West Asian and Hellenistic Elements in Indian Art

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About the Book Despite the wealth of material contained in various published works and article, it was felt that the study of West Asian and Greco-Roman elements in Indian art and their transformation needed a comprehensive and critical estimate and the present work is an outcome of that. The present volume is an attempt to find out various motifs or elements that have been taken from the art of West Asia and Greco-Roman world in Indian art and have been transformed and Indianised in Indian art. There are many art motifs which are West Asian and Greco-Roman in origin but they underwent great formal changes on the soil of India and too from the very beginning as if it was deliberate, pre-planned and well thought of. These foreign motifs include the floral and faunal motifs, (honeysuckle, Acanthus, lion motifs, winged animal motifs etc.) drapery and coiffeurs, geometric motifs, architectural motifs, etc. It is hoped that notwithstanding the large number of existing studies on different aspects of Indian art, the current volume will be of value and cast new light upon the meaning and transformation of many elements in Indian art that has the connections either with West Asia, Greek or Roman world. So, in nutshell, it may be said that the purpose of the present volume is to find and evaluate the impact and influence of West Asian and Greco-Roman world in the realm of art. The present book is also an attempt to retrieve the methods and resources to facilitate further research and investigation in the field of Indian, West Asian and Hellenistic art. The text is richly illustrated, bringing together material scattered over several well known as well as remote sites, museums, and archival collections.

About the Author Vinay Kumar (b. 1976), Ph. D. MA (Ancient Indian, History, Culture and Archaeology), MA (Archaeology and Heritage. Management), Post Graduate Diploma in Archaeology from Institute of Archaeology. Archaeological Survey of India. Presently he is working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Ancient Indian History, Culture and Archaeology at Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, Amarkantak, Madhya Pradesh.

Dr. Kumar is the recipient of Gold Medal from former Hon'ble President of India for being University topper. Dr. Kumar has also received Junior and Senior Research Fellowship from University Grants, Commission. He has also received National Museum of Korea (NMK) Network Fellowship from goverment of South Korea.

Earlier, he worked as Consultant and Assistant Archaeologist in Archaeological Survey of India. He has also worked as Research Scholar in Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA) and Indian Archaeological Society. He has participated and supervised many archaeological excavations namely excavations at Lahuradeva, Bhirrana, Baror, Hansi etc.. He has undertaken many research projects and published many scholarly articles/papers in many renowned National and International journals, seminar proceedings etc.

He is a life member of many National and International committees/societies like Indian Archaeological Society, New Delhi, International Association for Asian Heritage (IAAH), Colombo, Society of South Asian Archaeology (SOSAA), Pune, Museums Association of India (MAI), Indian Art History Congress, Madhya Pradesh Itihas Parishad, Indian Society for Greek and Roman Studies (ISGARS) etc. He has I worked as the executive member of MAI also. Dr. Kumar is well versed in Persian, German, Sanskrit, Oriya, Bangla and Maithili languages.

Preface The first contact of India with West Asia and Greek world must have occurred during the 6 century BC when Cyrus the Great of Persia (558-535 BC) enlarged his kingdom to include the Greek cities of Asia Minor in the west and Afghanistan and the borderland of India in the east. His successor, Darius, extended the conquest even further eastwards by annexing eastern Punjab and Sindh in 578 BC. The Persian Empire served as a common meeting ground for the Indians and Greeks as subjects of the great Persian Emperor came in touch with one another through trade and commerce as well as the administrative and military services. This contact subsequently extended to interaction on the native soil of the two countries.

Among the first Greeks to arrive in India was Alexander who descended on the flat plains of the Punjab in 326 BC He had come to assert his domination on the provinces which had formed part of the Achaemenid Empire. His victorious progress came to an abrupt end when his soldiers mutinied and his dream of developing the Indus region as a centre of Hellenistic culture departed with him. The brief expedition of Alexander led to some interesting consequences in every sphere. One of the spheres was the sphere of art and architecture. After Alexander the Great, the accord between the Seleucid and the Chandragupta Maurya paved the way for further interactions. Because of this cross-cultural interaction various art motifs were borrowed in Indian art but they underwent great formal changes on the soil of India as if it was deliberate, pre-planned and well thought of. These foreign motifs include the floral and faunal motifs (honeysuckle, Acanthus, lion motifs, winged animal motifs etc.), drapery and coiffeurs, geometric motifs, architectural motifs, etc. The process of transformation can be visualized in the various lion motifs of Afokan pillars. While all lions in West Asian Art are looking ferocious and monstrous, none of the Mauryan lions look like that. In the decorative arts the lions were used by ancient Greeks and Romans as a form of supports for the gateways of palaces or parapet walls of the fortification, but in Mauryan India they crowned the pillars of piety, dharmastambhar and roared the triumph of Dhamma i.e. 'Dhammaghosakas all over the Mauryan empire. This was the metamorphosis of a decorative element used by West Asian Kings in their court art and a rejection of the details which don't suit Indian taste by the Indian artists. The Mauryan lions are no carbon copy of any particular West Asian or Greek Model. It is a consciously adopted process by Kings and his artists.

The process of transformation to the extent of Indianization is well reflected in various terracotta forms of Mauryan art also. Indianization of Dedalic style of Greek art can be seen in Pataliputra terracotta or even in the Mauryan and Sungan heads of mother goddesses. The late Hellenistic style of Tanagra style of art (Le. East Mediterranean School) is well reflected in Amaravati, Nagarjunkonda art. In this style the figures generally of women are elongated with very great charm in the face and delicate rendering in the pose. The drapery clings to the body upto the legs in looped folds. The terracottas of Pataliputra, Bulandibagh, Sonepur and Buxar had the source of inspiration from Greek art.

Diplomatic relations between India and the Rome during the time of Kushans helped to create the ambience for intellectual and religious activities. The artistic impulses expressed themselves into two district schools of sculpture- Mathura and Gandhara.

Introduction The first contact of India with West Asia and Greek world must have occurred during the 6 century BC when Cyma the Great of Persia (558-535 BC) enlarged his kingdom to include the Greek cities of Asia Minor in the west and Afghanistan and the borderland of India in the east. His successor. Darius, extended the conquest even further eastwards by annexing eastern Punjab and Sindh in 578 BC. The Persian Empire served as a common meeting ground for the Indians and Creeks as subjects of the great Persian Emperor came in touch with one another through trade and commerce as well as the administrative and military services. This contact subsequently extended to interaction on the native soil of the two countries Among the first Greeks to arrive in India was Alexander who descended on the fat plains of the Punjab in 326 BC. He had come to assert his domination on the provinces which had formed part of the Achaemenid Empire. His victorious progress came to an abrupt end when his soldiers mutinied and his dream of developing the Indus region as a centre of Hellenistic culture departed with him. The brief expedition of Alexander led to some interesting consequences in every sphere. One of the spheres was the sphere of art and architecture On Indian soil, Alexander's campaign resulted in numerous Greek settlements and the cities he founded served as urban centres amidst Indian villages. These cities, with their planned layout of streets and buildings, were modeled on Greek prototype. The administration too was based on Greek examples and the Greeks with their imported customs and beliefs represented the ruling elite. Until such time as they became totally indigenized and absorbed in the local cultural patterns, these cities served as the nuclei of Greek influence in India. After Alexander the Great, the accord between the Seleucid and the Chandragupta Maurya had a beneficial effect on trade between the two kingdoms. The Royal Road that Chandragupta Maurya built, linking the frontier to the capital, facilitated the rapid transport of goods. The concept of Royal Road appears to have been derived from the road of the Persian kings, whom Chandragupta Maurya seems to have emulated in many aspects.

The Mauryan freely borrowed the architecture of the Persian Palace complex and adopted the kingly rituals of the Persian Courts. The artisans, craftsmen and technicians that streamed into India from Greece in the wake of Alexander's invasion were commissioned to build monumental palaces of stone which reflected the strength of the empire. The pillars and capitals that Asoka, the Great king of Mauryan dynasty erected at various points in his empire were also of stone and their accomplished handling betokens the hand of a foreign craftsman. Since Achaemenid art borrowed few elements from Greece, Mauryan art too indebted to Greece. More direct parallels to Greek and Hellenistic art are evident in the motif of the horse on the abacus of Sarnath pillar capital and many of the ornamental motifs such as honeysuckle and acanthus. Besides that, perhaps more Greek in inspiration is the terracotta figurines found at Pataliputra and other sites. The Hellenistic influence reveals itself in the superb handling of the female figurines-the depiction of their drapery and physique- and recalls of Tanagra. The double mould technique employed in making the heads of these figurines again points towards Greek diffusion.

**Contents and Sample Pages**