Shifting materiality, changing stupas: schist and stucco sculptural production in Gandhāra

Gandhāran sculptural production is rich and vast, and yet the materials are rather homogenous. The works were predominantly created in schist and stucco, with a marked preference for schist in earlier times and a later predilection for stucco. This shift has been identified since the early days of the scholarship on Gandhāran art, and has been widely discussed. Various explanations have been offered: from stylistic evolution, to change of taste, from a reduced accessibility to quarries in later times, to a preference for molding techniques that would allow a faster production, in tandem with the growing presence and importance of Buddhism in Gandhāra. Even though these factors undoubtedly played a fundamental role in bringing about and shaping this material turn in Gandhāran art, the aim of this paper is to investigate the possible connection between shifting materiality and doctrinal changes occurring in the Buddhism of Gandhāra. Specifically, it will take into consideration the schist and stucco décor of some exemplary stupas in the area of the Swat Valley, in Pakistan, and it will investigate the doctrinal implications that the material shift seems to underscore. At the same time, this paper also stresses how the shifting materiality itself possibly played a pivotal role in shaping – not only illustrating – the doctrinal change. The ultimate goal is to highlight how the shifting materiality in Gandhāra fundamentally changed perceptions and conceptions of stupas as monuments and ritual focuses in Buddhist complexes.