--- In Pali@yahoogroups.com, "Dmytro O. Ivakhnenko" <aavuso@...> wrote:

> Probably the earliest Gandhara and Mathura images preserve his features:
> http://www.answers.com/topic/buddhahead-jpg
> http://www.gandhara.com.au/gandhara_showcase5.html
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:MathuraBodhisattvaSide.JPG

Cf.

Before Buddhism reached Gandhara in the 3rd century BC, there had been no
representation of the Buddha, and it was in the Gandharan culture that the use of Buddha
images had begun. The earliest Buddha images resembled the Greek god Apollo. (Figure
on the left: Buddha image, Gandhara, 2-3 century) It has been suggested by the scholars
that the earliest Buddha images in Gandhara were created by the local Greeks who carried
their classic artistic conception and Indianized it by transforming it into the figure of the
Greek-featured Buddha, dressed in a toga and seated in the yoga pose. The Gandhara
style represented a union of classical, Indian, and Iranian elements continued in
Afghanistan and the neighboring regions throughout most of the first millennium until the
end of the 8th century. <http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/artl/buddhism.shtml>


Anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha started to emerge from the 1st century
CE in northern India. The two main centers of creation have been identified as Gandhara in
today’s Punjab, in Pakistan, and the region of Mathura, in central northern India.
The art of Gandhara benefited from centuries of interaction with Greek culture since the
conquests of Alexander the Great in 332 BCE and the subsequent establishment of the
Greco-Bactrian and Indo-Greek Kingdoms, leading to the development of Greco-Buddhist
art. Gandharan Buddhist sculpture displays Greek artistic influence, and it has been
suggested that the concept of the “man-god” was essentially inspired by Greek
mythological culture. Artistically, the Gandharan school of sculpture is said to have
contributed wavy hair, drapery covering both shoulders, shoes and sandals, acanthus leaf
decorations, etc.

The art of Mathura tends to be based on a strong Indian tradition, exemplified by the
anthropomorphic representation of divinities such as the Yaksas, although in a style rather
archaic compared to the later representations of the Buddha. The Mathuran school
contributed clothes covering the left shoulder of thin muslin, the wheel on the palm, the
lotus seat, etc.

Mathura and Gandhara also strongly influenced each other. During their artistic
florescence, the two regions were even united politically under the Kushans, both being
capitals of the empire. It is still a matter of debate whether the anthropomorphic
representations of Buddha was essentially a result of a local evolution of Buddhist art at
Mathura, or a consequence of Greek cultural influence in Gandhara through the Greco-
Buddhist syncretism. < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddhist_art>