User:Per Honor et Gloria/Indo-Greek kingdom

Re-establish the link to the double-headed stupa in Sirkap.

Evolution of stupa design under the Indo-Greeks

Evolution of the Butkara stupa. Phases 2, 3 and 4 correspond to the Indo-Greek period.

The Indo-Greeks contributed considerably to the evolution of Buddhist architecture, and particularly the architecture of stupas during their two-century presence in India.

Stupas were just round mounds when they settled in India (Phase 1), but soon they added various structural and decorative elements, such as reinforcement belts, niches, architectural decorations such as plinthes, toruses and cavettos, plaster painted with decorative scrolls (Phases 2 and 3). The niches were probably designed to place statue or friezes, an indication of early Buddhist descriptive art during the time of the Indo-Greeks. Coins of Menander were found within these constructions dating them to around 150 BCE.

Later in the period of Indo-Greek presence stupas continued to be decorated extensively, with flights of decorative stairs, which were probably decorated with the famous stair riser "friezes" found in Gandhara, railings and miniature Corinthian pillars. Achantus leaves were also used extensively in the decorations (Phase 4). The tradition initiated by the Greeks would survive into the Kushan era, although stupas would become structurally simpler (flights of stairs and railings disappear), and narrative friezes would become prevalent, applied on the surface of the stupa, for them to be admired by devotees circling along a specially designed pradaksinapatha.

Military legacy

Men in Greek uniform, Tillia Tepe, 1st century CE.

Detailed depictions of Greeks in uniform are known from the 1st century CE Scythian site of Tillia Tepe in Western Bactria. These suggest a continuous influence of the Greek military in the East.

Yavana inscriptions

Detail the Yavana inscriptions from Nasik etc...

Greek on Gupta coins

"Evidence of the conquest of Saurastra during the reign of Chandragupta II is to be seen in his rare silver coins which are more directly imitated from those of the Western Satraps... they retain some traces of the old inscriptions in Greek caracters, while on the reverse, they substitute the Gupta type (a peacock) for the chaitya with crescent and star." in Rapson "A catalogue of Indian coins in the British Museum. The Andhras etc...", p.cli

Account of the Puranas

The Puranas (the Matsya Purana, the Vayu Purana, the Brahmanda Purana, the Vishnu Purana, the Bhagavata Purana) give a list of the dynasties who rules following the decline of the Satavahanas, probably from around 150 CE::

• 7 other Andhras kings (called "Andhrabhrytias", or "Servant of the Andhras", probably the Chutus in the Western and Southern districts.
• 10 Abhira kings, who ruled in the area of Nasik.
• 7 Gardabhila kings, who ruled in the area of Ujjain
• 18 Saka kings, probably the Western Satraps.
• 8 Yavana kings, thought to be some dynasty of Greek descent.
• 14 Tusara kings (also called Tuskaras), thought to be the Kushans (who are called "Turuska" in the Rajatarangini).
• 13 Murunda or Gurunda kings.
• 21 Huna kings (also called Maunas), probably the Indo-Hephthalites.