Maitreya in Gandhara

My research on the depictions of the Bodhisattva Maitreya in Gandharan art, and during the Kushana period in general, was taken up in October 2000. I had worked on this topic with Prof Maurizio Taddei at an early stage of my studies, and his untimely death in February 2000 urged me to continue this work. Although frequently discussed, relatively little precise information can be found on the role of Maitreya in Gandhara. Considered as part of the general development towards Mahāyāna Buddhism, even the scarce information available provides a differentiated background for the Gandharan iconography of this Bodhisattva. 

Considerable progress was made during a one-year fellowship at the Lumbini International Research Institute (LIRI), which also enabled me to co-curate the exhibition “Gandhara — The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan” at the Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany in Bonn (opened 20 November 2008). Nevertheless, the project so far resulted in a range of separate articles.