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Art History: Buddhism and Indian Art

Christopher Gardiner
History 134
13 November 2016

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Buddhist art has evolved heavily during it's existence in India. Starting out as simply
symbols of various teachings and parables of Buddha, it eventually became more focused on
depictions of Buddha himself.1 Without India's influence on Buddhist art in it's beginnings, the
many depictions of Buddha that we see today from various cultures would probably not exist.
India is the region responsible for making most Buddhist art what it is today: iconic images of
Buddha himself.
In what historians call the pre-iconic phase, which lasted from the fifth century BCE to
approximately the first century BCE, Buddhist art in India was mostly representations of various
events in the Buddha's life.2 The art was generally used as decorations for the stupas that they
worshiped in.3 Most artists in India were not in consensus on the idea of actually depicting the
Buddha himself.4 As a result, art that depicted other humans would sometimes not even show a
literal image of Buddha. Rather, the art would only show some sort of sophisticated symbol in
place of Buddha.5 This form of art would soon die out in the general Buddhist community,
however more traditional schools would keep this tradition up until the second century CE.6
In Northern India in the first century CE, more literal representations of Buddha started to
arise. This is the era historians call the iconic phase, this era lasts from the first century CE to
present day.7 The art styles of the literal representations of Buddha are divided from two main
regions in Northern India. There is the art of the Ghandara region in present day Pakistan, and
the art of Mathura in present day central northern India.8
The Ghandara region's art style was influenced by Greek culture due to the region being
under the control of Alexander the Great's Empire.9 This cultural clash created a Buddhist art
style known in present day to be Greco-Buddhist. The art style is known for it's

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characteristically detailed hair, clothes resembling drapery that covers both shoulders, sandals,
and depictions of leaves and nirvana symbols.10
The Mathura region's art style, on the other hand, was based more on traditional Indian
values.11 The art is known to be more primitive in comparison to other forms of Buddhist art.12
Unlike the Greco-Buddhist style of Ghandara, the drapery used in the Mathura depictions of
Buddha only covered the left shoulder.13 The Mathura style is also responsible for images of
Buddha that depict wheels on his palm and the Buddha's famous lotus sitting position.14
During the existence of these two art styles, both of them respected each other heavily.
They both played a strong influenced on each other's styles of art.15 Due to the two regions
borrowing from each other frequently, no one really knows who started creating literal
representations of Buddha. Some attribute it to the Greek cultural influence in Ghandara, while
others attribute it to evolving art techniques in Mathura.16
Whatever the case may be, the depictions of Buddha in a realistic fashion was one of the
first times art in India began to delve into the depths of realistic idealism. The artists in India
wanted to make as perfect a person as possible to represent the Buddha as a way to respect his
divine nature. Artists of the time would go through the trouble of making sure each detail of the
Buddha was proportionally precise in every way they saw fit.17
During the Gupta period of India, the Mathura region perfected the art of pink sandstone
sculptures of Buddha. Their sculptures had become so refined that it began to influence other
regions of Asia as well.18 By the twelfth century CE, only select isolated parts of India had
continued innovating on their own creating Buddhist art. By then, the religion had spread far
enough that other cultures could easily begin innovating with their own cultural elements.19

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Most of the famous pre-iconic Buddhist art in India has been lost to time. The earliest
surviving Buddhist artwork in India dates to the first century BCE.20 The Buddhist art in the time
before common era was mostly stupas, and the stupas were not built to structurally last for long
periods of time. Famous surviving stupa ruins include the ones in Bharhut, Sanchi, Jaggapetta,
and Amaravati.21 Each of these stupas have many depictions of events in Buddha's life, however
none of them have any actual depictions of Buddha due to them being created in the pre-iconic
phase.
Iconic Buddhist art has far more examples that are still in tact. Examples include the
Standing Buddha in the Tokyo National Museum.22 Other examples, though less known, are in
various museums throughout the world and many still in their home country of India.
Buddhist art has stood the test of time and is still evolving even in it's modern era. From
it's humble beginnings in India it began as only figurative images of events in Buddha's life and
symbolic expressions of Buddha himself. But soon it became an art of idealistic realism, an
attempt to create the perfect God-figure. From these beginnings Buddhist art eventually traveled
across the entire world to become a very refined art specific to each individual culture, but all
having a foundation from the beginnings of the art in India. The artists in India took the brave
step of creating iconic images of Buddha himself as a way to pay homage to him, and that brave
step is responsible for the many beautiful depictions of Buddha that are in other cultures around
the world.

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Endnotes
1. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967: 354.
2. Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4
(1990): 401-408.
3. Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4
(1990): 401-408.
4. Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4
(1990): 401-408.
5. Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4
(1990): 401-408.
6. Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4
(1990): 401-408.
7. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967: 355
8. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967: 355
9. Marshall, John. The Buddhist Art of Gandhara. Cambridge University Press, 1960.
10. Marshall, John. The Buddhist Art of Gandhara. Cambridge University Press, 1960.

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11. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra. Buddhist art of Mathur. Humanities Pr, 1984.
12. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra. Buddhist art of Mathur. Humanities Pr, 1984.
13. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra. Buddhist art of Mathur. Humanities Pr, 1984.
14. Sharma, Ramesh Chandra. Buddhist art of Mathur. Humanities Pr, 1984.
15. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967.
16. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967.
17. Marshall, John. The Buddhist Art of Gandhara. Cambridge University Press, 1960.
18. Harle, James C. Gupta sculpture: Indian sculpture of the fourth to the sixth centuries AD.
Oxford University Press, USA, 1974.
19. Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967. p. 356
20. Stratton, Carol (2003). Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand. Serindia Publications.
p. 301.
21. Franz, Heinrich Gerhard. "Stupa and Stupa-temple in the Gandharan Regions and in
Central Asia." DALLAPICCOLA/ZINGEL AV E LALLEMANT 1980 (1980): 3958.
22. 13-9 Uenokoen, Taito, Tokyo 110-8712, Japan

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Works Cited
Rowland, Benjamin. The Art and Architecture of India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain. Vol. 2.
Penguin books, 1967.
A book pertaining to the early art and architecture of India and had a lot of useful information
about early Buddhist works in India. I consider this scholarly as it is a leading source of material
on the matter and was written by a leading art historian Benjamin Rowland.
Huntington, Susan L. "Early Buddhist art and the theory of aniconism." Art Journal 49.4 (1990):
401-408.
Aniconism, or pre-iconic, was the relevant topic in this article from the scholarly Art Journal.
Marshall, John. The Buddhist Art of Gandhara. Cambridge University Press, 1960.
Article written by John Marshall and published by the Cambridge University Press, this has a lot
of relevant information pertaining to Gandhara art.
Sharma, Ramesh Chandra. Buddhist art of Mathur. Humanities Pr, 1984.
This article had just as relevant information pertaining to Mathura art, and was written by Indian
professor Ramesh Sharma.
Harle, James C. Gupta sculpture: Indian sculpture of the fourth to the sixth centuries AD. Oxford
University Press, USA, 1974.
This article published by Oxford had information describing the pink-sandstone sculptures
described in the paper.

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Stratton, Carol (2003). Buddhist Sculpture of Northern Thailand. Serindia Publications. p. 301.
Publisher who has credit to information regarding the earliest known Buddhist artwork, Serindia
is the leading publisher on Asian/Indian historical pieces
Franz, Heinrich Gerhard. "Stupa and Stupa-temple in the Gandharan Regions and in
Central Asia." DALLAPICCOLA/ZINGEL AV E LALLEMANT 1980 (1980): 39-

58.

Information about various stupas in India is found here. Franz is a leading German art
historian.