An interesting comment from Renzo Balducci:
The first statues of the Buddha were made in Gandhara using as a model Apollo, the most beautiful of the Greek gods, since the texts describe the Buddha as having 32 major and 80 minor signs of physical perfection. The image of Apollo arrived in Gandhara (modern Afganistan/Pakistan) following the conquest by Alexander (around 300bc). All the statues of the Buddha made everywhere in the world even today are modeled on those early representations of male beauty.
Patrick Bludworth This is total bullshit.
Luca Rudra Vincenzini Patrick Bludworth Why? Sir
Patrick Bludworth At the time Alexander invaded India there was already a period of many, many prior centuries of countless images of countless enlightened beings ("buddhas"), and Devatas - Devas and Devis, Avatars, heroes in public temples and private homes. There were Indian sages present in Socrates' Athens. There is no reason to assume that Indian followers of Shakyamuni Buddha did not know how to depict Buddha(s) until they had Greek models of Apollo to copy from.
There are many ancient statues (and other images) of Buddha in Southeast Asia that are not at all based on GreekApollo or Greek-influenced Gandhara “apollo” models. And of course there are many post-Gandhara / modern statues and images of Shakyamuni Buddha (and other Earthly and celestial Buddhas) throughout India, Asia (Central, Southeast, East), and in recent centuries all over the world, that are not based on Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models.
It is apparently the case that some early Indian Buddhist “aniconic” images did not bodily depict Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, but when and where the earliest (and later) artists did depict Him, they had PLENTY of ancient national/regional/local Indian and Asian models to draw from. The earliest Buddhist texts describing and depicting diagrams for "properly" proportioning Shakyamuni (and other Buddhas) do not track with Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models, nor do the descriptions of Shakyamuni's bodily appearance in the earliest texts mentioning in great detail the life and teachings and daily activities and bodily appearance of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. These works also describe the appearance of many earlier (pre-Shakyamuni) Buddhas--none of the earliest descriptions or images of these beings track with the Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models.
And the earliest (and later) non-Buddhist (Vedic/Hindu and Jain) texts detailing the proportional/postural images of Avatars, Devatas, etc., also do not in any way track with Greek / Gandhara “Apollo” models.
On the other hand, much of the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses (and some heroes) seem fairly convincingly based on already (earlier) existing classical Indian Gods (etc), or less likely, derived from even earlier shared sources (if you believe pre-classical Indians are not originally from India!). It is just as likely that pre-Alexandrian people, and culture, and art and literature, and religion had as much early and late traffic flowing from east to west as vice versa. The trade routes between India (and further east) and Greece were well-established by the time of Alexander, before the emergence of the Indo-Greco Bactrian Gandhara culture and statuary styles. No doubt sacred images depicting "the Indian" Gods and Avatars, and quite likely Shakyamuni Buddha also, were transported to Greece before Alexander. Though part of this presumes a date for Shakyamuni pre-dating Alexander, yet otherwise the trade-route-transported Indian images would have included those of Shiva and Vishnu (strongest contenders for later depictions of Shakyamuni) among doubtless many other Avatars, Devatas, heroes, etc.
There is a lot of (deliberate and also unwitting!) culture-bound western cultural / religious / art historical jingoism / triumphalism / supremacism, – and yes, racism, still prevalent in western academic (and other) circles. Even some Indians since colonial times and still to this day have simply adopted hide-bound and obsolescent western views as authoritative regarding all things Indian, Buddhist and non-Buddhist.
There are many ancient statues (and other images) of Buddha in Southeast Asia that are not at all based on GreekApollo or Greek-influenced Gandhara “apollo” models. And of course there are many post-Gandhara / modern statues and images of Shakyamuni Buddha (and other Earthly and celestial Buddhas) throughout India, Asia (Central, Southeast, East), and in recent centuries all over the world, that are not based on Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models.
It is apparently the case that some early Indian Buddhist “aniconic” images did not bodily depict Lord Shakyamuni Buddha, but when and where the earliest (and later) artists did depict Him, they had PLENTY of ancient national/regional/local Indian and Asian models to draw from. The earliest Buddhist texts describing and depicting diagrams for "properly" proportioning Shakyamuni (and other Buddhas) do not track with Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models, nor do the descriptions of Shakyamuni's bodily appearance in the earliest texts mentioning in great detail the life and teachings and daily activities and bodily appearance of Lord Shakyamuni Buddha. These works also describe the appearance of many earlier (pre-Shakyamuni) Buddhas--none of the earliest descriptions or images of these beings track with the Greek or Gandhara "Apollo" models.
And the earliest (and later) non-Buddhist (Vedic/Hindu and Jain) texts detailing the proportional/postural images of Avatars, Devatas, etc., also do not in any way track with Greek / Gandhara “Apollo” models.
On the other hand, much of the Greek pantheon of gods and goddesses (and some heroes) seem fairly convincingly based on already (earlier) existing classical Indian Gods (etc), or less likely, derived from even earlier shared sources (if you believe pre-classical Indians are not originally from India!). It is just as likely that pre-Alexandrian people, and culture, and art and literature, and religion had as much early and late traffic flowing from east to west as vice versa. The trade routes between India (and further east) and Greece were well-established by the time of Alexander, before the emergence of the Indo-Greco Bactrian Gandhara culture and statuary styles. No doubt sacred images depicting "the Indian" Gods and Avatars, and quite likely Shakyamuni Buddha also, were transported to Greece before Alexander. Though part of this presumes a date for Shakyamuni pre-dating Alexander, yet otherwise the trade-route-transported Indian images would have included those of Shiva and Vishnu (strongest contenders for later depictions of Shakyamuni) among doubtless many other Avatars, Devatas, heroes, etc.
There is a lot of (deliberate and also unwitting!) culture-bound western cultural / religious / art historical jingoism / triumphalism / supremacism, – and yes, racism, still prevalent in western academic (and other) circles. Even some Indians since colonial times and still to this day have simply adopted hide-bound and obsolescent western views as authoritative regarding all things Indian, Buddhist and non-Buddhist.
Nina Maarit Reykjalin I agree with what Patrick is saying. This is the oldest known Gandhara Buddha image from 3 century. It is provocative to use Apollo image in this article, when there are Buddha images available also with Grecian facial features
Manage
Renzo Balducci I beg forgiveness for my brief comment, clearly misleading. I wrote and meant to say STATUES, that is 3-dimensional representations of the Buddha. The Greeks knew how to make statues. In Asia before Alexander the artists and devoted students of the Dha…See More
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