Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s5.5

c13.s5.5

Of the hundreds and thousands of Buddha images found at Mathura, in Gandhāra and in other places not one antedates the reign of Kanishka. Confused suggestions have been made as to the existence of a Buddha-like figure on the coins of Vema Kadphises, or Azes, or Maues. But none of them stands critical scrutiny and none of them has the value of a proven hypothesis. We have therefore ultimately to fall back upon the firm position that the earliest Buddha images are those that bear dates in the reign of Kanishka. Wheeler also writes, "It is a point on which most authorities agreed that the palmy days of Buddhism and Buddhist art coincide with the reign of the great Kushāṇa kings, and more specially with that of Kanishka."