Pre-Gupta Period

Pre-Gupta Period Important Facts:

Indo-Greeks:

• Demetrius was the first foreign king after Alexander who carried Greek army into India about 190 B.C. & conquered North Western part of the Mauryan Empire.
• Most famous among Indo-Greek rulers was Menander who reached Pataliputra. His capital was Sakala or Sialkot.
• He was converted to Buddhism by Nagasena or Nagarjuna & their conversation was recorded in a book, Milindapanho i.e Questions of Milinda.
• Indo-Greeks were credited with the introduction of Gold coins in India.
• Practice of military governorship (Strategos).
• The Greek Ambassador Heliodorus set up a pillar in honour of Vishnu at Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh.
• Heliocles was the last Greek King to rule over Bactria & India.

Sakas:

• The first Saka King in India was Maures or Moga with Gandhara as his capital.
• Sakas introduce Satrap system (appointing provincial governor).
• Most famous Saka king in Western India was Rudra Daman I whose Junagarh inscription (150 A.D.) records his achievements. He repaired the Sudarshan Lake of Mauryan times in the Kathiawar area.

The Parthians:

• The most famous Parthian king was Gondophernes, in whose reign St. Thomas is said to have come to India for the propagation of Christianity.

Kushanas:

• The name originally meant a tribe or people or family of the Yuch-Chis or Tocharians.
• Kujula Kadphises was the founder & he minted copper coins with Roman influence.
• Vima Kadphises started the practice of issuing coins by Indian rulers & his coins contained Siva with his long trident & the monarch himself on the other side.
• Succeeded by Kanishka, from when the Saka era begins (A.D. 78), Peshawar was his first capital & Mathura, the second.
• Kanishka was a great patron of Buddhism (Mahayana) & the Fourth Buddhist Council was held under his patronage at Kashmir or Kundalvan under the Presidentship of Vasumitra.
• Kanishka also sent missionaries to Central Asia and China for the propagation of Buddhism.
• He patronised Buddhist scholars like Vasumitra, Asvagosha and Nagarjuna.
• The famous physician of ancient India Charaka was also patronized by him.
• Succeeded by Vashishka, then Huvishka & so on & the last ruler of the Kushan dynasty was Vasudeva (220 A.D.).

Schools of Art:

Gandhara School of Art:

• This school emerged from 1st century B.C. onwards. It was not patronized by Indo-Greeks but by Sakas & Kushanas. 
• Hadda & Bamiyan were main centers.
• This was a fusion of Greek & Indian styles from the very beginning. The subjects were Indian & the style was Greco-Roman. Thus the mother of Buddha resembled a Greek Goddess while Buddha himself too had an Apollo like face. Greek gods were depicted as paying obeisance to Buddha.
• The Buddha of this school is depicted with focus on bodily features such as muscular body, curly hair & semi-transparent clothes.
• Initially they used soft material such as wood & stucco. Later they began to use blue-grey stone.

Mathura School of Art:

• It was the oldest & flourished from 2nd century B.C. onwards. It was indigenous in origin & was patronized by local rulers. But later with the advent of Kushanas, foreign influence was visible clearly.
• Initial subjects were Buddha, Mahavira & Kanishka. Krishna was ignored before the Gupta period. Beautiful images of Siva as ardh-nariishwar were built. Krishna, balram & surya too were its subjects.
• The images have a deep spiritual outlook. Buddha is shown in meditation mode. Focus is not on highlighting the bodily features of Buddha but on his spiritualistic aura & content on face. Popular depictions of Buddha are in the Padmasana-mudra (sitting cossed legged & meditating) & Dharma-chakra-parivartana-mudra (giving sermons).
• They used White spotted red sandstone.

The Amrawati / Vengi School: 

• It flourished from 1st century B.C. onwards in vengi, Nagarjunkonda, kurnool & krishna-godavari region.
• It was indigenous throughout & was patronised by Satavahanas, Ikshavakus & later Vakatakas.
• It made images of Buddha & brahmanical deities.
• These images are famous for their feminine beauty & sensuous appeal.
• They used white marble in their images.

Satavahanas:

• Ruled for 460 years continuously.
• Satavahanas were successor of Mauryas in Deccan & Central India.
• The kings are mentioned in the Puranas as belonging to the Andhra territory & tribe.
• Simukha was the first ruler of the dynasty with his capital at Pratishthana or Paithan on the Godavari in Aurangabad district, Maharashtra.
• Nanaghat inscription mentions Satakarni I as “Dakshinapatha-pathi“, thus implying their control over the Deccan also.
• The early Satavahana period after Satakarni I did not witness any remarkable activities except for the composition of “Gathasaptasathi” by the ruler Hala.
• Later Satavahana period beginning with Gautamiputra Satakarni was the period of their revival who defeated the family greatest rivals, sakas.
• He was called as “Ekabrahmana” in the Nasik inscription/prasasti by his mother Gautami Balasri.
• Satavahanas were the first rulers to make land grants to the Brahmanas.

Other Dynasty:

• Kharavela of Kalinga belonged to the Mahameghavahana line of the Chetis / Chedis.
• He is famous for the Hathigumpha inscription which was engraved on the Udaigiri hills near Bhuvaneshwar.
• He was a Jaina & got cave shelters excavated for the Jania monks in the Udaigiri hills.