Studies in Indian Art c7.s2.34

c7.s2.34

The Kushana art continues further the same indigenous tradition of folk inspiration of the joy arising from the life of the senses and the pulsating buoyancy of open air feminine sports and pastimes, but their emphasis is increasingly human and the centre is shifting towards an urban civilization. The emergence of the Buddha image is the supreme gift of Kushana art. The image is not an abrupt or disruptive phenomenon; it rather stands integrated to the preceding religious processes and is an outcome of the movement laying emphasis on personal devotion to a deity or person of divine rank, counted supreme amongst other godlings. The colossal free standing Buddha and Bodhisattva images cannot be separated from the preceding Parkham Yaksha types. The problem of the origin of the Buddha image had been furnished with an answer in its stylistic bearings long ago by Dr. Coomaraswamy. The key, however, to the priority of the chronological position between the schools of Mathura and Gandhara rests with archaeology and that key is still not forthcoming. The existence of temples of Bhagavan Vāsudeva in the time of Sodasa is however an established fact of archaeology and this at any rate preceded the known images of the Buddha.