READING: La Plante, Asian Art, pp. 13-35.
HISTORY:
- Kushan Period (including Gandhara) - c. A.D. 50-320
- King Kanishka (c. 120-62 B.C.) (Fig. 3.12)
- Mathura - city where early images of Buddha were sculpted
Gandhara - northeast frontier of Kushan Empire where Romano-Buddhist sculpture was made
Sarnath and Mathura - regional schools of Buddhist sculpture during the Gupta Period
Ajanta (northern Deccan) - type-site for later Gupta art including wall- painting (1st c. B.C.-9th c. A.D.)
- Mahayana Buddhism
bodhisattva
mudra - position of the buddha's hands
chaitya - sacred location
vihara - a monastery, either freestanding or rockcut
naga king - serpent deity
ganas - dwarfs
Jataka tales
stucco - plaster used to coat walls or to make sculpture
- Chess invented in India (c. 550 A.D.)
Mohammed, founder of Islam (d. 632 A.D.)
Horyu-ji temple dedicated in Nara, Japan (585 A.D.)
Books printed in China (c. 600 A.D.)
- Huntington, S., The Art of Ancient India, ch. 10, pp. 187-219; ch. 12, pp. 239-274.
NOTES: Representations of Buddha in human form were made for the first time in this period. What does that have to do with changes in Buddhist beliefs?