhāra was the Peshawar basin in northwestern Pakistan which extends westward into Afghanistan along the Kabul River.Neelis, Jason, Buddhism in Gandhāra, Oxford Bibliographies This region exerted cultural and linguistic influence on what has been called "Greater Gandhāra" which encompasses the surrounding areas eastwards across the Indus River (such as Taxila), north towards the Swat Valley and Upper Indus, west towards Bamiyan and across the Hindu Kush into Bactria and the Oxus river valley.
The Indian emperor Ashoka (ca. 268–233 BCE) erected edicts in the region, some of which use the Gandhārī language and the Kharosthi script later used by Gandhāran Buddhists. These edicts confirm the existence of Buddhism in Gandhāra during his reign.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 49-51 Kharosthi inscriptions have been found as far West as Wardak along the Kabul river, Uzbekistan (Termez) and Tajikistan (Anzhina-Tepe) and as far south as Mohenjo-Daro and Baluchistan.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 52
According to Xuanzang, there were six great stupas founded by Ashoka in Gandhāra, the largest of which is the Dharmarajika Stupa at Taxila. The archaeological and epigraphic evidence points to the first monasteries and stupas dating from the end of the third century BCE.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 55 The Indo-Greek Kingdoms later controlled the area, and some of their kings, such as Menander I (ca. 155–130), were seen as promoters of Buddhism in Buddhist sources.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 56 The Greek artistic culture strongly influenced the art of Gandhāran Buddhism, which saw the first representations of anthropomorphic Buddhas, with Greco-Buddhist art styles that can be seen in the drapery and hair style.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 58 Successive conquerors of the region included the Indo-Scythians and the Indo-Parthians.
The Kushan Empire (30–375 CE) also patronized the Buddhist religion of Gandhāra, supporting monasteries and stupa building. It is not until the 1st and 2nd centuries CE that a significant number of Buddhist centers were founded in Gandhāra.Kurt A. Behrendt, The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik BRILL, 2004, p. 13 A typical Buddhist center included monasteries adjacent to a central stupa containing relics of the Buddha, which was the central focus of lay and monastic veneration and donations in the forms of sculptural images.Behrent, Kurt. Gandhara, metmuseum.org Under Kanishka the Great (128–151), Buddhist stupas and monasteries were built in the Gandhāran city of Peshawar (Skt. Purusapura), the capital of the Kushan Empire.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 57 The name of Huvishka, Kanishka's successor, was attached to a large monastic complex at Mathura. During this time, sculptures and narrative reliefs were used to embellish Buddhist structures, focusing on the life of Gautama Buddha.Kurt A. Behrendt, The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik BRILL, 2004, p. 14 The archaeological record shows a dramatic increase in the patronage of Buddhist sites sometime in the 3rd century, with many more images and shrines being added during this period. Most of the extant architecture dates from this period and includes sites such as Taxila and the large monastic institutions like Takht-i-Bahi, Sahri-Bahlol, Jamal Garhi, Ranigat, and Thareli.
The Kushan support of Buddhism and their establishment of secure trade routes from Gandhāra to Asia allowed Buddhism to continue its spread to Bactria, Central Asia and China along the Silk Road. The cult of the Bodhisattva Maitreya was particularly strong during the Kushan Empire, as shown by the abundance of Maitreya images found in Gandhāra.Kurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 17 Other major sites from the Kushan period include the Butkara Stupa and Barikot.
Kharosthi inscriptions indicate the existence of the following Buddhist schools in Gandhāra: the Dharmaguptaka, the Mahīśāsaka, the Kasyapiya, the Sarvastivada and the Mahasamghika.Fussman, Gerard. "Upaya-kausalya: L'implantation du bouddhisme au Gandhara," in Fukui Fumimasa and G. Fussman (eds.), Bouddhisme et cultures locales:.Quelques cas de reciproques adaptations, Paris 1994: Ecole Francaise d 'Extreme-Orient: 17–51, p. 20-1. Richard Salomon has attributed most of the Gandhāran texts to the Dharmaguptaka school who were a major Buddhist school in the region.Richard Salomon. Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharosthī Fragments, with contributions by Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard. Seattle: University of Washington Press; London: The British Library, 1999. pg 181 During the Chinese pilgrim Faxian's visit to the region, he reported that most monks were practicing non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism.Kurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 151 However there is also plenty of textual and artistic evidence for the existence of Mahayana in Gandhāra.Salomon, Richard, The Buddhist Literature of Ancient Gandhāra, An introduction with Selected TranslationsKurt Behrendt, Pia Brancaccio, Gandharan Buddhism: Archaeology, Art, and Texts, 2006 p. 152
After the fall of the Kushanas, small kingdoms ruled the area, most friendly to Buddhism, who continued to promote Buddhist stupas and monasteries.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 60 Buddhism began to weaken in the region after the second half of the fifth century when the Hephthalite White Huns invaded Gandhāra. After the collapse of Hephthalite rule in the 6th century, Buddhist sites show considerable decline.Kurt A. Behrendt, The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik BRILL, 2004, p. 10 When the Chinese monk Xuanzang (602–664) visited Taxila and Gandhara, many monasteries were deserted.Heirman, Ann; Bumbacher, Stephan Peter (editors). The Spread of Buddhism, Brill, p. 61 However, Buddhism continued to thrive in areas outside the Gandhāran core of Peshawar, like in the Swat Valley, Kashmir, and Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's Bamiyan was one of the main cities of Buddhist activity in the region as shown by the remains of the monumental Buddha sculptures known as the Buddhas of Bamiyan. They are believed to have been carved sometime between the 3rd to 6th centuries CE.World Heritage Nomination, Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley, https://whc.unesco.org/uploads/nominations/208rev.pdf Bamiyan seems to have continued to be a strong Buddhist site in the 7th century. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang visited the site in 630 CE, and described Bamiyan as a Buddhist center with "scores of monasteries, and thousands of monks who study the Lokottaravāda".Yamada, Meiji (2002). Buddhism of Bamiyan, Pacific World, 3rd series 4, 109–110
Another important Gandhāran site in which Buddhism remained strong during the 7th century was the northern city of Gilgit, a key city on the Silk Road which was visited by Chinese pilgrims to study Buddhism.Frederick Drew (1875) The Jummoo and Kashmir Territories: A Geographical Account E. Stanford, London, OCLC 1581591 The region was ruled by the Patola Shahi dynasty of the Kingdom of Gilgit in the 600s and 700s, which were adherents of Vajrayana Buddhism.Twist, Rebecca L. (2007). "Patronage, Devotion and Politics: A Buddhological Study of the Patola Sahi Dynasty's Visual Record". Ohio State University. . Retrieved 2017-02-19. The city later came under the rule of the Tibetan empire until the late 800s.Mock, John (October 2013). "A Tibetan Toponym from Afghanistan"(PDF). Revue d’Etudes Tibétaines. Centre national de la recherche scientifique (27): 5–9. ISSN 1768–2959. Retrieved 2018-01-22.
The religion started its decline after being invaded by the Hephthalites (a.k.a. White Huns) around the middle of the fifth century. They were then replaced by the Hindu Shahis who followed Hinduism although Buddhism continued to flourish.
Xuanzang (602–664) passed through Gandhara and found numerous functioning monasteries. He was followed by Wukong who visited in 753 CE.BUDDHISM IN KASHMIR, Nalinaksha Dutta, 1985, pp 54–55. A Buddhist monk was present in Baramulla in 13th century.
The Muslim invasions of India caused further damage to the Buddhist culture in Gandhāra, and Buddhism eventually ceased to exist from the region by approximately 1200 CE due to various factors.
Art and architecture
Because the region was at a cultural crossroads, the art of the Gandhāran Buddhists was a fusion of Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian styles. Initially, Buddhist art was aniconic, but Greco-Roman influences led to the emergence of anthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha in the 1st century CE.Gandhara, bundeskunsthalle.de The height of this artistic style was during the Kushan Empire. Many examples of Gandhāran Buddhist sculpture have been found, showing the influence of Greco-Roman sculpture.
Gandhāran architecture can be divided into four major phases:Kurt A. Behrendt, The Buddhist architecture of Gandhara, Handbuch der Orientalistik BRILL, 2004, p. 7-11
Phase I (ca. 200 BCE – middle 1st century CE), characterized by sacred structures in and around Sirkap, Butkara I and the earliest remains of the Dharmarajika complex. This phase pre-dates the popularization of Buddha images. Phase II (ca. middle to late 1st century CE to early 3rd century CE) – Characterized by the expansions of Butkara I and Dharmarajika complex by the addition of stupas, relic shrines and monasteries. Narrative reliefs on the biography of the Buddha are central to this phase, which include anthropomorphic images of the Buddha.