초록 열기/닫기 버튼
The Buddha image was newly recognized and constructed as a concept and a category in a modern academic exploration named Buddhist art. Although they continued to exist for dedication and worship in vast areas in Asia where Buddhism was a dominant faith, they fell into oblivion in most parts of the Indian subcontinent, its birthplace. Especially in the northwestern part of the subcontinent commonly called Gandhāra, it was utterly unknown to its inhabitants for almost a thousand years. In this region, the discovery of Buddha images was not only an archaeological one, in which Buddha images were unearthed through modern excavations, but also their recognition in identity and formal configuration. This remarkable feat was gradually carried out during the nineteenth century mostly by Europeans, who were able to identify the Buddha in visual images with the help of the familiarity of examples of apparent affinities from other parts of Asia and the advancement of scholarly knowledge in the historicity of Buddhism in the subcontinent. This article explores the process of identifying Buddha images in Gandhāra focusing on various European authors who played crucial roles in this endeavor such as Mountstuart Elphinstone, James Prinsep, Horace Wilson, and Alexander Cunningham. Writings on the examples of the other parts of the subcontinent and Asia will also be discussed as the sources that provided significant references for identifying Buddha images as such.
키워드열기/닫기 버튼
Buddha images, Buddha, Indian subcontinent, Bamiyan Buddhas, Kaniṣka coins, Mountstuart Elphinstone, William Moorcroft, James G. Gerard, James Prinsep, Francis Buchanan, Horace H. Wilson, Brian H. Hodgson, Alexander Cunningham, James Fergusson
