The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c9.3

c9.3

We have seen, in the first chapter, that Gandhāran art came into being in the last century before the Christian era, when the Śakas were ruling in the North-West and when the prevalent Hellenistic art which they had inherited from their Greek predecessors had already reached a decadent state. The character of this art and the way in which it declined under the Śakas and was subsequently given a new lease of life after the Parthian conquest is clearly apparent, albeit on a small scale, in a series of ornamental toilet-trays of Gandhāran workmanship which were unearthed in the Sirkap city at Taxila. They number thirty-three in all. Thirteen of them were of grey schist, twelve of micaceous or chloritized micaceous schist, four of steatite, two of claystone and two of slate. All these stones are found in their natural state in Gandhāra, but none of them in the neighbourhood of Taxila. Usually the trays are divided into two or more compartments and adorned with scenes or figures carved in relief. The subjects portrayed are few in number and all of a secular character. They comprise: a pair of lovers in an erotic scene; figure reclining on couch with attendant females; drinking and dancing scenes; male and female holding drinking-cups; lions, leogryphs, winged stags, hippocamps and the like with and without riders; and geometric and floral designs. Most of these subjects are clearly Hellenistic, and there can be no question that this type of toilet-tray was introduced with Hellenistic culture from the West, where numerous specimens have been found, especially in Egypt. Local influence, however, may possibly be seen in the lotus leaves or rosettes used as an accessory ornament and in the makara-like treatment of some of the sea-monsters.