Gandhāran Buddhism was the Buddhist culture of ancientGandhāra, which was a major center of Buddhism in the northwesternIndian subcontinent from the 3rd century BCE to approximately 1200 CE.[1][2] Ancient Gandhāra corresponds to modern day northPakistan, mainly thePeshawar Valley andPotohar Plateau as well asAfghanistan'sJalalabad. The region has yielded theGandhāran Buddhist texts written inGāndhārī Prakrit the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (1st century CE).[3]Gandhāra was also home to a unique Buddhist artistic and architectural culture which blended elements fromIndian, Hellenistic, Roman andParthian art.[4] Buddhist Gandhāra was also influential as the gateway through which Buddhism spread to Central Asia and China.[3][5]
Buddhism first took root in Gandhara 2,300 years ago under the Mauryan kingAshoka who sent missionaries to the Kashmira-Gandhara region following theThird Buddhist council inPataliputra (modern India).[6][7][8]
Majjhantika, a monk from the city ofVaranasi in India, was assigned by Ashoka to preach inKashmir andGandhara.[9][10][11][12]In the view of Buddhist sources, Gandhāra was one of the great regions (mahjanapada) ofancient India. Under theMauryan Empire (ca. 300–185 BCE), its capital was the city ofTaxila.[13] The center of ancient Gandhāra was thePeshawar basin in northwesternPakistan which extends westward intoAfghanistan along theKabul River.[14] This region exerted cultural and linguistic influence on what has been called "Greater Gandhāra" which encompasses the surrounding areas eastwards across the Indus River (such asTaxila), north towards theSwat Valley and Upper Indus, west towardsBamiyan and across theHindu Kush intoBactria and theOxus river valley.[14]
The Indian emperorAshoka (ca. 268–233 BCE) erected edicts in the region, some of which use theGāndhārī language and theKharosthi script later used by Gandhāran Buddhists. These edicts confirm the existence of Buddhism in Gandhāra during his reign.[15]Kharosthi inscriptions have been found as far West asWardak along the Kabul river,Uzbekistan (Termez) andTajikistan (Anzhina-Tepe) and as far south asMohenjo-Daro andBaluchistan.[16]
According to Xuanzang, there were six great stupas founded by Ashoka in Gandhāra, the largest of which is theDharmarajika Stupa at Taxila. The archaeological and epigraphic evidence points to the first monasteries and stupas dating from the end of the third century BCE.[17] TheIndo-Greek Kingdoms later controlled the area, and some of their kings, such asMenander I (ca. 155–130), were seen as promoters of Buddhism in Buddhist sources.[18] The Greek artistic culture strongly influenced the art of Gandhāran Buddhism, which saw the first representations of anthropomorphic Buddhas, withGreco-Buddhist art styles that can be seen in the drapery and hair style.[19] Successive conquerors of the region included theIndo-Scythians and theIndo-Parthians.
TheKushan Empire (30–375 CE) also patronized the Buddhist religion of Gandhāra, supporting monasteries and stupa building. It is not until the 1st and 2nd centuries CE that a significant number of Buddhist centers were founded in Gandhāra.[20] A typical Buddhist center included monasteries adjacent to a centralstupa containing relics of the Buddha, which was the central focus of lay and monastic veneration and donations in the forms of sculptural images.[21] UnderKanishka the Great (128–151), Buddhist stupas and monasteries were built in the Gandhāran city ofPeshawar (Skt.Purusapura), the capital of the Kushan Empire.[22] The name ofHuvishka, Kanishka's successor, was attached to a large monastic complex atMathura.[2] During this time, sculptures and narrative reliefs were used to embellish Buddhist structures, focusing on the life ofGautama Buddha.[23] The archaeological record shows a dramatic increase in the patronage of Buddhist sites sometime in the 3rd century, with many more images and shrines being added during this period.[23] Most of the extant architecture dates from this period and includes sites such as Taxila and the large monastic institutions like Takht-i-Bahi, Sahri-Bahlol, Jamal Garhi, Ranigat, and Thareli.[21]
The Kushan support of Buddhism and their establishment of secure trade routes from Gandhāra to Asia allowed Buddhism to continue its spread toBactria,Central Asia and China along theSilk Road.[22] The cult of the BodhisattvaMaitreya was particularly strong during theKushan Empire, as shown by the abundance of Maitreya images found in Gandhāra.[24] Other major sites from the Kushan period include theButkara Stupa andBarikot.
Kharosthi inscriptions indicate the existence of the following Buddhist schools in Gandhāra: theDharmaguptaka, theMahīśāsaka, theKasyapiya, theSarvastivada and theMahasamghika.[25] Richard Salomon has attributed most of the Gandhāran texts to theDharmaguptaka school who were a major Buddhist school in the region.[26] During the Chinese pilgrimFaxian's visit to the region, he reported that most monks were practicing non-Mahayana forms of Buddhism.[27] However there is also plenty of textual and artistic evidence for the existence ofMahayana in Gandhāra.[28][29]
After the fall of the Kushanas, small kingdoms ruled the area, most friendly to Buddhism, who continued to promote Buddhist stupas and monasteries.[30] Buddhism began to weaken in the region after the second half of the fifth century when theHephthalite White Huns invaded Gandhāra. After the collapse of Hephthalite rule in the 6th century, Buddhist sites show considerable decline.[31] When the Chinese monkXuanzang (602–664) visitedTaxila and Gandhara, many monasteries were deserted.[32] However, Buddhism continued to thrive in areas outside the Gandhāran core of Peshawar, like in theSwat Valley,Kashmir, andAfghanistan.[21]
Afghanistan'sBamiyan was one of the main cities of Buddhist activity in the region as shown by the remains of the monumental Buddha sculptures known as theBuddhas of Bamiyan. They are believed to have been carved sometime between the 3rd to 6th centuries CE.[33] Bamiyan seems to have continued to be a strong Buddhist site in the 7th century. The Chinese Buddhist pilgrimXuanzang visited the site in 630 CE, and described Bamiyan as a Buddhist center with "scores of monasteries, and thousands of monks who study theLokottaravāda".[34]
Another important Gandhāran site in which Buddhism remained strong during the 7th century was the northern city ofGilgit, a key city on theSilk Road which was visited by Chinese pilgrims to study Buddhism.[35] The region was ruled by thePatola Shahi dynasty of the Kingdom ofGilgit in the 600s and 700s, which were adherents ofVajrayana Buddhism.[36] The city later came under the rule of the Tibetan empire until the late 800s.[37]
The religion started its decline after being invaded by theHephthalites (a.k.a.White Huns) around the middle of the fifth century.[38] They were then replaced by theHindu Shahis who followedHinduism although Buddhism continued to flourish.[39]
Xuanzang (602–664) passed through Gandhara and found numerous functioning monasteries. He was followed by Ou K'ong who visited in 753 AD.[40] A Buddhist monk was present in Baramulla in 13th century.
TheMuslim invasions of India caused further damage to the Buddhist culture in Gandhāra, and Buddhism eventually ceased to exist from the region by approximately 1200 CEdue to various factors.[2]
Because the region was at a cultural crossroads, the art of the Gandhāran Buddhists was a fusion of Greco-Roman, Iranian and Indian styles.[4] Initially, Buddhist art wasaniconic, but Greco-Roman influences led to the emergence ofanthropomorphic depictions of the Buddha in the 1st century CE.[41] The height of this artistic style was during theKushan Empire. Many examples of Gandhāran Buddhist sculpture have been found, showing the influence of Greco-Roman sculpture.
Gandhāran architecture can be divided into four major phases:[42]
TheGandhāran Buddhist texts are the oldest Buddhist manuscripts yet discovered (circa 1st century CE). The material is scattered throughout several collections around the world, and is very fragmentary. Most are in theGāndhārī language and theKarosthi script, on either birchbark manuscripts or palm leaf. Gandhāran manuscripts have been found for all major Buddhist genres includingprose sutras, poetry,Abhidharma,Vinaya,Avadana, Commentaries andMahāyāna texts.[43] Material which parallelsPali Canon texts has been found, such as theRhinoceros Sutra (Gāndhārī: Khargaviṣaṇa-sutra) and a parallel to theAnattalakkhana Sutta.[44]
MahāyānaPure Land sūtras were brought from the Gandhāra region to China as early as AD 147, with the work ofKushan monkLokakṣema who translated important Mahayana sutras like theAṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra.[45] The earliest of these translations show evidence of having been translated from the Gāndhārī language.[46] The Lokakṣema corpus emphasizes ascetic practices and forest dwelling, and absorption in states of meditative concentration.[47] Some scholars also trace the MahāyānaLonger Sukhāvatīvyūha Sūtra to the Gandhāra region during theKushan Empire.[48][49]
Due to Gandhāra's position on the Silk Road, Gandhāran Buddhism has a strong influence on the Buddhism of Central Asia and East Asia. During the Greek and Kushan eras, theKhyber Pass was an important trade route and a key highway connectedPeshawar withBactria (and the city ofBalkh, orBactra) through the pass.[50] This was the main route through which Buddhism spread to Central Asia and to China. Greater Gandhāra's Buddhist culture thus extended into the cities of NorthernAfghanistan (e.g.Kunduz), SouthUzbekistan (e.g.Termez),Turkmenistan (e.g.Merv)Tajikistan and south easternKyrgyzstan (in theChui Valley).[51]
Gandhāran missionaries were influential in bringing Buddhist culture to China during theHan-dynasty (202 BCE–220 CE), through contacts at the towns and cities of theTarim Basin located in modernXinjiang, such asKhotan andTurpan.[52] The region was briefly ruled by the Kushans under Kanishka, and this allowed Buddhist missionaries easy access to the towns of the Tarim Basin.[53]
Important Buddhist figures from Greater Gandhāra who acted as translators in China includeLokakṣema,An Shigao,Dharmarakṣa (265–313),Zhi Qian (220–252),Jñānagupta (561–592), andPrajñā (c. 810).
Vajrayana Buddhists from the Greater Gandhāran regions ofGilgit and theSwat Valley (which is possibly the widely citedOḍḍiyāna) were also influential on the establishment ofTibetan Buddhism. Xuanzang notes during his travels to the region (629–645) that he found many Buddhists which were inclined towards Tantric practices. The presence of TantricVajrayana Buddhism in the region during the 7th and 8th centuries has been confirmed by recent archaeological finds which includes rock cut sculptures ofAvalokiteshvara,Vajrapani and a Vajrayanasiddha figure.[54]
This is the list of important Gandharan monks from modern day'sGandhara region in chronological order;
Gandharan Buddhist monks directly or indirectly developed importantschools and traditions of Buddhism likeNyingma school ofTibet,Sautrāntika school ofChina,Hossō andKusha-shū schools ofJapan, as well as traditions ofDzogchen andYogachara inEast Asia.Gandharans were instrumental inspreading Buddhism toChina,Korea andJapan and thus deeply influencedEast Asian philosophy,history, andculture. Founders of variousBuddhistschools and traditions from Gandhara are as follows;
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