Introduction—Scythian impact on Indian art of later periods

This chapter deals with the Saka/Scythian elements in Indian art from about the middle of the first century A.D. onwards. In chapter V above, we have dealt with Saka/Scythian elements in Indian art in the major areas of Indo-Scythian rule, i.e., the borderlands and in the north-western part of the subcontinent, till the middle of the first century A.D. The major areas once under the Saka/Scythian or Saka-Pahlava rule continued to experience the impact of nomadic art styles. This is evident from the objects unearthed at the sites of Shotorak, Paitava and Kham Zargar. As we shall see below, these sites have yielded various utility objects, weapons, horse trappings, ornaments and sculptured reliefs betraying Saka/Scythian and Saka-Pahlava art elements.

204 Some minor regions of Saka/Scythian and Saka-Pahlava rule, from the first century A.D. onwards, have been discussed in Chapter II. Among the minor areas, mention may be made of modern Kashmir, Haryana. Mathura, Saurashtra, Rajasthan and the western part of Madhya Pradesh, from where various artifacts dated in the first century A.D. onwards reveal the impact of the Saka/Scythian and Saka-Pahlava or Scytho-Parthian art styles. Regions other than the areas ever ruled by the Saka/Scythians or Saka-Pahlavas also received the impact of the Saka/Scythian and SakaPahlava styles in the formation of their art objects, as in Maharashtra, upper Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Perhaps these areas experienced the diffusion of the Saka/Scythian and Saka-Pahlava styles due to their proximity or linkages via trade routes. Another factor could be the expansion of these areas as a result of trade with the Andhra kingdoms,¹ which seems to have strengthened the stylistic factor. We go back to the three sites of Shotorak, Paitava and Kham Zargar, located in the heart of the major areas of Saka/Scythian rule, i.e., between the borderlands of India and the north-western part of the subcontinent, in search of Saka/Scythian and Saka-Parthian art elements. The three sites. History of Civilizations of Central Asia, Vol. II, p.203.

205 can be broadly located in the Kapisa region in the eastern part of Afghanistan, to the south of the Hindu Kush mountains and adjacent to ancient Gandhara. Here, the nomadic cultural evolution was set in motion by the presence of the Sakas, subsequently by the Parthians, and then of course by the Kushanas, after the latter crossed the Hindu Kush mountains. Under the Kushana rule, Kapisa became the first important political centre outside Bactria, and Shotorak lies five kms. east of Kapisa- Begram. Shotorak's proximity with Kapisa is important, as Kapisa already had an established urban centre supported by fertile lands and a good irrigation system, which had been in existence since Achaemenid times. Meunie excavated Shotorak and dated the site from second to third century A.D. on the basis of a coin of Vasudeva, which had been discovered besides the votive stupa D 4.1 From the remains of a large standing Buddha image and pedestal from Shotorak, we see two images on the left side of the Buddha.2 These two images are wearing the typical Scythian costume and are similar to the attire of the donors in the relief of the Buddha flanked by Kasyapas, also from Shotorak (Plate 202).³ The figures of Trapusa and 'Haruko Tsuchiya, 'An Iconographical Study Of The Buddhist Art Of Shotorak,Paitava And Khan Zargar', Silk Road Art And Archaeology, 2000, Vol. 6, p.100. 2 The Dynastic Arts of the Kushanas Pl. 99 a 3 Ibid., Pl. 98 a.

206 Bhallika, flanking the Sakyamuni (Plate 203), 1 at Shotorak are depicted as wearing the Scythian type tunic, baggy trousers, and both are sporting long beards. Similarly, in the relief of the worship of Sakyamuni's alms bowl (Plate 204), 2 from Shotorak, the flanking figures protecting the bowl are wearing the typical Scythian tunics with belts or girdles and close-fitting trousers. Similar costumes are also seen to be depicted on several sculptures of Indo-Scythian devotees (Plate 205) from Takal. 3 A Saka/Scythian devotee from Jaulian, Taxila, wears a similar belted tunic reaching below the knee, as at Shotorak. In a relief (Plate 206), found from Paitava comprising an image pedestal with Maitreya flanked by figures, some are wearing belted tunics, upto the knee and their trousers are tucked in boots, while others are wearing tunics below the knee, and baggy trousers. A fragmented relief with Saka/Scythian devotees and another relief fragment with garlands borne by Saka/Scythian men have been found from Shotorak. It seems that nomadic art had traversed a long way and was in the service of the spread of Buddhist religion. Ibid., Pl. 102. 2 Ibid., Pl. 103. 3 Ibid.,Pl.62 a. 4 Ibid., Pl. 104.

207 An interesting gold amulet case (Plate 233)! has been found from Ahin Posh, near Jalalabad, Afghanistan. It is dated in the second, third century A.D. The openings on this eight-sided cylinder are backed with garnets, as are those on the two ends, one of which can be opened. The motifs on the gold amulet case have garnet incrustations and they are similar to the Saka Scythian motifs. Such cylindrical amulet cases, designed to be worn on a cord, can be seen on the chests of the bejewelled Bodhisattvas of the Gandhara period. Two gold tatankacakras or discal ear ornaments (Plate 234) from Gandhara of circa third century A.D. are preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.2 They depict a goose with floriating feathers, in the typical Scythian 'curved inwards' style. The central motif is encircled by a double border. We go further east and find at the head of the Doab of the Indus and Jhelum rivers, the great centre of Taxila. We have already seen that Taxila occupied a major meeting point of the trade routes coming from Kabul, from 1 A Golden Treasury, p.20, Pl.17. cf. also Hugh Tait (ed.), Seven Thousand Years of Jewellery, British Museum, London, 1986, No. 535. 2 Ear Ornaments of Ancient India, p. 37, Fig. I. 45.

208 Kashmir, and from eastern India. Kashmir was again linked with western Tibet and Tibet was linked with Nepal and Bengal. In the last decades of the first century B.C. there were political changes taking place in the westPunjab region around Taxila. The Greeks under the leadership of Apollodotus II were subsequently able to regain the territories of the Punjab which they had earlier lost to the Indo-Scythian Maues. However, they were finally expelled from this region around c. 55 B.C. by another Scythian prince, Azes I, who dethroned Hippostratus (the last Greek king to reign in the west Punjab, including Taxila and Pushkalavati). A tetradrachm of Apollodotus II from the Sarai Saleh hoard found on the North-West Frontier, in the Abbotabad region, with two combined monograms, suggests that Apollodotus II was the immediate successor of Maues, and both reigned within a short lapse of time in the same region.¹ Thus, it was Azes I himself who definitively established the Indo-Scythian dynasty in the region of the West Punjab. It is noteworthy, that stylistically, the portrait of the king on the Apollodotus's drachm is similar to the one issued in the west-Punjab mints. The hoard found in the Malakand region, not far away from the ancient cities of Pushkalavati (near Peshawar) and Taxila is similar to the Peshawar hoard containing coins of Azes I, Azilises, Azes II and 1 Osmund Bopearachchi, The Arsacid Empire: Sources and Documentation', Das Partherreich Und Seine Zeugnisse, Stuttgart, 1998, p.396.

209 Gondophares.¹ Again, it is to be noted that trade between upper Mesopotamia and North-West India, both overland and by way of Mesene and the Persian Gulf was frequent during the first century A.D.2 Taxila and its surrounding sites have yielded utility objects, ornaments, weapons, coins and horse-trappings, dated in the middle of the first century A.D. onwards. Most of them betray the Saka/Scythian, SakaPahlava or Scytho-Parthian styles. The style of these objects can hardly be distinguished as belonging prior to the first century A.D. or after the first century A.D. The Taxila valley had access to diverse kinds of raw materials from regions as far removed as Mirzapur and Mathura.