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This is one panel, from a four panel schist bas-relief at the Freer Gallery of Art depicting the life of the Buddha. It was created during the 2nd - 3rd century AD Kushan dynasty in Gandhara - located in present day Pakistan.
In this, the second panel, the Buddha is successfully attaining enlightenment. Around him are figures from Hindu mythology vainly attempting to block this event.
There is a striking Greco-Roman quality to this, and other works of art from 2nd century AD Gandhara, suggesting cultural exchange with the Roman empire.
See, for example, 1st century AD Kushan coins (King Kadphises): Greek script surrounding Roman-style portrait busts.
The armies of Alexander the Great (356 BC - 323 BC) left behind actual Greek kings in ancient Gandhara. The official language of Kushan Gandhara did not switch from Ionian Greek to the Aryan (or Bactrian) tongue until the reign of King Kanishka (127-151 AD). See, the Rabatak inscription, found in 1993.
For greater detail on the Kushan shift from Greek to Bactrian, see, "Bactrian Documents from Ancient Afghanistan" by Nicholas Sims-Williams (1997).
Also see, a related show at the National Gallery of Art: Afghanistan, Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul.
There is a golden dagger in this show with tiny Swastika's running up and down it's sheath. In 2004 there was a show of recently unearthed 6th century AD Chinese Buddha statues at the Sackler, "Return of the Buddha, the Qingzhou discoveries" ; one of them was golden with a Swastika over the heart. Apparently Nazi's appropriated this icon from an ancient central Asian civilization.
The dagger, an Acinaces or Akinakes, is gold, bronze and turquoise with an iron blade from the 1st century BC to 1st century AD. (There are 3 of them on the lower level of the photo on the right.) On its hilt are a bear and other animals in combat with one another. It was found buried with other artefacts in the tomb of a Scythian nomad in Tillya Tepe, Northern Afganistan.
(Oct 2, 2008) Compare with the legend of "Shangri-la." There is a great 1937 Frank Capra movie on this theme: "Lost Horizon," based on the 1933 James Hilton novel of the same title.
Shangri-la is the "valley of the blue moon" in the movie; - an eternal summerland sheltered and hidden away by the icy and dangerous Hindu-Kush. (The current ABC television drama "Lost" is a darker, more violent Lost Horizon - transplanted to the south Pacific.)
The "valley of the blue moon" may or may not exist in the real world - but it could also be a dreamscape: i.e. true to the unconscious mind. For example, in a dream state, I have experienced a moon/earth inversion: - I found myself in a city full of people and life, and looked up to see a crescent earth floating in cloudless mid-day sky. I could clearly make out the pale chalk outline of the north African coast, but the rest of the planet faded into the china-blue sky; - the way sometimes you can see the pale outline of a crescent blue moon in the mid-day sun.
(Oct. 9, 2008) James Hilton probably modeled "Shangri-la" on the buddhist "Shambhala."
I call this digital photograph, taken in July 2008:
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