The finesse, vividness, and range of the art and architecture of the Kushans has gripped scholarly attention and imagination for the past two centuries—irrespective of whether one focuses on centralized flourishes such as the Gandharan and Mathuran schools or on more variegated renditions such as folk art. The Kushans were heirs to a remarkable confluence of ideas, styles, and techniques from Iran, India, Central Asia, and China, among other lands; from a range of confessional systems, including Buddhism, Hinduism, and Zoroastrianism; and from the legacy of Greco-Macedonian conquest as well. Yet how and where did those disparate strands, each vibrant by itself, come together? Understanding some of those processes is this monumental volume's raison d'être, as stated eloquently by its editor, Doris Meth Srinivasan, in the first chapter (e.g., pp. 3–4, 6, 11–14).
The volume consists of thirteen studies (besides Srinivasan's opening remarks), each of which is either a broadly systematic survey of an issue entwined with the period from the third century bce to the early second century ce, or a concise examination of a specific development during that period. The articles stem from a symposium held seven years earlier at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. The arrangement of articles, unfortunately, does not contribute to thematic or chronological comprehension of the vexing questions that the volume seeks to answer.
Chapters 2, 3, and 14 discuss the movement of people and the cultural syncretism produced. Demographic, cultural, and commercial interactions in Gandhara and the Deccan are compared by Pia Brancaccio, especially with respect to the congruencies and divergences generated by overland and maritime movement, respectively. Particularly valuable is the attention to how foreign prototypes reshaped local artistic mores (pp. 385–89). Jason Neelis writes about Saka and Kushan migrations, while providing an excellent overview of ancient Saka groups (pp. 57–59). His analysis of Kushan relocations, however, should have considered W. B. Henning's “The First Indo-Europeans in History” (in Society and History: Essays in Honor of Karl August Wittfogel, ed. G. L. Ulmen [The Hague: Mouton, 1978], 215–30), A. K. Narain's On the “First” Indo-Europeans: The Tokharian-Yuezhi and Their Chinese Homeland (Papers on Inner Asia, vol. 2 [Bloomington: Indiana University, 1987]), and my “The Enigmatic Origins of the Tokharians” (in Ātaš-e Dorun—The Fire Within: Jamshid Soroush Soroushian Memorial Volumes, vol. 2, ed. Carlo G. Cereti and Farrokh J. Vajifdar [Bloomington, Ind.: First Books Library, 2003], 107–19). Routes that connected Gandhara to North India are examined by Saifur Rahman Dar in a magisterial essay that assesses the reasons why people traveled, then maps the thoroughfares and byways they moved along (pp. 32–53).
Let me add another major cross-regional route that came to light during my surveys within Baluchistan in 1999–2001. That route ran from western Afghanistan via the Salwatu Pass on the border of modern Pakistan through Panj Pai and then Sefid Boldan into Mastung and thereafter southeastward to the Sind. Each site's archeology demonstrated that the route was traveled from the Bronze Age (as early as ca. 1800 bce) through the Achaemenian, Parthian, and Sasanian dynasties (which placed garrisons there) into medieval Islamic times (where habitation endured as late as 1500 ce). Interestingly, Greco-Macedonian settlement would shift away from the Achaemenian location by a couple of thousand feet, and, likewise, those persons dwelling there in Parthian-Sasanian-Islamic times would also move a small distance down the road. That settlement relocation pattern prevails at those sites to the present.
Administrative and confessional continuity from the first century bce to the first century ce is determined by Richard Solomon in chapter 10 on the basis of epigraphic and manuscript data generated by local dynasties. The territory, longevity, and cultural contributions of Apraca-rajas and Odi-rajas, whose kingdoms now fall within northwest Pakistan, provide fleeting glimpses into the impact of Buddhism there. Solomon's study (pp. 267–86) is especially timely, as many pre-Islamic archeological sites in the region have been destroyed by increasingly militant Muslims organizations during the past twenty years.
Dates have always been a vexed issue in Kushan and pre-Kushan studies. So the relevance of numismatics for dating early Kushan art is the subject of David MacDowall's article. While the coinages are granted an insightful overage, alas, the study in chapter 4 (pp. 95–117) does not discuss any works of art in depth—not even the images on currencies, which could have provided a database for further chronological refinements. Rather, the study focuses, productively, on correlating coins with inscriptions. MacDowall makes another contribution, chapter 9, on the representations of divine beings on coins. His second analysis (pp. 233–65) extends geographically from the Iranian plateau to the northern reaches of the Indus basin and chronologically from the rise of Hellenism to the inception of Kushan rule. Succinct overviews of coin design, including reverse imagery, are provided. The well-known syncretism in faith and art is illustrated through numerous, carefully selected well-illustrated examples. He also touches on denominational changes influenced by local economics, especially the acceptance of certain currency values by Indian merchants (p. 245). The data may not be new, but the essay sets the information well within the overall pre-Kushan period and provides insights into how and why religious ideas were shared and disseminated using a means that came into numerous hands.
Art and centers for its production are the intellectual loci of articles by Domenico Faccenna in chapter 7 and Gregory Schopen in chapter 11. Richly illustrated, Faccenna's study covers architecture and sculpture in Buddhist settings at Butkara, Panr, and Saidu Sharif. It assumes that readers already have specialized knowledge of the sites—from chronology to location and layout. Yet even readers who lack such details will find the careful analysis (especially pp. 195–96) of physical structures, decorative motifs, comparison to other major sites (such as Taxila), and contextualization of artwork, to be fascinating. Schopen's essay (pp. 287–317) is both easy to read and highly suggestive of broad mechanisms and ideas that shaped the nexus of artistic and religious expressions in monastic settings. Combining astute observations from textual sources with rich insights, he provides glimpses into the financial requirements of monastic life. Yes, even Buddhist monks have needs that must be met through fiduciary means—and Schopen incisively discusses how those necessities were met.
The final set of articles in chapters 5, 6, 12, and 13 focus on particular sites and objects. Results of excavations at the Indo-Greek settlement at Barikot in the central Swat Valley (pp. 133–64) are reported by Pierfrancesco Callieri, supported by valuable illustrations. This article contributes to a better understanding of how widespread Hellenism became and why local peoples adopted and propagated its styles (pp. 158, 161). Likewise, the material transition into the Kushan period at Sonkh in Mathura is detailed by the late Herbert Härtel (pp. 319–50). Coins, seals, inscriptions, and stone and terracotta art are amply described and illustrated. Most fascinating is his discussion of a fragmentary dedication from Kanishka I's reign (p. 336). Osmund Bopearachchi (esp. pp. 122–28) focuses on reconstructing the Bodhisattva statue from Takal Bala near Peshawar and establishing its archeological and cultural contexts. Like the statue, once a composite of marble and wood, his account is a masterpiece fitting together disparate parts. Srinivasan takes readers back to Mathura and its human-scale Nagini or snake goddess artwork of the first century ce (pp. 351–84). She superbly contextualizes the statuary within the cultic praxis of the period by connecting art, piety, and writing.
The volume must be regarded as groundbreaking, despite the diverse range of essays it contains. It provides a masterful and original ouvrage of the traditions, influences, and developments from a period and an area where East and West shared ground to produce great cultural syntheses.
