The Development of Hindu Iconography c13.69.2

c13.69.2

but that one of the prime factors contributing to its development was the example set up by the Hellenistic Greeks of Gandhāra can be fully demonstrated with the help of the coins. It has been shown in the previous chapter that Śiva was being worshipped in Gandhāra in his bull form at the time the region was being ruled over by the Bactrian Greeks; shortly afterwards, during the rule of the Indo-Parthians and the Kushans, the god began to be anthropomorphically represented, though his theriomorphic form was not altogether forgotten. Now, this human as well as animal representation of Śiva was certainly not unknown in different parts of central and northern India, as is proved by the coins of much earlier times. In fact, the Hellenistic die-cutters must have made themselves familiar with the staff- and water-vessel-carrying Śiva figures of the latter and utilised this iconographic knowledge in giving shape to the Gandhāra Śivas. But, the plastic treatment and new orientation they gave to them on the coins show the nature and extent of the transformation of the theme. This is the reason why several scholars were sceptic about identifying Śiva on the reverse side of some coins of Gondophares and why the treatment of this deity on some of the tribal and Kushan coins forcibly reminds us of a Herakles of the Indo-Greek and the Indo-Scythic coins.