Toward the end of the 1st century AD the Buddha began to be represented in human form. The earliest Buddhas were once thought to have been made in made in northern Pakistan and Afghanistan and to have been created as a result of Greek and Roman influence. However although the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas (individuals who defer final Enlightenment so as to dedicate their lives to the welfare of all beings) of the north-west seem superficially western in appearance, the emergence of image-making can be attributed to developments in India itself.

The key factor in the creation of Buddha images was the religious practice known as the ‘remembrance of the Buddha’. This is a basic feature of all Buddhist meditation and involves reflection on the Buddha and his sublime qualities. This typically takes place at holy Buddhist places where relics and other sacred objects have been placed. The practice led to visualisations of the Buddha in meditation and eventually to permanent artistic representations of these experiences. This development was also encouraged by the emergence of images and image-worship in early Hinduism.