The Bharhut Yavana is a

high relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

of a warrior which was discovered among the reliefs of the railings around the

Bharhut Bharhut is a village located in the Satna district of Madhya Pradesh, central India. It is known for its famous relics from a Buddhist stupa. What makes Bharhut panels unique is that each panel is explicitly labelled in Brahmi characters mentioni ...

Stupa. It is dated to circa 100 BCE, with a range from 150 BCE to 80 BCE. The relief is currently in the

Indian Museum The Indian Museum in Central Kolkata, West Bengal, India, also referred to as the Imperial Museum at Calcutta in colonial-era texts, is the ninth oldest museum in the world, the oldest and largest museum in India as well as in Asia. It has rare ...

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

."The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, 1993, p.112 The man in the relief has been described as a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, called "

Yavana The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for "Ionians" ( grc, ...

s" among the Indians.

Characteristics

The role of the standing warrior is that of a

dvarapala A Dvarapala or Dvarapalaka (Sanskrit, "door guard"; IAST: ' ) is a door or gate guardian often portrayed as a warrior or fearsome giant, usually armed with a weapon - the most common being the ''gada'' (mace). The dvarapala statue is a wide ...

, deities who were Guardians of a temple gate. Bharhut Stupa Yavana symbolism

Many elements point to the depiction being that of a foreigner, and possibly an

Indo-Greek The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic-era Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern regions of the Indian subcontinent ( ...

, called a

among the Indians of the period. Elements leading to this suggestion are the hairstyle (short curly hairstyle without an

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

turban A turban (from Persian دولبند‌, ''dulband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Communities with promin ...

), the hair band normally worn by Indo-Greek kings on their coins, the tunic, and boots. In his right hand he holds a

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

plant, possibly emblematic of his origin. The sheath of his broadsword is decorated with a srivasta or

nandipada The ''Nandipada'' ("foot of Nandi") is an ancient Indian symbol, also called a taurine symbol, representing a bull's hoof or the mark left by the foot of a bull in the ground. The nandipada and the zebu bull are generally associated with Nandi, S ...

, symbols of

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

. He is holding in his right hand a

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...

, which could also be

ivy ''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...

. This type of head with the band of a Greek king is also seen on reliefs at

Sanchi Sanchi is a Buddhist complex, famous for its Great Stupa, on a hilltop at Sanchi Town in Raisen District of the State of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located, about 23 kilometres from Raisen town, district headquarter and north-east of Bh ...

, in which man in northern dress are seen riding horned and winged lions."The Diffusion of Classical Art in Antiquity, John Boardman, 1993, p.112 Note 91 It has been suggested that the warrior is actually the

king Menander who may have conquered Indian territory as far as

Pataliputra Pataliputra ( IAST: ), adjacent to modern-day Patna, was a city in ancient India, originally built by Magadha ruler Ajatashatru in 490 BCE as a small fort () near the Ganges river.. Udayin laid the foundation of the city of Pataliputra at the ...

and is known through the

Milinda Panha The ''Milinda Pañha'' () is a Buddhist text which dates from sometime between 100 BC and 200 AD. It purports to record a dialogue between the Indian Buddhist sage Nāgasena, and the 2nd century BC Indo-Greek king Menander I (Pali: ''Milinda'' ...

to have converted to

Inscription

The inscription at the top, classified as Inscription 55 in the Pillars of Railing of the SW Quadrant at Bharhut (The Stupa of Bharhut, Cunningham, p. 13

, is in the Brahmi script and reads from left to right:

Other instances of foreigners in Indian Temples

Besides this relief in Bharhut, devotees in Greek attire also appear in number at the Buddhist Stupa of

. Some of them appear to be making a dedication to Southern Gateway of the Great Stupa.John Marshall, A Guide to Sanchi, 191
p.57ff
(Public Domain text) The official notice at Sanchi reads " :File:Scene Index - North Gateway - Stupa 1 - Sanchi Hill 2013-02-21 4272.JPG, Foreigners worshiping Stupa". The relief shows 18 of these foreigners and 4

Gandharva A gandharva () is a member of a class of celestial beings in Dharmic religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, whose males are divine performers such as musicians and singers, and the females are divine dancers. In Hinduism, they are ...

celestial deities in the sky above. These have been called "Greek-looking foreigners" wearing Greek clothing complete with

tunic A tunic is a garment for the body, usually simple in style, reaching from the shoulders to a length somewhere between the hips and the knees. The name derives from the Latin ''tunica'', the basic garment worn by both men and women in Ancient Rome ...

s, capes and sandals, typical of the Greek travelling costume, and using Greek and

Central Asian Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the former S ...

musical instruments ( the double flute aulos, or the

carnyx The ancient carnyx was a wind instrument of the Iron Age Celts, used between c. 200 BC and c. AD 200. It was a type of bronze trumpet with an elongated S shape, held so that the long straight central portion was vertical and the short mouthpiec ...

-like Cornu horns), possibly pointing to the

Indo-Greeks The Indo-Greek Kingdom, or Graeco-Indian Kingdom, also known historically as the Yavana Kingdom (Yavanarajya), was a Hellenistic period, Hellenistic-era Ancient Greece, Greek kingdom covering various parts of Afghanistan and the northwestern r ...

. The men are depicted with short curly hair, often held together with a

headband A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal. T ...

of the type commonly seen on Greek coins. Three inscriptions are known from

donors at Sanchi, the clearest of which reads "''Setapathiyasa Yonasa danam''" ("Gift of the

Yona The word Yona in Pali and the Prakrits, and the analogue Yavana in Sanskrit and Yavanar in Tamil, were words used in Ancient India to designate Greek speakers. "Yona" and "Yavana" are transliterations of the Greek word for " Ionians" ( grc, ...

of Setapatha"), Setapatha being an uncertain city.The Idea of Ancient India: Essays on Religion, Politics, and Archaeology, Sage Publications India, Upinder Singh, 201
p.18
/ref> Around 113 BCE, Heliodorus, an ambassador of the

ruler

Antialcidas Antialcidas Nikephoros ( grc, Ἀντιαλκίδας ὁ Νικηφόρος; epithet means "the Victorious", Brahmi: 𑀅𑀁𑀢𑀮𑀺𑀓𑀺𑀢𑀲 ''Aṃtalikitasa'', in the Heliodorus Pillar) was a king of the Indo-Greek Kingdom, who re ...

, is known to have dedicated a pillar, the

Heliodorus pillar The Heliodorus pillar is a stone column that was erected around 113 BCE in central India in Besnagar (near Vidisha, Madhya Pradesh). The pillar was called the ''Garuda-standard'' by Heliodorus, referring to the deity Garuda. The pillar is commonly ...

, around 5 miles from Sanchi, in the village of

Vidisha Vidisha (विदिशा, formerly known as Bhelsa and known as Besnagar in ancient times) is a city in central Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located 62.5 km northeast of the state capital, Bhopal. The name "Vidisha" is derived from th ...

. {, class="wikitable" style="margin:0 auto;" align="center" colspan=1 cellpadding="3" style="font-size: 80%; width: 100%;" , align="center" colspan=1 style="background:#F4A460; font-size: 100%;", Northwestern foreigners at

, - , File:Sanchi Stupa 2 man on horse.jpg, Foreigner on a horse, circa 115 BCE, Stupa No2.An Encyclopaedia of Indian Archaeology, by

Amalananda Ghosh Amalananda Ghosh (3 March 1910 – 1981) was an Indian archaeologist, the author and editor of numerous works on India's ancient civilizations, and the organizer and director of archaeological expeditions during the mid-1900s. Education Ghosh ...

, BRIL
p.295
/ref>Buddhist Landscapes in Central India: Sanchi Hill and Archaeologies of Religious and Social Change, C. Third Century BC to Fifth Century AD, Julia Shaw, Left Coast Press, 201
p.90
/ref> File:Foreigners at Sanchi Stupa I North Gateway.jpg, Foreign devotees and musicians on the Northern Gateway of Stupa I, circa 100 BCE. File:Foreigners in Greek dress playing carnyxes and aolus flute at Sanchi.jpg, Detail of the foreigners, in Greek dress and playing

es and aolus flute. File:Torana of Stupa 3 in Sanchi Foreign riders.jpg, Foreign horseriders, Southern Gateway of Stupa 3. File:Torana of Stupa 3 in Sanchi Foreigner fighting a Makara.jpg, Foreigner with headband fighting a

Makara ''Makara'' ( sa, मकर, translit=Makara) is a legendary sea-creature in Hindu mythology. In Hindu astrology, Makara is equivalent to the Zodiac sign Capricorn. Makara appears as the vahana (vehicle) of the river goddess Ganga, Narmada, a ...

Torana ''Torana'' ( sa, तोरण; '' awr-uh-nuh') is a free-standing ornamental or arched gateway for ceremonial purposes in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain architecture of the Indian subcontinent. Toranas can also be widely seen in Southeast Asia and ...

of Stupa 3 in

. Stupa 3 front architrave bottom panel right post.jpg, Hero with headband wrestling a Makara. File:Foreigners riding winged lions Sanchi Stupa 1 Eastern Gateway.jpg, Foreigners holding grapes and riding winged lions, Sanchi Stupa 1, Eastern Gateway.

References

2nd-century BC sculptures 1st-century BC sculptures Archaeological sites in Madhya Pradesh Indo-Greeks Menander I Reliefs Sculptures of men in India