Question

Characteristics features of mathura art

Answer 1

• Mathura, Gandhara, Amravati School of Art
• Mathura, Gandhara, Amravati School of Art

• Schools of Art in Ancient India

During the start of Christian era (1st and 2nd centuries), the Buddhism expanded substantially and had stimulated a renewed artistic passion to illustrate the message of Buddha and this lead to the development of three main schools of sculpture in India which had evolved their own styles and distinctions. These were named as the Gandhara, Mathura, and Amaravati school of art, after the places of their prominence.

• Gandhara school of art

The Gandhara school of art had grown around Peshawar (Presently in Pakistan) in Northwest India, during the rule of Indo-Greek rulers but the real patrons of Gandhara school of art were the Sakas and the Kushanas, Kanishka in particular.

• Many artists from West Asia had settled down in the north-west of India after the Greek invasions and during the period of the Kushanas further, they were deeply influenced by the Graeco-Roman art.
• The Kushana kings, especially Kanishka, motivated the Gandhara artists to carve the themes from Buddha's life and the jatakas thus a large number of the images of the Buddha and the Bodhisattvas were produced.

Due to the application of Greek Techniques of art to the Buddhist subjects (beautiful images of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas) the Gandhara School of Art is also known as the Graeco-Buddhist School of Art.

Almost all kinds of foreign influences like Greek, Roman, Persian, Saka and Kushan were assimilated in Gandhara style.

• Jalalabad, Begram, Hadda, Bamaran & Taxila were the main centres where art pieces of Gandhara School have been found and the Bamyan Buddha of Afghanistan considered as an example of the Gandhara School.