Hadda

Hadda is an archeological site gréco-Buddhist located in the old area of the Gandhara, inside the Passe of Khyber, 10 km in the south of Jalalabad, in the east of current the Afghanistan.

Context

A great number of sculptures gréco-Buddhists (approximately 23 000) in Clay or Plâtre were excavated in Hadda in the Années 1930 and the Années 1970. They combine elements of the Bouddhisme and Hellénisme, in an almost perfect style hellenistic.

Although the style itself is typical hellenistic II {{E}} or first century BC, the sculptures of Hadda are usually dated, with some uncertainty, of the I {{er}} century apr. J. - C. or later. This shift can be explained by the conservation of the late styles hellenistic during a few centuries in this area of the world, or can indicate that the real dates are oldest.

Considering the antiquity of these sculptures and a technical refinement indicating that the artists were completely with the current of all the aspects of the Greek sculpture, it was suggested that Greek communities were directly implied in these achievements, and that " the area could be the cradle of the Buddhist sculpture incipient in the style indo-Greek " (Boardman).

The style of a great number of works of Hadda is highly hellenistic, and can be compared, for example, with the sculptures which one finds with the Temple of Apollo Epicourios de Bassae, in Greece.

Works of art

A sculptural group excavated on the site of Typed-I-Shotor in Hadda represents a surrounded Buddha, in a style perfectly hellenistic, of Héraclès and Tyché holding a Horn of plenty (See the image: ). The only adaptation of the Greek iconography is that Héraclès holds the Vajra (the lightning) of Vajrapani and not its usual bludgeon.

Other assistants of the Buddha who were excavated introduce to styles hellenistic mannerists, like the " Genius in Fleurs" , today with the Museum Guimet of Paris. (See image: ).

Buddhist writings

It is thought that oldest Manuscrit S surviving Buddhists made, the oldest surviving Indian manuscripts as a General were found around Hadda. Probably dating from the neighborhoods of the 1st century, they were written in language gandhari and alphabet kharosthi on bark, and were unearthed in a clay pot carrying an inscription in the same language. It belong to the gun, lost for a long time, of the sect Sarvastivadin which dominated the Gandhara and contributed actively to the extension of Buddhism in Central Asia and Eastern. The manuscripts are today in possession of the British Library.

Destruction

Hadda would have been almost entirely destroyed at the time of the engagements during the civil war in Afghanistan.

Gallery

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