142 erik seldeslachts
adoption of Buddhism or Hinduism should also be understood within
the tradition of pagan pluralism and Hellenistic syncretism. One should
also not exaggerate the opposition between Buddhists and Hindus.
As to Menander, we may adopt the middle position of Bopearachchi
that Menander was favourably disposed towards Buddhism, but not
exclusively connected to that sect.^49
- Western Central Asia, Iran and Further West
By the beginning of our era, the international political scene had
changed dramatically. In Northwest India, akas, Indo-Parthians and
Kuas held sway until the Guptas uni ed North India in the fourth-
fth century. In the West, the Roman Empire had become a formidable
power. In between these two, Parthians and later Sassanians formed
a powerful block. The akas seem to have followed the relatively
favourable Greek policy with regard to Buddhism. A stronger impetus
to its spread came from the Kua kings, especially Kanika (ca. AD
78–102).^50 The fact that the Kua Empire stretched across large parts
of Northern India, Eastern Iran and Central Asia and that it domi-
nated the trade between India, China, Parthia and the Roman Empire,
greatly favoured the diffusion. Under Kua rule, the art of Gandhra
originated, largely Hellenistic Greek or rather Roman-Syrian as to its
form, but Indian and Buddhist in content.^51 Thus, Gandhran artists
took the image of Apollo as a model when they started to depict the
Buddha, but the end-result was original to a great extent. Buddhism
also became rmly entrenched in many places to the west of Gandhra
around this time, for example, in the western Kua capital Kpi,
northeast of Kabul, and in Balkh, where Buddhism peacefully coex-
isted with Zoroastrianism under Kanika’s policy of religious tolerance,
resulting in some mutual in uence.
As early as the rst century AD, Buddhism started expanding even
further westwards to Bukhara and areas under Parthian rule in
Margiana and Northern Khorsn, as is clear from the ndings of
Soviet and Russian archaeologists, whose work is unfortunately still
(^49) Bopearachchi 1990, pp. 48–49.
(^50) Litvinskij 1998, p. 177.
(^51) Bussagli 1996, pp. 360–361. Earlier scholars, like Tarn 1951, pp. 394–398,
404–407, unconvincingly argued that the Indo-Greeks started the school.