The Mathura School of Art

Mathura was very important from the cultural point of view. Ptolemy mentions it as Modoura 3As the
birth place of Lord Krishna it is an important pilgrimage for Hindus. In the Mahabharat period it was
the capital of Shursen dynasty and the hub of the contemporary political activities. Buddha visited
the city but was not welcomed warmly. Avantipura had the religious conversation with
Mahakatyayna, the disciple of the Buddha. MadhuriyaSuttanta speaks that During Avantipura’s
period Buddhism gained a strong foothold in Mathura. Divyavdan refers that Ashoka provided
special facilities as Upagupta, his Dhamma preceptor belonged to Mathura. Ashoka created stupas at
several places with the advice of Upagupta. The Chinese traveller mentions about stupas at Mathura
built by Ashoka. Not only Brahmanism and Buddhism but Jainism also flourished at Mathura. 4 Jain
community was very prosperous and all the 24 Tirthankaras were worshiped at Mathura.
The political history of Mathura can be traced back from c. 5th century BC as the capital of one of the
mahajanpadas, Shursena ruled by the Andhaka -Vrishni clanaccording to Panini’s Ashtadhyayi. The
Arthshastra also refers to VasudevKrisna as the chief of the clan. Megashthanese, the Greek
ambassador to the court of Chandragupta Maurya also mentions about Krishna’s worship at Mathura.
Mathura was under the Mauryan Empire during the Mauryan era. When we find the ancient stone-
carvers of India in full activity, we observe that they are very industriously engaged in carrying out
the strange undertaking of representing the life of Buddha without Buddha. 5
The first three centuries of the Christian era saw the golden period of the Mathura school of
sculpture. Images in the mottled red sandstone found nearby Sikri and widely distributed over north
central India, attesting to Mathura’s importance as an exporter of sculpture.
The Mathura school was contemporaneous with a second important school of Kushana art, that of
Gandhara in the northwest. About the 1 st century CE each area appears to have evolved separately its
own representations of the Buddha. The Mathura images are related to the earlier yaksha (male
nature deity) figures, a resemblance particularly evident in the colossal standing Buddha images of
the early Kushana period.
In these, and in the more representative seated Buddhas, the overall effect is one of enormous energy.
The shoulders are broad, the chest swells, and the legs are firmly planted with feet spaced apart.
Other characteristics are the shaven head; the ushnisha (protuberance on the top of the head)
indicated by a tiered spiral; a round smiling face; the right arm raised in abhaya-mudra (gesture of
reassurance); the left arm akimbo or resting on the thigh; the drapery closely moulding the body and
arranged in folds over the left arm, leaving the right shoulder bare; and the presence of the lion
throne rather than the lotus throne. Later, the hair began to be treated as a series of short flat spirals
lying close to the head, the type that came to be the standard representation throughout the Buddhist
world.
Jaina and Hindu images of the period are carved in the same style, and the images of the
JainaTirthaṅkaras, or saints, are difficult to distinguish from contemporary images of the Buddha,
except by reference to iconography. The dynastic portraits produced by the Mathura workshops are
of special interest. These rigidly frontal figures ofKushana kings are dressed in Central Asian
fashion, with belted tunic, high boots, and conical cap, a style of dress also used for representations
of the Hindu sun god, Surya.
The female figures at Mathura, carved in high relief on the pillars and gateways of both Buddhist and
Jaina monuments, are frankly sensuous in their appeal. These delightful nude or semi-nude figures
are shown in a variety of toilet scenes or in association with trees, indicating their continuance of the
yakshi(female nature deity) tradition seen also at other Buddhist sites, such as Bharhut and Sanchi.
As auspicious emblems of fertility and abundance they commanded a popular appeal that persisted
with the rise of Buddhism in the realm of artistic activities.
The new ideals of Mahayana Buddhism inspired the sculptors. According to Indian authorities, the
creation of the Buddha image was the greatest contribution of the artists of this school. The tradition
of this school extended to not only the images of Buddha but to the images of the Hindu pantheon of
gods. Unlike the Gandhara School, this school was purely indigenous in its origins and reached its
zenith. The image of the Buddha was usually carved out of white-spotted sandstone and was
characterised by - curly hair, roundness of flesh, transparent drapery with visible folds and a
profusely decorated halo behind the head. This school drew inspiration from Jainism as well as
Iranian and Greco-Roman styles.
Striking remains show a female figure from the railings of a stupa, probably Jaina. Richly jewelled,
figures exaggeratedly broad of hip and slender of waist, with their graceful, almost provocative,
attitude, these sculptures exemplify the remarkable ancient Indian outlook on life which did not see
anything incongruous in the juxtaposition of frank sensuality with the piety and renunciation of the
monastery. Mathura sculpture developed indigenously and later cross-fertilized with Gandhara art.
Body details were not as expressly carved as Gandhara and images were fleshy, but halo was
profusely decorated. Examples are Sarvatobhaadrika, etc. A headless statue of Kanishka was found
in Mathura.
Important characteristics of Mathura School of Art:
 Buddhist to Brahmanical to sometimes secular theme.
 More stress is given to the inner beauty and facial emotions rather than bodily gesture.

Sculptures were made on White-spotted red stones.

 These were not influenced by Greco-Roman techniques to that extent.
 Several Brahmanical deities were first crystallized by this school.
 They were depicted as more human and less spiritual. It was wholly influenced by Indian
sculptures.
 In Mathura art tradition, Buddha image has longer earlobes, thicker lips, wider eyes and
prominent noses.
Both Gandhara and Mathura (fig. 4.1) Art schools reached peak during Kanishka. The Kushana art of
Mathura is important in the history of Indian art as it embodies the symbolism and iconographic
forms that were adopted later.
The Gandhara School of Art
From the 1st century CE there is a strong school of Buddhist sculpture what is now -northwest
Pakistan. Known by the ancient name of Gandhara, this region is open to foreign influences arriving
along the newly opened Silk Road. One such influence from the west is the Roman and Greek
realism in art.The region came under the political influence of a variety of kingdoms - Greek,
Mauryan, Parthian, Kushan, Synthian and this resulted in the emergence of a mixed school of art,
which borrowed, from various traditions of art. This school contributed to development of Buddha's
image, which was usually carved out of grey slate stone and was characterised by Hellenistic
features. These include - wavy hair in a top knot, sometimes a moustache on the face, urna (a dot or
third eye) (fig.4.2) between the eyebrows, garment with thick pleats usually covering both shoulders
styled like a roman toga, plain halo behind the head and muscular formation of the body. The
expression of the image of Buddha is calmness and is the centre of attraction. In Gandhara sculpture,
this realism is subtly combined with the local traditions of India to produce Buddhist images of an
elegantly classical kind.(fig. 4.3)
Gandhara art presents some of the earliest images of the Buddha. The Gandhara art flourished during
the Kushana rule in India. It was during his reign that Gandhara School of art flourished. According
to V. A. Smith, the Gandhara style of art that developed in sculpture was a fusion of Greco-Roman
and Indian styles.” In its aesthetic ideals, Gandhara art had nothing in common with Greco - Roman
art. Gandhara art infiltrated into India proper as far as Saurashtra and Gujarat and the great
mercantile town of Mathura on the Yamuna. Earlier at Bharhut and Sanchi, the Buddha's presence
was represented by symbols, thepipal tree, the wheel of life, footprints, and an empty throne.
Stupas and monasteries were adorned with relief friezes, often carved in dark schist, showing figures
in classical poses with flowing Hellenistic draperies. The most notable of the Gandhara icons was
that of the Buddha seated in the position of a yogi. Dressed in a monk’s garment, his head displays
the signs of his supernatural powers-the large ears, the third eye on his forehead, Gandhara sculpture
has survived dating from the first to probably as late as the sixth or even the seventh century in a
remarkably homogeneous style. Gandhara became roughly a Holy Land of Buddhism and excluding
a handful of Hindu images, sculpture took the form either of Buddhist sect objects, Buddha and
Bodhisattvas, or of architectural embellishment for Buddhist monasteries.
Gandhara sculpture primarily comprised Buddhist monastic establishments. These monasteries
provided a never-ending gallery for sculptured reliefs of Buddha and Bodhisattvas.
In Gandhara art the descriptive friezes were all but invariably Buddhist, and hence Indian in
substance - one depicted a horse on wheels nearing a doorway, which might have represented the
Trojan horse affair. The Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, familiar from the previous Greek-based coinage
of the region, appeared once or twice as standing figurines, presumably because as a pair, they tallied
an Indian mithuna couple. There were also female images, corresponding to city goddesses.
On occasions, standing figures, even the Buddha, deceived the elusive stylistic actions of the Roman
sculptor, seeking to express majesties. The drapery was fundamentally Western - the folds and
volume of dangling garments were carved with realness and gusto - but it was mainly the persistent
endeavours at illusionism, though frequently obscured by unrefined carving, which earmarked the
Gandhara sculpture as based on a western classical visual impact.
The distinguishing Gandhara sculpture is the standing or seated Buddha. This represents the
necessary nature of Gandhara art, in which a religious and an artistic content, drawn from widely
varied cultures have been bonded. The iconography is purely Indian. The seated Buddha is mostly
cross-legged in the established Indian manner. Buddha is clothed either in waves or in taut curls over
his whole head. The extended ears are merely due to the downward thrust of the heavy earrings worn
by a prince or royal people; the distortion of the ear lobes is especially visible in Buddha, who, in
Gandhara, never wore ear-rings or ornaments of any kind.
Gandhara art also had developed at least two species of image in which Buddha is the fundamental
figure of an event in his life, distinguished by accompanying figures and a detailed scene and back-
ground. The small statues of the visitors emerge below, an elephant describing Indra. The more
general among these detailed images, of which approximately 30 instances are known, is presumably
related with the Great Miracle of Sravasti. In one such example, one of the adjoining Bodhisattvas is
distinguished as Avalokiteshwara by the tiny seated Buddha in his headgear. Other features of these
images include the unreal species of tree above Buddha, the spiky lotus upon which he sits, and the
effortlessly identifiable figurines of Indra and Brahma on both sides. And the protuberance on his
head, indicating that, he hears all, sees all and knows all.
Gandhara art represents a fusion of native and foreign elements. The great strength of the classical
elements in the art of the Gandhara province is best seen in portrait heads and the representations of
classical deities which found their way into the Buddhist art of north-western India. 6 “Indian
iconography dominates, but foreign elements are conspicuous. In fact the Hellenistic-Roman
elements are proposed to form the basis for the artist’s conceptions and design….although the Halo
and the fold of drapery at Mathura might have been connected or borrowed to some extent from
Gandhara. It is very likely that Buddhist iconography while dominating at Gandhara might have
accepted certain iconographic concepts of the west- from Greece or Rome”
The same influence is also seen in the relief carvings which, both in their artistic style and in much of
their iconographical detail, are closely related to Roman relief sculptures of imperial times. The
position of the figures, the treatment of the body and the architectural forms used are all clearly
derived from Roman models.
Most of the Gandharan reliefs portray episodes from the life of the Buddha or scenes from Buddhist
legends. In contrast to the Buddha who is always represented as wearing a monk’s garment and
having short hair, the bodhisattvas or Buddhist saints are shown with a bare upper body, skirt,
scarves, jewels and long hair. This contrast between the Buddha as the sacred being who has
achieved Enlightenment, and the bodhisattva who is on the road to this goal, is found in the Buddhist
art of entire Asia.
In the Indian context, the style of Gandhara has a ‘rather insipid flavour’. The Buddha images lack
the spirituality of the images of the Gupta period. However, it would be only fair to note that the
images have a gentle, graceful and compassionate look about them. There are two phases in the
development of this school: the first in stone and second (from about the fourth century onwords) in
stucco. Gandhara sculptors made images of Lord Buddha in the Greco-Roman style. The images of
Buddha resembled Greek God Apollo.
Main features of Gandhara School of art :
 Theme is mainly Buddhist, depicting various stories from the life of Buddha.
 Also, more stress is given to the bodily features and external beauty.
 Sculptures were made initially on stone and later on Stucco, both greys in colour.
 This school is influenced by Greco-Roman techniques to a greater extent.
 One of the reasons is definitely the geographical location of the school.
 Art was the depiction of human body in a realistic manner with greater physical accuracy
elaborate ornamentation and complex symbolism.
 Gandhara School was heavily influenced by Greek methodologies, the figures were more spiritual
and sculpted mainly in grey, and great detail was paid to exact depiction of body parts.