 haá¸á¸a () is a greco-buddhist archeological site located in the ancient region of gandhara, near the khyber pass, ten kilometers south of the city of jalalabad in today's eastern afghanistan. ==background== some 23,000 greco-buddhist sculptures, both clay and plaster, were excavated in haá¸á¸a during the 1930s and the 1970s. the findings combine elements of buddhism and hellenism in an almost perfect hellenistic style.   although the style of the artifacts is typical of the late hellenistic 2nd or 1st century bce, the haá¸á¸a sculptures are usually dated (although with some uncertainty), to the 1st century ce or later (i.e. one or two centuries afterward). this discrepancy might be explained by a preservation of late hellenistic styles for a few centuries in this part of the world. however it is possible that the artifacts actually were produced in the late hellenistic period. given the antiquity of these sculptures and a technical refinement indicative of artists fully conversant with all the aspects of greek sculpture, it has been suggested that greek communities were directly involved in these realizations, and that "the area might be the cradle of incipient buddhist sculpture in indo-greek style".john boardman, the diffusion of classical art in antiquity (isbn 0-691-03680-2) the style of many of the works at haá¸á¸a is highly hellenistic, and can be compared to sculptures found at the temple of apollo in bassae, greece. the toponym haá¸á¸a has its origins in sanskrit haá¸á¸a n. m., "a bone", or, an unrecorded *haá¸á¸aka, adj., "(place) of bones". the former - if not a fossilized form - would have given rise to a haá¸á¸ in the subsequent vernaculars of northern india (and in the old indic loans in modern pashto). the latter would have given rise to the form haá¸á¸a naturally and would well reflect the belief that haá¸á¸a housed a bone-relic of buddha. the term haá¸á¸a is found as a loan in pashto haá¸á¸, n., id. and may reflect the linguistic influence of the original pre-islamic indian population of the area. ==works of art== a sculptural group excavated at the haá¸á¸a site of tapa-i-shotor represents buddha surrounded by perfectly hellenistic herakles and tyche holding a cornucopia.see image the only adaptation of the greek iconography is that herakles holds the thunderbolt of vajrapani rather than his usual club. other attendants to the buddha have been excavated which displ
Archaeological_sites_in_Afghanistan Buddhism_in_Afghanistan Buddhist_art_and_culture Central_Asian_Buddhist_sites Former_populated_places_in_Afghanistan History_of_Afghanistan