Sculpture

For five centuries the sculptors of Gandhara carved the Buddha and his stories in the grey schist of the north-west, mixing Indian, Greek and Persian forms.

TraditionsBuddhist 7

Ashoka's pillar from Topra3rd century BCE; moved 1356

One of Ashoka's inscribed pillars, carved with his edicts in Brahmi. Firuz Shah Tughlaq had it carried from Topra to Delhi in 1356 on a cart said to have had forty-two wheels; its script was finally read by James Prinsep in 1837.

The Sanghol sculptures1st – 2nd century CE

In 1985 excavators at Sanghol, between Ludhiana and Chandigarh, found 117 carved pillars and railing pieces of a Kushan-era Buddhist stupa, buried as if hidden: women beneath flowering trees, lovers, drinkers and dancers.

Gandharan Bodhisattvas2nd – 3rd century CE

Princely figures of the Buddha-to-be, with moustaches, turbans, jewels and sandals, modelled on the Kushan nobles of Gandhara.

The Sikri stupa2nd – 3rd century CE

A small stupa from Sikri, near Mardan, set up again in the Lahore Museum, its drum carved with thirteen panels of the life of the Buddha.

The stucco Buddhas of Jaulian2nd – 5th century CE

A hilltop monastery near Taxila whose stupas are ringed with rows of seated Buddhas modelled in stucco, many still in place.

The Fasting Buddha2nd – 3rd century CE

The Buddha in the years of starvation before his enlightenment, every rib and vein showing: the most famous sculpture of Gandhara, found at Sikri near Mardan.

The Kanishka casketc. 2nd century CE

A gilded reliquary found in 1908–09 in the ruins of Kanishka's great stupa at Shah-ji-ki-Dheri outside Peshawar. On its lid the Buddha sits between the gods Brahma and Indra; on its side stands a Kushan king, probably Kanishka himself.