Mathura School of Art

The first century witnessed the division of Buddhism in two parts, Hinayana and Mahayana. Mahayana Buddhism encouraged Buddha’s worship as a god in human form. As a result a large number of Buddha images were built in different regions.

There were three major schools of sculptural art which developed in this period. These were:

1. Mathura School of Art
2. Gandhara School of Art
3. Amravati School of Art

The Mathura School of Art

The most prominent contribution of the Mathura school to the contemporary art was the images of Buddha which were carved for the first time perhaps in this art form.

The Mathura artists used local red stone with black spots to make the images. Mathura has also yielded large numbers of sculptures of Jaina deities besides the ayagapatas or stone slabs to place objects of worship.

The Brahmanical influence on the art school of Mathura is also evident. During the Kushana period a number of sculptures of brahmanical deities were carved, which included Kartikeya, Vishnu, Kubera.