Art of Mathura

Terracotta figurines (4th-2nd century BCE)

Although no stone sculpture or architecture from the Mauryan period are known in Mathura, some relatively high quality terracotta statuettes have been recovered from the Mauryan strata in excavations.^[18] This would suggest that there was some level of artistic creation at Mathura during the period of the Maurya Empire.^[18] The creation of terracotta figurines is thought to have been much easier than sculpting stone, and therefore became the mainstream form of artistic expression.^[19] In Mathura, the first statuette were found in strata dating to the late 4th-2nd centuries BCE, and their production, together with associated terracotta miniatures of votive tanks and shrines, seems to have continued for close to a thousand years.^[20]

Terracottas generally showed what appears to be female deities or mother goddesses, and from the 2nd century women in elaborate headdress.^[19][21] The ancient Vedic text of the Shatapatha Brahmana describes such figurines as "broad-hipped, of smooth breast-region and slender waisted" and suggests that they are personifications of the earth, especially the earth goddesses Prithivi and Aditi, as "the container and supporter of the whole world", and the "repository of all Gods".^[16] Their headdress is often decorated with lotus stalks, complete with conical lotus pistils with their seeds, which symbolize fecundity and beauty.^[16] The lotus would remain an attribute of female deities in later periods.^[16] Some terracotta statuettes also show a child or children clinging to the goddess, thereby emphasizing her role as a symbol of fecundity.^[16] The cult of these female goddesses, characterized by small and easily manufactured figures, appears to have been essentially domestic.^[20]

Several figures of foreigners also appear in the terracottas from the 4th and 3rd century BCE, which are either described simply as "foreigners" or Persian or Iranian because of their foreign features.^[22][23][24] These figurines might reflect the increased contacts of Indians with Iranian people during this period.^[23] Several of these seem to represent foreign soldiers who visited India during the Mauryan period and influenced modellers in Mathura with their peculiar ethnic features and uniforms.^[25] One of the terracotta statuettes, a man nicknamed the "Persian nobleman" and dated to the 2nd century BCE, can be seen wearing a coat, scarf, trousers and a turban.^{[26][27][28][22]}

Terracotta figurine production evolved with the adoption of moulds in the 3rd-2nd century BCE.^[29][19]

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  Terracotta figurine, Mathura, 4th century BCE
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  Terracotta female coiffure, Mathura, 2nd century BCE
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  "Ethnic head", Mathura, c. 2nd century BCE.^[22]
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  "Persian Nobleman clad in coat dupatta trouser and turban", Mathura, c. 2nd Century BCE.^[22]

Early depictions of Indian deities (190-180 BCE)

Early depictions of Indian deities

Samkarshana, Vāsudeva and the female Goddess Ekanamsha shown in a rock painting at Tikla, 3rd-2nd century BCE.^[30]

Indian deities on the coinage of the Indo-Greek king Agathocles: Samkarshana and Vāsudeva, c. 190-180 BCE.^[31][32] These are considered as "the earliest unambiguous" images of these deities.^[33]

The anthropomorphic depiction of various deities apparently started to appear in the middle of the 1st millennium BCE. Panini and Patanjali seem to mention depictions of Shiva, Skanda, Visaka, Vāsudeva-Krishna and Arjuna.^[34] In particularly, the worship of Balarama-Samkarshana and Vāsudeva-Krishna seems to have originated in Mathura, where they were revered as members of the five Vrishni heroes, and spread from there.^[35]

Before the introduction of stone sculpture, there may have been an older tradition of using clay or wood to represent Indian deities, which, because of their inherent fragility, have not survived.^[36] Apart from the local terracotta figurines generally showing female fertility deities, there are no early remains of such representations of Indian deities. Probably the earliest known Indian depiction of these Mathuran deities is a rock painting found at Tikla, around 170 kilometers south of Mathura, on the road from Mathura to Tumain and Ujjain.^[30] This rock painting is dated to the 3rd-2nd century BCE, based on the paleography of the Brahmi inscription accompanying it.^[30] Here, the deities are depicted wearing a dhoti with a peculiar headdress, and are shown holding their attributes: a plow and a sort of mace for Balarama, and a mace and a wheel for Vāsudeva. A third smaller character is added, forming what can be called a Vrishni trio, in the person of a female, thought to be the Goddess Ekanamsha, who seems to hold a Chatra royal umbrella.^[30]

The "earliest unambiguous" images of these deities, is an indirect testimony appearing with the coinage of the Indo-Greek king Agathocles, who issued coins with the image of Indian deities in Indian style, together with legends in the Greek and Brahmi scripts, circa 180-190 BCE.^{[33][32][37][31]} The coins were probably issued in an area not far west of Mathura, if not in Mathura itself, since they depict Vāsudeva, whose cult was famous in Mathura, and employ the Brahmi script, which was in use in the region, rather than the northwestern Kharoshthi script.^[38] The Indo-Greeks may have played a major role in breaking the Vedic tradition of representing deities through symbols only, rather than in human form, since Greek art did not have any such restrictions.^[11]

The depictions of Indian deities, as witnessed by the Indo-Greeks transferred on their coinage, are generally thought to refer to Balarama-Samkarshana and Vāsudeva-Krishna, shown together with their rather unambiguous attributes, especially the Gada mace and the plow for the former, and the Vishnu attributes of the Shankha (a pear-shaped case or conch) and the Sudarshana Chakra wheel for the latter.^[32][39] The worship of these deities is known to have originated in Mathura before spreading to other areas of India,^[35][38] especially since Krishna and his brother Balarama were born in Mathura to the Vrishni king Vasudeva.^[40] It is thought that local Indian images, predating the coins but now lost, may have served as models to the engravers.^[39] According to Osmund Bopearachchi, the parasol-like headdress of these deities is actually a misrepresentation of a shaft with a half-moon parasol on top (chattra), as seen in later statues of Bodhisattvas in Mathura.^[39] Although the style is generally Indian, the boots or the scabbards may have been added by the Indo-Greeks.^[31] The heads of the deities are also adorned with billowing ribons.^[31]

A dancing goddess in Indian dress also appears on the coinage of Agathocles and Pantaleon, and she is often interpreted as Lakshmi.^[32] According to Harry Falk, such acts of devotion towards foreign gods, as can also be seen in the dedication of the Heliodorus pillar, was a logical practice for the Greeks, in order to appropriate the power of local deties: it "should not be regarded as a "conversion" to Hinduism, but rather as the result of a search for the most helpful local powers, upholding own traditions in a foreign garb."^[41]

Colossal anthropomorphic statues (2nd century BCE)

Some of the earliest works of art of the Mathura school are the Yakshas, monumental sculptures in the round of earth divinities that have been dated to the 2nd-1st century BCE. Yakshas seem to have been the object of an important cult in the early periods of Indian history, many of them being known such as Kubera, king of the Yakshas, Manibhadra or Mudgarpani.^[61] The Yakshas are a broad class of nature-spirits, usually benevolent, but sometimes mischievous or capricious, connected with water, fertility, trees, the forest, treasure and wilderness,^[62][63] and were the object of popular worship.^[64] Many of them were later incorporated into Buddhism, Jainism or Hinduism.^[61]

In the 2nd century BCE, Yakshas became the focus of the creation of colossal cultic images, typically around 2 meters or more in height, which are considered as probably the first Indian anthropomorphic productions in stone.^[50][61] The colossal size and quality of these statues shows that they cannot just have been the object of a rural popular cult, but were rather produced in urban workshops and worshipped in shrines by an affluent urban community.^[65] Although few ancient Yaksha statues remain in good condition, the vigor of the style has been applauded, and expresses essentially Indian qualities.^[50] They are often pot-bellied, two-armed and fierce-looking.^[61] The Parkham Yaksha, dated to circa 150 BCE on stylistic grounds and paleographical grounds, is monumental at 2.59 meters high.^[66][67][68] An inscription says "Made by Gomitaka, a pupil of Kunika. Set up by eight brothers, members of the Manibhadra congregation ("puga")." This inscription thus indicates that the statue represents the Yaksa Manibhadra.^[69] The Yashas are often depicted with weapons or attributes, such as the Yaksha Mudgarpani, dated circa 100 BCE, who in the right hand holds a mudgar mace, and in the left hand the figure of a small standing devotee or child joining hands in prayer.^[56][61] It is often suggested that the style of the colossal Yaksha statuary had an important influence on the creation of later divine images and human figures in India.^[36] The female equivalent of the Yashas were the Yashinis, often associated with trees and children, and whose voluptuous figures became omnipresent in Indian art.^[61]

Some Hellenistic influence, such as the geometrical folds of the drapery or the contrapposto walking stance of the statues, has been suggested.^[50] According to John Boardman, the hem of the dress in the monumental early Yaksha statues is derived from Greek art.^[50] Describing the drapery of one of these statues, John Boardman writes: "It has no local antecedents and looks most like a Greek Late Archaic mannerism", and suggests it is possibly derived from the Hellenistic art of nearby Bactria where this design is known.^[50] Under the Indo-Greeks, the cult of the Yakshas may also have been associated with the Bacchic cult of Dionysos.^[70] Since the time of Alexander the Great visiting a city called Nysa in northern India, the Greeks had identified local devotional practices as similar to their cult of Dionysos.^[71] They may have promoted a syncretic art which conflated Hellenistic Dionysiac imagery with the local cult of the Yakshas.^[72]

In the production of colossal Yaksha statues carved in the round, which can be found in several locations in northern India, the art of Mathura is considered as the most advanced in quality and quantity during this period.^[73] In later periods, from the turn of the millennium, Yashkas and Nagas evolved from being benevolent, powerful deities at the center of worship, to becoming frightening demonic creatures acting as subsidiary attendants in the major religions of Buddhism, Jainism and Hinduism.^[65] They also became much smaller in size as they were dethroned by the new religions, suggesting the continuation of a cult at the domestic level.^[65]

Simple reliefs (circa 150-100 BCE)

Various reliefs in a style similar to those of Bharhut or Sanchi Stupa No. 2 can be found in Mathura, dating to approximately 150-100 BCE.^[76] A dedicatory inscription by Dhanabhuti at Mathura records the donation of railings and a gateway to the Buddhists samgha.^[43][77] It is now lost.^[78] The Dhanabhuti in the Mathura inscription could be the same person as King Dhanabhuti in the Bharhut inscription, about 322 kilometers away, and this could suggest some cultural, religious and artistic connection between the two areas.^[60][79] Reliefs are usually rather simple and consist in medallions on railings or balusters, structural elements of stone barriers or "vedikas" probably established around large stupas which have not remained to this day.^[80]

The "Mehrauli Yakshi", one of the highest quality work among early sculpture, was found in Mehrauli in the cultural area of Mathura.^[81] The high-relief and skillfully carved sculpture shows a female nature divinity, called a Yakshini, holding on the branches of a tree in the Salabhanjika pose, with a long double braid of hair descending down to the girdle.^[75][81] The sculpture probably used to adorn the railing of a sacred site, such as a Stupa.^[81] She is dated to 150 BCE, and prefigures by more than a century the Salabhanjika Yakshinis of Sanchi.^[82][75][81] It is at the same time one of the most artistically beautiful and earliest of the Yakshi sculptures, with detailed patterning contrasting with the smoothness of the skin, standing at the beginning of a long tradition of Yashi sculptures in Mathura and India as a whole.^[81] There are many similarities with the Yakshis found in Bharhut, although the Mehrauli Yakshi has rounder volumes, characteristic of the Mathura style and technical proficiency in carving.^[81]

Some other sculpted figures also are dated to circa 150 BCE, due to their similarity with equivalent figures in Bharhut. This is the case of a male Chauri-bearer with its sharp lines and stiff expression, held at the Mathura Museum.^[83] Sir John Marshall considered the early reliefs of Mathura and Bharhut as part of the same tradition, calling it the "Bharhut-Mathura School", while the reliefs of Sanchi were a second tradition, calling it the "Malwa School of Sanchi".^[84]

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  Crossbar medallion with elephant and riders, Gayatri Tila, Mathura, circa 150 BCE.^[85]
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  Male Chauri bearer, Mathura, c.150 BCE.^[83][86]
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  Yaksha holding a mudgar mace and a child. 100 BCE.^[87]
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  Crossbar with female head in lotus medallion, circa 2nd Century BCE, Mathura.^[88]
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  Buddhist railing with Bodhi tree and Wheel of Law. 1st century BCE
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  Railing crossbars, 2nd-1st century BCE.
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  Crossbar medallion with horse rider. 2nd-1st century BCE.
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  An anguiped, also seen in Hellenistic and Roman art, c. 1st century BCE.^[89]

Complex narrative reliefs (circa 100 BCE)

By 100 BCE, the reliefs represent more complex scenes, defining, according to Sonya Rhie Quintanilla, an age of "iconic diversification and narrative maturation", as shown by the Kankali Tila architrave representing centaurs worshipping a Jain stupa, the dance of Nilanjana, and the renunciation of Rsabhanata, or the Katra architrave representing Brahmins with pots in a sacred precinct.^[91][92] Another relief from the same period shows a Linga inside a railing on platform and under a pipal tree, being worshipped by Gandharvas, an early depiction of the phallic cult in Shivaism.^[90]

Several of these reliefs are the first known examples of Jain sculpture.^[93] These reliefs show more depth, and a greater richness in their composition.^[92] These examples of narrative reliefs, although few remain, are as refined and intricate as the better known narrative reliefs of Bharhut, Sanchi or Amaravati.^[94][92] The centaurs appearing in the Mathura reliefs, as in other places such as Bodh Gaya, are generally considered as Western borrowings.^[95]

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  Kankali Tila architrave with Centaurs worshipping a Jain Stupa, Mathura, circa 100 BCE^[96]
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  The Katra architrave, possibly representing Brahmins and the cult of the Shiva Linga, Mathura, circa 100 BCE^[97]

In-the-round statuary

Mora sculptures (c. 15 CE)

The Mora well inscription of Great Satrap Sodasa (15 CE) is associated with three statue remains and a decorated doorjamb, all thought to be related to a temple built for the Vrishni heroes.^[112] Left: torso said to be probably a figure of one of the five Vrishni heroes, Mora, circa 15 CE, Mathura Museum.^{[113][114][115][116]} Right: Mora carved doorjamb with grapevine design, also circa 15 CE.^[117]

Several examples of in-the-round statuary have been found from the period of Sodasa, such as the torsos of "Vrishni heroes", discovered in Mora, about 7 kilometers west of Mathura.^[118] These statues are mentioned in the Mora Well Inscription nearby, made in the name of the Northern Satraps Sodasa circa 15 CE, in which they are called Bhagavatam.^{[119][120][121]} The statue fragments are thought to represent some of the five Vrishni heroes, possibly ancient kings of Mathura later assimilated to Vishnu and his avatars,^[114][122] or, equally possible, the five Jain heroes led by Akrūra, which are well attested in Jain texts.^[118] In fact, the cult of the Vrishnis may have been cross-sectarian, much like the cult of the Yakshas.^[118]

The two uninscribed male torsos that were discovered are both of high craftsmanship and in Indian style and costume.^[122] They are bare-chested but wear a thick necklace, as well as heavy hearrings.^[118] The two torsos that were found are similar with minor variations, suggesting they may have been part of a series, which is coherent with the Vrishni interpretation.^[116] They share some sculptural characteristics with the Yaksha statues found in Mathura and dating to the 2nd and 1st century BCE, such as the sculpting in the round, or the clothing style, but the actual details of style and workmanship clearly belong to the time of Sodasa.^[118][114] The Vrishni statues also are not of the colossal type, as they would only have stood about 1.22 meters complete.^[118] The Mora Vrishnis function as an artistic benchmark for in-the-round statues of the period.^[118]

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  1st Jaina Tirthankara Rishabhanatha torso - Circa 1st Century
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  Four-fold Jain image with Suparshvanath and three other Tirthankaras - Circa 1st Century CE
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  Goat-headed Jain Mother Goddess, circa 1st Century CE

Jain reliefs

Kankali Tila tablet of Sodasa

Jain Kankali Tila tablet of Sodasa or "Amohini relief", inscribed "in the reign of Sodasa", circa 15 CE. State Museum Lucknow, SML J.1^[117]

Brahmi inscription in the tablet:

Mahakṣatrapasya Śodāsa
"Great Satrap Sodasa"

Many of the sculptures from this period are related to the Jain religion, with numerous relief showing devotional scenes, such as the Kankali Tila tablet of Sodasa in the name of Sodasa.^[109] Most of these are votive tablets, called ayagapata.^[123]

Jain votive plates, called "Ayagapatas", are numerous, and some of the earliest ones have been dated to circa 50-20 BCE.^[124] They were probably prototypes for the first known Mathura images of the Buddha.^[125] Many of them were found around the Kankali Tila Jain stupa in Mathura.

Notable among the design motifs in the ayagapatas are the pillar capitals displaying "Persian-Achaemenian" style, with side volutes, flame palmettes, and recumbent lions or winged sphinxes.^[126][127]

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  The Jina Parsvanatha ayagapata, Mathura circa 15 CE, Lucknow Museum.^[125][128]
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  "Sihanāṃdikā ayagapata", Jain votive plate, dated 25-50 CE.^[129][130]
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  Jain votive plaque with Jain stupa, the "Vasu Śilāpaṭa" ayagapata, 1st century CE, excavated from Kankali Tila, Mathura.^[131]
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  Jain relief showing monks of the ardhaphalaka sect. Early 1st century CE.^[132]
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  Jain decorated tympanum from Kankali Tila, Mathura, 15 CE.^[133]
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  "Persian Achaemenian" style capitals appearing in ayagapatas, Mathura, 15-50 CE.^{[134][135][136]}
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  The Jina Parsvanatha (detail of an ayagapata), highly similar to the Isapur Buddha, Mathura circa 15 CE, Lucknow Museum.^[137][128]
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  Sivayasa Ayagapata, with Jain stupa fragment, Kankali Tila, 75-100 CE.

Grapevine and garland designs (circa 15 CE)

A decorated doorjamb, the Vasu doorjamb, dedicated to deity Vāsudeva, also mentions the rule of Sodasa, and has similar carving to the Mora doorjamb, found in relation with the Mora well inscription in a similar chronological and religious context. The decoration of these and many similar doorjambs from Mathura consists in scrolls of grapevines. They are all dated to the reign of Sodasa, circa 15 CE and constitute a secure dated artistic reference for the evaluation of datation of other Mathura sculptures.^[117] It has been suggested that the grapevine design had been introduced from the Gandhara area in the northwest, and maybe associated with the northern taste of the Satrap rulers.^[138] These designs may also be the result of the work of northern artists in Mathura.^[138] The grapevine designs of Gandhara are generally considered as originating from Hellenistic art.^[139]

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  The Vasu doorjamb, dedicated to Vāsudeva "in the reign of Sodasa", Mathura, circa 15 CE. Mathura Museum, GMM 13.367^[117]
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  Reliefs of the Mora doorjamb with grapevine design, Mora, near Mathura, circa 15 CE. State Museum Lucknow, SML J.526.^[117] Similar scroll designs are known from Gandhara, from Pataliputra, and from Greco-Roman art.
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  Garland bearers and Buddhist "Romaka" Jataka, in which the Buddha in a previous life was a pigeon.^[140] 25-50 CE.^[141] Similar garland-bearer designs are known from Gandhara, from Amaravati and from Greco-Roman art.

Calligraphy (end 1st century BCE - 1st century CE)

The calligraphy of the Brahmi script had remained virtually unchanged from the time of the Maurya Empire to the end of the 1st century BCE.^[143] The Indo-Scythians, following their establishment in northern India introduced "revolutionary changes" in the way Brahmi was written.^[143] In the 1st century BCE, the shape of Brahmi characters became more angular, and the vertical segments of letters were equalized, a phenomenon which is clearly visible in coin legends and made the script visually more similarly to Greek.^[143] In this new typeface, the letter were "neat and well-formed".^[143] The probable introduction of ink and pen writing, with the characteristic thickenned start of each stroke generated by the usage of ink, was reproduced in the calligraphy of stone inscriptions by the creation of a triangle-shaped form at the beginning of each stroke.^[143][146] This new writing style is particularly visible in the numerous dedicatory inscriptions made in Mathura, in association with devotional works of art.^[143] This new calligraphy of the Brahmi script was adopted in the rest of the subcontinent of the next half century.^[143] The "new-pen-style" initiated a rapid evolution of the script from the 1st century CE, with regional variations starting to emerge.^[143]

First images of the Buddha (from circa 15 CE)

From around the 2nd-1st century BCE at Bharhut and Sanchi, scenes of the life of the Buddha, or sometimes of his previous lives, had been illustrated without showing the Buddha himself, except for some of his symbols such as the empty throne, or the Chankrama pathway.^[148] This artistic device ended with the sudden appearance of the Buddha, probably rather simultaneously in Gandhara and Mathura, at the turn of the millennium.^[148]

Possibly the first known representation of the Buddha (the Bimaran casket and the Tillya Tepe Buddhist coin are other candidates), the "Isapur Buddha" is also dated on stylistic grounds to the reign of Sodasa, circa 15 CE; he is shown on a relief in a canonical scene known as "Lokapalas offer Alms Bowls to the Buddha Sakyamuni".^[149] The symbolism of this early statue is still tentative, drawing heavily on the earlier, especially Jain, pictural traditions of Mathura, still far from the exuberant standardized designs of the Kushan Empire.^[149] It is rather unassuming and not yet monumental compared to the Buddha sculptures of the following century, and may represent one of the first attempts to create a human icon, marking an evolution from the splendid aniconic tradition of Buddhist art in respect to the person of the Buddha, which can be seen in the art of Sanchi and Bharhut.^[149] This depiction of the Buddha is highly similar to Jain images of the period, such as the relief of Jina Parsvanatha on an ayagapata, also dated to circa 15 CE.^[137][128]

It is thought that the images of Jain saints, which can be seen in Mathura from the 1st century BCE, were prototypes for the first Mathura images of the Buddha, since the attitudes are very similar, and the almost transparent very thin garment of the Buddha not much different visually from the nakedness of the Jinas.^[125] Here the Buddha is not wearing the monastic robe which would become characteristic of many of the later Buddha images.^[125] The cross-legged sitting posture may have derived from earlier reliefs of cross-legged ascetics or teachers at Bharhut, Sanchi and Bodh Gaya.^[150] It has also been suggested that the cross-legged Buddhas may have derived from the depictions of seated Scythian kings from the northwest, as visible in the coinage of Maues (90-80 BCE) or Azes (57-10 BC).^[150]

There has been a recurring debate about the exact identity of these Mathura statues, some claiming that they are only statues of Bodhisattavas, which is indeed the exact term used in most of the inscriptions of the statues found in Mathura. Only one or two statues of the Mathura type are known to mention the Buddha himself.^[151] This could be in conformity with an ancient Buddhist prohibition against showing the Buddha himself in human form, otherwise known as aniconism in Buddhism, expressed in the Sarvastivada vinaya (rules of the early Buddhist school of the Sarvastivada): ""Since it is not permitted to make an image of the Buddha's body, I pray that the Buddha will grant that I can make an image of the attendant Bodhisattva. Is that acceptable?" The Buddha answered: "You may make an image of the Bodhisattava"".^[152] However the scenes in the Isapur Buddha and the later Indrasala Buddha (dated 50-100 CE), refer to events which are considered to have happened after the Buddha's enlightenment, and therefore probably represent the Buddha rather than his younger self as a Bodhisattava, or a simple attendant Bodhisattva.^[153]

Other reliefs

The Buddhist "Indrasala architrave", dated 50-100 CE, with a scene of the Buddha at the Indrasala Cave being attended by Indra, and a scene of devotion to the Bodhi Tree on the other side, is another example of the still hesitant handling of the human icon of the Buddha in the Buddhist art of Mathura.^[154] The Buddhist character of this architrave is clearly demonstrated by the depiction of the Bodhi Tree inside its specially built temple at Bodh Gaya, a regular scene of Buddhism since the reliefs of Bharhut and Sanchi.^[154] The depiction of the Buddha in meditation in the Indrasala Cave is also characteristically Buddhist.^[154] The Buddha already has the attributes, if not the style, of the later "Kapardin" statues, except for the absence of a halo.^[3]

Early "Kapardin" statuary (end of 1st century CE)

Early "Kapardin" statuary

Katra fragment of a Buddha stele in the name of a "Kshatrapa lady" named Naṃda ( Naṃdaye Kshatrapa).^{[3][157][158]}

"Katra Bodhisattava stele" with inscription, dated to the Northern Satraps period.^[3]

The earliest types of "Kapardin" statuary (named after the "kapardin", the characteristic tuft of coiled hair of the Buddha) showing the Buddha with attendants are thought to be pre-Kushan, dating to the time of the "Kshatrapas" or Northern Satraps.^[3] Various broken bases of Buddha statues with inscriptions have been attributed to the Kshatrapas.^[3] A fragment of such a stele was found with the mention of the name of the donor as a "Kshatrapa lady" named Naṃda who dedicated the Bodhisattva image "for the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings for the acceptance of the Sarvastivadas", and it is considered as contemporary with the famous "Katra stele".^[3][158]

One of these early examples shows the Buddha being worshipped by the Gods Brahma and Indra.^[3]

The famous "Katra Bodhisattava stele" is the only fully intact image of a "Kapardin" Bodhisattva remaining from the Kshatrapa period, and is considered as the foundation type of the "Kapardin" Buddha imagery, and is the "classical statement of the type".^[3]

In conclusion, the canonical type of the seated Bodhisattva with attendants commonly known as the "Kapardin" type, seems to have developed during the time the Indo-Scythian Northern Satraps were still ruling in Mathura, before the arrival of the Kushans.^[159] This type continued during the Kushan period, down to the time of Huvishka, before being overtaken by fully-dressed types of Buddha statuary depicting the Buddha wearing the monastic coat "Samghati".^[159]

Cult images of Vāsudeva

Cult images of Vāsudeva continued to be produced during the period, the worship of this Mathuran deity being much more important than that of Vishnu until the 4th century CE.^[210] Statues dating to the 2nd and 3rd century show a possibly four-armed Vāsudeva standing with his attributes: the wheel, the mace and the conch, his right hand saluting in Abhaya mudra.^[211] Only with the Gupta period, did statues focusing on the worship of Vishnu himself start to appear, using the same iconography as the statues of Vāsudeva, but with the right hand holding a bijapuraka citrus instead of making the abhaya mudra gesture, and with the addition of an aureole starting at the shoulders.^[210][212]

A few triads are known from Mathura, dated to the 1st-2nd century CE, showing Vāsudeva and Saṃkarṣaṇa with their attributes, together with a female standing in the middle, thought to be Ekanamsha.^[213][214]

Some sculptures during this period suggest that the "Vyūha doctrine" (Vyūhavāda, "Doctrine of the emanations") was starting to emerge, as images of "Chatur-vyūha" (the "four emanations of Vāsudeva") are appearing.^[215] The famous "Caturvyūha" statue in Mathura Museum is an attempt to show in one composition Vāsudeva as the central deity together with the other members of the Vrishni clan of the Pancharatra system emanating from him: Samkarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha, with Samba missing.^[203][204] The back of the relief is carved with the branches of a Kadamba tree, symbolically showing the genealogical relationship being the different deities.^[203] The depiction of Vāsudeva and later Vishnu was stylistically derived from the type of the ornate Bodhisattvas, with rich jewelry and ornate headdress.^[186]

Absence of Gopala-Krishna life scenes

On the other hands, reliefs depicting the life story of Krishna, the Krishna-lilas scenes, are extremely rare or possibly inexistent during the Kushan period: only one such relief is known, showing the father Vasudeva carrying his son Krishna across the waters of the Yamuna, but even its interpretation is contested, and the date may be attributable to the post-Gupta period.^[216] During this time, statues pertaining to Gopala-Krishna, the other main component of the amalgamated Krishna, are absent from Mathura, suggesting the near absence of this cult in northern India down to the end of the Gupta period (6th century CE).^[217] The first major depictions of the legendary life of Gopala-Krishna appear in the sculptures of Badami in southern India from the 6th-7th century CE.^[218]

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  Sun God Surya in Indo-Scythian dress, also revered in Buddhism, 2nd century CE, Kankali Tila.^[219]
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  Shiva Linga worshipped by Indo-Scythian,^[220] or Kushan devotees, 2nd century CE.
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  War God Karttikeya and Fire God Agni, Kushan Period, 1st century CE
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  The Hindu God Shiva, 3rd century CE. Mathura or Ahichchhatra.^[221]
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  Kushan-era image of Shashthi between Skanda and Vishakha, c. 2nd century CE
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  Three-faced four-armed Oesho with attributes, often identified with Shiva, on a coin of Huvishka.^[222]

Development of the iconography of Vishnu

Until the 4th century CE, the worship of Vāsudeva-Krishna seems to have been much more important than that of Vishnu.^[210] With the Gupta period, statues focusing on the worship of Vishnu start to appear, in the form of an evolution based on the earlier statues of Vāsudeva-Krishna.^[210] Many of the statues of Vishnu appearing from the 4th century CE, such as the Vishnu Caturanana ("Four-Armed"), use the attributes and the iconography of Vāsudeva-Krishna, but add an aureole starting at the shoulders.^[210]

Other statues of Vishnu show him as three-headed (possibly with an implied fourth head in the back), the Vaikuntha Chaturmurti type, where Vishnu or his human emanation Vāsudeva-Krishna is shown with a human head, flanked by the muzzle of a boar (his avatar Varaha) and the head of a lion (his avatar Narasimha), two of his most important and ancient avatars, laid out upon his aureole.^[210] A fourth avatar is sometimes shown in the back of the sculptures of Kashmir, showing the avatar Trivikrama, but never in the statuary of Mathura.^[210] Recent scholarship considers that these "Vishnu" statues still show the emanation Vāsudeva Krishna as the central human-shaped deity, rather than the Supreme God Vishnu himself.^[229][210]

A further variation is Vishnu as three-headed cosmic creator, the Visnu Visvarupa, showing Vishnu with a human head, again flanked by the muzzle of a boar the head of a lion, but with a multitude of beings on his aureole, symbol of the numerous creations and emanations resulting from his creative power.^[210] These sculptures can be dated to the 5th century CE.^[210]

Incorporation of Lakshmi

In the 3rd-4th century CE, Lakshmi, which had been an independent Goddess of prosperity and luck, was incorporated in the Vaishnava pantheon as the consort of Vishnu.^[230] She thus became the Hindu goddess of wealth, good fortune, prosperity and beauty.^[231]

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  Pillar recording the installation of Shiva Lingas in the "year 61" (380 CE) during the rule of Chandragupta II.^[232][228]
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  Vishnu Caturanana ("Four-Armed"), 5th century, Mathura
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  Bust of Brahma, Circa 6th Century CE
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  Vishnu, gupta period, mathura
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  Narasimha, early 6th century,Mathura
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  Trivikrama ("Three strides") Vishnu, Mathura, Gupta period.