Despite the cultural devastation in Afghanistan, the memory of its unique culture lives on in its history and artefacts It was by chance that a small book entitled Gandhara: The Memory of Afghanistan by Berenice Geoffroy-Schneitner fell into my hands this summer. I was attracted by the cover picture of the now-destroyed Buddha statue carved in the cliff at Bamiyan, by the title of the book, and by the fact that the author was a trained archaeologist and art historian. When I turned to the blurb on the back flap and read: "One of the world's most extraordinary artistic hybrids, the Graeco- Buddhist art on India's northwestern frontier, emerged and flourished during the first century AD in the harsh territory encompassing present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan," I realised that this was not a book to put down easily. The words that intrigued me were artistic hybrids. In Egypt, where Greek influence made itself felt from the sixth century BC, we describe as Graeco- Egyptian the many statues produced in the Ptolemaic period after the arrival of Alexander the Great, which are carved with torso and stance in Egyptian style and head and hair unquestionably Greek; or reliefs and wall paintings which combine Hellenistic- and Egyptian-style clothing and motifs. Is this not hybrid culture? I asked myself. And how does the Greek experience on Egypt's ancient culture differ from what Geoffroy-Schneitner describes as "an improbable encounter of the Greece of Alexander the Great and the India of Buddha which resulted in a miracle in art history, the creation of a new hybrid style revealing the singular traits of Buddhas with the grace and beauty of Hellenistic art." Gandhara, the once opulent central Asian city described in the travels of Marco Polo, stood on the Silk Road traversed by missionaries, merchants and pilgrims. Gandhara occupied a large area of what today are northwest India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, and its ancient highways linked India with China, Tibet and western Asia. It was a seat of Buddhist culture from the first century BC to the fifth century AD. It greatly influenced the arts of Asia, and Gandharan artists were the first to portray the Buddha in human form -- until then only symbolic iconography had been used to portray the enlightened one. Alexander the Great's expedition into India in 330-325 BC was an influential factor in the introduction of Hellenism into the region. By the end of the first century Hellenistic or Graeco-Roman artistic techniques and aesthetic traditions was combining with Indian Buddhist iconography to develop into a recognisable style of art and sculpture that has come to be known as Gandhara -- an Indian hybrid. Probably using imported artists, they first sculpted in stone, usually schist, and later produced works in stucco and red sandstone. Archaeological interest in the area was first aroused early in the 19th century when British agent, entrepreneur and amateur archaeologist Charles Masson excavated every Buddhist monument he could find in the Hindu Kush and elsewhere in the region. Many of the pieces he found today reside in the British Museum. Subsequently, in September 1922, an agreement was signed by King Amanullah Khan of Afghanistan with the French government granting exclusive excavation rights in the territory for 30 years. Alfred Foucher, founder of the French Archaeological Delegation in Afghanistan (DAFA), had one priority. His aim was to search for the Greek origin of the mysterious art that had emerged at Gandhara. It was a chance find that led to the discovery of the one of the mythical Alexandrias of Alexandria the Great. Zahar Shah, today living in exile in Rome, saw what appeared to be the capital of a column jutting out of the ground in the middle of a plain on a strip of land between two rivers, the Amu Daria (the Oxus of antiquity) and Koktcha. French archaeologists set out to inspect the site and further excavation left no doubt that this was a Hellenic metropolis, complete with acropolis, gymnasium, palestra and theatre. Fountains were adorned with gargoyles, there were marbled colonnades, fragments of statues with expressive faces, naked arms and drapery, delicately painted, Alexandria- style glassware, Hellenistic bronzes, and medallions that served as models for apprentice artists. Scholars and art historians argue heatedly about the origins of this hybrid art, especially the enigmatic statues, the work of anonymous sculptors, which were the result of the encounter of two great civilisations, the Greece of Alexander the Great and the India of Buddha. Hellenists emphasise its Greek heritage. Orientalists place Gandhara within a much larger sphere of influences. One Buddha is portrayed as a beautiful young man of Praxitelian grace; a second, obeying local custom, has a thin moustache; a third, a portrayal of rare power, depicts him emancipated after his long years of asceticism. Geoffroy-Schneitner writes. Let the learned pursue their discussions. We can consider ourselves lucky that so many of the masterpieces of Gandhara have survived the recent vicissitudes of Afghan history and can now be found in museums in England, Berlin, France, India, Pakistan and Tehran. Gandhara: The Memory of Afghanistan by Berenice Geoffroy- Schneitner (2001) is published by Assouline Publishing, New York, NY By Jill Kamil
