Other Contributors to the Gandhara Style

Indian Influence

Source: Hallade 59 Plate 47

It is not surprising that the Gandharan style is greatly influenced by Indian style, for the Buddhist religion itself was transmitted from India. However, through the fusion of other cultural attributions, the Gandhara School had only retained some of its traditional roots. When examining several Gandharan sculptures, scholars noticed figures dressed in traditional Indian clothing. The torso remains nude, while they are dressed in robes containing two pieces of material; (1) the dhoti – which is placed at the waist by a belt and covers the lower part of the body, and (2) a long scarf that is draped over one shoulder and left to hang across the front of the body (Hallade 60-3). In certain figures, another Indian formality is illustrated, the turban (Hallade 63). When closely examining the physical features of Gandharan figures, they seem to stylistically represent Indian art. In Greek art, academics noticed a very realistic, intricate, and almost geometric presentation of human anatomy. On the contrary, both Indian and Gandharan art were less exact and more general in their portrayal of the physical human body (Nehru 53).

Parthian Influence

Much of the similarities depicted between Graeco-Iranian art and the Gandhara School are speculated to have risen from a significant Hellenistic influence. However, some similarities can be separated from the underlying Greek attributions. The frontal view is one such prominent feature that is seen in Gandharan art, and that was adopted from Parthia (Nehru 51). Many Gandharan sculptures exhibit the Buddha from the front, in a static moment in time, a feature that is not apparent in neither Indian nor Western artistic styles. This frontal mannerism is, rather, only witnessed in traditional as well as Graeco-Parthian art (Nehru 45).

Source: Nehru Plate 28

Source: Nehru Plate 67

The image on the left is the Buddha, from Gandhara. Notice the frontal view in which he is displayed. Moreover, notice the static moment in time that this sculpture represents. This is compared with the image on the right, from Parthia. The Parthian image exhibts the same frontality as well as the presentation of a single moment.