Budha

Buddha with Hellenic toga and topknot, Gandhara, Pakistan C 1st and 2nd century CE

Heide, Marije Aguillo, Percy Schramm and 2 other people have particularly liked this photo

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Dinesh ^club

In 1961 Mohammad Zahir Shah, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohammad_Zahir_Shah last king of Afghanistan was out hunting high in the mountains of Hindu Kush when he came across man made stones peeing from the barren earth.

The Shah had discovered Al-Khanoum, an eastern outpost of a Greek civilization that “in the year 200 BC.,” had stretched as far west as Marseilles. The city boasted a six-thousand-seat theater, a gymnast, temples and an agora. Al-Khanoum was on the doorstep of two other great civilizations: the Buddhist Maurya Empire of India and the Confucian Han of China. Greek coins decorated with Hindu deities and buddhas in Hellenic apparel bear witness to cultural cross-fertilization, or “judicious adaptations,” as Cavafy put it.

The three cultures differed in their understanding of what made for human happiness. For the Buddhists, it was the inner stillness that stemmed from the absence of desire. For followers of Confucius, it was obedience to a higher order. For Greeks, happiness came from participation – the perfect venue for this, as Aristotle had argued, was the ‘polis’.. . . . . .

If the Greek of the third century BCE had traveled to the city of Kandahar (named for Alexander) in Afghanistan, he’d have found the edicts of the great Indian Emperor Ashoka carved in stone – in Greek. A century later, if one of his ancestors had traveled even further east – to Sagal in the Punjab, – he would have reached the capital of the Kingdom of Menander I (ruled 165-130 BCE), and Indo-Greek potentate who’d converted to Buddhism. The language of Menender’s administration was Greek and his coins were embossed with images of Athena.

At Gandhara in today’s Pakistan, there are statues from as late as the second century CE showing the Buddha under the protection of Heracles. To this day, a city in Gujarat, far down the west coast of India, bears the name Junadagh – originally Yonadagh or “city of Greeks” (‘Yona” is a transliteration of Ionians ). Even further south, Sri Lanks, the ‘Mahavamsa’ a Buddhist text dating from the fifty century, refers to Greek missionaries helping to spread the word of Buddha. Pages 50 / 51 / 52

7 months ago. Edited 7 months ago.

Percy Schramm ^club

Great sculpture and an interesting history. The best wishes for you, Dinesh !

7 months ago.

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