The Travels of Two Marine Beasts from the Mediterranean to Gandhara – A Transfer of Form and Meaning?

Abstract

ver since Western scholars first came into contact with the art of South Asia, the focus of their attention quickly turned to the Northern schools, in particular Gandhara, although the Southern art school known as Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh produced as many high-quality pieces during the same time period. At first sight, this obvious imbalance seems unfounded and unjust – perhaps even aggravating. However, if we take into account the cultural and educational background of those scholars who first took an interest in the art of South Asia during the nineteenth and early twentieth century, the unconscious reasoning behind their strong favour for Gandhara becomes more obvious. All of them had received higher education and university education in Europe and North America was still centred around the classics. Across the board, they were fluent in Latin, proficient in Ancient Greek and knew some Hebrew. Their perception of beauty and quality was moulded by their classical training, which elevated Greek art as the ultimate ideal to aspire to. Even Roman art was still considered inferior. At the universities of the time, the most prestigious chairs were in Latin and Greek and those “only” appointed to a chair in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic or Chinese were already considered something of a disappointment. Bearing this intellectual environment in mind, the immediate attraction of Gandharan art to the European recipient is unsurprising. The geographical area which is today called “Greater Gandhara”1) had already been part of the