ASKiIMAN™ REALM 04 / POST-MAURYAN
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The Narrative Stone

Shunga, Kushan & Satavahana Art (200 BCE – 300 CE)

REALM 04 — POST-MAURYAN SCULPTURE

MICRO-REALM 01

Sanchi Toranas

  • Four massive gateways (Toranas)
  • Shunga & Satavahana patronage
  • Densely carved architraves
  • Imitation of wooden/bamboo gates
MICRO-REALM 02

Bharhut Stupa

  • Reddish-brown sandstone
  • Sculpted railings & medallions
  • Flat, linear, two-dimensional style
  • Early narrative art (Jatakas)
MICRO-REALM 03

Amaravati School

  • White Palnad limestone/marble
  • Satavahana & Ikshvaku patronage
  • Crowded, dynamic, sensual figures
  • Deeply cut relief (chiaroscuro effect)
MICRO-REALM 04

Gandhara School

  • Greco-Roman (Hellenistic) influence
  • Bluish-grey schist stone
  • Apollo-like features & wavy hair
  • Realistic, heavy drapery folds
MICRO-REALM 05

Mathura School

  • Indigenous Indian style
  • Spotted red sandstone
  • Robust, fleshy, smiling figures
  • Sheer, clinging monastic robes
MICRO-REALM 06

Continuous Narrative

  • Storytelling in stone
  • Same character repeated in one panel
  • No framing between sequential events
  • Common in Sanchi & Bharhut
MICRO-REALM 07

Jataka Tales

  • Previous lives of the Buddha
  • Monkey King, Elephant (Chhaddanta)
  • Moral and ethical storytelling
  • Integration of nature and animals
MICRO-REALM 08

Aniconic to Iconic

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  • Early (Aniconic): Footprints, Lotus, Bodhi Tree, Wheel
  • Later (Iconic): Human form of Buddha
  • Shift occurred in 1st Century CE (Kushan)
MICRO-REALM 09

Shalabhanjika

  • Female bracket figures on Toranas
  • Holding the branch of a tree
  • Pre-Buddhist fertility symbols integrated
  • Sensual, tribhanga postures (Sanchi)
MICRO-REALM 10

Rock-Cut Chaityas

  • Bhaja & Karle (Western Ghats)
  • Prayer halls with a Stupa at the apse
  • Vaulted ceilings imitating wooden ribs
  • Massive rock excavations
MICRO-REALM 11

Kushan Royal Portraits

  • Headless statue of Kanishka (Mathura)
  • Central Asian attire: Heavy coat & boots
  • Stiff, frontal, imperial stance
  • Devakula (royal shrine) tradition
MICRO-REALM 12

Stupa Evolution

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  • Ashokan brick cores enlarged
  • Cased in dressed stone (Sandstone/Marble)
  • Addition of Vedika (stone railings)
  • Transition from modest to monumental