Great Chaitya hall at Karle'n Monastery
(Mark the sculptures on the capitals)
We saw
earlier that in the large number of inscriptions, carved on the walls
and pillars of the Buddhist rock cut temples of Maharashtra state of
India, there is a fair sprinkling of inscriptions done at behest of
donors, who call themselves as 'Yavanas.' These 'Yavanas' have been
found to be essentially people from Greece or Rome or Greco-Roman
origins. Samuel Clark Laeuchli has taken pains to make a list of
inscriptions of such 'Yavana' donors, though only from two cave
monasteries located near Karle'n and Junnar, which I reproduce
below. The list therefore is not exhaustive and can be considered as
only a representative one.
1.Gift
of an upright of the Yavana from Dhenukakata
2.This
Pillar is the donation of the Yavana Sihadbaya from Dhenukakata.
3.This
pillar is the donation of the Yavana Yasavadhana from Dhenukakata
4.This
Pillar is the donation of the Yavana Culayakha from Dhenukakata
5.This
Pillar is the donation of the Yavana Dhamadhaya from Dhenukakata
6.This
Pillar is the donation of the Yavana Citasagata from Umehanakata
7.The
Gift of two cisterns by the Yavana Irilasagata
8.The
gift of a dining hall to the Samgha ( group of monks) by the Yavana
Citasagata
9.The
gift of a facade by the Yavana Camda
This
list, gives us names of a few persons of Greek origin, living in
Deccan region of India, who are surprisingly very secretive and have
not given any details about themselves or their professions, except
for the fact that they are 'Yavanas.' This looks like a certain
military discipline and is radically different from other donors, who
give information about themselves and their professions etc. The
questions that come to mind naturally are, who are these persons? Why
were they living in India, far away from their country of origin? And
finally, why would they donate large sums to a Buddhist monastery in
a foreign land? Before we try to find out answers to these questions,
it would be important to note two historical facts, which have direct
bearing on the presence of 'Yavanas' in India.
Firstly,
all major Buddhist rock cut temples such as those at Karle'n, Bhaje,
Shelarwadi, Bedse etc. were located near the junctions of major trade
routes and a vast number of small caves were dug near minor trade
routes. This raises another question as to with whom, the trade was
being carried? Luckily records from Gracco-Roman accounts such as
those written by the Pariplus and Ptolemy clearly indicate that the
trade was carried with Greece as well as Rome and the goods arrived
at the trade ports that lay on the west coast of India. These trade
posts were mostly up the creeks and estuaries of rivers to the extent
navigation permitted. Ports which lay in the vicinity of these
Buddhist caves in the Western Ghat mountain ranges can be listed as
Broach (Bhadoch) Sopara (Nala Sopara), Kalyan and Choul.
Secondly,
the period in history, about which we are trying to discuss, was
politically an extremely unsettled and war-torn one. The Satvahana
empire was going through a terrible low, as forces of Saka Satrup
Nahapana under generalship of his son-in-law Usavdata, had earlier
captured most of the Satavahana territories around these monasteries,
though, Satavahana king Goutamiputra Satakarni, in a decisive battle,
had won back later most of his kingdom, by end of first century CE.
Perhaps parts of coastal regions around Bhadoch, Kalyan and Sopara
were still controlled by Nahapana's forces, leaving Chaul port as the
only option for Roman ships to anchor.
Samuel
Clark Laeuchli reasons out that 'Yavanas' must have been the
mercenaries and military figures associated with Nahapana's forces
and were living in the Deccan, as long as Saka Satrup Nahapana was in
control of it. He has based this conclusion from the fact that these
donors were very secretive and did not divulge any information about
themselves in the inscriptions. On the other hand, many others,
including D.D. Kosambi and M.K. Dhavlikar believe that 'Yavanas' were
essentially traders, who handled India's trade with Rome. However in
either case, it is clear that, who were these 'Yavanas' and why were
they were residing in the Deccan.
D.D.Kosambi
goes on to suggest that Buddhist monasteries in the Deccan had so
much of wealth that they were able to offer many services to the
'Yavana' traders such as security, sanctuary and banking facilities.
It all means that Yavanas, like other traders, were in a very close
relationship with the monasteries and helped them to the extent
possible.
We
now come to the subject proper and try to find out whether traders,
who had close relationship with the Buddhist monasteries could have
any way influenced the works of art displayed on walls of these
monasteries. Sushma Trivedi, a research scholar, rightly points out
in her research paper ' Impact of trade on early art of India' and I
quote:
“Creation
of art is not an isolated event or an independent happening, totally
unrelated lo its surroundings, but is interconnected with and
nurtured by a variety or human activities such as economic, social
and political. In reality, the economic condition is the most
important cause of social changes of a given society and these in
their turn arc reflected in the contemporary art. Thus in a deeper
analysis evolution of art is closely connected with changing economic
patterns..... A change in nature of economy brings a change in the
patron class, in socio-religious institutions and ideologies, which
in turn create new requirements and fresh opportunities for the
emergence of new forms and content in art.”
She
gives an example of the an early Buddhist structure, the Stupa of
Bharhut, which was decorated with the simplest of art forms. However
as Buddhist structures started getting a new class of donors, who
essentially were private individuals, the tastes of this new class of
donors, along with the general social conditions imparted some new
interests and aesthetic values lo the art forms. D.D.Kosambi has
rightrly described this new change in following words while
describing Karle'n monastery.
“The
sculpture is beautiful, even voluptuous, of handsome couples of
opulent men and women, dressed in the height of style, riding horses
and elephants; hardly what one would expect is an assembly place for
monks,but precisely what a rich merchant would have liked.”
Handsome couples on elephants, Karle'n monastery
Extending
this logic to the case of 'Yavana ' donors, who might have been
either mercenaries or traders, it is easy to imagine a little
scenario, where a “Yavana' has agreed to handover a handsome
donation to the monastery in return for some services offered. The
monastery might have offered him to carve his name on one of the
walls. Supposedly, he wanted to remain anonymous, for whatever
reasons, the monastery might have then agreed to carve or create a
bass relief of something that was dear to his own heart; a figure
from the Greek Mythology. So in the Great Chaitya hall at Karle'n
monestery, with 24 grand pillars with capitals decorated with
handsome couples of opulent men and women riding horses and
elephants, Sphinxes are also carved out on 2 of the capitals, as
acknowledgment for the donations received. A scenario entirely
plausible, according to me.
I
think that this is how the Greek mythological figures were introduced
in the Buddhist rock cut temples. Just to placate or make happy some
'Yavana' donors, who were coaxed in giving huge donations to the
monastery.
Examples of sculptures from Mauryan period
( Pre-Greek arrival, 300 BCE)
(Was there any real Greek influence on Indian arts?)
Alfred Charles Auguste Foucher might probably have seen too much
into similarities between Greek and Gandhara arts to consider and name it as great Greek
influence on Indian art in his over zeal to name everything as of European origin. Henry Heras perhaps was right after all,
when he said that The so-called Greco-Buddhist school of Gandhara was
not at all influenced by Greek models or by Greek ideals. As far as
Buddhist Rock cut temples are considered, it must have been a simply
fulfillment of a small wish form a major donor to the monastery.
(Concluded)
References:
1.The
cave temples of India; Burgess and Fergusson
2.Beginnings
of Buddhist Art; A. Foucher
3.Inscriptions
from cave temples of western India; Burgess, Bhagvanlal Pandit
4.Dhenukakata;
D.D.Kosambi; JBBRAS 1955 Vol. 30-II
5.Evolution
of Buddhist Rock cut temples; M.K.Dhavlikar; JBBRAS 1970-71,Vol 45-46
6.Nashik
a Yavana center; M.K.Dhavlikar;JBBRAS 1981-84; Vol 56-59
7.Yavana
inscriptions of western India; Samuel
Clark Laeuchli ;JBBRAS 1981-84; Vol 56-59
8.Impact
of trade on early art of India; Sushma Trivedi; JBBRAS 1995; Vol 70
My
travelogue of visits to Buddhist rock cut temples; 'Traces of an
Empire'; can be accessed from this link.
18th
April 2014
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