ASIAN ART HISTORY

1. The Art of India
From 2700 BCE to 1947

2. This is India

3. TIME CHART
• Indus Valley Civilization (c. 2700-1200 BCE)
• The Vedic Period (1500-322 BCE)
Aryan Invasions (c. 1500-1000 BCE)
Upanishads developed (800-600 BCE)
Mahavira, founder of Jainism (599- 527 BCE)
The historic Buddha (c. 563-483 BCE)
Alexander the Great campaigns in Gandara (327-326 BCE)
• Maurya Period (322-185 BCE)
Emperor Ashoka (269-232 BCE)
Shunga Period (185-72 BCE)
• Andhra Period (70 BCE-320 CE)
• Kushan Period (30-320 CE)

4. TIME CHART
• Gupta Period: North India (320-500 CE)
• Pallava Period: South India (500-750 CE)
• Chola Kingdom (846-1173)
• Mughal Empire: North India (1526-1858)
• British Rule (1858-1947)

5. PRE-HISTORIC/
PRE-BUDDHIST ART

6. The Indus Valley
• Indus Valley or Harappan civilization: earliest Indian
civilization around the Indus River (present day Pakistan,
Afghanistan, northwest India)
• After Harappa– one of its major cities
• Dated to around 2700-1200 BCE
• As old as the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Old Babylonians in
Mesopotamia, Minoan civilization in Aegean Sea and Middle
and Late Kingdoms in Egypt

7. Map of modern day Indus Valley

8. Indus Valley Civilization
• Economy based on
cultivation (wheat, barley,
peas)
• Trade with Mesopotamia
and the west
• No royal tomb, palace, or
large public artwork
• Found were well-planned
cities with walled
neighborhoods, broad
avenues, granaries and
baths
Dholavira house complexes

9. Indus Valley Civilization
• Wooden and kiln-fired brick
buildings in the most
excavated city, Mohenjo-daro
(City of the Dead)
• Had about 35,000
inhabitants
• Houses were up to 3 stories
tall and built around central
courtyards
• A large bath with brick floor
provided water for local
residences, general bathing
and ritual purification
ceremonies

10. Indus Valley Civilization
Unicorn Bison or bull
Found were roughly 2,000 seals
Rectangular and carved from fine-grained
steatite, a soft greenish-gray stone
Unified composition of linear and
modeled forms
Calm and fluid anatomies of animals

11. Indus Valley Civilization
• This type of seal with the horned deity, wearing bangles
on both arms and seated in yogic position on a throne,
appears at the larger Indus sites during the final phase of
the Harappan period, circa 2000–1900 B.C.
• The nude image appears to have three faces and is
bearded. It wears a headdress of wide, spreading bull or
water-buffalo horns, which has a triple-leafed branch
sprouting from the center.
• Five signs of the Indus script appear on either side of the
headdress. The figure wears seven bangles on the left
arm and six on the right, with the hands resting on the
knees. The heels are pressed together under the groin,
and the feet project beyond the edge of the throne. The
feet of the throne are carved with the hoof of a bovine
as on the bull and unicorn seals.
• Because of similarities in a few iconographic elements,
some scholars have suggested that this seated figure
represents an early form of the Hindu deity Siva,
specifically in his role as the master of animals—
”Pasupati Nath”—although there is no confirmed
connection between the horned figure on the Indus
seals and later Hindu deities. He may rather be a divine
bull-man.
http://asianhistory.tumblr.com/post/9322181175
/stamp-seal-with-a-seated-male-figure-ca
Stamp seal with a seated male figure,
ca. 2000–1900 B.C.; Harappan. Indus Valley,
Mohenjo-daro, DK 12050. Indus inscription.
Steatite; L. 2.7 cm (1 1/8 in.); W. 2.7 cm (1 1/8
in.). Islamabad Museum, Islamabad NMP
50.296. Courtesy of the Department of
Archaeology and Museums, Ministry of
Minorities, Culture, Sports, Tourism, and Youth
Affairs, Government of Pakistan.

12. Indus Valley Civilization
• Figures in seated yoga position:
yogin (holy man), yogini (holy
woman)
• These images would reappear
later in Buddhist or Hindu art
• Yoga is practiced by members of
many religion in India
• Its purpose is to “yoke” (attach)
oneself to universal, divine forces
• Continuity of Indus Valley
civilization with later periods of
Seal discovered during excavation of the Indian history
Mohenjodaro archaeological site in the Indus
Valley has drawn attention as a possible
representation of a "yogi" or "proto-Shiva"
figure

13. Indus Valley Civilization
• Their script has 400 known signs and remains
undeciphered
• The characters are largely pictorial and
includes many abstract signs
• Over the years, numerous decipherments
• have been proposed, but none have been
accepted by the scientific community at large.
The following factors are usually regarded as
the biggest obstacles for a successful
decipherment:
• The underlying language has not been
identified though some 300 loanwords in
the Rigveda are a good starting point for
comparison.
• The average length of the inscriptions is less
than five signs, the longest being only 17 signs
(and a sealing of combined inscriptions of just
27 signs).
• No bilingual texts (like a Rosetta Stone) have
been found.
Linguistic or nonlinguistic?
10 Indus scripts found
Near the northern gateway of
the citadel Dholavira

14. Indus Valley Civilization
Male torso from Harappa
Artist unknown
Location (Architecture): Harappa
Culture of Origin: Indus Valley
Medium: Limestone
Patron: National Museum, New Delhi
Approximate date: 2500 - 1500 B.C.E
Description:
The sculpture shows a dancing male
person. There is a theory that the figure
may have had several heads, because the
pose of the figure is identical to the pose
of Shiva, the Lord of Dance, created
several thousands years after.

15. Indus Valley Civilization
“Dancing Girl”
Culture of Origin: Indus Valley
Medium: bronze
Patron: National Museum, New Delhi
Height: 14 cm
Approximate date: 2500 - 1500 B.C.E
Discovered: 1926 in Mohenjo-daro
Description:
These depictions of women were
widespread. Vast amounts of those
figures were found in Mohenjo-Daro. The
women in those figures are almost nude.
They are believed to be devoted to a
power of fertility of women. This proves
their knowledge of metal blending,
casting and other methods.

16. THE VEDIC PERIOD

17. Vedic Period
• 1500-1000 BCE – migration to India of Aryan-speaking people from
northwest
• Sanskrit –Aryan language
• Sanskrit became the classic literary language of India
• Used today in sacred texts

18. Vedic Period
• Aryan hierarchical order
• Warriors (kshatriya) at the
apex
• Provided the basis for the
religiously sanctioned social
class (or caste) system that
persisted throughout Indian
history

19. Vedic Period
• Vedas—ancient poetic hymns
and philosophical writings
directed to the gods
• Vedas deities are
representations of natural
forces such as Indra (thunder),
Varuna (sky) and Surya (the
sun)
• It is believed that the Aryans
were aniconic, that is, they did
not employ, permit, or make
images in their art. Or simply
their art did not survive due to
perishable materials.

20. Vedic Period
• Bhramanas and Upanishads
(c. 800-600 BCE),new
philosophical texts,
reflected Aryan and non-
Aryan ideas
• Expansion of the cryptic
Vedic hymns
• Explained the relationship
of the individual to the
universe

21. Vedic Period
• These texts outlined the
principles of the brahman
(universal soul) and the system
of reincarnation (samsara)
• Samsara—the cycle in which
the atman (interior soul or
self) within all sentient beings
returns again and again in
human or animal bodies.
• Ultimate goal of the atman –
release from the cycle of
rebirths
samsara

22. Vedic Period
• The Upanishads explain the
principle of dharma
• Dharma – what one ought
to do according to one’s
station in life
• Karma – a person’s actions
and the effects they have on
the progress of his her
atman in future bodies
• Buddhism, Hinduism and
Jainism adapted these
ideas.
Hinduism: dharma signifies behaviors that are
considered to be in accord with rta, the order
that makes life and universe possible, and
includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and
‘‘right way of living’.
Buddhism: dharma means "cosmic law and
order“
Jainism: dharma refers to the teachings of
the Jinas and the body of doctrine pertaining to
the purification and moral transformation of
human beings.
Sikhism: the word dharm means the "path of
righteousness.”

23. BUDDHIST ART

24. Maurya Period
• Maurya Period (322-185
BCE)
• Chandragupta Maurya –
founder of the Mauryan
Dynasty
• Ashoka – Chandragupta’s
grandson became ruler
from 273-232 BCE and
solidified Mauryan rule
through bloody battles
• He converted to Buddhism
Emperor Ashoka

25. Maurya Period
• Ashoka commissioned works that
reflect Greek and Persian
influences.
• Erected a series of pillars
throughout the empire bearing
edicts and Buddhist teachings.
Pillar edict on the ridge near Hindu
Rao hospital, the second pillar
shifted from Meerut to Delhi,
known as the Delhi-Meerut Pillar
Asokan
pillar at
Vaishali,
Bihar, India

26. Maurya Period
• Ashoka may have imported
sculptors from Persia and the
nearby Hellenistic kingdom of
Bactria to work on his art projects.
• The lion symbolize the Buddha as
Shakyamuni (sage of the Sakya
clan) and the world quarters or
directions radiating out from the
column over which the Mauryan
and Buddhist laws extended.
• Dharmacakra– large wheel which
represents the Wheel of Life or the
Sun (Buddha as Light)
• At this point, Buddha only
appeared in symbolic form such as
the wheel.
Lion capital of a column erected by
Emperor Ashoka. Polished sandstone.
Pataliputra, India

27. Maurya Period
• Base is an inverted, bell-shaped
lotus which is a symbol of purity
of the divine when it manifests in
the material world.
• The Mahabodhi Temple (Literally:
"Great Awakening Temple"), is
a Buddhist temple in Bodh Gaya
(a UNESCO World Heritage Site),
marking the location where
Siddhartha Gautma, the Buddha,
is said to have
attained enlightenment. Bodh
Gaya (located in Gaya district) is
located about 96 km (60 mi)
from Patna , Bihar state, India.

28. Shunga Period
• Shunga Period (185-72 BCE)
• After the fall of the Mauryan
dynasty, the Shunga dynasty (185-
72 BCE) ruled the north central
region of India
• The Satavahana family governed
the Andhra region (central and
southern India)
• Buddhist art and architecture took
on new monumental forms
(although leaders were not
Buddhist)
• Stupa– started out as small burial
mounds erected in sacred places
for wealthy individuals and rulers in
the Maurya Period
The Great Stupa, Sanchi, India
Shunga and early Andhra periods,
3rd century BCE-early 1st century CE.
Height: 65 ft.

29. Shunga Period
• Stupas became large,
hemispheric mounds and
contained some of the remains of
Buddha
• Vedika – stone railing around the
shoulder of the mound
• Torana – gates in the outer vedika
around the stupa point to the
cardinal points of the compass
• The torana, all of 35 ft high, may
have been preceded by simpler
stone or wooden prototypes. Completed 1st Century BCE

30. Shunga Period
• Yakshis– (male gods are called
yakshas) represented in the stupa
gates as bracket figures (Great
Stupa)
• These are ancient pre-Buddhist
spirits associated with the
generative or productive forces of
nature, wate and the strength of
the inner breath (prana)
• Appears to be nude and her sexual
parts personify the sap that gives
life to the flowers and fruits of the
tree
• Assumes a tribhangha (three
bends) pose similar to the Harrapan
sculpture.
Yakshi bracket figure
Stone, 60 inches (height)
East gate of the Great Stupa

31. Shunga Period
• A chaitya is a Buddhist shrine or
prayer hall with a stupa at one
end.[ In modern texts on Indian
architecture, the term chaitya-griha
is often used to denote an
assembly or prayer hall that
houses a stupa.
• Chaityas were probably
constructed to hold large
numbers of devotees and to
provide shelter for them.
• Architecturally, chaityas show
similarities to Roman
design concepts
of column and arch.
Interior of the chaitya hall at
Karli, India. Early 2nd century CE

32. • Kushan Period (30-320 CE) and
Later Andhra Period (1st century-
320 CE)
• The Kushans (known as the Yuen-chin)
migrated to Pakistan,
Afghanistan and Northern India.
They were nomadic Caucasians
who came from southern
Mongolia and northwestern
China.
• Established an empire that
extended from Gandhara into
northern India.
Standing Bodhisattra
Jamalgarhi region, Gandhara, Pakistan.
2md-3rd century CE, gray shist. 36.5 inches tall
The British Museum, London

33. Kushan Period
• 2 Important Developments in the
Early Kushan period
• 1) The severe, monkish form of
Buddhism (Hinayana) was
supplemented by Mahayana, in
which Buddha was a god and
savior surrounded by a
cosmology of compassionate
bodhisattvas.
• 2) The Silk road blockage by the
Parthians in northern portion of
Iran brought the Kushans into
contact with the art and culture
of the Romans.

34. Kushan Period
• Indians trained in Roman styles
worked in Gandhara, a region
previously exposed to the arts of
the Persians, Greeks, and Maurya
emperors.
• They created a hybrid Eastern-
Western style that represents the
easternmost extension of Roman
influences in the arts.
• Created monumental images of a
Romano-Indian Buddha, a
human-turned divine.
• Did not last long due to mismatch
and decline of Classical tradition
in the 3rd century BCE.
Kanishka I. Uttar Pradesh, Mathura,
India, Kushan Period, c, 120 CE. Ht.
5’4” Flat and hard edge portrait of
a ruler and extremely frontal

35. Gupta Period
• Gupta Period (320-500 CE)
• The period was named after
Chandragupta I (ruled 320-335
CE) who was crowned in
Pataliputra, the old Mauryan
capital.
• At their peak, under
Chandragupta II (375-415 CE), the
Guptas controlled an empire that
spanned northern India and parts
of the south.
• This period covers the “classical
period” of Indian art.
Chandragupta I
Chandra Gupta was a major king in
the Gupta Empire around 320 AD
and is generally considered as the
founder of the Gupta dynasty. As
the ruler of the Gupta Empire, he is
known for forging alliances with
many powerful families in the
Ganges region

36. Gupta Period
• The single most famous Gupta
image from Sarnath represents
him as a spiritualized yogin
ascetic with a large nimbus,
seated cross-legged on a Lion
Throne.
• His sanghati, or sheer muslim
garment, is visible on his neck,
wrists and ankles.
• The sun orb represents the
universal spirit of the Buddha.
The deer and 6 disciples below
refer to the Deer Park in Sarnath
where Buddha preached his first
sermon.
Seated Buddha Preaching the First Sermon.
Sarnath, India. 5th century CE. Chunar
sandstone, height 5’ 3”

37. • Acakra mudra, hand gesture for
teaching in which the Buddha
sets the Wheel (chakra) of the
Law (dharma).
• Winged lions at the back of the
throne symbolize royalty and the
regal roar and authority of his
preaching.

38. Gupta Period
• The idealism of the Sarnath
Buddha is also expressed in the
finest surviving paintings of the
period, in the rock-cut chaityas
and viharas of Ajanta in the
Deccan region in western India.
• Paintings were applied to a moist
coat of lime over layers of clay,
cow dung and other elements
that had spread on the rock faces
of the walls.
• Many are large and depict the
stories in Buddha’s life (jatakas.)
The Ajanta Caves in
Aurangabad district of
Maharashtra, India are about
30 rock-cut Buddhist cave
monuments which date from
the 2nd century BCE to about
480 or 650 CE

39. Gupta Period
• Many are large and illustrate
more than one tale.
• Daring and inventive compared to
the sculptural versions in stone.
• Today, the paintings exist only in
fragments.
• The Padmapani holds a blue lotus
and wears a jeweled tiara, pearls,
and sacred thread woven from
seed pearls.
• Painting depends heavily on lines
with minimal anatomical
detailing.
• Blissful, dreamy eyes, languorous
pose and transcendent character.
The Beautifuul Bodhisattva Padmpani
Cave 1. Ajanta, India. C. late 5th century
CE, wall painting

40. END