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The Indo-Greek Kingdom (or sometimes '''Greco-Indian Kingdom''') covered various parts of northwest and northern India from 180 BCE to around 10 CE , and was ruled by a succession of more than thirty Greek kings, often in conflict with each other. The kingdom was founded when the Greco-Bactrian king Demetrius invaded India in 180 BCE, ultimately creating an entity which seceded from the powerful Greco-Bactrian Kingdom centered in Bactria (today's northern Afghanistan ). During the two centuries of their rule, the Indo-Greek kings combined the Greek and Indian languages and symbols, as seen on their coins, and blended Ancient Greek , Hindu and Buddhist religious practices, as seen in the archaeological remains of their cities and in the indications of their support of Buddhism. The Indo-Greek kings seem to have achieved a level of cultural syncretism with no equivalent in history, the consequences of which are still felt today, particularly through the diffusion and influence of Greco-Buddhist Art . The Indo-Greeks ultimately disappeared as a political entity around 10 CE following the invasions of the Indo-Scythian , Indo-Parthian and Kushans , although pockets of Greek populations probably remained for several centuries longer. EARLY HISTORY Main article: History Of The Indo-Greek Kingdom Local turmoil preceded the invasion of northern India undertaken by Demetrius , son of the Greco-Bactrian king Euthydemus , circa 180 BCE. General Pusyamitra Sunga had destroyed the ruling Mauryan King and had recently founded the Sunga Dynasty (185–78 BCE). Written evidence of the initial Greek invasion survives in the Greek writings of Strabo and Justin , and in Sanskrit in the records of Patanjali , Kālidāsa , and in the '' Yuga Purana '', among others. Coins and architectural evidence also attest to the extent of the initial Greek campaign. Evidence of the initial invasion (205–171 BCE), wearing the scalp of an elephant, symbol of his conquest of India.]] According to Strabo , Greek conquest temporarily went as far as the Sunga capital Pataliputra (today Patna ) in eastern India: :"Those who succeeded Alexander advanced beyond the Hypanis , to the Ganges and Pataliputra ." ( Strabo , 15.698) The Roman historian Justin also mentionned the Indo-Greek conquests, describing Demetrius as "King of the Indians" ("''Regis Indorum''"), and explaining that after vanquishing him Eucratides in turn "put India under his rule" ("''Indiam in potestatem redegit''") Justin on Demetrius "King of the Indians": "Multa tamen Eucratides bella magna uirtute gessit, quibus adtritus cum obsidionem ''Demetrii, regis Indorum'', pateretur, cum CCC militibus LX milia hostium adsiduis eruptionibus uicit. Quinto itaque mense liberatus Indiam in potestatem redegit." ("Eucratides led many wars with great courage, and, while weakened by them, was put under siege by Demetrius, king of the Indians. He made numerous sorties, and managed to vanquish 60,000 enemies with 300 soldiers, and thus liberated after four months, he put India under his rule") Justin XLI,6 . Indian records describe Greek (called Yavana ) attacks on Mathura , Panchala , Saketa , and Pataliputra . Patanjali , a grammarian and commentator on Panini around 150 BCE, describes in the '' Mahābhāsya '' "Indo-Greek, Indo-Scythian and Indo-Parthian coins in the Smithsonian institution", Bopearachchi , p16., the invasion in two examples using the imperfect tense of Sanskrit , denoting a recent event:
The ''Anushasanaparava'' of the , or the Kali-Sindhu river which is a tributary of the Chambal ." The Yuga Purana, Mitchener, 2002.. Also the Brahmanical text of the '' Yuga Purana '', which describes Indian historical events in the form of a prophecy "For any scholar engaged in the study of the presence of the Indo-Greeks or Indo-Scythians before the Christian Era, the ''Yuga Purana'' is an important source material" Dilip Coomer Ghose, General Secretary, The Asiatic Society , Kolkata , 2002, relates the attack of the Indo-Greeks on the capital Pataliputra, and the destruction of the city's walls: : "Then, after having approached Saketa together with the Panchala s and the Mathura s, the Yavanas, valiant in battle, will reach Kusumadhvaja ("The town of the flower-standard", Pataliputra ). Then, once Puspapura (another name of Pataliputra) has been reached and its celebrated mud {Link without Title} cast down, all the realm will be in disorder." (''Yuga Purana'', Paragraph 47-48, 2002 edition.) According to the Yuga Purana a situation of complete social disorder follows, in which the Yavanas rule and mingle with the people, and the position of the Brahmin s and the Sudra s is inverted: :" Sudra s will also be utterers of ''bho'' (a form of adress used towards an equal or inferior), and Brahmins will be utterers of ''arya'' (a form of address used towards a superior), and the elders, most fearful of Dharma , will fearlessly exploit the people. And in the city the Yavanas, the princes, will make this people acquainted with them: but the Yavanas, infatuated by war, will not remain in Madhyadesa." (''Yuga Purana'', Paragraph 55-56, 2002 edition.) representing an Hellenistic Nereid goddess riding a Ketos sea-monster, 2nd Century BCE , Sirkap .]] To the south, the Greeks occupied the areas of the '') near Mumbai (Bombay), including the strategic harbour of Barigaza ( Bharuch ), as attested by several writers (Strabo 11; Periplus Of The Erythraean Sea , ch.41) and as evidenced by coins dating from the Indo-Greek ruler Apollodotus I : :"The Greeks... took possession, not only of -- by Menander in particular (at least if he actually crossed the Hypanis towards the east and advanced as far as the Imaüs ), for some were subdued by him personally and others by Demetrius , the son of Euthydemus the king of the Bactrians; and they took possession, not only of Patalena , but also, on the rest of the coast, of what is called the kingdom of Saraostus and Sigerdis . In short, Apollodorus says that Bactriana is the ornament of Ariana as a whole; and, more than that, they extended their empire even as far as the Seres and the Phryni ." (Strabo 11.11.1 Full text )) The city of Sirkap , today in northwestern Pakistan , was built according to the "Hippodamian" grid-plan characteristic of Greek cities, suggesting it may have been built by Demetrius. Numerous Hellenistic artifacts have been found, in particular coins of Greco-Bactrian kings and stone palettes representing Greek mythological scenes. Some of them are purely Hellenistic, others indicate an evolution of the Greco-Bactrian styles found at Ai-Khanoum towards more indianized styles. For example, accessories such as Indian ankle bracelets can be found on some representations of Greek mythological figures such as Artemis . Retreat (160-135 BCE) in Greco-Bactrian style ( Alexandria-Kapisa mint). Obv: King Menander throwing a spear. Rev: The first invasion was completed by 175 BCE, as the Indo-Greeks contained the Sungas to the area eastward of Pataliputra, and established their rule on the new territory. Back in Bactria however, around 170 BCE, an usurper named Eucratides managed to topple the Euthydemid dynasty. He took for himself the title of king and started a civil war by invading the Indo-Greek territory, forcing the Indo-Greeks to retreat from their easternmost possessions and establish their new oriental frontier at Mathura , to confront this new threat: :"The Yavanas, infatuated by war, will not remain in Madhadesa (the Middle Country ). There will be mutual agreement among them to leave, due to a terrible and very dreadful war having broken out in their own realm." (''Yuga Purana'', paragraphs 56-57, 2002 edition). The Hathigumpha Inscription , written by the king of Kalinga , Kharavela , also describes the presence of the Greek king "Demetrius" with his army in eastern India, possibly as far as the city of Rajagriha about 70 km southeast of Pataliputra and one of the foremost Buddhist sacred cities, but claims that Demetrius ultimately retreated to Mathura on hearing of Kharavela's military successes further south: :"Then in the eighth year, ( Kharavela ) with a large army having sacked Goradhagiri causes pressure on Rajagaha ( Rajagriha ). On account of the loud report of this act of valour, the Yavana (Greek) King Dimi retreated to Mathura having extricated his demoralized army and transport." Hathigumpha inscription, in Epigraphia Indica, Vol. XX [http://www.mssu.edu/projectsouthasia/HISTORY/PRIMARYDOCS/EPIGRAPHY/HathigumphaInscription.htm Full text of the Hathigumpta inscription . In any case, Eucratides seems to have occupied territory as far as the Indus , between ca 170 BCE and 150 BCE. His advances were ultimately checked by the Indo-Greek king Menander I (''Milinda''), previously a general of Demetrius, who asserted himself in the Indian part of the empire, apparently conquered Bactria as indicated by his issue of coins in the Greco-Bactrian style, and even began the last expansions eastwards. Consolidation and rise of Menander I . The "Menander Mons" are in the center of the map, at the east of the Indian Subcontinent , beyond the Ganges , right above the Malaysian Peninsula .]] Menander (Milinda) is considered as probably the most successful Indo-Greek king, and the conqueror of the vastest territory "Numismats and historians are unanimous in considering that Menander was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, and the most famous of the Indo-Greek kings. The coins to the name of Menander are incomparably more abundant than those of any other Indo-Greek king" whose relics were enshrined in a manner reminiscent of the Buddha. He also introduced a new coin type, with Athena Alkidemos ("Protector of the people") on the reverse, which was adopted by most of his successors in the East. Conquests east of the Punjab Region were most likely made during the second half of the century by the king Menander I . Following Menander's reign, about twenty Indo-Greek kings are known to have ruled in succession in the eastern parts of the Indo-Greek territory. Upon his death, Menander was succeeded by his queen Agathokleia , who for some time acted as regent to their son Strato I . Greco-Bactrian encroachments From 130 BCE, the Scythians and then the Yuezhi , following a long migration from the border of China), started to invade Bactria from the north. Around 125 BCE the Greco-Bactrian king Heliocles , son of Eucratides , was probably killed during the invasion and the Greco-Bactrian kingdom proper ceased to exist. Heliocles may have been survived by his relative Eucratides II , who ruled south of the Hindu Kush , in areas untouched by the invasion. Other Indo-Greek kings like Zoilos I , Lysias and Antialcidas may possible have been relatives of either the Eucratid or the Euthydemid dynasties; they struck both Greek and bilingual coins and established a kingdom of their own. A stabilizing alliance with the Yuezhi then seems to have followed, as hinted on the coins of Zoilos I , who minted coins showing Heracles' club together with a Steppe -type Recurve Bow inside a victory Wreath . The Indo-Greeks thus suffered encroachments by the Greco-Bactrians in their western territories. The Indo-Greek territory was divided into two realms: the house of Menander retreated to their territories east of the Jhelum River as far as Mathura , whereas the Western kings ruled a larger kingdom of Paropamisadae , western Punjab and Arachosia to the south. CULTURE of Menander I (160-135 BC). With obverse and reverse legends in advancing right, with thunderbolt and shield.]] (180-160 BCE).]] Buddhism flourished under the Indo-Greek kings, and it has been suggested, although direct evidence is lacking, that their invasion of India was intended to show their support for the Mauryan Empire , which had a long history of marital alliances, treaties of friendship, and exchange of ambassadors and religious emissaries with the Greeks On the relations between the Greeks and the Mauryas:
, and to protect the Buddhist faith from the religious persecutions of the Sunga s "We can now, I think, see what the Greek 'conquest' meant and how the Greeks were able to traverse such extraordinary distances. To parts of India, perhaps to large parts, they came, not as conquerors, but as friends or 'saviors'; to the Buddhist world in particular they appeared to be its champions" (Tarn, p180). The city of Sirkap founded by Demetrius combines Greek and Indian influences without signs of segregation between the two cultures. The first Greek coins to be minted in India, those of Menander I and Appolodotus I bear the mention "Saviour king" (BASILEOS SOTHROS), a title with high value in the Greek world which indicated an important deflective victory. For instance, Ptolemy I had been ''Soter'' (saviour) because he had helped save Rhodes from Demetrius The Besieger , and Antiochus I because he had saved Asia Minor from the Gauls Tarn p175. Also: "The people to be 'saved' were in fact usually Buddhists, and the common enimity of Greek and Buddhists to the Sunga king threw them into each other's arms", Tarn p175. "Menander was coming to save them from the oppression of the Sunga kings",Tarn p178. Also, most of the coins of the Greek kings in India were bilingual, written in Greek on the front and in Pali (in the Kharoshthi script) on the back, a tremendous concession to another culture never before made in the Hellenic world. From the reign of Apollodotus II , around 80 BCE, Kharoshthi letters started to be used as mintmarks on coins in combination with Greek monograms and mintmarks, suggesting the participation of local technicians to the minting process Bopearachchi p.138. Incidentally, these bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were the key in the Decipherment of the Kharoshthi script by James Prinsep (1799-1840). Kharoshthi became extinct around the 3rd century CE. In Indian literature, the Indo-Greeks are described as Yavana s (transliteration of "Ionians"). Direct epigraphical evidence involves the Indo-Greek kings, such as the mention of the "Yavana king" Antialcidas on the Heliodorus Pillar in Vidisha, or the mention of Menander I in the Buddhist text of the Milinda Panha . In the Harivamsa the "Yavana" Indo-Greeks are qualified, together with the Sakas , Kambojas , Pahlavas and Paradas as ''Kshatriya-pungava'' i.e foremost among the Warrior caste, or Kshatriyas . The Majjhima Nikaya explains that in the lands of the Yavanas and Kambojas, in contrast with the numerous Indian castes, there were only two classes of people, Arya s and Dasa s (masters and slaves). The Arya could become Dasa and vice versa. RELIGION In addition to the worship of the Classical Pantheon of the Greek deities found on their coins ( Zeus , Herakles , Athena , Apollo ...), the Indo-Greeks were involved with local faiths, particularly with Buddhism, but also with Hinduism and Zoroastrianism. Buddhism ''Main article: Greco-Buddhism '' The Edicts Of Ashoka , inscribed during the reign of the Indian emperor Ashoka (273-232 BCE), claim that the Greek populations of the northwestern Indian subcontinent (in today's Afghanistan and ancient Gandhara ) had already welcomed Buddhism by around 250 BCE: :"Here in the king's domain among the Greeks, the Kambojas , the Nabhakas, the Nabhapamkits, the Bhojas, the Pitinikas, the Andhras and the Palidas, everywhere people are following Beloved-of-the-Gods' instructions in Dharma . ( Edicts Of Ashoka , 13th Rock Edict, S. Dhammika). After the Greco-Bactrians militarily occupied parts of northern India from around 180 BCE, numerous instances of interaction between Greeks and Buddhism are recorded. The conversion of Menander -style Buddhist Menander I , one of the most famous successors of Demetrius, ruled from 150 to 135 BCE. He is presented by Greek authors as an even greater conqueror than Alexander The Great . Strabo (XI.II.I) says Menander was one of the two Bactrian kings who extended their power farthest into India. Menander, the "Saviour king", seems to have converted to Buddhism , and is described in Buddhist texts as a great benefactor of the religion, on a par with Ashoka or the future Kushan emperor Kanishka . He is famous for his dialogues with the Buddhist monk Nagasena , transmitted to us in the Milinda Panha , which explain that he became a Buddhist Arhat : :"And afterwards, taking delight in the wisdom of the Elder, he handed over his kingdom to his son, and abandoning the household life for the house-less state, grew great in insight, and himself attained to Arahatship !" ( The Questions Of King Milinda , Translation by T. W. Rhys Davids) Plutarch also presents Menander as an example of benevolent rule, and explains that upon his death, the honour of sharing his remains was claimed by the various cities under his rule, and they were enshrined in "monuments" (probably Stupa s), in a parallel with the historic Buddha : :"But when one Menander, who had reigned graciously over the Bactrians, died afterwards in the camp, the cities indeed by common consent celebrated his funerals; but coming to a contest about his relics, they were difficultly at last brought to this agreement, that his ashes being distributed, everyone should carry away an equal share, and they should all erect monuments to him." ( Plutarch , "Political Precepts" Praec. reip. ger. 28, 6 Plutarch "Political precepts", p147-148 Full text ). Buddhist proselytism During the reign of Menander, the Greek (") is said to have come from ''Alasandra'' (thought to be Alexandria Of The Caucasus , the city founded by Alexander The Great , near today's Kabul ) with 30,000 monks for the foundation ceremony of the Maha Thupa ("Great Stupa ") at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka , indicating the importance of Buddhism within Greek communities in northwestern India, and the prominent role Greek Buddhist monks played in them: :"From Alasanda the city of the Yonas came the thera (elder) Yona Mahadhammarakkhita with thirty thousand Bhikkhu s." ( Mahavamsa , XXIX Chapter XXIX of the Mahavamsa : Text ) Several Buddhist dedications by Greeks in India are recorded, such as that of the Greek Meridarch (civil governor of a province) named Theodorus , describing in Kharoshthi how he enshrined relics of the Buddha. The inscriptions were found on a vase inside a stupa, dated to the reign of Menander or one his successors in the 1st century BCE (Tarn, p391): "Theudorena meridarkhena pratithavida ime sarira sakamunisa bhagavato bahu-jana-stitiye" :"The meridarch Theodorus has enshrined relics of Lord Shakyamuni , for the welfare of the mass of the people" : (Swāt relic vase inscription of the Meridarkh Theodoros Original text of the inscription, in Gandhari : Text ) Although the spread of Buddhism to Central Asia and Northern Asia is usually associated with the Kushan s, a century or two later, there is a possibility that it may have been introduced in those areas from Gandhara "even earlier, during the time of Demetrius and Menander " (Puri, "Buddhism in Central Asia"). Buddhist symbolism with an Eight-spoked Wheel and a palm of victory on the reverse ( British Museum ).]] with a depiction of Zeus seated on a throne, with Nike on his right arm, holding a victory wreath above an eight-spoked wheel.]] From around 180 BCE, Agathocles and Pantaleon , probable successors to Demetrius I in the Paropamisadae , and the earliest Greek kings to issue Indian-standard square bilingual coins (in Brahmi ), depicted the Buddhist lion together with the Hindu goddess Lakshmi . These coins show an unprecedented willingness to adapt to every aspect of the local culture: shape of the coinage, coinage size, language, and religion. Later, some Indo-Greek coins incorporate the Buddhist symbol of the eight-spoked wheel, such as those of Menander I , as well as his probable grandson Menander II . On these coins, the wheel is associated with the Greek symbols of victory, either the palm of victory, or the victory wreath handed over by the goddess Nike . The ubiquitous symbol of the elephant may or may not have been associated with Buddhism. Interestingly, on some coin series of Antialcidas , the elephant holds the same relationship to Zeus and Nike as the Buddhist wheel on the coin of Menander II , tending to suggest a common meaning for both symbols. Some of the earlier coins of king Apollodotus I directly associate the elephant with Buddhist symbolism, such as the Stupa hill surmounted by a star, also seen, for example on the coins of the Mauryan Empire or those of the later Kuninda Kingdom . Conversely, the bull is probably associated with Shiva , and often described in an erectile state as on the coins of Apollodotus I . Also, after the reign of Menander I, several Indo-Greek rulers, such as Agathokleia , Amyntas , Nicias , Peukolaos , Hermaeus , Hippostratos and Menander II , depicted themselves or their Greek deities forming with the right hand a symbolic Gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka Mudra (thumb and index joined together, with other fingers extended), which in Buddhism signifies the transmission of the Buddha's teaching. symbol on his sword. Bharhut, 2nd century BCE. Indian Museum , Calcutta (drawing).]] At precisely the same time, right after the death of Menander, several Indo-Greek rulers also started to adopt on their coins the Pali title of "Dharmikasa", meaning "follower of the Dharma " (the title of the great Indian Buddhist king Ashoka was ''Dharmaraja'' "King of the Dharma" "Crossroads of Asia", p12). This usage was adopted by Strato I , Zoilos I , Heliokles II , Theophilos , Peukolaos , Menander II and Archebios . '' and Menander II .]] Altogether, the conversion of Menander I to Buddhism suggested by the Milinda Panha seems to have triggered the use of Buddhist symbolism in one form or another on the coinage of close to half of the kings who succeeded him. Especially, all the kings after Menander who are recorded to have ruled in Gandhara (apart from the little known Demetrius III ) display Buddhist symbolism in one form or another. On the contrary, none of the kings whose rule was limited to Punjab did display Buddhist signs (with the exception of the powerful Hippostratos , who probably took under his protection many Gandharan Greeks fleeing from the Indo-Scythians (Tarn).). A 2nd Century BCE relief from a Buddhist Stupa in Bharhut , in eastern Madhya Pradesh (today at the Indian Museum in Calcutta ), represents a foreign soldier with the curly hair of a Greek and the royal headband with flowing ends of a Greek king. In his left hand, he hold a branch of Ivy , symbol of Dionysos . Also parts of his dress, with rows of geometrical folds, are characteristically Hellenistic in style. On his sword appears the Buddhist symbol of the three jewels, or Triratana . Representation of the Buddha The anthropomorphic representation of the Buddha is absent from Indo-Greek coinage, suggesting that the Indo-Greek kings may have respected the Indian aniconic rule for Buddhist depictions, limiting themselves to Buddhist symbolism only. Consistently with this perspective, the actual depiction of the Buddha would be a later phenomenon, usually dated to the 1st century CE, emerging from the sponsorship of the syncretic Kushan Empire and executed by Greek, and, later, Indian and possibly Roman artists. Datation of Greco-Buddhist statues is generally uncertain, but they are at least firmly established from the 1st century CE. , Gandhara , in pure Hellenistic style and technique.]] Another possibility is that the Indo-Greeks may not have considered the Buddha strictly as a God, but rather as an essentially human sage or ''). Foucher especially considered Hellenistic free-standing Buddhas as "the most beautiful, and probably the most ancient of the Buddhas", assigning them to the 1st century BCE, and making them the starting point of the anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha "The Buddhist art of Gandhara", Marshall, p101. The willingness of ancient Greeks to represent local deities is also attested in Egypt with the creation of the god Serapis in Hellenistic style, an adaptation of the Egyptian god Apis . An Indo-Chinese tradition also explains that Nagasena , also known as Menander 's Buddhist teacher, created in 43 BCE in the city of Pataliputra a statue of the Buddha, the Emerald Buddha , which was later brought to Thailand . Stylistically, Indo-Greek coins generally display a very high level of Hellenistic artistic realism, which declined drastically around 50 BCE with the invasions of the Indo-Scythian s, Yuezhi and Indo-Parthian s. The first known statues of the Buddha are also very realistic and Hellenistic in style and are more consistent with the pre-50 BCE artistic level seen on coins. This would tend to suggest that the first statues were created between 130 BCE (death of Menander) and 50 BCE, precisely at the time when Buddhist symbolism appeared on Indo-Greek coinage. From that time, Menander and his successors may have been the key propagators of Buddhist ideas and representations: "the spread of Gandhari Buddhism may have been stimulated by Menander's royal patronage, as may have the development and spread of Gandharan sculpture, which seems to have accompanied it" (Mc Evilly, "The shape of ancient thought", p378) , representing the Buddha may be Indo-Greek work from around 30-10 BCE. British Museum .]] The representation of the Buddha may also be connected to his progressive deification, which is usually associated with the spread of the Indian principle of Bhakti (personal devotion to a deity). Bhakti is a principle which evolved in the Bhagavata religious movement, and is said to have permeated Buddhism from about 100 BCE, and to have been a contributing factor to the representation of the Buddha in human form. The association of the Indo-Greeks with the Bhagavata movement is documented in the inscription of the Heliodorus Pillar , made during the reign of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas (r.c. 115-95 BCE). At that time relations with the Sungas seem to have improved, and some level of religious exchange seems to have occurred. The point of time when Bhakti fervour would have encountered the Hellenistic artistic tradition would then be around 100 BCE. Most of the early images of the Buddha (especially those of the standing Buddha) are anepigraphic, which makes it difficult to have a definite datation. The earliest known image of the Buddha with approximate indications on date is the Bimaran Casket , which has been found buried with coins of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II (or possibly Azes I ), indicating a 30-10 BCE date ''"In the art of Gandhara, the first known image of the standing Buddha and approximatively dated, is that of the Bimaran reliquary, which specialists attribute to the Indo-Scythian period, more particularly to the rule of Azes II"'' (Christine Sachs, "De l'Indus à l'Oxus")., although this date is not undisputed. Such datation, as well as the general Hellenistic style and attitude of the Buddha on the Bimaran casket ( Himation dress, Contrapposto attitude, general depiction) would made it a possible Indo-Greek work, used in dedications by Indo-Scythians right after the end of Indo-Greek rule in the area of Gandhara . Since it already displays quite a sophisticated iconography ( Brahma and Indra as attendants, Bodhisattva s) in an advanced style, it would suggest much earlier representations of the Buddha were already current by that time, going back to the rule of the Indo-Greeks ( Alfred A. Foucher and others). Hinduism r.c. 190-180 BCE. Obv: Bust of Agathocles. '''Rev:''' Zeus holding sceptre, with Hecate on extended arm. Greek legend ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΟΝΤΟΣ ΑΓΑΘΟΚΛΕΟΥΣ "Under the reign of King Agathocles".]] - The first known bilingual coins of the Indo-Greeks were issued by - Vasudeva , with his large wheel with six spokes ( Chakra ) and conch (shanka), and his brother Samkarsa - Balarama , with his plough (hala) and pestle (masala), both early avatars of Vishnu The Crossroads of Asia, p62. The square coins, instead of the usual Greek round coins, also followed the Indian standard for coinage. The dancing girls on some of the coins of Agathocles and Pantaleon are also sometimes considered as representations of Subhadra , Krishna's sister. These first issues were in several respects a short-lived experiment. Hindu anthropomorphic deities were never again represented in Indo-Greek coinage (although the bull on the vast quantity of subsequent coins may have symbolized Shiva, as the elephant may have symbolized Buddhism), and the Brahmi script was immediately replaced by the Kharoshti script, derived from Aramaic . The general practice however of minting bilingual coins and combining Greek and Indian iconography, sometimes in the Greek and sometimes in the Indian standard continued for the next two centuries. In any case, these coins suggest the strong presence of Indian religious traditions in the northwestern Indian subcontinent at that time, and the willingness of the Greeks to acknowledge and even promote them. Artistically, they tend to indicate that the Greeks were not particularly reluctant to make representations of local deities, which has some bearing on the later emergence of the image of the Buddha in Hellenistic style. The Heliodorus Pillar inscription is another epigraphical evidence of the interaction between Greeks and Hinduism. The pillar was erected around 110 BCE in central India at the site of Vidisha , by Heliodorus , a Greek ambassador of the Indo-Greek king Antialcidas to the court of the Sunga king Bhagabhadra . The pillar was surmounted by a sculpture of Garuda and was apparently dedicated by Heliodorus to the temple of Vasudeva . :"This Garuda-standard of Vasudeva ( Vishnu ), the God of Gods :was erected here by the Bhagavata Heliodoros , :the son of Dion, a man of Taxila , :sent by the Great Greek ( Yona ) King :Antialkidas, as ambassador to :King Kasiputra Bhagabhadra, the Savior :son of the princess from Benares , in the fourteenth year of his reign." :( Heliodorus Pillar inscription) Zoroastrianism , with Mithra , wearing a radiated phrygian cap.]] Persian culture and religion seem to have been rather influential among the Western Indo-Greeks, who, located around the Paropamisadae , lived in direct contact with the Central Asian cultural sphere and the eastern reaches of the Parthian Empire . Images of the Persian Zoroastrian god Mithra appear extensively on the Indo-Greek coinage of the Western kings, as a god with a radiated Phrygian cap. , with seated Zeus-Mithra.]] This Zeus-Mithra god is also the one represented seated (with the rays around the head, and a small protrusion on the top of the head representing the cap) on many coins of Hermaeus , Antialcidas or Heliokles II , or possibly even earlier during the time of Eucratides I , on whose coins the deity is said to be the god of the city of Kapisa . The future Buddha Maitreya , usually represented seated on a throne Western-style, and venerated both in Mahayana and non-Mahayana Buddhism, is sometimes considered as influenced by the god Mithra. "Some scholars suggest he (Maitreya) was originally linked to the Iranian saviour-figure Mitra, and that his later importance for Buddhist as the future Buddha residing in the Tusita heaven, who will follow on from Sakyamuni Buddha, derives from this source." (Keown, Dictionary of Buddhism) ART Incipient Greco-Buddhist art ''Main article: Greco-Buddhist Art '' In general, the art of the Indo-Greeks is poorly documented, and few works of art (apart from their coins and a few Stone Palette s) are directly attributed to them. Traditionally, no sculptural remains have been attributed to the Indo-Greeks, although their Hellenistic heritage and artistic proficiency would naturally have encouraged such creations (as neighbouring and contemporary Ai-Khanoum abundantly suggests). On the contrary, and rather paradoxically, most Gandharan Hellenistic works of art are usually attributed to the direct successors of the Indo-Greeks in India, such as the Indo-Scythians , the Indo-Parthians and the Kushans , from the 1st century CE. / Vajrapani (left detail) and Tyche / Hariti (right detail) may be "incipient Buddhist sculpture in Indo-Greek style" (Boardman). Herakles still has his lion skin on the left shoulder, although his club has been replaced by Vajrapani's thunderbolt. Tyche holds a Classical Cornucopia , Tapa-i-Shotor, Hadda , eastern Afghanistan (Click on the image for photographic reference).]] , 95-90 BCE. Seated Tyche with Cornucopia in left hand, and, with the right hand, making a benediction gesture identical to the Buddhist vitarka Mudra .]] The possibility of a direct connection between the Indo-Greeks and Greco-Buddhist art has been reaffirmed recently as the dating of the rule of Indo-Greek kings has been extended to the first decades of the 1st century CE, with the reign of Strato II in the Punjab "The survival into the 1st century AD of a Greek administration and presumably some elements of Greek culture in the Punjab has now to be taken into account in any discussion of the role of Greek influence in the development of Gandharan sculpture", The Crossroads of Asia, p14. Also, Foucher, Tarn and more recently Boardman or McEvilley have taken the view that some of the most purely Hellenistic works of northwestern India and Afghanistan, may actually be wrongly attributed to later centuries, and instead belong to a period one or two centuries earlier, to the time of the Indo-Greeks in the 2nd-1st century BCE On the Indo-Greeks and the Gandhara school:
This is particularly the case of some purely Hellenistic works in Hadda , Afghanistan , an area which "might indeed be the cradle of incipient Buddhist sculpture in Indo-Greek style" Boardman, p141. Referring to one of the Buddha triads in Hadda (drawing), in which the Buddha is sided by very Classical depictions of Herakles / Vajrapani and Tyche / Hariti , Boardman explains that both figures "might at first (and even second) glance, pass as, say, from Asia Minor or Syria of the first or second century BC (...) these are essentially Greek figures, executed by artists fully conversant with far more than the externals of the Classical style" Boardman, p143. Many of the works of art at Hadda can also be compared to the style of the 2nd Century BCE sculptures of the Hellenistic world, such as those of the Temple Of Olympia At Bassae in Greece, which could also suggest roughly contemporary dates. Alternatively, it has been suggested that these works of art may have been executed by itinerant Greek artists during the time of maritime contacts with the West from the 1st to the 3rd century CE "Others, dating the work to the first two centuries A.D., after the waning of Greek autonomy on the Northwest, connect it instead with the Roman Imperial trade, which was just then getting a foothold at sites like Barbaricum at the Indus-mouth. It has been proposed that one of the embassies from Indian kings to Roman emperors may have brought back a master sculptorto oversee work in the emerging Mahayana Buddhist sensibility (in which the Buddha came to be seen as a kind of deity), and that "bands of foreign workmen from the eastern centers of the Roman Empire " were brought to India" (Mc Evilley "The shape of ancient thought", quoting Benjamin Rowland "The art and architecture of India" p121 and A.C. Soper "The Roman Style in Gandhara" American Journal of Archaeology 55 (1951) pp301-319). The supposition that such highly Hellenistic and, at the same time Buddhist, works of art belong to the Indo-Greek period would be consistent with the known Buddhist activity of the Indo-Greeks (the Milinda Panha etc...), their Hellenistic cultural heritage which would naturally have induced them to produce extensive statuary, their know artistic proficiency as seen on their coins until around 50 BCE, and the dated appearance of already complex iconography incorporating Hellenistic sculptural codes with the Bimaran Casket in the early 1st century CE. Indo-Greeks in the art of Gandhara s, wine and music, Archeological Site Of Hadda , Gandhara , 1st Century CE .]] The Greco-Buddhist Art of Gandhara , beyond the omnipresence of Greek style and stylistic elements which might be simply considered as an enduring artistic tradition, offers numerous depictions of people in Greek Classical realistic style, attitudes and fashion (clothes such as the Chiton and the Himation , similar in form and style to the 2nd century BCE Greco-Bactrian statues of Ai-Khanoum , hairstyle), holding contraptions which are characteristic of Greek culture ( Amphora s, "kantaros" Greek drinking cups), in situations which can range from festive (such as Bacchanal ian scenes) to Buddhist-devotional. Uncertainties in dating make it unclear whether these works of art actually depict Greeks of the period of Indo-Greek rule up to the 1st century BCE, or remaining Greek communities under the rule of the Indo-Parthians or Kushans in the 1st and 2nd century CE. |
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