Cleveland Museum of Art

Foreigners and Non-Buddhists Drink, Dance, and Play Music, from a Buddhist Stupa Site

Date

c. 100 CE

Medium

schist

Culture

Pakistan, Gandhara, Buner area, early Kushan period

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

These three relief panels are from a group thought to have been used as ornamental stair risers at a Buddhist monument. They may have led up to a platform on which was established a stupa for veneration by followers of Buddhism. Phrygians with their trousers, tunics, and conical caps play music, dance, and clap, while Greek figures drink and carry wine. Naked figures and those wearing flowing robes and unusual hairstyles may be representatives of non-Buddhist sects, such as Jainism or the now defunct Ajivika religion. Bacchanalian scenes involving the ethnic and religious "other" were carved on the lower portions of public monuments in this multicultural region through which many international travelers passed during this time of heightened trade with the Mediterranean world. Wine cups made of silver were also used as Buddhist reliquaries in this region.

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