FROM THE MID-FIRST millennium BC onwards Central Asia was a place of great change and development Trade and ideological expansion stimulated artistic growth in a variety of ways leading to a rich cultural heritage that we can trace through artefacts and styles
The Achaemenids (Persians) controlled much of this area between c. 539-311 BC and their awareness of the rich natural resources of Central Asia is reflected in the natural goods such as camels, horses, and bulls and the worked items, such as jewelry and skins that were exports from both Bactria and Gandhara. Achaemenid influence in art can be seen in the items recovered from the frozen tombs of the Altai in Siberia Achaemenid elements, such as columns with animal sculpture, persist into the Buddhist art of the later Mauryan Emperor of India, Ashoka
The legacy of the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great in Central Asia is thought to include planned cities such as Ay Khanum, Shaikhan Dheri (Charsadda) and Sirkap (Taxila) as well as Greek mythological scenes in sculpture and pottery When Alexander conquered the Achaemenids in c. 331 BC the Greeks then ruled in much of Central Asia, including Bactria and Sogdiana Their attempts to move further east into Northern India were foiled by a number of smaller Indian states, which eventually emerged into the great Mauryan Empire Ashoka (ruled 268-232 BC) is perhaps the best known of the Mauryans and this is largely due to his ardent promotion of Buddhism. Indeed, it was Ashoka who sent his son Mahinda as a friend and missionary to convert the ruling family of Sri Lanka to Buddhism.
The birth of the Lord Buddha at Lumbini in Nepal in c. 560 BC had a major impact on ideology in Central Asia, envisaging a means for many of escaping the reincarnation cycle of Hinduism. Buddhism also had an impact on art through Ashoka and the later Kushans Ashoka’s aim was to spread his version of the dharma or teachings, and he did this through a series of edicts carved into boulders and pillars across the whole of northern Nepal, India and Pakistan. The Kushans, a branch of a nomadic Chinese tribe spread through Central Asia Bactria and down into northern India, and had united this whole region by the early second century ad. Kanishka is one of the best known Kushan rulers, and like Ashoka he converted to Buddhism and was ardent in the spread of Buddhist teachings, building new monasteries and repairing old. During Kanishka’s rule the style of art known as ‘Gandharan Art’ which comprises representations of the Buddha and scenes from his life spread and developed. Gandharan Art is so called because it is broadly spread throughout the area of old Gandhara, a former Achaemenid province. Gandharan stone sculptures and reliefs draw heavily on Greco-Roman styles of human depiction.
During Kushan rule another major development was crucial in the spread of goods and ideas the Silk Road. This international trading link increased in importance from the early centuries ad as the Chinese realized the potential market for their valuable silk in the west, particularly the Roman world. Trade along the road meant that the Kushans were able to take advantage of demand for products such as precious stones and metals, and spices from India, while receiving silks and jade and other rare goods from China. Indeed, excavations at the Kushan summer capital of Kapisa (north of Kabul), reveal the richness of the Empire. A treasure store with carved ivories from India, Chinese lacquers, Roman bonzes, Alexandrian glass was uncovered. Yet the trade was not only in rare goods – Buddhism also spread east along the
Silk Road at this time, becoming a major religion in eastern Asia, and there are many Kushan Buddhist sites with stupas decorated with sculpted scenes from the life of the Buddha in distinct Gandharan style to attest to this movement
Central Asia between the mid-first millennia BC and AD is an area where the very rich artistic traditions are the result of human contact and movement – conquerors from the east absorb indigenous styles and influences from the north and east to produce distinctive regional artistic cultures.
Source: In Atlas of World Art, ed. John Onians. London: Laurence King, 2004; New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. By Burzine Waghmar