Session: 2 Maurya

1. Terms to remember
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2.
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9.
Mauryas (indigenous) and Kushans (foreigner)
King Chandragupta Maurya
Emperor Ashoka
King Kanishka
Buddhism
Hinduism
Jainism
Tenets of Buddhism or Buddha Dharma
Propagation

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18.
Animals
Humans—male and female, but predominantly female
Beauty—aesthetic principles
Tribhanga posture (S-curve of the body)
Salabhangika
Parts were taken from nature
Mathura
Theravada and Mahayana
Arhat and Bodhisattva
Nirvana
Yaksha and Yakshi
Rock-cut caves
Bharhut, Karle and Ajanta
Stupas
Sanchi
The battle of Kalinga
84000 stupas
Ashokan pillars (stambhas)

3. Chaitya
2. Vihara
3. Chakra
4. Abhaya
5. Dhyana
6. Varada
7. Dharmachakra pravartana
8. Vyakhyana
9. Prana
10. Mithuna (amorous couple, often in embrace or in sexual
position)
11. Mara
12. Greco-Roman style (Gandhara)
1.

4. 1.
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Ushanisha
Urna
Srivatsa
Bhumisparsa (earth touching)
Mudra (hand gesture)
Padmasana (lotus posture/position)

5. Art of the Maurya Period
(321-185 BCE)
►
The Maurya Empire
►
One of the largest
►
Capital—Pataliputra in Magadha
►
Founder—Chandragupta Maurya, who
overthrew the powerful Nanda Dynasty by
the help of his advisor Chanakya.

6. ► Capital: Pataliputra (modern Patna) in Bihar, north India
► Founded in 322 BCE by Chandragupta Maurya, the
empire was one of the world's largest empires in its time,
and the largest ever in the Indian subcontinent.
► Chandragupta expanded his power westward taking
advantage of the disruptions of local powers in the wake
of the withdrawal by Alexander the Great's Greek and
Persian armies.
► By 320 BCE the empire had fully occupied Northwestern
India, defeating and conquering the satraps left by
Alexander.

7. Area ruled by the Maurya Empire

8. Bull capital from Rampurva, Bihar, 3rd century BC
sandstone

10. Ashoka pillar/Ashokan pillar

11. Parkham Yaksha
Besnagar Yakshi

12. Parkham Yaksha

13. Lomas Rishi cave
3rd century BC
Imitation of wooden architecture

20. Kushan Dynasty: King Kaniska (127-151)

21. King Kaniska

23. Kanishka

24. Vima Kadphisis,
Kanishka’s father

27. Woman's Shringhar, Kushana period, scene
on a pillar railing (Government Museum,
Mathura). The grace and delicacy of the
human form is sensitively expressed in this
scene, which meets the worshipper's eye as he
goes around the stupa.

28. ► Kanishka's reputation in Buddhist tradition is based
mainly that he convened the 4th Buddhist Council in
Kashmir.
► He provided encouragement to both the Gandhara
school of Greco-Buddhist Art and the Mathura school
of Hindu art.
► His greatest contribution to Buddhist architecture was
the Kanishka stupa at Peshawar, Pakistan.
► It was believed to be the largest Buddhist structure
during the time it was built.

29. Art of Kushana period
Yakshi, Mathura. Kushan Period
sandstone, 2nd century A.D.
Yakshas and yakshis are male and
female nature deities. Both Buddhist and
Hindu temples have included
representations of these beings in their
imagery.

30. Vrikshadevi, Kushana period, Jaina stupa railing,
Kankali Tila (Government Museum, Lucknow). The
vitality and exuberance of nature is beautifully
expressed in all monuments of this period that survived
in north India as well as in the rock-cut caves of western
India, such as at Karle

31. Parashuramesvara lingam
Andhra Pradesh
1st century CE
Ek Mukhi Siva Linga, Kushana period (Government
Museum, Lucknow). The Siva Linga is one of the most
profound symbols of humankind. It is the "mark" of the
unmanifest eternal manifesting itself in innumerable
forms of the world. Simultaneously, it embodies the vital
forces of nature in the manifest world.

33. The End