Kusana period is known for rise of a new art movement with abundant dimensions and creativity. Examine.

The rise and growth of the Kushans as a political power (1st century to 3rd century AD) coincided with a great cultural ferment in the region. The age of maturity in Indian classical art began now. Artistic activities were fairly widespread and two main spheres of Kushan art are generally recognised—the broader Bactria-Gandhara region in the north-west lower Kabul Valley and upper Indus around Peshawar where strongly Hellenised and works of Persian influence were produced, and northern India, particularly the Mathura region, the winter capital of the Kushans, where works in the Indian style were produced.
An important aspect of Kushan art is the emphasis on the emperor himself as a divine persona. This is visible in a number of contexts, including the coinage of the Kushan rulers and in important surviving shrines from which a cult of the divine emperor may be inferred.
While the early Buddhist artists used symbols to represent the presence of the Buddha, beginning with the Kushan rule, the Buddha was represented in human form.
Mathura and Gandhara school of art acted as torchbearers in the furtherance of a new art form to be imitated in future years.

Topics: GS-I: Indian Architecture