Kusana

KUSANA Assuming the date of A.D. 120 for the accession of Kaniska, we can safely say that the first century and a half of the Chris tian era represents the most critical period in the history of art in India, the second to the fourth century that of highest achieve ment. For the earlier period, and only to a somewhat lesser extent the later, the prolific school of Mathura is of primary importance, for here were evolved types that can be traced in all the later development. While confining ourselves in the main t o a study of the Buddhist art at this time, we must recollect that at all times "Buddhist India" was equally and at the same time a Hindu India; the so-called Hindu renaissance of the Gupta period does not represent a reaction, but rather the flowering and culmination of a previous development. So far as cult and literature are con cerned, this is self-evident; as regards the art, while Buddhist monuments are at first much more abundant and magnificent, this probably means that Hindu cults adhered longer to the use of impermanent materials such as wood and clay for buildings and images, as in southern India up to the beginning of the seventh century. Thus all the coins of Kadphises II. (c. A.D. 90-I bear the effigy of Siva, and amongst the many deities represented on the coins of Kaniska and Huviska the figure of the Buddha is exceptional, while that of Siva is abundant. There is certainly no sound basis for the view that Hindu architecture and art are modelled on those of the Buddhists; the style and technical achievement of Indian art can never at any stage be described in sectarian terms, but only in terms of chronology and geography.

Indian Buddha Type.

Within the first century and a half of the Christian era the Buddha figure for the first time replaces the old symbols, which nevertheless remain in use both in Gandhara and at Amaravati considerably later. Images of other deities had long existed, and the influence of current devotional tendencies acting on Buddhism and Jainism must have led to a similar development. The fixing of a date for the earliest images of Buddhas or Jinas is more difficult. Palaeographic evidence would seem to place those of Jinas from the Kankali Tila, Mathura, as early as the middle of the first century. The only certain date for an early image of Buddha is that of the colossal image set up by Friar Bala at Sarnath in the third year of Kaniska's reign, thus A.D. This Buddha type is distinguished by certain peculiarities not found after the Kusana period (with one exception of fifth century date), and rarely met with even after the middle of the second century. The seated figure is always on a lion throne, never on a lotus. Many other images, both standing and seated, in the same vigorous style derived from that of the early Yaksa types, have been found at Mathura, or are of Mathura manufacture, exported and set up at sacred sites widely distributed in the Paiijab and Ganges valley.

The earliest Buddha (and Jina) type shows the ends of the shorn hair forming a single conical spiral on the top of the head, bearing no resemblance to the usnisa in the sense of a cranial protuberance such as characterises the Buddha figure at Amaravati, in the Gupta period, and subsequently, both within and beyond the boundaries of India proper. When this cranial protuberance appears, it together with the rest of the head, is covered with innumerable short and tight curls, curling to the right. According to the Buddha legend, the Bodhisattva when first adopting the homeless life of an ascetic, cut off with one stroke of his sword both his long hair and the turban which cov ered it, when they were received by the gods and worshipped by them as the Great Crest relic (cuda mnalia), the remaining hair, two inches in length, curled tightly to the right, and so remained throughout the Buddhas life, never again needing to be shorn. This could have been understood to mean either a single curl or many curls; this ambiguity seems to be reflected in the two varieties of the Buddha type above referred to, the interpreta tion in the sense of many curls very soon supplanting the other. The question of the cranial protuberance is more involved. As in the case of other images of deities (the Buddha even in his own lifetime is more than man, he is recognized as "God of gods" when, at the Presentation, the Tutelary Yaksa of the Sakyas bows before him, and as the object of a cult he must be called a deity) the Buddha image represents a dogmatic conception; the essential element in this conception is that of the idea of the Mahapurusa (Great Male, also a designation of Visnu) and Cakra vartin (Universal Emperor, or alternatively, World-teacher) . Buddhist texts take over from Brahmanical sources the lists of physical peculiarities which characterize such a being; for ex ample, the soles of his feet and palms of his hands bear stigmata of the wheel, and there is a tuft of hair (ulna) between his eye brows, and all these peculiarities are commonly found in Buddha images. Most of the other marks are relatively inconspicuous or not externally visible. One is of particular importance for the present enquiry; the infant Bodhisattva is said to be unhiso siso, usnisa-headed. In interpreting this and other of the marks (in all thirty-two major laksanas and eighty minor signs) it should be borne in mind that they must originally have been conceived as characterising an adult. Now usnisa in early Indian literature is the regular word used for the turban, which headdress is a mark of rank, worn by kings or by others on special occasions. Usnisa headed can only mean (I) having a head like a turban or (2) having a turban on his head. Inasmuch as the thirty-two marks really characterise a Cakravartin as an adult being, and as the turban is actually a mark of rank, the latter interpretation is to be preferred, in the sense "destined to wear the turban," as we have to do with a child. But as the Bodhisattva became, not a Universal Emperor, but a Buddha, and abandoned his turban and long hair, he had to be, as always, represented (with the ex ception of certain crowned types which may be Dhyani Buddhas) as bareheaded. In the early Mathura figures the problem seems to be ignored. It would appear that after these had been for some time in vogue a necessity was felt to embody the unhiso-siso idea in the canonical image, and this was done by making the usnisa a cranial protuberance, and this took place (in the second century A.D.) at the same time that many curls were substituted for one. The figure of Indra as Santi, of the Bodhgaya railing (c. ioo B.c.), has the hair represented in schematic curls, with the ap pearance of a cranial protuberance, and many representations of Yaksas as having curly hair ; the existence of such prototypes may have contributed to the formation of the Buddha image as ulti mately accepted.

Next in abundance to the Buddhist remains are those of the Jainas. The site of the Vodva stupa, founded in the second century B.C., has yielded figures of Jinas, similar to those of the Buddha, except that in the case of Parsvanatha the Jina's head is sheltered by the hoods of a Naga rising above it. Highly charac teristic for Jaina art are the ayagapatas or votive slabs bearing reliefs representing stupas, or elaborate designs, with a central seated Jina, quadruple trisula symbol, and the Eight Auspicious Symbols.

Figures of Hindu deities are found chiefly on the coins of Gondophares, Kadphises I. and II., Kaniska, Huviska, Vasudeva. The variety of types of Siva is especially noticeable. Many-armed and many-headed types appear for the first time in the second century; Siva is then four-armed, and sometimes three-headed (Mahesa), the latter type being evidently very popular, as it spread quite early to Gandhara and Central Asia, where it occurs in sculpture and painting. Many of the Yaudheya coins bear a six-headed Skanda. On coins of Kaniska a very great variety of deities appears, Greek, Zoroastrian, and Indian. The figure of the running Wind god is original and remarkable; it corresponds to that of his son Hanuman, the monkey god, the servant and worshipper of Rama, in later sculpture and painting. The Buddha appears first on a coin from Ujjain, then in three types on coins of Kaniska.

Jaina and Brahmanical Types.

Many detached railing pillars, pediments, door jambs, architraves, lintels, and brackets excavated at Mathura and dateable for the most part in the first or second century A.D. are proved by the subject matter of their reliefs to be derived from Buddhist or Jaina stupas, temples, or monasteries. The Brahmanical temple site at Mat has yielded the famous inscribed statue of Kaniska, and other royal effigies. We learn of a devakula (temple) of the Naga Dadhikarnna.