the thirteenth century the Pala style was declining in
Bihar and Bengal, until this last stronghold of Buddhist
art in India finally collapsed under the advent of the
Muslims in the northern regions of India.
See also:Buddha, Life of the, in Art; India; India,
Northwest; India, South; Jataka, Illustrations of;
Monastic Architecture
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GAILMAXWELLINDIA, NORTHWESTBy the first century C.E., distinct regional styles of Bud-
dhist art, architecture, and literature had emerged on
the northwestern Indian subcontinent. Buddhist ma-
terials from the borderlands of modern India, Pakistan,
and Afghanistan reflect prolonged contact between In-
dian, Iranian, Central Asian, and Hellenistic cultural
traditions. As a pivotal transit zone for the movement
of people, practices, and ideas both into and out of
South Asia, the northwestern frontier was a dynamic
launching pad for the early transmission of Buddhism
to Central Asia and China.
Numerous Buddhist centers in the Northwest were
located on the “northern route” (uttarapatha), a major
artery for trade and travel that connected the north-
western frontiers with the Buddhist homeland in north-
eastern India. Mathura, a city located on the northern
route south of modern New Delhi, was a significant
node for trade and administration and an important
center for Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain art and literature.
Mathurahad close ties with Kashmir in the western
Himalayas, where the Sarvastivadin tradition of ABHI-
DHARMAscholasticism developed. The northern route
linked Mathurawith Taxila (Taksas ́la), an ancient me-
tropolis on the northern route near modern Islamabad
in Pakistan, where extensive archeological remains of
stupas and monasteries have been excavated. Gan-
dharan art and the Gandharlanguage (written in the
Kharosth script) were transmitted together with
Buddhism beyond the Gandharan heartland in north-
western Pakistan to Central Asia. Buddhist art and
architecture in Afghanistan at sites such as Hadda
(south of Jalalabad), Bagram (north of Kabul), and
BAMIYANled French art historian Alfred Foucher to
label paths across the Hindu Kush to Bactria and west-
ern Central Asia the Vieille Route (Ancient Route).
Buddhist petroglyphs and inscriptions in the upper In-
dus River valley indicate that Buddhist travelers also
followed capillary routes across the Karakoram Moun-
tains of northern Pakistan to eastern Central Asia.
Buddhism was established in Northwest India dur-
ing the late centuries B.C.E. and the early to mid first
millennium C.E. Afghanistan, Gandhara, and the lower
Indus River valley were Achaemenid provinces until
327 to 326 B.C.E., when Alexander of Macedon at-
tempted to conquer these areas. The Mauryan emperor
AS ́OKA(r. ca. 268–232 B.C.E.) provided the impetus for
the introduction of Buddhism in the Northwest. A de-
vout lay Buddhist, As ́oka had two sets of major rock
edicts in Kharosthinscribed in northwestern Pakistan,INDIA, NORTHWEST