Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c11.s4.t2.19

v2.c11.s4.t2.19

Most of the basic manpower that sculpted the statues in Yungang Caves are the Liangzhou craftsmen who were familiar with the art of the Western Regions. On the eve of cutting the Five Tanyao Caves (455 CE), five people, including a Sramana from the Lion Kingdom (now Sri Lanka) and ‘*Buddhanandi*’, took the third Buddha statue to the capital (now Pingcheng), and Shale (present day Shule) Sramana went to the capital to present the Buddha’s bowl and painting portraits. These monks from various states in the Western Regions might also have contributed to the “Pingcheng pattern” statues of Yungang Caves. In the second half of the Northern Wei Dynasty, the “Pingcheng pattern” of Yungang Caves changed again and again. There appeared the modelling of clothing with ample clothes, broad belt, slim and a clear appearance; the influence of Gandhara art and Gupta art becomes increasingly weak, and the tendency of sinicisation is becoming more and more significant.