Gandhara

the ancient name of a region in northwestern Pakistan, probably dating back to the Gandhari tribe mentioned in the Rigveda. The Behistun inscription also mentions the region of Gadara, which is identified by historians as Gandhara. Evidently Gandhara at the end of the sixth century B.C. was a part of the Indian possessions of the Achaemenids. According to ancient Indian literature, Gandhara was once an autonomous state with its capital in Taxila. Beginning in the fourth century B.C., Gandhara was part of the state of the Mauryas and of the other states that supplanted each other after the collapse of the Mauryas. In the first through third centuries A.D. it belonged to the Kushan kingdom.

From the latest centuries B.C. to the first centuries A.D., a distinctive art of one of the leading Kushan schools of the time existed on the territory of Gandhara; it was given the name “Gandharan art.” The art of Gandhara is closely associated with Buddhism. Its main achievements are in sculpture—for example, statues of Buddha, bodhisattvas, and other members of the Buddhist pantheon and bas-reliefs portraying scenes from the life of the Buddha that decorated stupas and monasteries in Taxila and the Peshawar region. An idealized canonic image of the Buddha, compositional patterns of bas-reliefs, and symbolism were developed in Gandhara. There are different theories about the chronological framework of the Gandharan school, its internal periodi-zation, and the artistic influences assimilated by it. There is no doubt that the art of Gandhara developed on the basis of the artistic traditions of northwestern India under the influence of the Hellenistic plastic arts; subsequently there was an increase in Graeco-Roman and Middle Asian influences. The traditions of the Gandharan school (whose monuments have been traced up to the seventh century) played an important role in the development of the medieval art of Middle, Central, and Far-Eastern Asia.