Already by that period, the Gandharan sculptures had been vigorously looted to satisfy British army collectors.
At this site, however, the owners had forbidden random digging to preserve the contents of the site for their own profit. Consequently much material survived at the time of Stein’s archaeological research there. He collected more than 1,200 items of sculpture during a six-week campaign. At the site the surviving city walls were surrounded by mounds that, on excavation, revealed the foundations of Buddhist religious buildings. These furnished refreshingly complete stone statues of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, revealing strong Hellenistic influence in the facial features and dress. They are also highly informative in that the bases of the statues display miniature friezes of the donors of the image or of benefits to the foundation. One, for example, shows the donor and two male figures worshiping before an altar from which incense fumes rise; on the other side of the altar is a young man with a plow drawn by two oxen. There are also examples of a family seen worshiping a begging bowl, thus portrayed associated with an image of the Buddha. Another complete statue represents Hariti, the goddess of smallpox, holding a trident.
Stucco
Gandharan art from the first to the third century was dominated by stone sculpture, but thereafter images in stucco, painted and gilt, were also produced. This stucco is best known from the Jaulian and Mohra Moradu monasteries at Taxila, Hadda, Butkara, and Takht-i Bahi. The base foundations for religious buildings were embellished with fine stucco reliefs along their entire length, depicting bodhisattvas seated between columns. The classical element in Gandhara art is also seen in the representations of the Greek son of Poseidon, Triton, and centaurs.
Taxila
Examples of Gandharan stone art at Taxila itself are not as rich as those from Sahri-Bahlol, but many relevant sculptures have been uncovered by sir John marshall at the Dharmarajika stupa and at the site of Kalawan. There are many fine examples of stucco art, and some architectural features, such as Corinthian column capitals, also show a strong Hellenistic influence. Miraculous and other scenes taken from the life of the Buddha have been found, including the first sermon and the visit of indra.
Further reading: Geoffroy-Schneiter, Berenice. Gand-hara. Paris: Assouline, 2001; Hallade, M. The Gandhara Style and the Evolution of Buddhist Art. London: Thames and Hudson, 1968; Marshall, J. The Buddhist Art of Gandhara. Philadelphia: Coronet Books, 1981; Tissot, E Gandhara. Paris: J. Maisonneuve, 1985.
Ganesha Ganesha was the god of wisdom in the Hindu pantheon. He was depicted with an elephant’s head, one tusk, and a large belly. in india the worship of Ganesha has been popular since the late gupta empire period. An inscription from Ghatiyala in Rajasthan, dated to 862
C. E., is regarded as one of the early references to this god. He was also depicted in the rock-cut temples of ellora (200 B. C.E.-600 C. E.). In Cambodia and Thailand, Gane-sha was adopted as a popular god and is today the symbol and icon of the Royal Thai Eine Arts Department.
Gaozu (Liu Bang; Gaodi; High Emperor) (r. 206-195
B. C.E.) Gaozu, High Emperor, the founder of the Han dynasty, acceded to the throne of China after participating in the widespread rebellion against the excesses of the second Qin emperor.
Before becoming emperor, Gaodi was known as Liu Bang, from Pei, a district in central China. After several years of political chaos and conflict, he managed to defeat all rivals and became the sole ruler.
Later texts accord to Gaozu the mandate oe heaven. Erom humble peasant origins, he became the founder of a great dynasty. While never losing his peasant manner and distrust of scholars, he showed a sharp insight into appropriate administrative reforms designed to secure support. However, his reign came to an end when a stray arrow killed him during a military engagement against the king of Huai-nan, and he was succeeded by his son, Huidi.
Three centuries later, during the Eastern Han dynasty, Gaozu was venerated still in the royal ancestral hall at LUOYANG, the capital. He was represented there by an empty seat placed under a richly embroidered canopy. Sacrificial vessels used in his honor had golden rims.
LIU BANG’S RISE TO POWER
Chafing under the extreme dictatorial regime of the Qin dynasty, Liu Bang had the local magistrate killed and took for himself the title lord of Pei. He then became one of several aspiring warlords intent on toppling the Qin dynasty and commanded a force that invaded the Qin heartland in December 207 B. C.E. while awaiting further orders from the king of chu. The History of the Former Han (HANSHU) might have been extolling his magnanimity when it describes how, having received the surrender of King Zihing of Qin, he had the palace, armories, and mausolea sealed against looting and destruction and introduced new and less repressive laws. However, these acts of magnanimity were short lived, for two months later Liu Bang’s superior and later rival, Xiang Yu, arrived and had the entire royal family slaughtered and the capital razed to the ground. This included the desecration of the mausoleum of qin shihuangdi (259-210 b. c.e.) and was probably the occasion when the emperor’s underground terra-cotta army of lifesize figures was invaded and the weapons stolen.
By 206 Xiang Yu was in firm control of the situation and resolved to divide the empire into 18 separate kingdoms, each with a compliant ruler. This involved dividing the former kingdom of Qin, for example, into three separate realms. Liu Bang was lucky to escape with his life, for there were strong rumors of an assassination plot, and instead he was dispatched to rule the remote fief of Chang Han. This was a clear attempt to sideline him, but he was soon back in the Qin heartland, defeating the three new puppet rulers and challenging Xiang Yu himself. There followed a long and difficult civil war between the two rivals. On two occasions, the second in 204 B. C.E., Liu Bang was lucky to escape with his life and a few loyal followers. There was an uneasy truce in 203 B. C.E., during which China was divided between Liu Bang and Xiang Yu, but this was brief. Liu Bang broke the truce and in 202 b. c.e. triumphed at the Battle of Gai-xia in Anhui province, after which Xiang Yu committed suicide.
GAODI AS EMPEROR
Gaodi now controlled China without rival, and in the same year as the battle his followers persuaded him to assume the title huangdi, or emperor. He ordered a series of reforms designed to restore life to normal after a long period of civil war and to ensure widespread loyalty to the new dynasty of Han. These included a general amnesty and the restoration of law with less severe penalties. People were encouraged to return to their ancestral homes and reclaim their land and property, and the aristocracy again were granted titles and bounties on auspicious occasions.
On the wider scene, Gaodi faced a number of major organizational issues. The Qin dynasty had divided China into provinces, or commanderies, ruled by centrally appointed governors. During the civil war that brought down the Qin, Xiang Yu had returned to the earlier system of independent kingdoms, in which the rulers owed fealty to the central regime. Since Gaodi had approved and authorized his supporters to receive new kingdoms, maintaining the kingdoms and their rulers was a delicate issue. Gaodi resolved it by allowing the kingdoms to exist but, where practicable, replacing the kings over time with men of his own choice, particularly members of his own family. Some former kings were given lesser titles; others rebelled or deserted China. These kingdoms lay in the eastern half of the empire, while 16 commanderies, on the old Qin system, lay to the west. The commanderies were ruled by centrally appointed governors. These innovations were accompanied by a revival of Confucianism rather than the legalistic principles followed by the Qin.
The civil war had naturally weakened the concerted defense against the nomadic XIONGNU to the north, and in the year after his assumption of the throne, Gaodi had to lead an army against the northern invaders. In 209 the Xiongnu (a Chinese word meaning “fierce slave”) had found in Mao-tun a new and dynamic leader who first defeated his own rival tribal leaders and then expanded his area of control to include the strategic Gansu Corridor in Northwest China. This direct threat to the Han capital could not be ignored, and in 200 C. E. Gaodi clashed with the Xiongnu at the Battle of Ping Cheng. The emperor was surrounded and extricated himself only with difficulty.
The Chinese then followed the path of diplomacy and in effect bought off the Xiongnu with gifts, including that of a Chinese royal princess in marriage. The border between the two states was fixed as the GREAT WALL of China. In the south, there was an independent ruler of Lingnan, an area over which the Qin had claimed sovereignty
Garuda In Hindu mythology, Garuda was a being in the form of a bird who stole AMRITA, the elixir of immortality, from the gods. This impressed Vishnu, who asked Garuda to become his vehicle. Garuda is often represented in the sculptures of India and Southeast Asia, being particularly common in Khmer reliefs. There Garuda is often associated with its enemy, the naga serpent. Giant figures of Garuda are seen on the walls of Preah Khan, and Vishnu is depicted riding Garuda in the brick temple of prasat kravan at angkor in Cambodia.
Geomancy Geomancy, or feng shui, is the Chinese method for ascertaining whether a particular location is auspicious or favorable for a specified purpose, such as for the foundation of a city, a memorial, or a temple. The practitioner takes into account the obvious features of the terrain, such as hills to protect the proposed site from injurious winds or the presence of flat, well-aspected land. But he or she also absorbs less tangible variables of the spirit world, when, for example, considering the location of a place for interring the dead. The origins of geo-mancy are not known, but the layout of the royal shang STATE tombs at anyang, aligned precisely to true north, may well be an early example. Shao Gong Shi is regarded as the patron saint of geomancy. He was instructed by KING WU, founder of the Zhou dynasty, to identify a suitable central location for a new capital later to be established at the junction of the Luo, Jian, and Chan Rivers at what became the city of luoyang. Several examples of early geomantic compasses, or divining boards, which combine a square disk representing the Earth under a movable circular disk depicting the heavens, have been found in tombs dated to the HAN dynasty.
Ghazi Shah Ghazi Shah, located on an alluvial plain of the Naing Nai River, west of the main Indus Valley, was occupied during the Amrian phase and the INDUS valley CIVILIZATION. It covers only two hectares (5 acres), but rises 11 meters (36 ft.) above the surrounding plain in Sind province, Pakistan. The original area occupied was no doubt larger, but the outlying parts of the site have probably been covered in recent alluvium. It was first identified as an important site by N. G. Majumdar in 1930, and limited excavations revealed its cultural affiliations, but little else of note. In 1985 L. Flam began an intensive research program there and uncovered an area for making beads of agate and lapis lazuli. The radiocarbon dates for this activity fall in the second half of the fourth millennium b. c.e.
Flam’s excavations covered a far larger area than those directed by Majumdar, and in an area of six by 9.5 meters, Flam encountered the foundations of houses, associated with Harappan-style pottery shards, and lapis lazuli and steatite beads, associated with radiocarbon dates in the fourth millennium b. c.e. Mud-brick structural foundations were also identified in the third area excavated. Finds included bull figurines and much evidence for chert working, including drills. Beads were also abundant here and were manufactured from lapis lazuli, copper, and shell, as well as carnelian and agate.
See also amri.
Ghosh, Amalananda (1910-1981) Amalananda Ghosh was one of India’s most distinguished archaeologists.
He was educated at Allahabad University in India and the University of London and in 1937 joined the staff of the ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF INDIA. He later became the director of the survey (1953-68) and was responsible for many key excavations, particularly at kalibangan in the SARASVATI RIVER Valley, India.
Go Thap Formerly known as Prasat Pram Loven, Go Thap in Vietnam has yielded an important inscription dating to the funan state, in which a prince Gunavarman was designated to reign over a kingdom wrested from the mud. More recently, a settlement site with a mound covering one hectare (2.5 acres) has been excavated and eight burials uncovered. Brick-lined pits were found within a brick surrounding wall measuring seven by 10 meters (33 ft.). These pits are square and varied from 1.27 to 3.5 meters in depth. Each had in the center a central block of BRICK with a hollow space in the middle, which contained human ashes and mortuary goods. The eight burials yielded 322 gold leaves, five gold coins, three gold rings, a gold flower, eight precious stones, and seven pieces of glass. Gold objects included decoration in the form of human (deity) figures, a turtle, garuda, a water buffalo, elephants, snakes, conch shells, the sun, a house on piles, and plants. Many of these symbols relate to Hindu gods. Two radiocarbon dates from the site fall in the period 400-600 C. E., matching the date of Gunavar-man’s inscription. The site provides important evidence for a Funan religious foundation, adoption of Hindu gods and their symbols, and conversion from inhumation to a cremation mortuary ritual.
Great Lake The Great Lake, or Tonle Sap, dominates the geography of northwest Cambodia. It is fed by numerous rivers flowing south from the kulen hills and the Dang Raek range and other tributaries originating to the west and south, and it empties via the Tonle Sap River into the Mekong at Phnom Penh. During the rainy season, when the Mekong River is swollen not only by the monsoon rains but also by the spring melt of snow in its headwaters, the Tonle Sap River reverses its flow. Instead of draining the Great Lake, it backs up with floodwaters to fill the lake. At its greatest extent, the lake is 160 kilometers long by 50 kilometers (96 by 30 mi.) wide. The rise and fall of the lake level provide opportunities for cultivating rice by retaining the floodwater behind long dikes for an early dry-season planting. The rising water level is also compatible with the cultivation of rapidly growing floating rice, which can be harvested into boats. The Great Lake is also one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world and provides links by boat with the sea via the Mekong River.
The lake has attracted settlement from early prehistory During the period of chenla kings (550-800 C. E.), there were numerous settlements and temples along its margins. King jayavarman ii (c. 770-834 c. e.) of Cambodia chose the northern margins for the earliest capitals and temple pyramids and imbued the area with sacred connotations in which the Kulen Hills supplied holy water to the region of angkor via the Siem Reap River.
Great Wall See WALL, THE GREAT.
Guang Wudi (Liu Xiu; Shining Martial Emperor)
(5 B. C.E.-57 C. E.) was the first emperor of the Eastern Han dynasty of China.
When he proclaimed himself emperor on 5 August 25
C. E., Guang Wudi was one of many claimants. The ensuing decade was dominated by military campaigns in virtually every quarter of the compass. After long and bitter civil strife, Guang Wudi adopted a conservative foreign policy, preferring to strengthen the defensive walls against the xiongnu to the north. He also had to grapple with the major problems posed by the court factions on whom he ultimately depended for support. His Confu-cian principles encouraged him to found new training establishments from which young men emerged to staff an apolitical civil service, and he attempted to keep his hand close to important governmental decisions by limiting the number of major ministerial appointments.
XIN DYNASTY
In 9 C. E. WANG MANG, a leading member of the court of the Western Han dynasty and former regent, had declared himself the emperor of the Xin (New) dynasty The official history of the Han dynasty accorded him a very poor press, largely because in failing to maintain the throne and found a new dynasty, he was thought to lack the MANDATE OF HEAVEN. In fact, Wang Mang made a series of courageous attempts to remedy the effects of years of mismanagement by reforming land tenure, currency, and state ownership of key industries, such as salt and iron. He was, however, faced with dire difficulties when the Huang (Yellow) River broke its dykes, leading to catastrophic floods and the threat of famine in one of the most densely populated parts of the empire. In Shandong, peasants rose up against the central authority; to distinguish themselves from the government troops, they painted their foreheads red. Known therefore as the red EYEBROWS, this motley army scored a number of significant successes and encouraged members of the old royal clans to join the insurrection. In 23 c. e. Chang’an, the capital, was invested and taken. Wang Mang was decapitated and the city sacked. It was abandoned as the capital, and in due course LUOYANG to the east was chosen to replace it.
EASTERN HAN
Guang Wudi entered Luoyang on 27 November 25 c. e. to claim the throne. The new dynasty is generally known as the Eastern Han, and Guang Wudi was but one of many claimants to the throne. Western Han emperors had many lesser wives, resulting in legions of men who could claim royal ancestry. These aspirants were divided among a number of lineages determined through the female who had borne the children of an emperor. Guang Wudi (shining martial emperor) was a descendant of JINGDI, who had ruled more than 150 years previously.
Guang Wudi had to cope first with the remnants of the Red Eyebrows in Chang’an (Xi’an), where they had busied themselves looting the royal tombs of the Western Han. Then he moved on the rival claimants, warlords in Shandong and Gansu. Only when he had settled most of the old empire could he turn his attention to remote but rich Sichuan, where Gungsun Shu had proclaimed himself king of Shu and emperor. With Chengdu as his capital and the rich rice lands of the upper Chang (Yangtze) Valley at his disposal, the king of Shu was a formidable rival, but after a long and difficult campaign, Guang Wudi’s forces surrounded the capital and in late 36 c. e. mortally wounded Gungsun Shu.
Guang Wudi turned his attention to the restoration of finances by restoring the old state monopolies on salt and iron and to formalize the taxation base by instituting a census and encouraged agriculture. However, the system of maintaining a harem of aristocratic women proved a means for the major families to seek power, and their factional strife continued to weaken the authority of successive Eastern Han emperors. Guang Wudi sired 10 sons, five by each of his successive empresses. Thus the heir apparent to Guang Wudi was changed as a result of such palace intrigues on behalf of the empress Lin Yihua.
See also confucius.
Pottery vessels. The remains include small stone implements and grinding stones for processing grains. This undated initial phase of occupation resembles other early agricultural contexts at sites like Kili Gul Mohammed and MEHRGARH in Pakistan. At the former site, similar remains date to between 5000 and 4000 b. c.e. During the second phase, pottery making was undertaken, together with the production of a range of artifacts that include human and animal figurines, bone tools, and evidence for copper casting. The third phase saw the production of ceramics that conform with the kot diji phase of the Early Harappan. The earliest evidence of construction in mud brick was also encountered, and further copper implements were found. A conflagration marked the transition from the early to the later Kot Diji occupation of the site. Further evidence for construction in mud brick was encountered, and new artifacts included carnelian beads, stone weights, STEATITE beads, and lapis lazuli. This phase corresponds to the occupation of the major cities of the Indus Valley civilization. It was followed by further evidence for destruction through fire.
Gunavarman (c. 500 c. e.) Gunavarman was a ruler mentioned on an inscription from go thap on the plain of reeds in Vietnam, a flat expanse on the northern margin of the Mekong Delta.
The inscription, dated toward the end of the fifth century C. E., states that a ruler, probably named Jayavarman, had been victorious in battle. It further describes how Jayavarman founded many sanctuaries dedicated to Vishnu and placed his son, Gunavarman, in charge of one, which had been “wrested from the mud.” This might be an allusion to the drainage of the Plain of Reeds where the inscription was set up to foster rice production. The text is one of the few dating to the period of the early delta trading state known as funan.
See also jayavarman of funan.
Guo Chin Lun The Guo Chin Lun (The faults of qin) was an influential tract written by JIA YI (201-168 b. c.e.) during the early years of the Western HAN dynasty of China. It explored the reasons underlying the collapse of the Qin dynasty and urged a more humane approach to rule by the Han emperors, instead of the autocratic repression practiced by the first emperor, qin shihuangdi (259-210 B. C.E.), and his successor.
Gumla Gumla is a small (0.7 hectare; 1.75 acre) settlement in the Gomal Valley of Pakistan. Its importance lies in the long sequence of occupation documented during excavations by A. H. Dani, which showed the early agriculture here and the later development of the INDUS valley CIVILIZATION. Six distinct phases of occupation have been described, beginning with the remains of a community that probably undertook agriculture but did not make
Guojiacun Guojiacun is a site located on the Liaodong Peninsula of northeastern China. It is important as a prehistoric jade manufactory In the third millennium b. c.e., artifacts of jade assumed considerable importance in Chinese rituals. Sites of the longshan and liangzhu cultures have furnished consistent evidence for a relationship between elite individuals and the possession of ritually important jade objects such as bi disks, cong tubes, and yazhang blades. Guojiacun is a contemporary of these sites, and manufacturing tools and half-finished objects have been found there. Objects of a jade matching that of Liaodong have been found in Longshan sites in Shandong province.
Gupta empire The Gupta empire had its genesis under King Srigupta I (270-290 C. E.), who ruled one of the many small kingdoms in the Ganga (Ganges) Valley in India from his capital at pataliputra. He was succeeded by his son Ghatotkacha and then by his son Can-dragupta I (305-325). The empire he founded lasted for about three centuries. Its hallmark was a series of kings who combined military success with an interest in culture, science, literature, arts, and architecture and the welfare of the people. In this wealthy and peaceful empire, the sovereigns took the title Maharajadhiraja, “great king of kings.” An inscription from Allahabad composed by Harisena on an Asokan column describes the military successes of samudragupta (335-380), successor to Candragupta I, who defeated many rival kings and took his army south to southern Andhra pradesh to incorporate fresh areas into the empire but who still had himself depicted on his gold coinage playing the lyre. He was a Hindu who performed the ritually significant horse-sacrifice ceremony. A particular feature of the rule of his successor, candragupta ii (r. 380-413), is that the empire was visited by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim fax-lAN, who left a description of his visit. He commented on the peace and prosperity he witnessed. There was no capital punishment, but the legal code could order a series of fines. public works were often evident, such as the endowment of the Buddhist university at Nalanda, despite the rulers’ preference for Hinduism. Indeed, the kings were referred to as “equal to the gods,” including Indra and Varuna. However, the reign of Skandagupta, who died in about 467 C. E., was disturbed by the first of several irruptions of the Huns in India, and in 530-540 C. E. a dissident leader named Yashodharman rose to beat not only the Huns, but the Guptas themselves. His inscription at Mandasor claimed his sovereignty over much of India.
WEALTH AND TRADE
The period of the Gupta empire appears to have been one of wealth and prosperity. The kings issued high-quality COINAGE in gold, silver, and copper, which is found widely over the realm. This wealth was based on international trade as well as productive agriculture. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the Guptas looked increasingly to Southeast Asia for trading opportunities, and the presence of Indian merchants is in evidence over much of that area. irrigation was widespread in India, and there is evidence for state assistance in its provision. Industries were ordered on the basis of self-perpetuating guilds, who often owned their own assets in the form of trust funds. There were, for example, guilds of bankers, silk weavers, and oil pressers. State revenues were raised on the strength of a tax on agricultural and industrial production and on land. Salt, for example, was subject to a sales tax.
BUREAUCRACY
This system required a large bureaucracy. Civil departments were administered by mantri. Foreign affairs, including trade, were under the control of the sandhivi-grahika. There were at least three ranks of military command, the mahabaladhikrta, mahadandanayaka, and senapati. The army itself was made up of cavalry, the elephant corps, and the infantry There were also lesser officials, local boards, and a nagarasresthin, which assisted in governing rural communities.
ARCHITECTURE
In harmony with the civil order and wealth of the Guptas, their rule witnessed the initiation of major developments in Indian temple architecture. These took the form of a square or rectangular sacred chapel with a porch or covered walkway around it. Some forms have a low tower above the temple; others are circular. Notable examples are the Kapotesvara temple at Cezarla, dated to the fourth century C. E., and the Durga temple at Aihole. The Bhitar-gaon temple in Kanpur was constructed in brick. As befitted such temples, Gupta sculpture of deities also flourished, particularly in the sarnath school. The gods were shown in various poses, such as the Buddha’s attaining knowledge or imparting wisdom.
THE ARTS AND SCIENCES
Painting also flourished in the Gupta empire. This is clearly seen in the murals of the ajanta caves in Maharashtra, with their landscapes, depictions of buildings, and splendidly attired people. poetry was encouraged, and the works of Kalidasa, who lived during the reign of Vikramaditya, remain prominent in the Sanskrit repertoire. The astronomer Aryabhatta in 499 c. E. calculated the value of pi and the length of the solar year as 365.358 days. More than a millennium before Galileo, he also proposed that the Earth rotated on its own axis and revolved around the Sun.
Further reading: Mookerji, R. K. Gupta Empire. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1995; Williams, J. G. The Art of Gupta India: Empire and Province. Princeton, N. J.: princeton university press, 1982.
World History
