gandhāran sculpture from kunduz and environs

Gandhāran Sculpture from Kunduz and EnvironsAuthor(s): Klaus FischerSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 21, No. 3/4 (1958), pp. 231-253Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3248884 .

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KLAUS FISCHER

GANDHARAN SCULPTURE FROM KUNDUZ AND ENVIRONS

D uring recent years several archaeologists visited Afghanistan and reported how many treasures of historic and artistic importance are still hidden in the soil of this country. In

I955 the present writer studied the fragment of a Jain image from BamiyanI, a three-headed

figure with trident, club and lion-skin from Saozma Kala2, and the ruins of Kandahar3. In local museums at Kunduz he saw sculptural fragments of the so-called Gandharan style which will be published here because of their iconographic interest and their formal problems. The ac-

companying map (Fig. i) shows these places as a part of the later Kusana empire where a mixed Indian - Iranian - Central Asian - Mediterranean culture flourished towards the end of the 2nd cent. A.D.

In this common civilization the various regions represented various artistic trends. The Indian character was most strongly felt in Mathura4 and the Punjab between Mohenjo Daro and Munda5; Iranian, Mesopotamian and Mediterranean elements dominated in Gandhara6, Kasmir7, Swat8, Bactria9 and Eastern Iran 10; and Central Asian features prevailed in Turkestan I I,

Abbreviations: Foucher = A. Foucher, L'art greco-bouddhique du Gandhara, Paris I I905, II 1918-i 95 I (figures are numbered currently through both volumes). Combat = G. Combaz, L'Inde et l'Orient classique, Paris I937, Texte et Planches. Periodicals after Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology and Archdologische Bibliographie.

"Archaeological Remains of Jainism in West Pakistan and Afghanistan," The Voice of Ahimsa 6, 1956, No. 3/4. 2 "Ein Siva-Buddha-Herakles-Stein von Saozma Kala," Archaologischer Anaeiger I957. 3 "Kandahar in Arachosien", Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Martin-Luther-Universitit Halle-Wittenberg 7, I958. 4 J. Ph. Vogel, La sculpture de Mathura, Paris I930. V. S. Agrawala, Catalogue of the Mathura Museum, JUPHS 21, 1948-

24/25, I95I/52. C. L. Fabri, "Mathura of the Gods," Mdrg 7, 1954. K. de B. Codrington, "Mathura of the Gods," Marg 9, I956.

5 A. Stein, "A survey of ancient sites along the 'lost' Sarasvati river," GeogrJ. 99, 1942. H. Rydh, Rang Mahal, Lund I959.

6 Besides Foucher see also H. Deydier, Contribution a l'etude de l'art du Gandhara, Paris I950. 7 R. C. Kak, Ancient monuments of Kasmir, London 1933. Special Kasmir issue, Mirg 8, I955 Nr. 2. 8 G. Tucci - G. Gullini, "Preliminary reports and studies on the Italian excavations in Swat (Pakistan)", East and West

N. S. 9, I958. 9 Problems of archaeology in Bactria discussed by D. Schlumberger, "Le temple de Surkh Kotal en Bactriane," Rapp.

prel., JAsiat. 240, I952; 242, I954; 243, 1955. 10 A. Stein, Innermost Asia, Oxford I928, II, chapter XXVIII. A. Stein, A "Persian Bodhisattva," Studia Indo-Iranica, Fest-

schrift Geiger, Leipzig I931, 269 sq. E. Herzfeld, Archaeological history of Iran, London I935, 58 sq. Surv. Pers. Art pi. I29 B. E. Herzfeld, Iran in the ancient East, London I941, 29I sq, pls. XCVI sq. H. H. van der Osten, Die Welt der Perser, Stuttgart I956, 121.

" A. Grinwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstdtten in Chinesisch-Turkistan, Berlin I912. A. v. le Coq, Die buddhistische Spdtantike in Mittelasien, 7 vols, Berlin 1922-I933. E. Waldschmidt, Gandhara, Kutscha, Turfan, Leipzig 1925. H. Hartel, Turfan und Gandhara, Indische Abteilung, Museum fur Volkerkunde, Berlin 1957.

231 4



SogdianaI2 and Choresmia13. The creations of the Kusana artists belong to two great centres of art history. This culture is the northernmost part of early Indian sculpture14 as well as the easternmost part of Greco-Iranian art stretching from Mesopotamia to IndiaI5. The newly found sculptures of this amalgamated style derive from buildings decorated by orientalized, pseudo-classic Attic bases and Corinthian capitals 6.

I. BUDDHISTIC RELIEFS FROM KUNDUZ

Kunduz, the ancient Drapsaka17, has long been known by Indo-Iranian mud-brick ruins of a monastery and "late classical" stucco headsI8, by the discovery of a Kusana period silver patera 9, by Romano-Attic stone basesz0, by coins from Greco-Bactrian to Sasanian rulers I and

by fragments of a Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara22. During the digging of a ditch (jui) near the above-mentioned monastery three reliefs were found which are now preserved in the local museum and library of Sarvar Jan to whom I am obliged for permission to take photos (Figs. 2-4).

Each of the reliefs is about i 1/2' high, slightly damaged, and consists of two panels divided

by a shed-pattern into a lower, decorative part and an upper section with legendary scenes. In the lower frieze, in a system of trapezoid niches, with dentated patterns and resting on dispropor- tionate pillars with debased acanthus-leaf capitals stand alternate figures of Bodhisattvas, Buddhas, with kneeling and standing worshippers23. One of the latter wears a Kusana costume with long

12 A. Strelkoff, "Les monuments preislamiques de Termez," Artibus Asiae 3, 1928/29, 223. S. d'Oldenbourg, "Les etudes orientales dans l'Un. Rep. Sov.," JAsiat 215, I929, 122. K. Trever, Pamjatniki greko-baktrijskogo iskusstva, Moskva 1940. Zivopis drevnego Pjandzkenta, Moskva 1954. Trudy sogdijsko- tadzikskoj archaeologiceskoj ekspedicii Inst. ist. mat. kul. ANSSR, Moskva i, I950 sq.

13 S. P. Tolstov, Po sledam drevnechoreZmijskoj civiliZacii, Moskva 1948 (Auf den Spuren der altchoresmischen Kultur, Berlin 195 3). See also Ghirshman, Artibus Asiae 6, I 953

14 L. Bachhofer, Early Indian sculpture, Firenze und Miinchen I929. s5 M. Rostovtzeff, "L'art greco-iranien," RevArtsAsiat, 7, 1931/32. H. Seyrig, "Ornamenta Palmyrena antiquiora,"

Syria 21, I940. H. Seyrig, "Palmyra and the East", JRS 40, I950, 4. Schlumberger op. cit. H. J. Lenzen, "Ausgrabungen in Hatra," Arch.AnZ. 1955.

16 Similar stonework was found from south to north at Jandial, Shotorak, Surkh Kotal, Kunduz, Balkh, Termez. I7 A. Foucher, La vieille route de l'Inde de Bactres a Taxila, Paris 1942-1947, I maps 3, 4, 6. W. W. Tarn, Alexander the

Great, Cambridge 1950-1951, I 66 and maps. F. Rainey, "Afghanistan," Bull.Mus.Univ.Philadelphia 17, I953 Nr. 4, 41. T. N. Ramachandran, "The Archaeological Wealth of Afghanistan, "Transactions of the Archaeological Society of South India 2, I956/57. A. K. Narain, TheIndo-Greeks, Oxford I957, map III. F. R. Allchin, "The Cultural Sequence of Bac- tria," Antiquity 31, I957, 131. I35. I37. - Cf. also A-hua, Kuhan-diz, Valvalij, Warwaliz.

I8 J. Hackin, "L'art bouddhique de la Bactriane et les origines de l'art greco-bouddhique," Bull. archeologique publiee par la section historique de l'academie Afghane (Kabul), I. 1316 A. H. (I937, traducteur: A. A. Kohzad). Idem, "Recherches archeologiques en Afghanistan," Revue de Paris I938. Idem, "L'art bouddhique..." repr. in Afghanistan, 5, I950. For chronology see also Schlumberger, JAsiat. 242, 1954, I84 and I85 n. 3. Repr. MDAFA VIII, Paris I959.

19 V. A. Smith, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, Oxford I9II (rev. ed. Codrington I930) pl. LXXVI. Dalton, Treas. of Oxus, pl. XXVII, I96.

20 Barger/Wright, Mem. Arch. Survey of India 64, Calcutta 1941, op. cit. pl. IX 4. 21 J. Hackin, "Repartition des monnaies anciennes en Afghanistan," JAsiat. 226, I935, 291 sq. A. D. H. Bivar, "The

Qunduz treasure," Spink's Num. Circular 62, I954, May, col. 187. Idem, The Bactrian treasure of QunduZ, Num. Notes and Monogr. Num. Soc. Ind. 3, 1955. Idem, Journal Num. Soc.India 1955 pt. I, 39 sq. Narain op. cit. s. v. Qunduz, and pp. VII and I61 with note 5. M.-Th. Allouche -Le Page, L'art monetaire des royaumes bactriens, Paris 956, s. v. Qunduz.

22 Schuyler van R. Cammann, "Work in Northern Afghanistan 95 3-55," announced in Current Research on the Middle East 195 5, Washington I95 6, Nr. Iio. The author had the kindness to inform me on the find of this damaged sculpture.

23 Various connections between decorative frieze and legendary scenes in Gandharan art see Foucher figs 70-79. 157-I66.

Very similar to the lower part of the Kunduz panels is the illustration in J. Meunie, Shotorak, Paris I942, fig. 48.

232



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trousers as is familiar from contemporary art to the south and the north of the Hindukush24. The upper part of each of the three panels is crowned by acanthus-leaves in typical Gandhara

style and contains friezes illustrating scenes from the life of the Buddha. These may be roughly grouped under the headings: I. "Prince Siddhartha's youth and early training", II. "The

prince's four encounters with an old man, with a sick man, with a dead man and with a monk", III. "The great departure from Kapilavastu".

Panels of this kind served as decoration in the Buddhist monastery (sangharama) for stupas, viharas, or statue-socles25, and were sometimes re-used for enshrining relics26. The Kunduz

panels are to be interpreted as decorating a round or square stfpa of medium size27. They depict the life story of the Buddha which was viewed by the worshippers when taking the

pradaksina, the circumambulation of the stupa, with their right hands to the centre28. I have numbered the scenes in that original sense from i-II, whether or not other scenes on lost

panels existed in between.

Description of the single scenes

Prince Siddhartha's Youth (Fig. 2).

I. The Bodhisattva on the way to school. Accompanied by his umbrella-bearer the Bodhi- sattva on horseback rides from the edge of the frieze towards its centre turning his face

frontally to the spectator. In this and all other representations, the horses are sculpted without traces of bridle9.

2. The visit to the writing school. The Bodhisattva sits under a tree on a seat with a cushion, his legs crossed, and the toes of the right foot touching the bottom of the panel. With his left hand he holds a tablet on his knees on which he writes with his right hand. His teacher Visvamitra stands beside him, addressing the pupil, but turning his face to the front.

Upright figures connect this event with foregoing and following scenes30. 3. Physical exercises of the Bodhisattva. The prince clad in his usual royal long garment is

wrestling with one of the Sakya youths wearing a short dhoti, and turning his adversary upside down3I.

24 Meunie op. cit., figs 50o, 63, 72, 90, 95, I09 and p. 40, 60o. Schlumberger, JAsiat. 240, 1952, pis VI, 242, 1954, pi. III i.

Tolstov op. cit. fig. 57. Smirnoff, ArgentOrient 283. On this costume in Parthian art see H. Ingholt, Parthian sculptures from Hatra, Orient and Hellas in art and religion, New Haven I954.

25 Foucher I I46, i8o. 26 Meunie op. cit. 49. 27 Foucher I IoI, 146, i8o, 267; II 603 and figs 70-73 on erection of stupas and arrangement of decorative detail and sepa-

ration of legendary scenes by pilasters and trees and the rare case of uninterrupted sequence. Round: A. Foucher, "Les bas-reliefs du stupa de Sikri (Gandhara)," JAsiat. 1903, pl. "Vue d'emsemble." Square: Waldschmidt, op. cit., pi. 7. Scenes to be read in their sequence on a reconstructed small stipa: N. G. Majumdar, A Guide to the sculptures in the Indian Museum II, 1937, pl. XIV.

28 This, at least, is the rule although exceptions (Vogel, op. cit.) and circumambulation in the opposite direction inciden-

tally occur (which has also noxious and apotropaic meaning). See Foucher I 268, and G. Combat, L'evolution du sttpa en

Asie, Bruxelles I933, 174-I76. On his notice, that worshipping during night time was done with lamps in the hands see the recent finds of lamps in the precincts of the Kunduz monastery by Cammann, communicated by Young, AJA 5 9, 1955, 272 and note I9.

29 ASIAR I906-07, pl. XXXI a. ASIAR 1911-I2, pi. XXXVII 5 (Interpreted as part of physical training). H. Har-

greaves, "Representation of the Bodhisattva going to school in Gandhara reliefs," JRAS 195 , pl. IV. 30 Foucher, figs i65 b, i66, 167. A.-M. Boyer, "Deux inscriptions en Kharosthi du musee de Lahore," BEFEO 4, I904,

685. ASIAR I903-04 pl. LXVI a. ASIAR 1906-07 pi. XXXI. On this sitting posture in so-called European fashion

compare also J. N. Banerjea, The development of Hindu iconography, Calcutta 2I956, 272. 31 Foucher, fig. I67. (171 b and I72 a: wrestling competitions before marriage).

237



II. The Four Encounters (Fig. 3). 4. The Boddhisattva meets an old man, a sick man, a dead man and a monk. The Bodhi-

sattva in frontal view is shown leaving the city of Kapilavastu (indicated by mural archi-

tecture). His chariot is drawn by two horses which are seen in profile. He has three encounters illustrating to him the evils of this world: he sees (a) an old man leaning on his

stick, (b) a sick man seated on the bottom, and (c) a dead man on his death bed mourned by four persons. (According to the texts: I. his charioteer Chandaka explained to him who the

people were he met, 2. some time between the encounters was spent by the prince in his

palace.) He has (d) a fourth encounter with a monk carrying his beggar-bowl which suggests to him the idea of renouncing this world. In the Kunduz panel, the scenes with sick man, old man, and monk are grouped in the centre, whilst against the strict chronology the scene of the dead man is to be found separated at the outer end of the frieze32.

III. The great Departure (Fig. 4). 5. Farewell by the Nagara-Devata. Before the background of a mural architecture the goddess

of the city of Kapilavastu wearing a mural crown, addresses the Bodhisattva33. 6. The prince's horse carried by yaksas. The Bodhisattva, accompanied by his umbrella bearer

Chandaka, is seated on his horse Kanthaka, whose hoofs are supported by two demigods 34.

7. The temptation by Mara. Mara, the evil one, tries in vain to prevent the Bodhisattva from

leaving this world35. 8. Handing over the jewels. The Bodhisattva gives all his jewellery to his faithful servant

Chandaka36.

9. Farewell of Kanthaka. The horse Kanthaka kneels down before his master, weeps and kisses his feet37.

io. Cutting off the hair. The Bodhisattva, accompanied by Chandaka, seizes his long hair with his left hand in order to cut it off with his sword held in the right hand38.

i . The changing of the clothes. The Bodhisattva changes his royal garment for a hunter's clothes 39.

32 Foucher I, 340, 348 and II, 839 on the fact that the four encounters have not yet been found in Gandhara sculptures. A. Foucher, Une liste indienne des actes du Buddha, Paris 1908, 7 Nr. 1 remarks further that this scene cannot be found at all with certainty in ancient Indian art. A. Stein, Serindia, Oxford 192I, II 857 on the surprising fact that this scene is not yet known from Gandhara art although it is frequent in Gandhara-influenced painting and sculpture. Foucher II, 839 refers to examples that have recently become known at Sanici and Ajanta. The four encounters on the Northern Gate at Sanici are described by J. Marshall, The Monuments of Sanchi, Delhi I936, 62. On the character of relief sculptures and paintings from Ajanta depicting the four encounters see G. Yazdani, Ajants III, 1946, Text p. 63 sq. Sculptures in Cave I: R. S. Wauchope, Buddhist Cave Temples in India, Calcutta 193 3, pl. XLVIII; H. Zimmer, The Art of Indian Asia, New York 1955, pls. I44/145.

33 Foucher figs 183, I84. ASIAR I902-03, pi. XXVII 4. Majumdar op. cit., pl. VIlla, XIV. 34 Foucher, figs 182, I87b. Majumdar op. cit., pls VIIIa, XIV. On the type of Chandaka following his master see F. Wel-

ler, "Channa am Pferdeschweife", Orient. Lit. Zt. 44, I941. On deities serving as hoof-bearers see A. K. Coomaraswamy, Yaksas, I, Washington 1928, 8.

35 Foucher, figs 182, i87b. Majumdar op. cit., pls VIIIa, XIV. 36 Foucher, fig. 184. Majumdar, op. cit., pl. XIV. 37 Foucher, figs I84b, I85. Majumdar op. cit., pl. XIV. 38 Deydier, op. cit., 3I6 correctly cites Foucher I, 363 that an example of the Bodhisattva cutting off his hair is not yet

known in Gandhara sculpture, but does not cite quite exactly Spooner-Hargreaves-Shakur, A guide to the Peshawar Museum I (Pesh. 1954, Handbook... 1910, rev. ed. 1930) 32, Nr. I4, as example of this iconography in Gandhara art, whilst this passage justly confirms Foucher's negative statement.

39 Foucher, fig. i87b. Majumdar op. cit., pl. XIV.

238



These panels give excerpts from the Bodhisattva's life between the visit to the writing school and the beginning of ascetic life. Probably they belonged to a narrative cycle starting with Queen Maya's dream of the prince's conception and ending with the Buddha's death, the

Mahaparinirvana. Such scenes served as decoration of Gandhara stupas and interpreted the

legends of the Buddha's life to those who could not read the holy scriptures. From the texts40 or

according to local use the individual artists selected in the various cases various scenes for illustration4I. Traditionally the Four Great Events were to be rendered. Sometimes the story of the worldly and monastic life is given in all details; in other cases the selection is restricted - which may be also due to lack of space42. The Kunduz panels might have been framed within the following conventional scenes:

May's Dream. The conception43. The birth in the Lumbini forest44. The first bath45. Kun- duz I: The way to school. The visit to the writing school. The physical exercises. (Examples of Gandhara sculpture see p. 237, notes.) Presentation of the bride46. Arrow-shot before marriage47. Wrestling before marriage48. The marriage49. The first meditationso. Kunduz II: The four encounters (see note 32.) The sleeping women in the palace. The preparation for the Great De-

parture. The Bodhisattva leaves his wife. Chandaka appears with the prince's head-gear and horse5s. Kunduz III: Farewell of the Nagara-Devata. The horse carried through the air. Mara.

Handing over the jewels. Farewell of Kanthaka. Cutting off the hair. Changing the clothes with the hunter. (Examples of Gandhara-sculpture besides the cutting off the hair see p. 238,

notes.) The meeting with the grass-cutter52. Mara's attack53. The illuminations4. The first sermon55. The offering of the monkey56. The subjugation of the Naga57. The death of the Buddha58. (See below p. 242 on the particularity that the Gandhra iconography of the Maha-

parinirvana has been used in Kunduz II for the encounter with the dead man.)

40 For example: Asvaghosa's Buddhacaritam, trans. by R. Schmidt, Hannover 1923. N. J. Krom, The life of the Buddha from the stzpa of Barabadur according to the Lalitavistara-Text, The Hague I926. E. Waldschmidt, Die Legende vom Leben des

Buddha, Berlin 1929. A. Foucher, La vie du Bouddha d'apres les textes et les monuments de l'Inde, Paris 1949. W. Schubring, Zum Lalitavistara, Asiatica, Festschrift Weller, Leipzig 1954.

41 Foucher, La Vie op. cit., 75-77: in the beginning there was no fixed iconography; local guides explained the sculptures to the pilgrims. A. C. Soper, "Aspects of light symbolism in Gandharan sculpture," Artibus Asiae 12, 1949, 257 and notes io and I gives various examples for this fact. F. Weller, "Schauplatz und Handlung im Buddhacarita", ZDMG

93, I939, 334-338 remarks that sometimes reliefs served as model for poetic descriptions. 42 Combag 7I, 73. H. Buchthal, "The common classical sources of Buddhist and Christian narrative art," JRAS 1943,

I39 on the 'outstanding' events of the Buddha's life that were sculptured. Vogel, op. cit., 56 sq. on Mathura narrative reliefs as condensation of Gandhara models.

43 Foucher, figs I49, i6oa. 44 Foucher, fig. 152. 45 Foucher, fig. I56. 46 Foucher, fig. i68. 47 Foucher, fig. x71 a. 48 Foucher, figs I7Ib, I72a. 49 Foucher, fig. 72b. 50 Foucher, fig. 175. 5s Foucher, figs 178, I79. K. Fischer, Schopfungen indischer Kunst, Koln I959, Tafel 62-65. 52 Foucher, fig. I97. 53 Foucher, fig. 20 . 54 Foucher, fig. 2 0.

55 Foucher, fig. 220. 56 Foucher, fig. 254. 57 Foucher, fig. 27I. 58 Foucher, I 554-573 and figs 208d, 276-281.

239



As long as the three Kunduz panels remain isolated it is also possible to interpret panel I as the matches before the marriage. Foucher59 observes that the Lalita Vistara in the preface de- scribes the intellectual and physical training of the young Bodhisattva; that there occurs the well known report on the scene in the writing school; but that no further mention is made of the bodily exercises of the prince (of which we know from other sources), and that physical competitions are only later described as matches before the marriage. Examples of painting and sculpture representing writing or wrestling scenes may, according to the context of surrounding scenes, be interpreted as part of youthful training, or as events before the marriage60.

In this case the Kunduz panels would be framed: Maya's dream. First bath. Presentation of the bride. Kunduz I with the meaning of the scenes: The prince on the way to the competitions. Writing competition before marriage. Athletic competitions before marriage. First meditation. Kunduz II etc. as above. For our further research the solution of this doubtful point is not necessary; I suppose that Kunduz I represents the scene in the writing school since the teacher is depicted in a manner belonging to this special theme.

Iconography Our survey demonstrates that on these panels with scenes from the life of Buddha found in

the northern parts of Bactria the legends of the Buddha's life are represented in general by iconographical tradition well known throughout Gandhara sculpture.

As already remarked, single scenes have been selected by patrons or sculptors from the texts for the task of stupa decoration. In panel I the scene in the writing school follows after the way to school whilst in other cases the visit to the writing school is preceded by the casting of the horoscope6I. In panel III the Great Departure is rendered in singular minuteness. In some other cases the prince on horseback is depicted directly after the scene with the sleeping women62

It is well known that scenes 5, farewell of the city-goddess, and 7, temptation by Mara, occur exclusively in Gandhara-reliefs. The iconographical type of the Nagara-Devata of Kapila- vastu is generally regarded as inspired by Mediterranean sculpture, and taken over later on by Indian literature63. In other examples of the flight from Kapilavastu occurs the picture of Chan-

59 Foucher, I 326. Foucher, La vie op. cit. 78, 83 sq. Foucher, Une liste op. cit., 6/7 Nr. 9. 60 For examples representing all mentioned possibilities see Waldschmidt, Die Legende op. cit., Tempelbild II, and text.

Youth: intellectual training 62/62 (left middle); physical training 63/64 (right above). Events before the marriage: intellectual competitions 65/66 (left down); physical competitions (middle down). Foucher I, 334 and fig. 172: on one panel the marriage scene follows directly after a wrestling scene. Wrestling scenes may also have secular meaning (H. Hargreaves, Two unpublished Gandhara reliefs, ASIAR I914-15, pl. XLVIII a) or occur in the Buddha legend even after the prince's marriage (C. Duroiselle, The stone sculpture in the Ananda temple at Pagan, ASIAR 1913-14, 83.) On the narrative style changing from continuous relief to isolated stations, see H. Zimmer, The art of Indian Asia, New York I955, I9I.

61 ASIAR I906-07, pl. XXXI a from right (as seen by the spectator) to left on one panel: the royal pair, the casting of the horoscope by Asita, the scene in the writing school. Foucher, fig. I65 from the right to left: the casting of the horoscope by Asita, the scene in the writing school.

62 Foucher, figs I80, 8 . 63 Griinwedel and Foucher had suggested that examples of classic sculpture, which had become known in the Gandhara

country, inspired contemporary Indian texts to creations of figures of fiction. W. W. Tarn, The Greeks in Bactria and India, Cambridge 195 , 300 on monuments influencing the poets. The representation of the city goddess' mural crown is interpreted as one of the relatively rare examples by which direct classic influence is obvious, see Combat pl. 141. S. Morenz und J. Schubert, Der Gott auf der Blume, Artibus Asiae Suppl. 12, Ascona 1954, discuss the problem of how far foreign art may have inspired the Indian mind to translate indigenous literary forms into sculptural terms.

240



daka holding the horse's tail. This iconographical type may have been adopted by Gandhara art from classical examples and may have become a model for poetic works dealing with Bud- dha's life64. We shall have to discuss below (p. 244) whether elements of panel II may have been inspired by Mediterranean contacts.

We have now to examine the iconographical singularities of the Kunduz panels and to put the question whether the rendering of the legend in Bactria differed from that of Gandhara or Mathura. Certain particularities not yet known from Gandhara do exist, but this alone is not sufficient reason to suppose an independent school of Bactrian sculpture. It has been rightly observed that the absence of some Buddhist iconographical details in Gandhara stupa decoration may be due to incomplete knowledge of the monuments. Moreover, special deviations in Gandhara sculpture are reported from time to time65.

Panel I. The prince turning his adversary upside-down represents an unique and perhaps individual treatment of the wrestling scene.

Panel III. The scene of the prince cutting off his hair is rendered exactly according to the texts. It was a favourite subject in many schools of Indian art66, and its first find in North West Indian or Central Asian sculptures from Kusana times is in no way surprising67. In this context it may be worth while to cite the Peshawar Catalogue68 that in Gandhara reliefs with scenes from the life of the Buddha the latter is, even after the legendary event of cutting off his hair, represented with full hair until his death (in contrast to ordinary monks and ascetics who are shown bare-shaven).

The legend of the four encounters is a decisive turning-point in the changing from the Bodhisattva to the Buddha. Surprisingly we do not know at the moment any pre-Gandhara or Gandhara example, at least not in the manner of the Kunduz composition69. According to Hsiian Tsang, however, this subject was depicted at the very place where the encounters were believed to have taken place70. Whilst the pilgrim's description does not coincide with the

64 Weller, op. cit., 383. 65 A. Foucher, Les bas-reliefs du stuipa de Sikri, op. citf., 310, 311 (in the rendering of the Buddha's life scenes the usual

sequence is not observed). ASIAR 1909-I0, 54 and pl. XVIIId. Hargreaves' research on unusual Gandhara-iconography: ASIAR I924/25, 150 and pl. XXXIX and ABIA 1926, 6-8. Barger-Wright, op. cit., 17, 20 (Fragments of a frieze from Amluk, pl. IV 3; "... Evidently in Gandhara the iconography of the life story was not so precisely fixed, or else not so strictly followed, as has sometimes been suggested. The monks represented in the Amluk panel are not the traditional five seated disciples; nevertheless, their appearance in a pipal-tree scene looks like a further instance of the laxity of Gandhara iconographers, or of the elasticity of the canon which they followed..."), 21. On the extraordinary iconography during the beginning of the Gandhara school see Vogel's review in Artibus Asiae 16, 1953, I 3I with the remark that the iconography became stereotyped later on. Remarks on the unique Udayana-iconography by Foucher II, 729 and R. Edwards, "The cave reliefs at Ma Hao," Artibus Asiae 17, I954, I 5 and n. 72. Stein, op. cit., 853 on general chronological order and some undoubted exceptions, sometimes determined by artists' considerations.

66 A. de Silva-Vigier, The life of the Buddha, London I955, pls. 49, 50. Stein, op. cit., pl. LXXV. Krom, op. cit., pl. 67. Waldschmidt, Die Legende op. cit., Tempelbild III, opposite p. 83, left down. F. Weller, ((Beschreibung eines Bildes vom Auszuge Buddhas," Artibus Asiae 5, I935, 141, Nr. 8.

67 I heard but could not verify that in private collections of West Pakistan this subject is to be found in Gandhara stone work. Stein, op. cit., 85 8 refers to a small piece of stone illustrated by him in Ancient Khotan, pl. XLVIII Kh 003. g. obv. depicting the Bodhisattva seated cross-legged and cutting off his hair, and suggests that this piece was actually produced in the Gandhara region.

68 See note 38, p. 33 n. 3. The same fact is noticed by D. Barrett, Sculptures from Amardvati in the British Museum, London 1954, Nr. 113.

69 See n. 32, especially Foucher's hint on Safci and Ajanta. 70 Si-yu-ki, Buddhist records of the Western world, tr. fr. the Chinese of Hiuen Tsiang (A. D. 629) by S. Beal, London

1884, II i8.

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iconography of panel II, the latter example - although the first known from Kusana art - seems to represent a type which left certain iconographical and formal traces in the Gandhara- influenced art of Turkestan7I and later Tibet72. Even in examples from art regions reflecting mixtures of Chinese and Indian influences including Gandhara elements, features of the Kunduz reliefs may be recognised73. No specimens, however, are known from the schools of Mathura and Amaravati. In the colonial art of Burma74 and Indonesia7s occur independent types. Hence the Kunduz panel II represents a very rare rendering of a well known subject. Furthermore it contains other iconographic peculiarities.

The panel is divided in two nearly equal parts. One is covered by the city wall and the Bodhisattva in the chariot, the other being reserved to the four people whom the prince met. These four persons are not distributed according to the chronology given by the holy texts and the space is again divided in two parts. Next to the prince's chariot we notice in a kind of

pyramidal shape the seated sick man, the half-bent old man, and the upright standing beggar- monk. The rest of the frieze is filled by a bed with the dead man lying behind. Under his head

appears a small boyish figure, and behind him rise three mourning figures. This scene of the encounter with the dead man lying on a bed, taken alone, represents

exactly the well known last scene in the Buddha's legend (see note 5 8): the great decease, the

Mahaparinirvana with the Buddha lying on his right side, his right hand under his head and the left hand stretched out. There are the mourning figures with their various attitudes of lifting the hands. The traditional trees and persons sitting before the bed are missing. There is, on the other hand, a more or less extraordinary figure of a standing boy before the bed. Thus, a typical Nirvana-scene has been inserted into another legendary context.

Two possible explanations for this unusual, and as far as I am aware unknown, example of Gandhara iconography may be offered. Either the sculptor wishing to render the encounter with the dead man looked for some model suggestive of some artistic inspiration for the work, and chose as standard type the well known and established Nirvana-iconography as suitable for a related subject. Or the patrons causing the stupa to be decorated with scenes from the Bud- dha's life wished a connexion of the four encounters with the Nirvana-scene in one panel and took the Nirvana-iconography as a symbolical value in the historico-legendary scene of the four encounters.

71 Le Coq, op. cit. III, 1924 pi. 7; Nr. i8 old man and sick man, Nr. I9 corpse and monk. In this fact we might find a parallel case to the Indrasailaguha-iconography as reported by Soper, op. cit., 258 sq.: both scenes are rare in pre- Gandharan art; the type is known during the Kusana period; afterwards specimens become rare again; the type is, however, reflected in cave-art from Turkestan to Western China.

72 J. Hackin, Les scenes figurees de la vie du Bouddha d'apres des peintures tibetaines, Thesis Paris 1916, 14, Nr. 9: old man, sick man and monk; corpse. Idem, Meimoires concernant l'Asiae orientale 2, I916, pl. II. Idem, Mythologie asiatique illustree, Paris I928, p. 122, fig. i. The encounter of the Bodhisattva with an old man in a Tibetan painting of the i8th cent. A. D. is illustrated by 0. Monod-Bruhl, Peintures tibetaines, Paris I954, pl. 2.

73 Tun-Huang: A. Stein, The thousand Buddhas, London 1921, pi. 12; Stein, op. cit., IV, pil. LXXIV, Silva-Vigier, op. cit., opposite p. 14, 0. Siren, Chinese painting, I, London I956, 68 mentions the three encounters. Yiin-kang: L. Chavannes, Mission archeologique dans la Chine septentrionale, Paris 1909-15, pls I, CVII-CXVII; L. Ashton, An introduction to the

study of Chinese sculpture, London 1924, pls XIV i and XV I. 0. Siren, Chinese sculpture from the yth to the s4th cent., London I925, pls 30-32. Idem, Kinas konst under tre drtusenden, Stockholm I, I942, pI. 109.

74 Silva-Vigier, op. cit., pi. 32. 75 Krom, op. cit., pls 56-59.

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Whilst this latter interpretation would presume a complicated symbolism76 the first ex-

planation has many parallels. The Gandhara artists liked to transfer established iconographical types from one context into another. For example, the figure of a man prostrating himself (an invention which was perhaps adopted by the Gandhara artists from Roman sculpture) was used in the Dipanikara-Jataka77, the Anigulimala-legend78 and various worshipping scenes79. The

picture of a man following a rider and holding the tail of the horse (possibly introduced from Graeco-Roman art into ancient Indian sculpture) served in the Vidhurapandita-Jataka as well as in the Great Departure8o.

A man lying on his right side, face to the front, head on a pillow and reposing on his right hand, left arm stretched out along his left side - this is the conventional type of the dying Buddha in Gandhara stone-sculptures8i and was also used in a rare example of stucco-sculp- ture82. Maya in the scene of the conception83 and Yasodhara left by the prince84 are lying in a similar way on the left sides looking frontally, with various attitudes of the hands which are sometimes placed like that of the dying Buddha. Elements of this type are also recognisable in

stucco-sculpture which usually preferred single figures instead of scenes85. One element of the Gandharan Nirvana-iconography seems to occur in Mathura sculpture

in the context of another legendary scene86. The Qyzil paintings (see note 71 and below p. 249) also offer a parallel. The prince meets

walking men who carry on their shoulders a dead man lying on his right side in frontal view. Kunduz panel II and its iconographic particularity supplies a hint to the methods of early

Indian sculptures. There existed an established pictorial type for the subject "Lying man" which was most frequently used and known in its meaning "Dying Buddha" in the Nirvana-scene. A craftsman entrusted with the (unusual?) task to render the four encounters and within this

subject a "Lying Dead Man", adopted not only this lying man, but the whole Nirvana-scene.

76 This would be the Buddha's biography concentrated in two events, instead of the iconography of the Four Events which is the shortest rendering known to us, see Vogel, Mathura op. cit., pl. LI a. Foucher I, 566 warns against too sophisticated interpretations of Gandhara sculpture in the case where a Buddha-like figure occurs besides the Buddha himself in the Nirvana-scene. Also in our panel it would be too extraordinary to interpret the relief as a condensation of the Budda's life between the four encounters and death. Perhaps one might explain the relief as Bodhisattva and the visions of the four encounters, since sometimes the events are alluded to as dreams. Abstraction of the Buddhist biography as discussed by Vogel, op. cit., 56 and p. VI b is mainly due to lack of space as is also stated in Christian sarcophagi (G. Wilpert, I sarcofagi Cristiani antichi; E. Stommel, Beitrdge zur Ikonographie der Konstantinischen Sarkophagplastik, Bonn I954, ioo) and scarcely to be interpreted as symbolical meaning, as Stommel, op. cit., 31, 99, Ioo.

77 Foucher, figs 139-141. . Coomaraswamy, History of Indian andIndonesian art, 1927, fig. 92. Buchthal, op. cit., pi. VII i. The horse Kanthaka kneeling on his forelegs and kissing his master's feet (see our fig. 4) occurs beside a cult-image of the Buddha in Wei art: Siren, Chinese sculpture, op. cit., pi. 29.

78 Foucher, fig. 304. Buchthal, op. cit., pl. IX i. J. Barthoux, Lesfouilles de Hadda, I, Paris 1933, fig. 42. 79 William Rockhill Neson Galler Nn rews, April I956. H. Zimmer, op. cit., p. 64 c. H. Ingholt, Palmyrene and Gandharan

sculpture, New Haven I954, fig. 33. E. Waldschmidt, ((Wundertatige Monche in der ostturkistanischen Hinayana- Kunst)), Ostas.Zs., N. F. 6, 1930, pls 3C, 4 a and b.

80 Weller, Channa op. cit., 383. 81 See n. 58. 82 J. Marshall, Taxila, London I95 I, II 5 3 I Nr. 99, and pls. I I8 b, I6I m. Close to the head of the dying Buddha is seated

a Dhyani Buddha. 83 See n. 43 and H. Hargreaves, The Buddhist story in stone, Calcutta 1914, fig. 4. 84 See n. 5 I. 85 J. Hackin, Rev. Arts.Asiat. 5, 1928 pi. XXII. J. Hackin, La sculpture indienne et tibetaine au Musee Guimet, Paris 1931,

pi. XIX. J. Barthoux, Lesfouilles de Hadda III, Paris I930, pl. 46. 86 Agrawala, op. cit., 1950, 122. Nirvana-scenes in Mathura: Vogel, op. cit., pls. VIb, LI a, LIII a, c.

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Form

The Kunduz reliefs illustrate legendary scenes and a) fill the space of a decorative frieze.

b) They employ a kind of symmetrical grouping where the context allows. The action takes

place mainly in the foreground whilst c) background figures appear on a higher level. d) Scanty

requisites suggest the locality. e) Not only single figures, but also human groups connected by an action are very often rendered in frontal view. f) The legendary scenes are narrated in the continuous method. Elements of this style prevail in early Indian narrative art from the 2nd cent. B.C. to the 5th cent. A.D. at Bharhut, Sanici, Bodh Gaya, Gandhara, Mathura and in Andhra sculpture87.

a) Three-quarter-relief, which is deeper cut than in preceding Indian sculpture, fills friezes in which empty space is left88 only exceptionally.

b) Ancient Indian art tended to symmetry in isolated groups89. A frieze like panel III does not lend itself to symmetrical compositions. On the other hand, panel I seems to be divided into three equal groups. Panel II, however, is composed of three-figure-groups contrasting with the

proper narrative text (see p. 23 8) City-wall and scene with the bed of the dead man fill the outer most right and left quarters of the relief respectively. The remaining central space of the picture is divided into nearly equal parts between the prince in the chariot and the triangular group of sick man on the bottom, half-bent old man and monk in the background in higher level. Framed within architecture and bed-scene, the three-figure group and the prince in the chariot form two pyramids each ending in a human head. The empty space between these two triangles forms exactly another triangle descending to the point where the nostrils of the horses meet. This composition differs not only from stylistic principles of panels I and III, but also from methods of related Indian sculpture. Like certain other Gandhara compositions with symmetrical grouping, panel II may be the individual invention of a local sculptor; or it may be that elements of foreign art centres contributed to this extraordinary relief - as it has long been discussed whether Graeco-Roman sarcophagus sculpture contributed to the Gandhara Nirvana-

iconography90. Kunduz panel II does not contain the direct hints to Mediterranean art works which occur in the Nagara-Devata, the type of the figure prostrating himself, or a man holding a horse-tail. The type of the horse turning its head, as known from later Indian sculpture and also occuring very early in Greek art, will be reviewed below p. 246. Perhaps it can be said that the triangular group in the centre of panel II corresponds in general to certain Mediterranean

compositions known from 2nd cent. historical and mythological scenes9i.

87 Combat, 62-108. The author emphasizes p. 76 and 80 antique elements in Gandharan art, but restricts such observations p. 77, 78, 87, 96. M. Hallade, La composition plastique dans les reliefs de l'Inde, Paris 1942. E. 0. Koller, Die Gandhdra-

Kunst, Wiener Diss. 1943, p. 80 of the typed ms. on the Indian character of Gandhara sculpture. The "Indianness" of Gandhara sculpture is emphasized in several remarks by Anand, Fabri and Kramrisch in the Marg-volume "In praise of Later Buddhist Art" (9, 19 5 5/5 6, No. 2.): 3 (isolation of legendary scenes as, separate panels in early Indian art; Gand- hara art an offshoot of indigenous tradition), 34 (combination of narrative and optical perspectives), 35 (worshippers used to read reliefs in both narrative and illusionistic style), 36 (Indian and foreign elements in Gandhara sculpture), 37 (Gandhara a mixture of archaic Indian and classical types combining illusionistic approach with narrative perspec- tive). K. Fischer, "Drei Bucher iiber Gandhara", Gnomon 31, I959, 269-274.

88 Combat 65, 80, 91, 95. Hallade, op. cit., 56. Koller, op. cit., 77. Zimmer, op. cit., 2I6 gives a philosophical explanation of this fact.

89 Combaz 79-80. 90 A. Griinwedel, Buddhistische Kunst inIndien, Berlin I893, Io6 sq. 91 For example, triangular compositions in different stages of lying, kneeling, and standing people. K. Lehmann-Hart-

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c) Most actions take place in one common level of the foreground. In panel II are two persons rising behind the dead man's bed who stand on the same ground with all other persons of the relief. A third mourning figure, however, and the monk (whose heads are in the same height) stand on a common higher level, which would pass through the head of the sitting sick man. Hence panel II contains both the horizontal and the vertical solutions of the Gandharan Nirvana-iconography92.

d) Localities are only cursorily indicated93; in panel I a tree is the conventional surrounding of the school-scene. In panel II and III, however, the city architecture, the wall of Kapilavastu, is of special interest. The reliefs display a crenellated parapet frieze with decoration of upright standing arrow-heads such as have recently been discovered in members of real architecture from the Kusana period in Bactria94. The battlement-like patterns crowning the city wall are motives that originated in early Mesopotamia and Iran, and were adopted by early Indian art95. Recent excavations of a prehistoric site in Central Afghanistan, not very far from Kandahar, seem to have revealed the most ancient monumental examples of this pattern on the top of engaged half-columns in a mud-brick wall96. The pattern is known from Kusana art in North West India, and may be added to the list of architectural decoration which forms a link between Gandhara, Bactria and Transoxania97, and finally establishes artistic connexions between these Kusana regions and Palmyra98. Decorative patterns of arrow-heads and especially upright- standing arrow-heads in battlement-friezes are known from Iranian art99, from toreutic works which might perhaps be connected with Greek Bactrian artI00 and from pre-Kusana-, Kusana- and post-Kusana monuments in Choresmiao1I. Also crosses, triangular and other geometrical ornaments as occuring on the city walls of the Kunduz reliefs and the quoted toreutic examples will be found in monumental remains of Kusana period mud-brick architecture.

leben, Die Trajanssdule, Berlin 1926, 48, 49, 150 and pls. 44, 53, 56, 71. A. Strong, Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine, London I907, 259. Similarly the composition of lying, standing and flying youth in the Dipankara Jataka, see n. 77, especially Coomaraswamy fig. 92, where these figures of the legend form a triangle opposite the huge main figure. - On triangular compositions in mediaeval Indian art see S. Kramrisch, The Hindu Temple, Calcutta I946, 368.

92 Combaq 81-82. Compare Foucher, figs. 276 and 278 with 277. 93 Combat 83-84. 94 Schlumberger, JAsiat, 240, I952, pl. VIII I; 242, 1954, pl. III 2.

95 Foucher I, 223 and fig. 99 sq. CombaZ, pls. 12-16. M. v. Oppenheim, etc., Der Tell Halaf II, Berlin I950, 77 Beil. I and pl. I3. E. F. Schmidt, Persepolis, Chicago 953, passim. See also the merlon crenellation on the back of a war elephant in early Bactrian toreutics, Smirnoff, Argent.Orient CXX 47; Trever, op. cit., pl. I. The motif also studied by K. Parlaska, Die Mosaiken des romischen Germaniens, G6ttinger Diss. 195o, Exkurs II, and by A. D. H. Bivar, The Kushano- Sassanian episode, Cultural cross-currents in Bactria, Thesis Oxford i955, 238-239 with references to Serindia. On stepped battlements see also Surv.Pers. Art 413, 419, 523, etc. Ibid. pl. 233, B Sassanian silver plate showing a building decorated with patterns of oblique bricks and crenellation similar to the Kunduz system. G. Garbini, "Stepped Pinnacle in the Ancient Orient," East and West N. S. 9, 1958.

96 J. M. Casal, "Mundigak," Arts Asiatiques I, 1954 pl. II B and Ill. Lond. News 7-5 - I955, fig. 7. 97 Tolstov, op. cit., fig. 43, 68. H. Field and E. Prostov, "Recent excavations at Khwarazm," Ars.Isl. I3/14, 1948, I46/I47

figs. 12, I3. Ghirshman, Artibus Asiae i6, I953, 227 fig. 8. 98 Seyrig, op. cit., 1940, 314, fig. 23, fragm. 35. 99 Surv.Pers.Art I, 442, fig. II4. The appearance of the decorative pattern of the arrow slits in Bactrian architecture of

Surkh Kotal described after Schlumberger by Bivar, op. cit., 239. See also Bussagli, RINASAR, N.S. 516, I956/57, I69 note 34; H. Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan, New York I957, plS. 103. 15I. 152.

100 See Smirnov and Trever, n. 95. 101 Tolstov, op. cit., 102, figs. 21, I22, fig. 24. Field-Prostov, op. cit., fig. i2, No. I8 and i6. Ghirshman, Artibus Asiae

I953, 219 fig. 2, 222 fig. 4. See also Masson, VDI I953, I, I47 fig. 4; Vjazmitina, VDI 1953, 3, I64 fig. 4.

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e) Human figures are often rendered in frontal view102. This frontality is often opposed to the sense of the action. Only rarely, as in panel III, some of the acting persons are shown in profiles. In panel II the two horses in profile move "correctly" towards the centre of the picture where the four encounters are to take place. The Bodhisattva, however, is sculpted in right angle to these horses and looks from the relief to the spectator and seems to take no part in the le-

gendary scenes whose main actor he is 03. According to the ancient Indian tradition single horses as well as carrying cars are given in profile 04. In panel II we notice a fine formal solution of one horse turning its head to the other - perhaps in order to leave a free space for the central

group so that head of the sick man and bowl of the beggar might not be covered. This motif

may belong to those representations of chariots in Indian art which are sometimes interpreted as influenced by classic modelsI05. At the same time this type of horse's head has an Indian tradition in Andhra sculpture and Andhra-influenced Indonesian art 06.

f) Narrative scenes are depicted by early Indian art mainly in the continuous methodo07, which is known from the Ancient Orient and was to have a long tradition in art history I8. The cycles of Bharhut and Sanici employ this technique of ranging consecutive scenes within one single relief and of repeating the main figure several times in the relief. Gandhara sculptors rendered legendary scenes both in the continuous method 109 and also by chiseling only one scene without repetition of figures within a frame of pilasters or trees I0. The art of Mathura prefers this latter method which seems to be an abstraction of the Gandhara model'II. Both methods 102 On ancient Oriental frontality as mediated by the Parthians to the Kusana artists, cf. G. Rodenwaldt (reviewing Ippel,

Indische Kunst und Triumphalbild), Gnomon 7, 1931, 293. M. Rostovtzeff, Rev.ArtsAsiat. 7, 1931/32, 206 sq. Idem,

Dura-Europos and its art, Oxford 1938, i8i. Combaz Io6. H. Seyrig, "Antiquites syriennes," Syria 19, I937, 37 sq. H. Seyrig, "Palmyra and the East," JRS 40, 1950, 4. R. Ghirshman in Archaeologica Orientalia in mem. E. Herzfeld, New York I952, 102 sq. U. Monneret de Villard, L'artelranica, Milano 1954, 72, 83. V. d. Osten, op. cit., 121. E. Porada

(reviewing Ghirshman, L'Iran des origines a l'Islam), Artibus Asiae I9, I956, 92. Zimmer, op. cit., 325 on intentional

avoiding of profile in Indian art. G. Combat, "La loi de la frontalite dans la sculpture indienne," Rev. ArtsAsiat. 7, 1931/32. Bussagli, RINASAR, N. S. 5/6, I956/57, I95 notes 81 and 82.

103 Seyrig, Syria 19, I937, 37. 104 Combaz 66. One may remember, however, that from Bharhut to Gandhara elephants and horses sometimes appear in

frontal view. K. Fischer, Schopfungen indischer Kunst, Koln I959, 84, 86, I52. 105 G. Hafner, Viergespanne in Vorderansicht, Leipzig 1938, 6i sq., 73 sq. and Kat.-Nr. 161 and pl. 2 (Ruvo). See also one

horse turning its head to three others of a quadriga on a Roman ivory: Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire... fig. 6803 and Hundert Jahre Romisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum Main 1952, Taf. 17. Horses in profiles before a car and its driver in frontal view are rendered both in ancient Indian sculpture from Bharhut (N. G. Majumdar, A Guide to the Sculptures in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, I pl. VIII) and in Roman art from Lepcis (I. S. Ryberg, "Rites of the State Religion in Roman Art," MemAmAc.Rome 22, I955 fig. 88). See also Allouche-Le Page, op. cit., 97-I00.

106 Barrett, op. cit., pls. X, XXVIII. P. R. Ramachandra Rao, The art of Njgdrjunikonda, Madras 1956, pls. IX, XLV. Krom. op. cit., 57, 66.

107 Foucher I, 565, 605 sq. Combat 72-78. L. Bachhofer, ((Fruhindische Historienreliefs)), Ostas.Zs. N. F. 8, I932, 18-19.

Zimmer, op. cit., 80 suggests even a case of continuous rendering of several legendary scenes without the image of the main figure.

108 L. Curtius, Die antike Kunst, Berlin 1913, I 272 sq. E. Unger, ((Kinematographische Erzahlungsform in der altorienta- lischen Relief- und Rundplastik ), Ausfiinf Jahrtausenden morgenldndischer Kultur, Festschrift Oppenheim, Berlin I933. H. A.

Groenewegen-Frankfort, Arrest and movement, An essay on space and time in the representational art in the ancient Near East, London I 95 , chapter on dramatic and scenic coherance in the secular art of the Assyrians. L. Schnitzler, ((Die Trajans- saule und die mesopotamischen Bildannalen , Jahrb. Deutsch.Archdol. Inst. 67, I952, 43, 55, 76. See however Bielefeld, Archiol. Aneeiger 1956, 29. On the continuous method in Far Eastern art see also D. Seckel, ((Das alteste Langrollen- bild in Japan: Kako-Genzai-Ingakyo ), Bulletin of Eastern art, Tokyo 1943, Nr. 37, I9 sq., 33 sq. See also Coomaras-

wamy, JISOA 3, I935, I40 sq. and S. Kramrisch, The Art ofIndia, London 1954, 46 sq. 109 Foucher I, 605. Combaz 76. 110 Combat 75. "I' Vogel, op. cit., 56 sq. Bachhofer, Ostas.Zs. I932, 24. Hallade, op. cit., 48 sq.

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are primarily to be explained by the indigenous Indian evolution. Additionally one might con- sider whether the concentration of the action in one single relief hints at suggestions from Greek artII2; or whether the continuous method in Gandhara art and in early Christian art should be interpreted as depending on common models of Roman sculpture I3. Both methods will be found in AmaravatiI I4.

In panel I are three, and in panel III are seven scenes rendered consecutively in one frieze without separation through pilasters or trees, i. e. in a rarely employed manner of composition I I. In panel II we face a special case of the continuous method: in one single relief the main

figure is sculpted only once, but in such a way that the prince takes part in all four encounters which are rendered simultaneously. This method also is known from classic times I6. It occurs sometimes in Gandhara reliefs, too, and seems to represent an indigenous Indian evolution. In the Dipankara JatakaI7 we notice a locality depicted by architectural requisites and the main

figure around whom take place four consecutive actions simultaneously sculpted. Although the Kunduz panel II displays remarkable iconographical and formal particularities,

and although it is the first find of its kind, it seems to represent a type of Kusana art whose elements are traceable in art centres adopting formal and iconographic inventions of Gandhara

sculpture. In Qyzil frescoesI18 the four encounters are given in two separated pictures showing each

time the prince riding - seen from the spectator - from left to right, and meeting on the first

panel the old man and the sick man, and on the second one the corpse and the monk"19. The fat sick man, seated on the bottom with one leg set up and leaning on one arm, and the old

meagre man bowed on his stick appear directly as a side-inverted repetition of the same persons in the Kunduz groupI20. According to the legend the prince meets in the following pictureI12 a corpse, which in this instance is carried by upright men on their shoulders, and a monk. The latter again closely resembles the figure of the Kunduz relief, whilst the painting of the dead man

preserves the Gandharan iconography of a man lying on his side face to the front which also served for Nirvana scenes in Turkestan.

A series of early Tibetan paintings is also connected with Gandhara sculpture 122. Features of Kunduz panel II contributed possibly to the picture described by Hackin: the prince meets 112 Combat 75-76. II3 Buchthal, op. cit., passim. 114 Combat 77. II5 Foucher I, 603 and n. 2. The subject of Kunduz panel III to be seen on a reconstructed stupa in the sense of the pra-

daksina with separation of the scenes by pilasters: Majumdar, op. cit., pl. XIV. 116 F. Wickhoff, Rdmische Kunst, ed. Dvorak, Berlin 1912, 170: Peleus fighting against Thetis who assumes manifold forms.

Buchthal, op. cit., 140 sq. 117 See n. 77 and Foucher I, 274 sq. 118 Waldschmidt in Le Coq, op. cit., VII, I933, 24 confirms Grunwedel's statement that these frescoes are influenced by

the Gandhara-style. On relations between Gandhara sculpture and Turfan paintings in many details see F. H. Andrews, Wall paintings from ancient shrines in Central Asia recovered by A. Stein, London 1948, p. XX sq. p. i sq. Deydier, op. cit. 42. Diez, Die KunstIndiens 136.

"I9 Waldschmidt in Le Coq, op. cit. VI, 1928, 37 on the fact that in the Qyzil frescoes the narrative style passes from the continuous to the distinguishing method. Hence one might regard the paintings 18 and 9 as a separation of the Kunduz

sculpture. Zimmer, op. cit., 20I and 203 on six legendary scenes before one main figure and on an abbreviated rendering of the Buddha's life.

120 Le Coq, op. cit. III, 1924 pl. 7, Nr. I8. 12I Ibid, Nr. I 9. 122 Hackin see note 72.

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simultaneously an old man, a sick man and a monk, whilst the encounter with the corpse (which is being eaten by vultures) takes place in another part of the painting.

Elements of Gandharan art and trends of Gupta art coalesce with Chinese traditions in the borderlands between Turkestan and ChinaI23. It might be conjectured whether elements of Kunduz panel II are still recognisable at Tun-huang I24, where the old man, sick man and corpse are grouped together in one picture, or at Yiin-kangI25, where a sick man is squatting at the bottom.

Finally it should be mentioned, that the Bodhisattva is rendered in "normal" size, and not bigger in the hieratic sense as in several ancient Indian reliefs including Gandharan examples.

The Artists

Considering who the artists were who executed these Bactrian sculptures we have to repeat the question which Schlumberger discussed when publishing the first figural and decorative stone reliefs found in Bactria126: are they productions of an extension of the Gandhara school to the North beyond the Hindukush, or are they descendants of the lost art of Greek Bactria? The Kunduz panels belong in general conception and all details to the Gandhara school of sculptures; and the stray finds of similar pieces in other parts of Bactria would, on first sight, not contradict earlier ideas on the northern border of the Gandhara school127 and would allow us to look upon them as exports from Gandharan ateliers. On the other hand, the new material might be interpreted as supporting Hackin's thesis of Bactria's being the cradle of the Graeco- Buddhist school of artI28. Pending further excavations, I would regard the reliefs as the work of a local Bactrian art school during the end of the Great Kusana empire, as suggested in the introduction and by the map. The sculptors of the KIunduz panels belonged to a common mixed culture in which Asiatic elements prevailed but were enriched by additional Mediterranean inspirations I29.

123 Ashton, op. cit., 45. 0. Fischer, Die Kunstlndiens, Chinas und Japans, Berlin 1928, 99. 0. Kiimmel, Die Kunst Chinas, Japans und Koreas, Potsdam 1929, 34. D. Seckel, Grundfuge der buddhistischen Malerei (Mitteilgn. d. Dt. Ges. f. Nat.- u. Volkerkunde Ostasiens XXXVI C), Tokyo und Leipzig I945, i6. L. Hajek, Chinesische Kunst, Prag I955, 67. D. Seckel, Buddhistische Kunst Ostasiens, Stuttgart I957, 24-26.

124 Stein, op. cit., IV pl. LXXIV. 125 Ashton, op. cit., pl. XIV i. A. Malraux, Des bas-reliefs aux grottes sacrees, Paris I954, figgs. 326/27. 126 Schlumberger, J.Asiat. 242, I954, I84/I85 and note 3. Vogel, Artibus Asiae i6, I953, 130 discusses with regard to

Taxila, whether Gandhara stone work was imported from Gandhara ateliers across the Indus river. Similar problems arise at Shotorak (Meunie, op. cit., 32): whether stone decoration of mud brick architecture was imported as raw material or executed in foreign workshops.

I27 Foucher II, 8I5; Foucher, Vieille route 307-3I2. I28 Deydier, op. cit., 6ff. and 204. Hackin see n. I8. 129 Marshall, Taxila, op. cit. has summarized all material in favour of original traces of Greek art in Indian monuments

and opposed differing views of Buchthal's "The Western Aspect of Gandhara sculpture" (London 1945) inJRAS 1946. A. Soper, "The Roman style in Gandhara," AJA 55, 95 I 302 gives a bibliographical survey of recent works stressing important Roman contributions. In the Kunduz panel I would see neither direct Greek nor Roman elements. Certain un-Indian elements I would explain by the cultural exchange between Northwest India and Central Asia with the hellenized provinces in the eastern part of the Roman empire from Scythian to Kusana periods. On art under the Roman empire with a Roman and subsequent Greek period and its extension to the East see G. Rodenwaldt, Begren- zung und Gliederung der Spatantike, Jahrb.Deutsch.Archdol.Inst. 59/60, 1944/45. On artists in Asia see J. M. C. Toyn- bee, Some notes on artists in the Roman world, Bruxelles 195I, 53. Marg. op. cit. 9, I955/56, Nr. 2, 37 on Eurasian, Hel- lenistic and Imperial Roman elements in Gandhara art. On the role of hellenized Orient see M. Bussagli, "L'influsso classico ed iranico sull'arte dell'Asia centrale," Riv.Ist. Archeol. Stor. Art. N. S. 2, 1953.

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The Kundu~ Reliefs and Comparative Art History

The recently discovered panels confirm earlier statements that narrative sculpture of the Gandhara style illustrated the legends of the Buddha's life with singular minuteness of detail I30. We have got new examples of subjects well known from Gandhara stone sculptures, but found far north of the proper Gandhara country. Moreover we have got examples of iconographic types not yet known in Gandhara art, which, however, were to be expected. We are now allowed to suppose that all literally known events of Buddha's biography were also rendered by the sculptors. The new finds also confirm the fact that contents and form of Gandhara sculpture inspired related art schools in Tibet and Turkestan. Finally we think that the type of the four encounters in panel II not only influenced the art of Buddhist communities in Asia, but, by the medium of religious and artistic trends from Central Asia to Europe is even recognisable in Western Mediaeval art131I

GriinwedelI32, referring to the far-spread legend of Baarlam and Joasaph (Bodhisat), has found Buddhist motives in the Campo Santo of PisaI33. In the "Encounter of the three living with the thre dead" 34 he has seen a formal resemblance with the riding Bodhisattva during the four encounters. These comparisons were based on Tibetan and Turkestan paintings, as mentioned on p. 242, 243. In Kunduz panel II representing a type which was probably the model for these paintings we might feel these relations even more obviously. The Kunduz relief corre-

sponds with the Pisa painting in the formal element: a group moves from the spectators right towards a dead being on the other side of the picture. At Kunduz these are the Bodhisattva in the chariot and the corpse on the bed; at Pisa we have the three riders and the three corpses in their coffins. But even more interesting are the relations regarding morals drawn from the sub-

ject. Legend and relief of the first three encounters includin the meeting of a corpse explain the idleness of worldly life; by the meeting with the monk, the prince is summoned to re- nounce the world and to lead also the monastic life. In the same way the riders at Pisa are to realize by their encounter with the corpses the vanity of life, as explained by the hermit near the coffins, whilst pictures from monastic life in the background of the painting seem to invite the riders to draw the conclusion and to lead a spiritual life. This would be a "Triumph over Death," if we accept this interpretation of the Pisa frescoes instead of the title "Triumph of Death"I35. As a working hypothesis for further studies in the subject we may add that four encounters occur in Baarlam and Joasaph with a similar moral meaning 36, and that the prince's gesture of surprise in front of the corpse in the Tibetan painting137 may be related with the emotions shown by the riders on the Pisa fresco.

130 Combat 71. 131 F. Weller, ((Buddhistische Einfluisse auf die christliche Kunst des Mittelalters ), Wiener Zs. Kunde Morgenlds. 50, 1943/44,

65-146. K. Fischer, "Old Indian terracottas and contemporary art," Roopa-Lekha I 5, I954 Nr. I (chapter Indian stories and Western art and literature 41-42).

132 A. Grunwedel, Mythologie des Buddhismus, Leipzig 1900, 3 and 235.

133 See also Foucher, "Lettre d'Ajanta," J.Asiat. I921, 228. I34 See also Reallex.Deutsch.Kunstgesch. s. v. Drei Lebende und drei Tote; V. Goloubeff, "Legenda o trech iivych i trech

mertrych," Starye Gody i, I907, 56; R. Grousset, Bilan de I'histoire, Paris 195I, I69. I35 H. Brockhaus, ((Der Gedankenkreis des Campo Santo in Pisa und verwandte Malereien ), Mitt.Kunsthist.Inst.Florenz) I,

I908-II. 247 sq. 136 Si-yu-ki, op. cit., tr. Beal I884. II 18 and n. 46. 137 Hackin, Les scenes, op. cit., Thesis p. I5, Nr. 9.

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2. YAKSA-ATLANTE FROM SHUROABI (Fig. 5)

The Hakim of Kunduz showed me a lime-stone relief which had been found in his district. As far as I could ascertain it comes from a mound called Shuroabi, about 45 miles to the West of Kunduz. Bad weather prevented me from visiting the spot where further digging might reveal more architectural fragments and sculptures related to those of Kunduz. In the alluvial Bactrian plain near the Oxus, where building-activity mainly depends upon mud-brick work, the Shuroabi figure is the first piece of decorative stone-sculpture found so far. Since Bactria is a cross-road of Mediterranean, Mesopotamian, Iranian, Central-Asian and Indian culture, the new find - insignificant in itself, as it may seem - invites a survey of the artistic traditions in which the craftsmen of this atlante worked.

The stone measures about I2" in height and 25 " in length and shows in flat relief a youth sitting at ease, the right leg bent and reposing on the bottom frame and the left leg lifted with bent knee (in a kind of sukhasana pose). The figure lifts both arms which are bent at shoulder-

height in an obtuse angle. The palms are open and turned nearly to the front. Thumbs and fore-

fingers touch rather than carry a frieze which rests on the head of the figure and is decorated by a dentated triangular pattern. The sculptor has indicated no muscles, and the figure fulfills its action as atlante or caryatide in an easy and decorative way without a trace of exertion.

In early Indian sculpture YaksasI38 or helpful ghosts often have the function of supporting thrones, friezes, figures or bowlsI39. On ancient Near Eastern reliefs standing figures occur with lifted and bent arms, and open palms with stretched fingers. They are sometimes

interpreted as demonsI40, whilst in other cases their attitude is supposed to be a gesture of

prayerI4I. Many of these figures, however, have been recognised as carrying the vault of heaven or the sun-disc, and in various other instances their function as atlantes or caryatides is obviousI42. This function of carrying a weight - always in a relatively easy way - is also fulfilled by kneeling figures143. Standing throne-bearers in Achaemenian art in the same way act with lifted arms, open palms and outstretched thumbs and forefingers I44. The upper part of their

body is given in a frontal view as in that of Shuroabi Yaksa, although their legs and heads point into a profile movement of their action.

With the beginning of an uninterrupted evolution of Indian stone sculpture, the motif of

138 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Yaksas, Washington I I928, II 193I (Smiths. Misc. Coll. 80, 6. Publ. 2926. Smiths. Inst. Freer

Gallery of Art. Publ. 3059). '39 C. K. Gairola, Atlantes in Early Indian Art, Oriental Art, N. S. 2, I956. See also Gangoly, BullBarodaMus. 3, 1945/46

pt. I 21. - Daremberg-Saglio, Dictionnaire... s. v. Atlantes. Pauly-Wissowa, Realencyclopddie... s. v. India 13I9 ("one of the motives that were re-adopted by the Gandhara sculpture from earlier Indian and Western art"). Foucher I 206-208,

figs. 84-87, 2i6, 3I4, 325, 595, 596. Combar I63-I68 and pls. io6-IIo. R. Fritz, Die Skulptur im Dienste der Architektur - Die figiurlichen Stuitzen, Frankfurter Diss. I95I,

140 Bittel-Naumann-Otto, YaZilikaya, Leipzig I941, 95 sq., pl. 26. G. R. Meyer, Durch vier Jahrtausende altvorderasiatischer Kultur, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin 1956, 37 fig. 6.

141 A. Godard, Le tresor de Ziwiye (Kurdistan), Haarlem I950, fig. 20. 142 Perrot-Chipiez, Histoire... II, figs. I47, 237. F. Poulsen, Der Orient und die friihgriechische Kunst, Leipzig 1912, fig. 57.

A. Moortgat, Die bildende Kunst des Alten Orients und die Bergvolker, Berlin 1932, pls. I 3, 14. H. Th. Bossert, Altanatolien, Berlin I942, figs. 847, 8 5 I . U. B. Alkim, Les resultats archeologiques des fouilles de Karatepe, Rev.Hitt.Asian. 9, I949, fig. 24. K. Bittel, Beitrag zu Eflatun-Pinar, Bibliotheca Orientalis 10, 1953, 2-4 and pls. I-III. M. v. Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf, Berlin III, 1955, 92 and pi. 95b.

143 Moortgat, op. cit., fig. 9. H. Frankfort, More sculptures from the Diyala region, Chicago I943, pls. 33, 34. I44 Combat, pl. o06 above, left. Best fotos: E. F. Schmidt, Persepolis I, Chicago I953, pls. 77, 80, 8i, 13.

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the Yaksa-atlante becomes frequent at Bharhut, Sanici, Bodh Gaya, Mathura, Gandhara and Amaravati'45. In most cases the atlantes are seated at ease or squatting, carrying their weights with stretched hands on or over the head without signs of physical exertion. Elements of the Shuroabi atlante are to be met with in seated figures at Bodh Gaya and Amaravati146, and the attitude of the open hand supporting a frieze with dentated pattern is known from Gandhara 47.

In later art finally standing figures occur in small scale with one bent arm supporting the seat of

imagesI48. Comparatively rarely the relief figures carry their weights in a heavy action, pressed down and using both shoulders as at Bharhut, or seizing powerfully a beam which reposes on one shoulder as at NasikI49.

Yaksa-atlantes act also in those regions that were inspired by the mixed Asian-Mediter- ranean Gandhara art: Turfan and Kasmir. At Qyzil in Turkestan four painted Devaputras rising with the upper parts of their bodies and stretching out their arms Iso support the cupola of the "Pfauenhohle". In Kasmir we find varieties of the seated and standing atlantes I51 known from Gandhara.

Squatting figures balancing heavy weight without obvious physical action serve as caryatides and consoles throughout all later periods of Indian architecture and decorative sculpture 2.s The Hutsapaya temple at Aiholel53, the Karvati temple'54 and an example at TadpatriI55 display this favourite type during more than one millennium.

In Ceylon we find atlante motives from the epoch of the Royal Pavilion at Pollonaruva to the final stage at Kelaniya. In the same inactive way also Atlantes in Cambodia and Javas56 and the Far East'57 fulfill their function.

During all these periods the formula of a human being with lifted hands is also employed without the significance of supporting some heavy weight, as in reliefs of Bhajas58 or Ma- thurai59. In Gandhara persons with lifted hands are often among the mourning figures beside

145 CombaZ, pls. I09, IIo. Gairola, op. cit., figs. B-G, 3-7. See also for Mathura J. Ph. Vogel, La sculpture de Mathura, Paris I930, pls. IXa and XLIX; V. A. Smith, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, Oxford 19i i, pl. XC, C; and for Nagarjunikonda P. R. Ramachandra Rao, The art of Nagarjunikonda, Madras 1956, pl. 13.

146 CombaZ, pl. o above and down, left. 147 Ibid. down, right. Frieze with dental pattern supported by earth-goddess: A. v. Le Coq, Bilderatlas <ur Kunst undKultur-

geschichte Mittelasiens, Berlin I925, fig. I62. See also Rowland, Art News Jan. I955, 36. 148 Foucher figs. 595, 596. 149 Bharhut: Coomaraswamy, op. cit., pl. III i. Nasik: C. Sivaramamurti, Sanscrit literature and art - mirrors of Indian culture,

MASI 73, Delhi I955, 3 and pl. I 3 interpreted by a Ramayana passage. I50 After Grunwedel: E. Waldschmidt, Gandhara, Kutscha, Turfan, Leipzig I925, fig. 3. Is5 ASIAR I9I5/I6 pls. XXXV b and XLVII a. 152 Ram Raz, Essay on the architecture of the Hindus, London 1834, pl. XIX. Kramrisch, Hindu Temple, op. citf. 344 and 353,

and pls. XXIV, XXXIX, XL, XLI, LIII, etc. on ganas and Caryatids. 153 p. Rambach and V. de Golish, The golden age of Indian art, London I955, pl. 12. 154 Smith, op. cit., fig. 156. 155 A. Nawrath, Indien und China, Leipzig und Wien 1938, pl. I41. I56 K. With, Java, Hagen I922, pi. 72. H. Zimmer, The art of Indian Asia, New York I955, pls. 478, 554, 583. 157 0. Siren, Kinas konst under tre drtusenden, Stockholm I, I942, pi. 114. M. Bussagli, L'influsso classico ed iranico sull'arte

dell'Asia centrale, Riv.Istit.Archeol.Storia Arte N. S. 2, I953, 193 and figs. 10-12. A. de Silva-Vigier, The life of the Buddha, London I955, opposite p. 22. G. Ecke, Atlantes and Caryatides in Chinese Architecture, Bull. Cath. University Peking 7, 1930.

158 A. K. Coomaraswamy, History oflndian andIndonesian art, I927, fig. 28. 159 Interpretation of a figure (described traditionally as atlante) as bearer of an alm's bowl by J. E. van Lohuizen de

Leeuw, "The squatting yaksas at Mathura", India Antiqua, Leiden I947, 23 I and pl. XVIId, e. Vogel, op. cit., pls. LIII a, c: Mourning figures with lifted hands in Gandhara-style Nirvana-scene.

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Buddha's death bed160. The earth goddess supporting the Buddha's throne during the illumina- tion sometimes has lifted hands I6I

Apart from unique examples like Akragas, the motif of the atlante begins in the Graeco- Roman world with heavily carrying figures of the Hellenistic art from Pergamon. They are

pressed down by huge weights on their knees and support entablature or vessels on their shouldersI62. They never handle weights in such an easy way as the Shuroabi Yaksa does.

Figures like those in the Dionysos theatre at Athens 63 receive the weight with their shoulders. Atlantes supporting sarcophagi of the znd cent. A. D. in the Lateran museumI64 rest heavily on their knees and seize beams of the sarcophagi with muscular arms actively fulfilling their task.

Candelabra and supports of mirrors in human forms165 or subjects on paintings in similar function 66 act easily and contrast with the proper atlantes. Lifted hands in this attitude are also

employed for figures in quite different context,67. There is no necessity to suppose direct relations with Eastern and Western types of all these kinds which have developed independently according to the mind which conceived their function. Contemporary with the last-mentioned Roman atlantes and the Gandhara examples, supporting figures were used in Parthian artI68. Such types were also adopted by the Umayyads 1I69 from Mediterranean-Parthian-Sassanian art. The tradition of the motif has been recently described with regard to Western Mediaeval artI70.

In Bactria no similar piece has been found before. Discoveries of Buddhist reliefs in Gand-

hara-style at nearby Kunduz suggest that a local school of stone-masons in Bactria worked after the same principles as their colleagues in Gandhara and Mathura.

In Kusana art, which absorbed Mediterranean, Near Eastern and Indian features, two types of Yaksa-atlantes occur. The one is purely Asiatic, seated at ease and carrying a weight on or over his head with slightly opened palms without traces of physical action. It is frequent in

green schist7, and rare in stucco sculpture72. The other type, however, shows him pressed

160 Foucher, figs. 278, 280. Coomaraswamy, History, op. cit., fig. 91. J. Meunie, Shotorak, Paris I942, fig. 68. The same is true in Turkestan paintings; see A. Griinwedel, Altbuddhistische Kultstdtten in Chinesisch-Turkestan, Berlin I 9 I 2, fig. 5 6i. A similar attitude in another context, ibid., fig. 217.

16I Foucher 398 and fig. 200. The earth-goddess with other attitude of the hands: N. G. Majumdar, A guide to the sculptures in theIndian Museum, Delhi I937, II pl. VIII I.

162 Combat, pls. io06, io8. 163 R. Herbig, Das Dionysos-Theater in Athen II, Stuttgart I935, pl. 5. Amelung-Lippold, Die Skulpturen des Vatikanischen

Museums III 2, Berlin I 9 5 6, I I 5 and pl. 88. 164 R. Garrucci, Monumenti del Museo Lateranense, Roma I86I, pl. II. Benndorf-Schone, Die antiken Bildwerke des lateranensi-

schen Museums, Leipzig 1876, 287, 296. C. Robert, Die antiken Sarkophagreliefs II, Berlin I890, I68 and pl. LIV I55. A. Strong, Roman sculpture from Augustus to Constantine, London I907, pl. LXXIX.

165 Guhl-Korner-Engelmann, Das Leben der Griechen und Romer, Berlin 6I893, fig. 956d. 166 S. Aurigemma, Le terme di Diocle.iano e il Museo Nazionale Romano, Roma 3I954, pl. LXXXI (Casa Romana della Far-

nesina). M. Pallottino, La peinture etrusque, Geneve I952, 127 (Tarquinia, Tomba dei Tifoni). Also in Roman provincial art occur figures with uplifted arms supporting panels, bowls etc., see Bonner Jahrb. 63, I878, 6I sq. and pl. III (C I L 6410, Kurpfalzisches Museum Heidelberg).

167 Gold ivory statuette from Crete: Bull. R. Ontario Mus. of Archaeol., March I932, II.

168 M. Rostovtzeff, Das Mithraeum von Dura, Rom. Mitt. 49, 1934, I86 and pl. 12. Idem, Dura-Europos and its art, Ox- ford I938, 90 and note 54. The example of Garny, which is quoted by Rostovtzeff, was recently described and illustrated

by K. V. Trever, OCerki po istorii Kul'tury drevnej Armenii, Moskva 195 3, 65 and pls. I I and I 5. I69 R. W. Hamilton, Carved plaster in Umayyad architecture, Iraq I5, 1953, 47 and pl. VII 4. I70 H. Ladendorf, Antikenstudium und Antikenkopie, Berlin I953, s. v. Atlant and Karyatide. 171 Combat, pls. I09 middle, left and IIo down, right. A. Salmony, Notes on a stone sculpture from Gandhara, Artibus

Asiae 17, I954, 29 sq. 172 J. Barthoux, Lesfouilles de Haedda, Paris I933, I 95 fig. 81.

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down by heavy weight, and fulfilling his function of supporting with great effort and physical activity, his face showing marks of vivid passion. This type owes its artistic qualities to new inspirations from the late classic sculpture which started in Hellenistic times and spread throughout the art centres of the Roman empire. It occurs occasionally in stone sculptures 73, but is frequent in stucco and terracotta with a last revival of Hellenistic forms 74.

The Shuroabi atlante, like the Kunduz reliefs executed in local lime-stone, belongs to the Oriental tradition. The way of sitting at ease with one knee lifted corresponds with earlier examples at Bodh GayaI75 and later figures at Amaravati 76. The manner of carrying with open palm is to be met with at Gandhara 77, but has its earliest and most obvious counterpart in the action of the Persian throne-bearers mentioned in note I44.

'73 Foucher, fig. 87. Combat pl. I09 middle row, zentral figure. ASIAR 1902-03 pl. XXVII II. Museum Journal, Philadel- phia/Pa., I 5, 1927 pi. XXV shows a stone panel with both types of atlantes, the easily acting one as well as the pressed down one close together.

'74 Marshall-Foucher, The stupas and monasteries at Jaulian, MASI 7, Calcutta 1921, 29. L. Bachhofer, Early Indian Sculp- ture, Firenze und Miinchen 1929 pl. I95. J. Strzygowski, Griechischer Iranismus in buddhistischer Bildnerei, Artibus Asiae 4, I930, i86 fig. 14. Barthoux op. cit. figs. 20, 54. A. Foucher, La vieille route de l'Inde de Bactres a' Taxila, Paris 1942-47, pl. XXXVI k. Bussagli, RINASAR N. S. 5/6, I956/57, figs. 43-46.

I75 Foucher, fig. 82. Coomaraswamy, History op. cit., fig. 6I. Coomaraswamy, Yaksas I, pl. XIII 2. Combaz, pl. IIo above. 176 Combaz, pl. IIo down, left. Gairola, op. cit., fig. G. 177 Salmony, op. cit., illustration on p. 31.

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gandhāran sculpture from kunduz and environs

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