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Item Relic Shrines Pilgrimage(The International Conference on Land Transportation, Locomotive Heritage and Road Culture - 2017, 2017) Kumar, A.In the South Asian world, the first and second centuries CE gives a new dimension to Buddhism and its pilgrimage with the rise of Buddha image in human form. Whether the image originated in Mathura school of Art or Gandhara school of Art had been a long time question for scholars. This paper does not dwell into the origination of Buddha image but inspite it offers some light on Gandharan regional sites, and relic shrines pilgrimage and routes. Chinese pilgrims' accounts this region mostly confined to Peshawar basin, but due to its unified artistic and stupa tradition which had an extent to South-Afghanistan, as well as on the east of it due to Graeco Roman influences on art, Kashmir is also taken in examples. Buddhist art, culture and traditions flourished in Gandhara which was an ancient region between north-western Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan. The spread of Semi-Mahayanic tradition and monastic art from India via Gandhara to Central Asia and China played a vital role in the propagation of Buddhism as a world religion. Rise of Buddhism is evident in the period of the 1st century CE to 4th century CE during the rule of Kusana Empire. A distinctive feature of this period was the sustained patronage of Buddhist monasteries, art and architecture. Buddhist chronicles give an idea of pilgrimage sites which venerated body relics of Buddha which later were enshrined in the stupa. It comprises several narrative strands that relate the life story of the Buddha and the manner in which Buddhist teachings and institutions were established on the Gandharan periphery in ancient times. The focus of this work traces the relics associated with the historical Buddha.This paper traces the art and religiousity of relic shrines via Buddhist and cultural context in selecting some specimens of the 4th century BCE until 5th Century CE. Thus the paper will address some broader parameters in the history of Gandharan pilgrimage and move to a focus on Gandharan sculptures and Indo-Greek antiquities, coins that have been subject to concerted collecting efforts in the nineteenth and early twentieth century.Item Significance, Symbolism and Representation of Elephants in Gandhara Buddhist Art(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka, 2016) Anwar, N.Elephant being the symbol of stature, prosperity, wisdom and dominance is the most represented animal in the antiquity of South Asia. Since the dawn of Bronze Age, the depictions of elephants remained the choice of artists on priority basis. Similarly, the sculpting of elephants also remained a focal point during the Buddhist occupation of the historic Gandhara, the ancient name of present day north-western parts of Pakistan, the holy land of Buddhism. Around the end of the first century BC, it gave birth to a Sculpting Art devoted to the faith of the Buddha. The art was not a natural continuation of the Ancient Indian Arts but exhibits clear evidence of Hellenistic influence, though, it is significant to elaborate that the purpose of this art was the propagation of Buddhism through the images carved revolving around the Buddha’s life stories and other associated legends. So far, the case of elephant depictions is concerned, preliminary, the birth of the Buddha drawn by an elephant to miracles and up to representation in architecture, elephant continued to be the most celebrated animal in the Gandharan panels. The present research is an attempt on one side towards the significance and symbolism of elephant depicted in various postures where, on other side to eliminate on zonal workshops based on stylistic ground. Since the basic problem with the Gandharan sculptures is the absence of provenances, especially, those recovered in the early nineteenth century, the stylistic study is always adopted for affixing them to their probable zones. Similarly, the paper will also make an effort to reconstruct the glorious faunal past of that zone.Item The Portrayal of Women in Gandhara Art(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Siddiqui, K.S.The ancient Gandhara region has a diversified history. Gandhara region had experienced a noteworthy status at all times. The region has a very strong cultural and historical background since earliest times, which reputes it with the regions of great regard. Its significance was heightened with the artistic activities which were employed to serve the Buddhist faith since first century BCE to sixth century CE, known to the world by the name of “Gandhara art”. It was intended to spread the Buddhist faith through the depiction of Buddha and his life story. Besides, men and women were portrayed with great stylistic diversity in Gandhara Art. The representation of females in Gandhara art is far sophisticated as compared to the other arts of India, which obviously reflect their high and respected position in society. They were mostly depicted with their bodies covered with elegant dresses. The status of women can be studied by reviewing how women were portrayed in art. Ordinary women as well as goddesses and few mythological beings were portrayed in Gandhara art. The paper aims to investigate the various influences that women had over the society and provide information to help the understanding of this important area of art and culture. An effort will be made to examine the status of women in ancient Gandhara solely on the evidence of the art of that region rather than on the information of the literary source.Item Gandhara stupa and Alexander E. Caddy: A contextual investigation of an archaeological campaign into Swat(Centre for Asian Studies, University of Kelaniya, 2015) Khan, R.Indo-Pakistani archaeology has a long history in terms of the epistemological discourse of internalism and externalism. The former may be related to methodical-theoretical developments in the discipline, while the latter to the overall socio-cultural context. Gandharan archaeology of the colonial period vividly exhibits both the features right from the beginning till 1947. The present study attempts to investigate the archaeological of Alexander Caddy to swat valley in 1896. He visited the area and surveyed, photographed and dug a number of cultural heritage sites, especially Buddhist stupa. The famous Loriyan-tangai stupa is intimately linked with his name. It is to be noted that Caddy’s mission was supported by the Bengal government in order to obtain pieces of Gandhara art for the imperial collection of Calcutta Museum. He submitted his report to the government, which was published and lost. But, recently, a copy of it was recovered from the Malakand archives which is studied by Kurt Behrendt. The present study critically analyzes the work of Caddy from externalist and internalist viewpoints in order to appreciate its imperial, legal and methodical context with a special focus on Loriyan-tangai stupa.