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The Brahmavihāra Monastery and Retreat Centre was founded in 2018 by Bhante Dhammapāla. He was teaching in Hong Kong for a long time, and seems to have collected a large number of items there, including the Gandhāran items shown below, which apparently came from an Indian family who no longer had interest in them.

Gandhāra Collection

Although I am not an expert in Gandhāran art, it seems me that the pieces below are in too good a condition to be genuine, and must be modern imitations of the real thing. They do not appear to be copies though, but new works based on Gandhāran style.

If we compare them with what we know to be genuine works from the time, at the Peshawar and Hund Museums, the difference is astounding. Whereas the genuine works are nearly all broken and defaced in one way or another, the ones in Brahmavihara are all complete and unmarked.

They are, however, if not genuine, at least very fine imitations, seemingly made locally in Pakistan, using the same kind of stone, and with well-created themes, based on the originals, while not being copies which are easy to recognize.

Other Objects

Outside the Hall