Kushan art, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, flourished between the 1st and the 4th century CE. It blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura. Kushan art follows the Hellenistic art of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom as well as Indo-Greek art which had been flourishing between the 3rd century BCE and 1st century CE in Bactria and northwestern India, and the succeeding Indo-Scythian art. Before invading northern and central India and establishing themselves as a full-fledged empire, the Kushans had migrated from northwestern China and occupied for more than a century these Central Asian lands, where they are thought to have assimilated remnants of Greek populations, Greek culture, and Greek art, as well as the languages and scripts which they used in their coins and inscriptions: Greek and Bactrian, which they used together with the Indian Brahmi script.
With the demise of the Kushans in the 4th century CE, the Indian Gupta Empire prevailed, and Gupta art developed. The Gupta Empire incorporated vast portions of central, northern, and northwestern India, as far as Punjab and the Arabian Sea, continuing and expanding on the earlier artistic tradition of the Kushans and developing a unique Gupta style.
Dynastic art of the Kushans Some traces remain of the presence of the Kushans in the areas of Bactria and Sogdiana. Archaeological structures are known in Takht-I-Sangin, Surkh Kotal (a monumental temple), and the palace of Khalchayan. Various sculptures and friezes are known representing horse-riding archers and, significantly, men with artificially deformed skulls, such as the Kushan prince of Khalchayan (a practice well attested in nomadic Central Asia).
Khalchayan (1st century BCE)
The art of Khalchayan at the end of the 2nd-1st century BCE is probably one of the first known manifestations of Kushan art. It is ultimately derived from Hellenistic art and possibly from the art of the cities of Ai-Khanoum and Nysa. At Khalchayan, rows of in-the-round terracotta statues showed Kushan princes in dignified attitudes, while some of the sculptural scenes are thought to depict the Kushans fighting against the Sakas. The Yuezis are shown with a majestic demeanour, whereas the Sakas are typically represented with side-whiskers, displaying expressive and sometimes grotesque features."The knights in chain-mail armour have analogies in the Khalchayan reliefs depicting a battle of the Yuezhi against a Saka tribe (probably the Sakaraules). Apart from the chain-mail armour worn by the heavy cavalry of the enemies of the Yuezhi, the other characteristic sign of these warriors is long side-whiskers (...) We think it is possible to identify all these grotesque personages with long side-whiskers as enemies of the Yuezhi and relate them to the Sakaraules (...) Indeed these expressive figures with side-whiskers differ greatly from the tranquil and majestic faces and poses of the Yuezhi depictions."
According to Benjamin Rowland, the styles and ethnic type visible in Kalchayan already anticipate the characteristics of the later Art of Gandhara and may even have been at the origin of its development. Rowland particularly draws attention to the similarity of the ethnic types represented at Khalchayan, in the art of Gandhara, and in the style of portraiture itself. For example, Rowland find a great proximity between the famous head of a Yuezhi prince from Khalchayan, and the head of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, giving the example of the Gandharan head of a Bodhisattva in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The similarity of the Gandhara Bodhisattva with the portrait of the Kushan ruler Heraios is also striking. According to Rowland, the Bactrian art of Khalchayan thus survived for several centuries through its influence in the art of Gandhara, thanks to the patronage of the Kushans.
Bactria and India (1st-2nd century CE) The Kushans favoured royal portraiture, as can be seen in their coins and dynastic sculptures. A monumental sculpture of King Kanishka I has been found in Mathura in northern India, which is characterized by its frontality and martial stance, as he holds firmly his sword and a mace. His heavy coat and riding boots are typically nomadic Central Asian and are way too heavy for the warm climate of India. His coat is decorated by hundreds of pearls, which probably symbolize his wealth. His grandiose regnal title is inscribed with the Brahmi script: "The Great King, King of Kings, Son of God, Kanishka".
As the Kushans gradually assimilated into Indian society, their attire became lighter and their depictions more natural, moving away from frontal representation. However, they still retained distinctive elements of their nomadic dress, including trousers, boots, heavy tunics, and robust belts.
Art of Gandhara under the Kushans
Kushan art blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian art of Mathura. Most of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara is thought to have been produced by the Kushans, starting from the end of the 1st century CE.
The Kushans were eclectic in their religions, venerating tens of Gods from Iranian, Greek, or Indian traditions as can be seen on their coins. It is thought that this tolerant religious climate, together with an openness towards visual arts encouraged the creation of innovative figural art in the Jain, Buddhist, and Brahmanic traditions. The Buddha was only represented with symbols in earlier Indian art as in Sanchi or Bharhut. The first known representations of the Buddha seem to appear before the arrival of the Kushans, as shown with the Bimaran casket, but Buddhist art undoubtedly flourished under their rule, and most of the known early statues of the Buddha dated to the period of the Kushans.
The characteristics of early Kushan art in depicting the Buddha can be ascertained through the study of several statues bearing dated inscriptions. Some statues of the standing Buddha with inscriptions dating them to 143 CE, such as the Loriyan Tangai buddha, show that the features of that time are already rather late and somewhat degenerate compared to more classical types: the figure of the Buddha is comparatively more stout, shorter and broader, the drapery is already not as three-dimensional, and the head is large and broad-jawed.
Numerous Kushan devotees, with their characteristic Central Asia costume, can be seen on the Buddhist statuary of Gandhara and Mathura:
Art of Mathura under the Kushans
From the time of Vima Kadphises or Kanishka I the Kushans established one of their capitals at Mathura in northern India. Mathura already had an important artistic tradition by that time, but the Kushan greatly developed its production, especially through Buddhist art. A few sculptures of the Buddha, such as the "Isapur Buddha" are known from Mathura from circa 15 CE, well before the arrival of the Kushans, at a time when the Northern Satrap Sodasa still ruled in Mathura, but the style and symbolism of these early depictions were still tentative. The Kushans standardized the symbolism of these early Buddha statues, developing their attributes and aesthetic qualities in an exuberant manner and on an unprecedentedly large scale.
Bodhisattvas The style of the statues of Bodhisattvas at Mathura is somewhat reminiscent of the earlier monumental Yaksha statues, usually dated one or two centuries earlier. The Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, although belonging to the same realm under the Kushans, seems to have had only limited influence on these creations. Some authors consider that Hellenistic influence appears in the liveliness and the realistic details of the figures (an evolution compared to the stiffness of Mauryan art), the use of perspective from 150 BCE, iconographical details such as the knot and the club of Heracles, the wavy folds of the dresses, or the depiction of bacchanalian scenes.John Boardman, "The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity", Princeton University Press, 1993, p.112 The art of Mathura became extremely influential over the rest of India, and was "the most prominent artistic production center from the second century BCE".
Standing Buddhas
The Mathura standing Buddha seems to be a slightly later development compared to the Bodhisattvas of the type of the Bala Bodhisattva. Although several are dated to the 2nd century CE, they often tend to display characteristics that would become the hallmark of Gupta art, especially the very thin dress seemingly sticking to the body of the Buddha. These statues of the standing Buddha however tend to display characteristic and attitudes more readily seen in the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara: the head of the Buddha is surrounded by a halo, the clothing covers both shoulders, the left hand hold the gown of the Buddha while the other hand form an Abbhiya mudra, and the folds in the clothing are more typical of the Gandharan styles.Hellenism in Ancient India, Gauranga Nath Banerjee, p.96-98
In many respect, the standing Buddha of Mathura seems to be a combination of the local sculptural tradition initiated by the Yakshas with the Hellenistic designs of the Buddhas from the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara.
Other sculptural works The Mathura sculptures incorporate many Hellenistic elements, such as the general idealistic realism, and key design elements such as the curly hair, and folded garment. 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. Facial types also tend to become more Indianized. Banerjee in Hellenism in ancient India describes "the mixed character of the Mathura School in which we find on the one hand, a direct continuation of the old Indian art of Barhut and Sanchi and on the other hand, the classical influence derived from Gandhara".Banerjee, Hellenism in ancient India
In some cases however, a clear influence from the art of Gandhara can also be felt, as in the case of the "Mathura Herakles", a Hellenistic statue of Herakles strangling the Nemean lion, discovered in Mathura, and now in the Kolkota Indian Museum, as well as Bacchanalian scenes.Aspects of Indian Art, by J.E. Van Lohuizen-De Leuve, published by Pratapaditya Pal Hellenism in Ancient India by Gauranga Nath Banerjee p.90Art of India by Vincent Arthur Smith p.98 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.History of Early Stone Sculpture at Mathura: Ca. 150 BCE - 100 CE by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla p.158The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans by John M. Rosenfield p.9
Hindu art at Mathura under the Kushans