Globalization and Gandhāran art

Ancient Gandhāra or Gandhāra Proper, is commonly identified with the Peshawar valley. Its influence extended to areas in modern Pakistan, North-western India, and Afghanistan (or Greater Gandhāra) which were located at the crossroads of cultural and economic convergence along the ancient trade routes. In this chapter, I compare two figures that provide depictions of the same episode in the Qizil grottoes: the body of Siddhārtha during the lifting of the elephant episode, and the nun Utpalavarṇā. Qizil is an important Buddhist and commercial centre near the Kuča region (in the Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang, China) located along the ancient Silk routes. The similarities (and differences) of these depictions is a direct consequence of economic, political, and cultural relations between Central India, Gandhāra and eastern Buddhist centres. Within this context, this paper will show that some episodes were remade by adopting existing motifs and schemes from the Gandhāran repertoire.