Kanishka Casket and the Gandhara ArtIn 1908, during the excavations at the Shah-ji-ki-Dheri mound in Peshawar, archaeologist DB Spooner found a small gilded bronze casket with a tightly fitted lid, sitting on a coin issued during the reign of the Kushana Emperor Kanishka. This was deceptively simple for something that once held the relics of the Buddha.
On the lid of the casket were etchings of the Buddha surrounded by the Vedic deities Indra and Brahma. On the edge of the lid, a frieze of geese in flight, a very Greek motif. The casket as a whole displays many features of Greek art that are typical also of Gandhara art, and the Gandhara region where it was found.
#Buddhism
Join for History Art and Culture
