2001 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
A Historical and Archaeological Study on the Kushan Dynasty
| Project/Area Number |
11610370
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Asian history
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| Research Institution | Toyama University |
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Principal Investigator |
ODANI Nakao Toyama Univ. Faculty of Humanities, Professor, 人文学部, 教授 (50032173)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1999 – 2001
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| Keywords | Kushan Dynasty / Da-Yuezhi / Gandhara Art / Bamiyan / Buddhist Art / Ranigat / Scythians (Sakas) / Ai Khanum |
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| Research Abstract |
I published 9 articles and one book on the archaeological and historical studies on the Kushan Dynasty during the term of this project 1999-2001. The " New discoveries from the excavations at Ranigat, Pakistan " was my English paper read at the International Conference of South Asian Archaeology 1997 at Rome and was published late on February 2002. In this paper, summing up the result of our excavations at Pakistan and Afghanistan in 1960s and 1980s, I insisted that the Buddhist art of Gandhara was a rich product of religious and artistic activities of the Kushan Dynasty who had played an intermediary role in the silkroad trade.
In these three years, I could travel abroad several times to gather new materials on the Kushan Dynasty and to participate in the international conferences. On the point of view of the Kushan history, I discussed the date of the colossal Buddhas at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, and in the process of investigation, I have noticed a new type of scrolls extant on the wall paintings of the 55m Buddha, regretfully blown up by the Taliban forces on March 2002. It was a vine scroll with leaves in loops, classical in style, derived from Gandhara art. The contour fines nearly had faded away and so its significance has been overlooked. It is this painting scroll that was contemporary with the construction of the colossal Buddhas. The modeling scrolls well known before at the Bamiyan might be additional decorations at the restorations of caves. The crowned prices represented on the wall of the 35m Buddha might be identified with a Kidara Kushan king and his family, who must be the patrons of Bamiyan Buddhism ca. 400 AD.
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