Indian Architecture (Buddhist and Hindu Periods) c14.10

c14.10

It was however in the sculpture, with which these Buddhist monuments were so lavishly endowed, that the Gandhara style was most distinctive, and which fully entitled it to the name of Graeco-Buddhist. Much of the particular character that this plastic art assumed, was the result of a notable change which was taking place at the time in the constitution and principles of the creed. The Gandhara Compositions mark the beginning of the movement, when the Hinayana or primitive system of Buddhism was being superseded by the Mahayana or theistic system, a reformation which provided a broader and more progressive interpretation of the teachings of the Buddha. This newer doctrine inclined towards the deification of the Buddha as a personal saviour, and also created other Buddhas besides considerably increasing the mythological nature of the belief as a whole One of the effects of such an endeavour was greatly to stimulate image worship, and in the production of plastic representations of divine forms on the Buddhist monuments, the Hellenistic methods provided the means And so there appeared in the art of these parts, statues of the Buddha and other sacred figures, posed, modelled, and draped, after the Greek manner, and according to the Greek ideal. This Hellenistic ascription, however, went even further. So powerful was its influence that it contributed characters from its own Olympian system to the Buddhist pantheon, with the result that such well known pagan deities as Hercules, Pallas Athene, Eros, and Bacchus, thinly disguised but still identifiable, are included in some of the Gandhara compo- [Figure: Fig 2 Udaigiri, Orissa : Ranı Gumpha c B C. 150.]