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Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from
MathurAuthor(s): Prudence R. MyerSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 47,
No. 2 (1986), pp. 107-142Published by: Artibus Asiae
PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249969
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PRUDENCE R. MYER
BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS: EARLY BUDDHIST IMAGES FROM MATHURA
As is well known, the first images of the Buddha are said to
have been produced either in the ancient province of Gandhara, in
the northwest of the Indian subcontinent,
or at Mathura, a flourishing commercial and religious center
some I25 kilometers south of Delhi.1 This city, which once formed
the focus of the southern part of the I(ushana empire and, before
that, had been ruled by satraps (ksatrapa) belonging to a branch of
the Sakas (a Central Asian people better known in Europe as
Scythians), is the scene of a story telling how Mara, the Lord of
Illusion, was vanquished and converted by the renowned monk and
preacher Upagupta. Lamenting that he had been born too late to see
the Blessed One, Upagupta commanded his erstwhile enemy to show the
appearance of the Buddha, and Mara assented on condition the monk
not prostrate himself before it. But when the radiant apparition
appeared, the monk promptly fell to his knees before it. Reproached
by the god for having broken his word, Upagupta justified his
spontaneous action by saying:
Of course, I know that the Best of Speakers has gone altogether
to extinction, like a fire swamped by water. Even so, when I see
his figure, I bow down before that Sage. But I do not revere you! .
. .
Note on terminology and transliteration: Indian words are
italicized the first time they appear. Sanskrit words are
transliterated in accordance with the system employed by
Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary except for the
unaspirated palatal c, which is transliterated as ch in order to
make it more consonant with English pronunciation. 1 Specialists
will recognize that the present author is profoundly indebted to
the late Johanna E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, whose doctoral
dissertation brilliantly resolved the fundamental problems of
chronology and style associated with the Buddhist images from
Mathura (The "Scythian" Period: An Approach to the History, Art,
Epigraphy, and Paleography of North India from the ist Century to
the 3rd Century A.D. [Leiden, 19491, hereafter to be referred to as
van Lohuizen-de Leeuw).
The most comprehensive study of Buddhist art here is R. C.
Sharma, Buddhist Art of Mathura (Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi, I984).
This is particularly valuable for its account of the excavations
that have taken place in and around the city, especially the finds
from the ancient mounds known as Govindnagar, which lie westward
from the Katra mounds and on the other side of the railroad. It was
in I969-70 that laborers leveling the mounds in preparation for the
construction of an extensive housing colony began to turn up
quantities of sculptures. Most of these were purchased by antique
dealers, but in 1976 Mr. Sharma (then Curator of the Mathura
Museum) and his staff attempted to rescue and record the pieces
that were being found, and the U. P. government declared that area
a protected site. The material so recovered, although only a
fraction of what had been dispersed, showed that the site went back
to the pre-Maurya period and remained an important Buddhist site
until the Huna invasion of the early 6th century.
107
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Just as men bow down to clay images of the gods, knowing that
what they worship is the god and not the clay, so I, seeing you
here, wearing the form of the Lord of the World, bowed down to you,
conscious of the Sugata, but not conscious of Mara.2
In summarizing this story as evidence of the growing practice of
Buddbha-pjd, the cult of devotion to the Buddha as Lord, Sukumar
Dutt points out that the description of the figure or illusion
created or presented by Mara is couched in such vague and general
terms as to indicate that the text antedates the first man-made
images of the Buddha.3 The present paper reconsiders the early
Buddhist images from Mathura, starting with the seated and standing
figures identified by inscription as Bodhisattvas. A suggested
explanation for this nomenclature is followed by comparisons with
images of the "bejewelled Bodhisattva" type, and a concluding study
of the early Buddha images considered to show Gandharan
influence.
All the Mathura sculptures are carved of red or rose-hued
sandstone, usually mottled or dappled with cream color, but as the
passage quoted from the Asokadvaddna suggests, wood and clay must
also have been used for images here as in other parts of India.
That some sculptural types were originally conceived in these
materials is indicated by the presence of such features as the
upraised right hand, which is so ill-adapted to the medium of stone
that it obviously caused early stone-carvers some difficulty.
Bronze may also have been used, for two small cast-bronze images
were found in Kushana levels of Sonkh, an archaeological site 221/2
kilometers southwest of the city;4 but no early Buddhist bronzes
have yet been identified.
Discussions of the Buddhist sculpture from Mathura often start
with the monumental
figure dedicated at Sarnath by the monk (bhikSu) Bala in the
year 3 of the Kanishka era, and with the smaller and well preserved
stele found at the IKatra Tila (Figs. I, 10, 13). Because of its
material and inscriptions (L.925, L.g27), which are the earliest
indisputable
2 John S. Strong, The Legend of King Asoka: A Study and
Translation of the Asokdvaddna (Princeton University Press,
Princeton, N.J., 1983), PP. 195-196.
3 Sukumar Dutt, The Buddha and Five After-Centuries (London,
1957), P. 236. 4 Herbert Hartel, "Some Results of the Excavations
at Sonkh," German Scholars on India, Contributions to Indian
Studies,
ed. by Cultural Department of the Federal Republic of Germany
(Bombay, n. d.), II, pp. 70-99. The Sonkh excavations, which have
revealed an uninterrupted sequence of occupations from the the late
Kushana
period down to pre-Maurya levels, constitute the first reliable
archaeological evidence for the history of the Mathura region.
About 00oo B.C. Mathura seems to have broken away from the Sunga
empire, and coins found in levels 28-25 are inscribed with the
names of Gomitra and three successors having names ending with
-mitra. Following these came a king named Ramadatta whose reign, at
least at Sonkh, seems to have been interrupted or overlapped by
that of the Kshatrapas Hagamasa, Rajuvula, and Rajuvula's son
Sodasa (levels 24 and 23); and these were immediately followed by
the Kushanas Wima Kadphises and Kanishka in levels 22 and 21.
Because the beginning of the era established by Kanishka (which
continued to be used at Mathura for more than I50 years) has been
dated as early as 78 A.D. and as late as 144 or even later,
particular interest attaches to Hartel's assertion,
"Notwithstanding the theory one may follow in dating Kanishka I,
after Sonkh there is no justification of placing him in the second
or even in the third century A.D."
io8
-
post-Asokan ones,5 it is sometimes assumed that Bala's image
must be among the earliest Buddhist images carved at Mathura.6 Yet
as early as I9IO the catalogue of the Mathura Museum, in discussing
the Katra stele, noted that both its very dark red color and the
language of its inscription (L.I 2 a), identifying its donor as one
Amohaasi (Amoghadasi), indicate that it pre-dates the Kanishka
era.7 Both images are identified by their inscriptions as
Bodhisattva, and both obviously come from the same iconographic and
stylistic tradition, even though one is standing and the other
seated. The head of the Sarnath image has been damaged and its
right arm and hand broken off, but it is apparent the lost hand
must have been raised in front of the shoulder in abhaya-nmudra,
the gesture signifying "no fear".
This gesture, familiar to all students of Buddhist art, may well
have been introduced into India by the Sakas (more accurately
Saka-Pahlavas), who reigned at Mathura before the advent of the
Kushanas.8 It was not restricted to male figures but appears in a
number of representations of a goddess usually identified as
Trisala, the mother of the Jina Mahavira. It is presumably she who
is depicted (although the inscription names her AryavatI) on a
tablet found at the site of Kankali Tila, which was dedicated by
the lady Amohini in the year 42 or 72 during the reign of the
Mahakshatrapa (Great Satrap) Sodasa, the second Saka ruler of
Mathura. (Fig. 2).9 Her pose is virtually identical with that of
the images dedicated by Bala except that her right hand is not
directly in front of her shoulder but off to the side, the palm
facing outward. Similar figures appear both in reliefs and
independent images during the Kushana period,10 and the same
gesture was also used for early representations of Hindu
gods.11
It seems that this gesture is probably the same one that
l'Orange calls "the Gesture of Power" or "Saving Right Hand," which
can be traced back to Babylonian seals and reliefs.12 There it
perhaps signified the divine power to protect the god's servant
from malign influences and evil spirits; and it appears frequently
in Achaemenid reliefs of Ahuramazda and the kings and satraps who
served as his earthly counterparts. Its meaning therefore seems to
be similar to that of abhaya-mudra, although in West Asia the arm
was fully extended. The difference can be explained by the artistic
conventions of the two regions, for in West Asian reliefs figures
were depicted in profile, while in India divine 5 Sarnath Museum,
B(a) I. D. R. Sahni and J. P. Vogel, Catalogue of the Museum of
Archaeology at Sdrndth (Calcutta, I 9 I 2),
pp. 33-37; H. Liiders, "A List of Brahmi Inscriptions from the
Earliest Times to about 400 A.D.," Appendix to Epigraphia Indica, X
(I909), pp. 93-94.
6 Benjamin Rowland refers to it as "one of the very first images
of Buddha to be carved at Mathura" (The Art and Architecture of
India, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, The Pelican History of Art, ist
paperback ed. [Baltimore, Md., 1970], P I 5 3)
7 Mathura Museum, oo.A I. J.P. Vogel, Catalogue of the
Archaeological Museum at Mathura (Allahabad, 1910), pp. 47-48, pl.
7; also, H. Liiders, Mathura Inscriptions, ed. Klaus Janert
(G6ttingen, I961), pp. 30-3I. These two will hereafter be referred
to as Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., and Liiders-Janert, respectively.
8 B. N. Mukherjee, Mathura and its Society: The Saka-Pahlava
Phase (Calcutta, I 98 I), especially Chapter VI. See also supra,
note 4.
9 Lucknow State Mus., J. . Vincent Smith, The Jain Stupa and
Other Antiquities of Mathura (Allahabad, i901), p. 2z i, pl. XIV;
Vasudeva S. Agrawala, A Short Guide-Book to the Archaeological
Section of the Provincial Museum Lucknow (Allahabad, 1940), p. 5;
Debala Mitra in Jaina Art and Architecture Published on the
Occasion of the 2aooth Nirvana Anniversary of Tirthankara Mahavira,
ed. A. Ghosh (New Delhi), I, p. 67, pl. 19.
10 Lucknow State Mus., J. 623, and Mathura Mus., oo. F.6. See
Jain Art and Architecture, pl. 3, and Ludwig Bachhofer, Early
Indian Sculpture (New York, 1929), I, pl. 75.
11 Mathura Mus., 00.2520. Vasudeva S. Agrawala, Studies in
Indian Art (Varanasi, I965), pp. 191-93, fig. Io6. 12 H.P.
l'Orange, Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the
Ancient World (Oslo, 1953), pp. 39-58.
IO9
-
figures are traditionally presented frontally. Since it is
impossible to carve the outstretched hand of a frontal figure
without risking damage to it, Indian artists seem to have adapted
the older position of the raised hand holding a flower or flywhisk
(chauri), familiar from earlier representations ofyaksas
andyaksinzs.13
Both van Lohuizen-de Leeuw and the Japanese scholar Takata
Osamu14 have compared the earliest Buddhist images with the tiny
figures of Jinas (Tirthankaras) depicted on some of the early
ayaga-patas found at Kanikall Tila, which must have been a major
center of Jaina worship.15 None of these square slabs are dated,
but they have been generally attributed to the Saka period. The
earliest one may be that here illustrated, whose encircling
lotus-creeper is carved in a flat relief style very close to that
of a fragmentary door-jamb, found at Mora, whose inscription
(L.82a) shows it was executed during the reign of Sodasa (Fig.
3).16 The Jina in the central medallion, identifiable by the
multiple cobra-hoods of the serpent king as Parsvanatha, is seated
on a low throne and venerated by a pair of naked Jain monks.17 The
four large nandipada shapes occupying the space between the
medallion and lotus-creeper are framed by double cords; their
surfaces are carved with rows of small leaf-shapes alternating with
pearl bands, a motif recalling both the garlands hanging from the
upper border of Amohini's tablet and the surface of the
cushion-like mass of stone that supports the raised hand of the
Katra Bodhisattva. The similar ayaga-pata dedicated by Simha-nadika
is distinguished by a pair of pillars supporting a wheel (chakra)
and an elephant.18 Here the nandipadas are bordered by pearl bands
and their forms are more fully modelled, as are those of the
faceted shafts of the framing pillars and the figure in the central
medallion, while the Jina's torso is slimmer, with the diagonal
lines of his upper arms reinforcing the triangularity of his
proportions.
Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw and Takata point to close similarities
between these Jaina images and the small Buddha figures seen in a
couple of architectural reliefs, and have concluded that such
miniatures antedated the development of independent images. A
notable example appears on the center of a crossbar from a torana
or gateway illustrating the story of Indra's visit while Buddha
meditated in the Indrasaila (or Indra-sala) cave (Fig. 4).19 Here
the king of the gods approaches from the right attended by a pair
of
13 E.g., Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and
Indonesian Art New York, I927), pls. IV-I7, XI-37; Rowland, figs.
25, 39, 45.
14 Van Lohuizen, pp. 145-80; Takata Osamu, Butsugo no kigen (The
Origin of the Buddha Image) (Tokyo, I967), PP. 3 20-97. (I am
indebted to Michiko Grube-Sato for having translated relevant
portions of this book for me.)
15 These square slabs are generally referred to as votive
plaques, but Mitra argues that they were mounted on oblong bases or
platforms near the stupa and may derive from the sacred seats
(redi), often set up at the foot of a sacred tree to signify "the
physical presence of the invisible divinities," which were
therefore themselves objects of worship (Jaina Art and
Architecture, pp. 63-65). 16 Mathura Mus., oo.367. Takata, p. 345,
fig. 142; Liiders-Janert, p. I55.
17 Lucknow State Mus., J. 253. Smith, p. 17, pl. X; Takata, pl.
45. fig. 53 18 Lucknow State Mus., J. 249. Smith, p. I4, pl. VII;
J.P. Vogel, "La Sculpture de Mathura", Ars Asiatica, XV (Paris
et Bruxelles, I930), pp. 122-23, pl. LIV-a. 19 Mathura Mus.,
M.3. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. i63-64 and "Sculpture de M.," p. 94,
pl. VII. Rowland observes that the blank background of this relief
and "nimbus-like" arrangements of the scarves relate it to the
stair-riser reliefs from Buner (Gandhara), which show strong
influence from ist century Roman art (Benjamin Rowland, "Gandhara,
Rome and Mathura: The Early Relief Style," Archives of the Chinese
Art Society, X [I956], I 5-I6.) Precisely the same style can be
seen in the crossbar (Mathura Mus. SOIV-36) found near the Sonkh
Apsidal Temple No. 2, which can be dated in the period of Kanishka
(Hartel, pp. 95, 99, fig. 44).
I IO
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celestial females and three elephants, while his emissary, the
divine musician Panchasikha, and six other females approach from
the left. The small figure seated within the cave is heavy and
resembles the Jina of the earlier ayaga-pata except that its left
hand rests on the left thigh and the right is raised in front of
the shoulder in clear anticipation of the Katra type. Although it
has no halo, the upper garment of this figure also anticipates that
of the Katra stele, clinging closely to the torso as if so
transparent that the form of the body shines through it. This
appears to be a variation of the arrangement observable in the
foreground figures of a pillar relief from Bharhut (Fig. 5), where
the sculptor carefully indicated how the pleated length of cloth
forming the upper garment was wrapped about the torso and the free
end thrown over the left shoulder.20 The folds over the upper arms
of the Mathura figures show how its other end, which normally hung
down in front, could be brought back and wrapped around the upper
arm and then tucked back behind the body.
Another one, which is carved on a railing post or stambha found
at Isapur on the other bank of the Jumna, depicts a similar but
clumsier figure seated on a tall throne supported by couchant lions
and surrounded by four figures identified as the guardians of the
four quarters (Fig. 6).21 The central figure, like that of the
Indrasaila relief and Jain ayaga-patas, has no halo but the
position of the raised hand resembles that of Aryavati of Amohini's
dedication, and folds seem to fall under the left arm, suggesting
that it belongs to the period when artists were still working out
the conventions for the type.
Takata believes these representations of Buddha receiving the
homage of gods were inspired by and modelled after those of the
ayaga-patas,22 but the Buddhist figures are distinguished from Jain
ones in several ways. Although their torsos have deep navels, the
lines passing under their right breasts and up over their left
shoulders show they are conceived as swathed in clinging garments.
Moreover the feet of Jina figures are merely crossed at the ankles,
while Buddhist ones are locked in the full lotus position (padma-
asana), the soles being turned outward toward the observer. Nor
does their scale necessarily indicate that they were inspired by
the Jaina tablets. Indeed the Indrasaila relief must be dated to
the period of Kanishka because of its stylistic resemblance to the
archaeologically datable torana found at Sonkh.
Whether the small Buddhist depictions derive from Jain
prototypes or from an independent Buddhist tradition peculiar to
the Mathura region, there can be no doubt that larger images were
also made and installed in Buddhist monasteries (yihdras) of this
region during the Kshatrapa period, for Liiders identifies at least
five inscriptions of this period as coming from image bases.23 To
these may be added the fragmentary image dedicated by a Kshatrapa
lady named Namda, a seated image found at Sravasti, and two
uninscribed ones whose style also argue for a date antedating the
establishment of the Kanishka era.24
20 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, La sculpture de Bharhut (Paris,
I956), Fig. 34. 21 Mathura Mus., H. 12. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. I 3
I-I 3 2; van Lohuizen, pp. 157-158. 22 Takata, p. 378. 23
Liiders-Janert, pp. 30-3I, 105-o6, II5-I6, I2I, I90. Three of these
(L.I25a, L.88, L.97b) identify the image as a
Bodhisattva while the two others (L.I43a, L.I 3 5c) lack
explicit identifications. 24 Liiders seems to have reserved the
term Kushana for inscriptions datable to the reigns of Kanishka and
his successors.
Most scholars now agree that Mathura had been earlier conquered
by the Kushana Wima Kadphises, as confirmed by the Sonkh
excavations. (See note 4, supra, and B.N. Puri, India Under the
Kushdnas [Bombay, I965], pp. I9-28.)
III I
-
Of the Buddhist inscriptions attributed by Luders to the
Kshatrapa or (more accurately) pre-Kanishka era, the only one
associated with a fully preserved image is that dedicated by
Amohaasi and found at the Katra (Figs. I, IO). But the others are
interesting because of the light they cast on the life of the
Buddhist community at Mathura even when the images themselves are
missing or badly mutilated. Thus one (L.97b) refers to an image of
a Bodhisattva set up "for the acceptance of the Samitiya teachers,"
and another (L.97d) says that something was dedicated "at the
Alanaka convent for the acceptance of the Mahasaghiyas
(Mahasdnghikas) for the worship of all Buddhas."25
The broken image van Lohuizen-de Leeuw considered the earliest
example of this type is distinguished by the representation on the
base of two figures, the gods Brahma and Indra (Fig. 7).26 All that
remains of the major figure are folded legs and one foot, but it
can be seen that the soles of the feet were turned outward toward
the observer and incised with wheels. The hem of the undergarment,
which is treated as two cord-like ridges, ripples over the calf and
hangs down to overlap the folds spread out over the throne. Brahma
and Indra wear long stole-like uttarzyas whose folds are indicated
by paired ridges, that of Brahma rising stiffly from the shoulders
to enframe the head, much like celestial figures of the Indrasaila
crossbar.
A different treatment of drapery appears on the similarly
damaged figure executed by a Mathura sculptor which was dedicated
by two Ksatriya brothers at the Jetavana vihara at Sravasti.27 Here
the folds over the throne are treated as crisply defined pleats
radiating like a fan across the throne, the ends of the girdle lie
neatly over the central pleats, and the hems of the garment flare
slightly over the calves, describing smooth curves that emphasize
their rounded volumes. The soles of the feet are almost horizontal
and the left hand seems to have been clenched on the thigh.
Much the same style is to be seen in an uninscribed and
similarly damaged image in the Mathura Museum (Fig. 8).28 Its most
significant features are the clenched fist and the rampant lions
supporting the throne. Those at the corners are lithe and graceful
with long thin tails terminating in tight spirals and long tassels
or plumes, and the one enface at the center, although somewhat
clumsy, is equally slender.
The last of the broken Bodhisattvas was found in a shrine near
the Katra and appears to have been very similar to that dedicated
by Amohaasi (Fig. 9)29. The surviving portion of the inscription
(L.I25C) identifies the donor as a Ksatrapa lady named Namda, who
dedicated a Bodhisattva "for the welfare and happiness of all
sentient beings for the acceptance of the savasthidyas
(Sarvdstivddas)."30 As in the Katra stele, the throne projects
25 Luders-Janert, pp. I I 5-I6, I 121. 26 Lucknow State Mus.,
B.I8. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. i74-75, pl. XXI-34. 27 Lucknow
State Mus., 66.48. G.R. Sahni, "A Buddhist Image Inscription from
Sravasti," A.S.I. Ann. Report 90o8-o9,
PP. I33-38. 28 Mathura Mus., 00oo.2073. V. S. Agrawala, "Buddha
and Bodhisattva images in Mathura Museum," Journal of U.P.
Historical Society, XXI (1978), p. 73. 29 Mathura Mus., A.66.
Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 63-64. 30 Liiders noted that the letters of
the inscription look very archaic, but concluded it should be dated
to the Kushana
period because of its faulty spelling (Liiders-Janert, pp.
31-32).
112
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from a backslab on which can be seen the lower portion of a
standing attenldant; the fingers of the Bodhisattva's left hand are
similarly extended to rest on his calf, and the sole of the foot is
incised with a wheel and the toes with tiny swastikas, but the
outward turn of the sole of the foot and the undulating hem of the
garment indicate it antedates that piece. Moreover the rampant
winged lion of the base, although somewhat less fluid and energetic
than those of the preceding image, is very different from those
squatting on the bases of the Katra stele and its successors.31
Despite the fragmentary state of these images, enough remains to
show that the Katra stele was not only more complex but more
carefully integrated, and deserves to be considered the classical
statement of the type (Fig. IO). The Bodhisattva's smooth, swelling
torso rises vigorously from the broad, horizontal base formed by
his folded legs and feet and culminates in the highly articulated
volumes of his neck, egg-shaped head, and coiled top-knot of hair;
the inward slant of his right forearm is balanced by that of his
left upper arm; the strong three-dimensional accent formed by his
projecting right hand is balanced by the deep folds over his left
arm, and these continue downward and are continued by the lines of
his girdle, unifying the upper and lower parts of the figure.
Comparison with the surviving portions of the earlier dedication by
Namda show that there the backslab was relatively wider, the throne
projected less, and the Bodhisattva's legs and soles tilted outward
(Fig. 9). These, together with the wavering line described by the
hem of the garment and the soft shape of the hand, contrast greatly
with the strongly architectonic forms of the Katra figure. By
setting the left hand farther out, closer to the bent knee, and
straightening the fingers so they continue and emphasize the
vertical line of the lower arm, the later sculptor suggested a
vigorous downward pressure that both counterbalances and emphasizes
the significance of the gesture made by the right hand. The
Bodhisattva's suave but vigorously modelled volumes, unobscured by
any folds, are set off by the lively rhythms of the pipala tree
(presumably that under which Sakyamuni achieved Enlighten- ment),
the hovering figures above him, and the tilted heads and swaying
postures of the two standing figures. Here everything seems to be
in movement, effectively contrasting with and emphasizing the
stability of the central figure and strengthening its expression of
power and authority.
Significant comparisons can be made between this and two well
preserved steles found some two hundred kilometers north of Mathura
at Ramnagar (District Bareli, U.P.).32 One appears to derive from
the pre-Kanishka period, for the soles of the Bodhisattva's feet
turn outward and his left hand, although placed just above the
knee, is clenched in a fist like that of the central figure on the
Isapur railing-post, and the lower portions of the attendant on the
Bodhisattva's left are almost identical with those of Namda's
dedication. While the general clumsiness of the piece may be
partially attributed to incompetence on the part of the sculptor
(as seen in the misunderstanding of the lateral branches of the
tree, the
31 These rampant lions link these two Bodhisattva images with a
number of architectural pieces that seem to reveal the influence of
Iran or the mixed cultures of old Bactria.
32 Debala Mitra, "Three Kushan Sculptures from
Ahichchhatra,"Journal of the Asiatic Society, XXI, I (I95 5), pp.
65-67, Pls. II-IV, VI.
II3
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inconsistent proportions of the figures, and the asymmetry of
the flying figures' positions), he probably followed his model in
the rectangular shape of the upper portion of the stele, for the
outer legs of the flying figure are bent at an acute angle to fill
in the corners of it. This, together with the rigid stance of the
attendants, suggest that the subtleties of the Katra stele were the
result of conscious refinements perfected over a period of
time.
The other Ramnagar stele, which is dated in the year 32
(presumably of Kanishka's era), is clearly more developed, both
stylistically and iconographically (Fig. I I). The swaying postures
of the standing attendants and the attitudes of the flying ones,
whose gazes seem to be directed toward the Bodhisattva, together
with the horse-shoe shape of the backslab and the rigidity of the
central figure, show that we here have to do with a later work. The
standing figures do not carry flywhisks but are clearly
differentiated by their costumes and attributes. The cluster of
lotuses carried by that to the central figure's left indicate that
he may possibly represent Padmapani ("lotus-hand" or "holding a
lotus in the hand"); but although this title is often applied to
images of Avalokitesvara, the most popular Bod- hisattva of the
Mahayana pantheon, in this case the figure may be only a divine
worshipper or attendant. The other one, whose short skirt
animal-skin mantle and thunderbolt (yajra) attribute suggest he may
possibly represent Indra in the guise of Hercules,33 is more
probably Vajrapani, the yaksa who, according to Mahayana
traditions, accompanied the Buddha on his (apocryphal) journey to
Gandhara.34
In summary, we have seen that the type of the seated Bodhisattva
seems to have developed during the Saka or Kshatrapa period and
reached its classical statement prob- ably shortly before the
beginning of Kanishka's era, in such works as the image dedicated
by two Ksatriya brothers at Sravasti and the Katra stele dedicated
by Amohaasi. They continued to be made well into the reign of
Huvishka, as indicated by the inscription (L.4Ib) of an image from
Pallkhera dated in the year 39 (Fig. I2),35 but later examples
reveal a distinct loss of artistic refinement, especally in the
treatment of the folds of the garments. Their dedicatory
inscriptions show they were dedicated by both monks and lay people,
especially women, at viharas belonging to the Mahasamghika and
Samitya schools or sects; but during the Kushan period the
popularity of the type was rivaled by standing images and the type
of fully-draped image to be discussed at the end of this paper.
The earliest surviving images of the standing type are known to
have been dedicated by members of the Sarvastivada school at sites
hallowed by their associations with the Buddha's ministry. The
first was unearthed by Cunningham in I862 in the ruins of the
33 I am indebted to A.C. Soper for this suggestion. 34 It may be
noted that J.E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw believed that this type of
image inspired the first Buddhist images
from the Gandhara region ("New Evidence with regard to the
Origin of the Buddha Image," South Asian Archaeology 179 ...jth
International Conference of South Asian Archaeologists, ed. Herbert
Hartel [Berlin, n.d.], pp. 377-400). In support of this thesis she
presented a number of reliefs which closely resemble the seated
images from Mathura, some of which come from the level of the great
stupa at Butkara in Swat datable to the pre-Kushana period. While
it cannot be doubted they represent a hitherto unrecognized
extension of the North India style, there are significant
iconograph- ic and stylistic differences between them and the early
Buddhist images from Mathura, which suggest they may represent
parallel developments, unrelated except for their common roots in
the thought and practice of Buddhists in the two regions.
35 Indian Mus., Calcutta N. S. 4145. Bachhofer, pl. 83-2,
Liiders-Janert, I65-66.
II4
-
Fig. 2 Tablet dedicated by Amohinl in year 72 (42?), Lucknow
State Museum.. (Photo Lucknow Mus.)
Fig. i Bodhisattva dedicated by Amohaasi ("Katra stele") Mathura
Museum. (Photo J. Huntington)
-
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I En (L)
. I
bb Flq
-
Fig. 4 Indrasaila legend (detail), Lucknow State Museum. (Photo
A. Peres after Takata)
Fig. 5 Buddha preaching at Safikasya, from Bharhut stupa
railing, Indian Museum, Calcutta.
(Photo Indian Mus.)
-
Fig. 6 Railing post from Tsapur, Mathurd Museum. (Photo Mathura
Mus.)
Fig. 7 Bodhisattva with Brahma and Indra, Lucknow State Museum.
(Photo Lucknow Mus.)
-
Fig. 8 Uninscribed Bodhisattva, Matburd Museum. (Photo P.
Myer)
Fig. 9 Bodhisattva dedicted by Namda, Mathura Museum. (Photo
Mathura Mus.)
-
Fig. Io Katra stele, Mathurea Museum. (Photo Mathura Mus.)
Fig. I Stele from Ramnagar dated year 32z, National Museum, New
Delhi. (Photo P. Myer)
-
Fig. I2 Bodhisattva from Pllkhera dated year 39, Indian Museum,
Calcutta. (Photo Indian Mus.)
Fig. x 3 Bodhisattva dedicated by Bala at Sarnath in year 3,
Sarndth Museum.
(Photo Sarnath Mus.)
-
A Fig. 14 Indrasaila legend, Indian Museum, (Calcutta.
(Photo Indian Mus.)
Fig. IS5 Buddha addressing a king, Lucknow State Museum. (Photo
A. Peres after Takata)
-
Fig. I6 Bodhisattva (?) from Ganeshra, Lucknow State Museum.
(Photo Lucknow State Mus.)
Fig. 17 Bodhisattva (?) from Ganeshra, right rear view, Lucknow
State Museum.
(Photo P. Myer)
-
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IO
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t- O m; cd y n,
Fd Go .e
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Fig. 20 Image from Anyor dated year 5 i, Matbura Museum. Fig. 2z
Standing image, Mathura Mu seum. (Photo Mathurd Mus.) (Photo
Mathura Mus.)
b a Figs. 22 a, b Buddha from Maholi, Mathura Museum.
(Photo Mathura Mus.)
-
It O'P
u3
O'
41 00
-
Jetavanarama at Sravasti and is now in the Indian Museum in
Calcutta, while its inscribed umbrella staff is in the Lucknow
Museum.36 Although the dates of its inscriptions (L.9I 8, L.9I9)
are obliterated, they tell us that the image was a Bodhisattva
dedicated by the bhiksu Bala, master of the Tripitaka (trepitaka),
at the Buddha's walk (chankrama) of the Kosamba vihara for the
acceptance of the Sarvastivadin teachers. Its head is badly damaged
and the right arm and hand are lost, but in size, iconography and
style it is virtually identical with that dedicated by Bala at
Sarnath except that a cluster of lotus-flowers occupy the space
between the legs where that one has a lion.
The often-illustrated Sarnath Bodhisattva, discovered in
I904-o05 near the Asoka column, bears three inscriptions, one on
the front of the base, one on the back of the undergarment, and a
long one on the shaft of the great stone umbrella or chattra that
once sheltered the figure (Fig. I3).37 Like the Sravasti image it
has lost its right arm and hand, and the badly-abraded head was
once broken off and has been re-affixed. A barely recognizable lion
squats between the feet and a cluster of lotus flowers and leaves
are carved next to the left leg to support the weight of the
falling folds of the robe, while traces of color on the breast and
thorax show that it was once fully polychromed.
A smaller image of identical type, found in the ruins of the
venerable Ghositarama at IKausambi (Kosam) and dated in year (22
?), names the nun Buddhamitra trepitikaye as donor.38 Presumably
this is the same learned lady referred to in a Mathura inscription
(L.38) dated year 33, which identifies her as a pupil of the bhiksu
Bala.39 While it is conceivable Buddhamitra may have been the first
to dedicate a standing Buddhist image, it seems more probable that
Bala was the innovator and she was emulating him, in which case her
image probably should be dated year 22, as suggested by Ghosh. Some
confirma- tion of the later date appears in the carving of the
folds over its arm, which seem slightly less finely cut than those
of Bala's Sarnath and Sravasti images.
The upper portions of these images are very similar to those of
the seated ones. It is apparent that their right hands performed
the abhaya-mudra and their torsos are fully revealed by their
transparent garments, but their left hands are clenched and the
folds over their arms extend from shoulder to wrist. Their
skirt-like under-garments resemble the undercloth worn in Thailand
by monks of the HYnayana branch of Buddhism, being brought round
the hips so that the long pleated ends hang down evenly in front
and the upper portion is turned down all around and secured by a
ribbon-like belt or girdle (kayabandhana) tied on the right hip.40
It has generally been assumed that they wear a single
36 Indian Museum, Calcutta, Si.B. John Anderson, Catalogue and
Hand-Book of the Indian Museum. Part I (Calcutta, 188 3, reprinted
New Delhi, i977), pp. i94-95. For inscriptions, see H. Liiders,
"Set-Mahet Image Inscription of the Time of Kanishka or Huvishka,"
Epigraphia Indica, VIII, 80o-8I; T. Bloch, "Inscription on the
Umbrella Staff of the Buddhist Image from Sahet Mahet," Epigraphica
Indica, IX, 290-91; Liders, Epigraphica Indica, X, Appendix, pp.
92-93?.
37 Supra, n.6. 38 Allahabad Mus., AM 69. Pramod Chandra, Stone
Sculpture in the Allahabad Museum (American Institute of Indian
Studies, n.p., n.d.) pp. 61-62, pl. XXXVII.
39 Liiders-Janert, pp. 54-5 5. 40 A.B. Griswold, "Prolegomena to
the Study of the Buddha's Dress in Chinese Sculpture," Artibus
Asiae, XXVI, i
(1963), 87-88, fig. i.
I27
-
voluminous overgarment, but careful examination shows that the
sculptors depicted two
separate garments which must be identified as the uttardsanga
and sanghati, the second and third of the Three Garments
(trichbvara) comprising the monastic habit specified by the Vinaya,
the rule of life for the bhikshus and their female counterparts.41
The uttarasamga or robe, like the seated Bodhisattvas' uttariyas,
is worn in the "open mode," the cloth passing around the back
(where its upper edge is concealed by the images' haloes) and under
the right arm and up and over the left shoulder and upper arm, the
free end or overthrow being brought forward and held in place by
the left hand. The samghati or overrobe is loosely draped about the
legs, its upper edge encircling the hip while the hem is gathered
up into a thick roll.42 Both these garments appear to have been
made of a fine, stretchy fabric which has been dried in pleats but
is drawn smoothly over the body. The folds of the uttarasamgha and
the hem of the samghati are indicated by ridges, each one with a
lightly incised line, while the more widely spaced folds radiating
from or converging on the left hip are indicated by shallow grooves
which are separated from each other by pairs of shallow
incisions.
The inscriptions of these images tell us that they (and
presumably the Sravasti one as well) were installed at chankramas
or promenades where the bhiksus were accustomed to practice walking
meditation. This almost certainly explains their stance, since
standing figures are obviously more appropriate than seated ones
for such a location. Since the monasteries where they were erected
were ancient ones hallowed by their associations with events of the
Buddha's life, they attracted pilgrims from every quarter of the
rapidly- expanding Buddhistandi one may suppose that these figures,
with their radiant haloes, powerful forms and impressive size, must
have appeared to the pilgrims almost as impressive and
awe-inspiring as the illusion created by Mara at the behest of
Upagupta.
It can scarcely be doubted that the type of these images
originated at Mathura. Not only are their materials and style
unmistakably Mathuran and their forms adapted from the earlier
Bodhisattva images executed here, but we know that both Bala and
Bud- dhamitra were natives (or at least residents) of this city.
Judging from the number discovered, standing images of this type
must have been very popular during the first half-century or so of
the Kanishka era, but none of them appear to predate the dated
ones. An unusually well preserved one, broken at the waist but
retaining both arms, head, and most of the halo, was acquired for
the Mathura Museum from the Govindnagar mounds.43 Its proportions
and carving are very close to those of the fine one from Lakhnau
(Aligarh Dt.), which is dated in the year 35 in the reign of
Huvishka.44 Both show a similar reduction of the thick folds, which
have become simple rounded ridges, and the folds of the overrobe,
which are treated as widely spaced incisions. Most of the others
are more or less clumsy variations on the type.
41 Ibid., pp. 88-90, figs. 2-a,3. 42 Allahabad Mus., AM 71
clearly shows the distinction between these two garments (Chandra,
P1. XXXVI and pp.
60o-6 ). 43 Mathura Mus., 71.I05. Sharma, p. 183, fig. 92. 44
Mathura Mus., oo.A63. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 62; Bijutsu Kenkyuj,
234 (May i964), pl. V.
28
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Interestingly enough, a stylistically pre-Kanishka relief found
at Kankalil Tila offers evidence that Mathura knew an earlier type
of standing Sakyamuni image (Fig. I5).45 Although little Buddhist
material has been identified here, van Lohuizen-de Leeuw recognized
this as the depiction of an unidentified episode from the Buddha's
life, for it shows a kingly figure, accompanied by three
attendants, confronting a taller man whose halo, gesture and head
crowned by a low twist of hair unmistakably mark him as Sakyamuni
Buddha. While the slim-hipped body of this figure resembles that of
the Bala Bodhisattvas and contrasts with the more obese forms of
the king and his minister, all three are similarly dressed except
that the Buddha wears no jewelry. Their legs are swathed in
dhoti-like paridhanas whose ends hang down in fine pleats and long
uttariyas are loosely slung about them, one end hanging down along
the left side and the other falling over the left wrist. It would
require only slight readjustments - tightening the cloth around the
torso and throwing its end over the shoulder, bringing the other
end around the upper arm and tucking it back behind the figure - to
achieve precisely the effect depicted in the seated Bodhisattva
images.
Some writers assert that all of these images are recognizable
because they display the thirty-two Great Marks (Mahalak.sana) of a
Great Being (Mahbpurusa), one born to become either a World Ruler
(Chakravartin) or a Buddha, which were recognized by the seers who
predicted the future of the infant Siddhartha.46 Study of the
traditional lists show that the lakshanas seem to have come from
several sources. A few of them seem to refer to physical
peculiarities or even abnormalities that may well have been
considered auspicious.47 Many seem to reflect traditional Indian
ideals of beauty,48 while a few can be best understood as metaphors
expressive of qualities appropriate to a heroic ruler.49 A number
of them are incapable of depiction in sculpture,50 and some are so
variously or ambiguously stated that it is impossible to know
precisely what was intended.51
The most puzzling and most discussed of the Mahalakshanas is
usn-sa-s'iraskata (Pali, nhzisasisa). In most periods and regions
of the Buddhist world this has been understood
to refer to a protruberance on the top of the head. Its literal
meaning seems to be that the head has the shape of a turban or cap,
but it has been variously interpreted. The learned commentator
Buddhaghosa (fifth century A.D.), thought that it signified a broad
and full
45 Lucknow State Mus., J.531. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp.
I58-I6I; Takata, Plate 48, fig. 56. 46 The Pali and Sanskrit lists
vary slightly, especially in sequence. We have used the Sanskrit
list from Lalita-vistara as
presented by Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist
Sanskrit Literature (reprint, Delhi, I970), PP. 300-305. 47 4,
between his eyebrows a white [tuft of?] hair; 7, forty teeth of
even size; I 8, when standing erect and not bending,
hands reach down to the knees; 23, penis concealed in a sheath;
3 , wheels on the soles of the feet. 48 2, hair turning towards the
right in dark blue locks; 3, forehead even and broad; 5, eyelashes
like a cow; 6, very dark
pupils; 8, no gaps or interstices between the teeth; 9, white
teeth; I4, evenly-rounded shoulders; 15, seven convexitites or
prominences (i.e., backs of arms, legs, shoulders and trunk); i6,
space between shoulders "heaped up"; 17, fine skin of the color of
gold; 20, body of the symmetrical proportions of a banyan tree; 24,
well-rounded thighs; 26, long fingers; 27, long heels.
49 I3, jaw like a lion's; 19, front part of body like a lion;
25, legs like an antelope's; 32, feet well-set or well-planted. 50
I0, excellent voice; I I, acute and keen sense of taste; 1 2, large
and slender tongue; 21 i; each hair on the body rising
straight upward; 29, soft and delicate hands and feet. 51 28,
ankles prominent (or the reverse?); 30, hands and feet webbed or
netted.
129
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forehead and well-rounded head,52 and several modern scholars
have advanced other explanations for it. Thus Coomaraswamy
concluded that it should be understood as meaning "destined to wear
a turban,"53 while van Lphuizen-de Leeuw argued that it refers to
the spiral coil (or, in Gandhara, bun or chignon) of hair around
which a turban could be wound and that its connotation is "having a
head fit for a turban."54 While all three of these explanations are
visibly consistent with the appearance of the early Mathuran images
(and early Gandharan Buddha images as well), it must be noted that
Buddha images from the Andhra region of South India display modest
but distinct cranial protuberances covered, like the rest of the
head, with spiral curls. Although the earliest of these, which come
from AmaravatT, are later than those from Mathura, they indicate
that an alternative tradition regarding the Buddha's head was known
there. Both southern and northern accounts of the youth of the
future Buddha agree that after leaving his father's palace and
divesting himself of his jewels the young prince cut off his hair
and his chuda (the hair together with the turban wound around it)
was transported to the Trasyastrimsa Heaven, there to be venerated
by the gods.55 The Sanskrit Mahdvastu, a Sarvastivadin text, says
nothing more about the hair, but the Nidanakatha, the Pali
introduction to the Jataka commentary, goes on to say that the
"hair was reduced to two inches in length, and curling from the
right, lay close to the head, remaining of that length as long as
lhe lived,t"56 precisely as seen in the images and reliefs from
Amaravati.
Finally it may be observed that Mathura images do not display
the disproportionately long arms specified in all Mahalakshana
lists, which say "when he is standing erect and not bending, his
arms reach down to the knees."57 Indeed such very long arms are
rare in Buddha images, although they appear much later in Thailand
and occasionally in Japan, and in medieval Indian images of the
Jain Tirthankaras as well. Moreover, two con- spicuous features of
the Mathuran images, namely the wheel-marks on their upraised hands
and the swastikas on their toes, are not listed among the
Mahalaksanas, even though they undoubtedly come from the ancient
repertory of auspicious signs. In short, the Bodhisatt- vas from
Mathura cannot be said to display the Mahalaksanas distinguishing a
Buddha.
While Buddhist literature contains several references to images
of Sakyamuni produced during his life or shortly after the
Parinirvana, most scholars agree that the "invention of the Buddha
image" took place shortly before the advent of the Kushanas and was
stimulated by the rise of new attitudes and practices which called
for images to receive the devotion of the faithful.58 S. Dutt has
thus summarized this view:
52 J.N. Banerjea, "Usnzsa-siraskata (a mahapurusa-laksana) in
the early Buddha images of India," Indian Historical Quarterly, VII
(I 9 3 1), 5 oo00-0o I
53 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The Buddha's cidd, Hair, usnisa and
Crown," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain
(1928), 829-35.
54 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I63-67. 55 Coomaraswamy, "Buddha's
ciuda," p. 821. 56 Ibid., p. 827. 57 Dayal, p. 32; see supra, note
41. 58 Huntington has argued that the literary evidence for very
early seated images of the Buddha is corroborated by the
discovery of a small plaque depicting an image of the "seated
Bodhisattva" type, which he dates to the Maurya period.
Unfortunately the plaque is lost, but even if it proves to date so
early it would merely prove that such images were known some 200
years after Buddha's death. See, John C. Huntington, "The Origin of
the Buddha Image: Early Image Traditions and the Concept of
Buddhadarsanapunya," Studies in Buddhist Art and Archaeology, ed.
A. K. Narain (New Delhi, I986).
130
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It was the urge of this yearning that resulted in the invention
of an image of the Lord in human likeness which appears in the
early sculpture of Mathura, -a seated image in stone in the form of
a Yogin and Superman with the physiognomical marks on him for
recognition. This was probably in the early part of the first
century A.D.59
Two objections must be raised to this statement. First, as
demonstrated, the early Mathura images do not in fact display the
marks or Mahalaksanas of a Superman. Moreover, the surviving ones
and their possible lost predecessors were probably modeled after
wooden or clay (i.e., terracotta) prototypes. Therefore the
"invention" of the type should probably be put somewhat earlier,
perhaps in the preceding century.
More significant are the dress and attitudes of the seated
images. Unlike the standing ones, they do not wear the monastic
habit or Three Garments but are garbed in the paridhana and
uttariya invariably worn by representations of gods and laymen. But
they dispense with the jewelry and turbans commonly worn by those,
in this respect resembling the ascetics and hermits depicted in
reliefs at Bharhut and SanchT. Although their legs are locked in
the lotus position (padma-asana) appropriate for meditation, their
wide-open eyes and energetic gestures (which became more vigorous
as the type was perfected) seem more appropriate for a god or hero
offering protection to his votaries. As we have seen, although it
was to become standard in later Buddha images, the gesture of
abhaya-mudra was by no means restricted to Buddhist images but
appears in many images of deities, male and female, Jaina and
Hindu. In combination with the jutting elbow and down-pressed left
hand, it seems to be expressive of inner power barely restrained by
the exertion of perfect control. In short, their characteristics
are so remote from those observable in most Buddha images that
there is little to identify them as representations of Sakyamuni
Buddha except, of course, for the pippala tree under which he
achieved Enlightenment.
And finally, why are these images identified in their
inscriptions as Bodhisattva? In early Buddhist literature this term
is applied either to the youthful Siddhartha before his
Enlightenment or to his previous lives since he vowed to become a
Buddha. While it was once thought that these images might represent
Sakyamuni immediately before his En- lightenment, this theory seems
to have been generally rejected. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw sought to
resolve the problem by pointing out that "the literal translation
of the term Bodhisattva, 'He whose essence (or object) is perfect
knowledge,' by no means restricts this denomination to creatures
before the Enlightenment," and found Pali authority for applying it
to "Buddhas, Pratyekabuddhas and disciples of Buddhas."60 Yet this
does not solve the problems of the images's dress and attitude.
Given these puzzling problems, we may turn back to the period
when the first images of this type probably originated, the last
centuries preceding our era when several religions and cults are
known to have flourished at Mathura. The yaksa cult was perhaps the
first to make use of monumental images, and a number of
impressively large standing images have been found within
twenty-five kilometers of Mathura at the villages of Parkham,
59 Dutt, p. 240. 60 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, p. I79.
I 3
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Nagla Jhinga, Baroda and Noh (Bharatpur Dt., Rajasthan).61 All
have been generally thought to be products of the second century
B.C. and all show corpulent figures adorned with heavy earrings and
necklaces; but their faces and hands, together with any attributes
they carried, have been lost. A very similar figure, except for its
seven-fold cobra-hood, has been identified by Joshi as a Naga, one
of the deities associated with water,62 but indistinct traces of
the attribute held in the left hand suggests that this may be a
plough or digging stick, which would indicate that it represents
Balarama who, together with his younger brother Vasudeva-Krisna,
were among the five heroes (panchavzras) of the Vrishni clan.63 The
unmistakable, better preserved image from Junsuti, complete with
plough, club and cobra-hoods which project from the top of the
rectangular backslab, shows a different physique, with broad hips
but surprisingly slender waist.64 The discovery at Mora of a slab
inscribed during the reign of Mahaksatrapa Rajula (father of
Sodasa) and referring to a shrine with images of the panchavTras
led to the discovery of two life-sized statues.65 Although these
have lost their heads and arms and lower legs, the carving of their
lavish ornaments and torsos bring them closer to the style of the
Katra stele, although their protruberant bellies still resemble
those of the yaksas. Finally, a word may be said about two
terracotta heads found at Sonkh,66 which cast some light on
Upagupta's reference to "clay images of the gods." One comes from
the pre-Maurya or Early Maurya level of the mound and the other,
found near the apsidal temple, is datable to the early Kushana
period. The older, depicting a moustachioed male, is somewhat
summarily modelled but carefully detailed, but the other, which is
hollow, is quite as accomplished as any contemporary stone
image.
If, therefore, there is evidence that the people of Mathura were
accustomed to seeing images, the Buddhists of this region had
precedents for their first images; it does not follow, however,
that these necessarily represented the person of the Buddha
Sakyamuni. Despite the traditions that have come down to us
regarding marvellous images of the Buddha produced even during his
lifetime, there were excellent reasons why his followers for
centuries eschewed the depiction of the Blessed One. Unlike the
gods, he was no longer present in any visible or even imaginable
form but had broken the fetters of the cycle of births and entered
the state of Nirvana, which is totally inconceivable to men and
gods. During his last life he had inhabited a physical body
(Rupakaya), which had been reverently cremated by pious laymen and
its ashes dispersed; the living body he left on earth was
61 Mathura Mus., C 5, C 23, 72. 5. Sharma, pp. 13 I-32; Vasudeva
S. Agrawala, A Catalogue of the Brahmanical Images in Mathura Art
(U.P. Historical Society, Lucknow, 195 I), pp. 75-78.
62 Mathura Mus., 17. I 303. N.P. Joshi, Mathura Sculptures
(Archaeological Museum, Mathura, n.d.), p. 79, fig. i. While this
corpulent figure differs markedly from the later Kushana images of
nagas, it may be noted that it corresponds to that of the seated
naga king depicted on the crossbeam found at Sonkh referred to in
note I9.
63 For the early cult of the Vrishni pancavzras, see Doris
Srinavasan, "Early Krishna Icons: The Case at Mathura,"
Kaladarsana: American Studies in the Art of India, ed. Joanna G.
Williams (E.J. Brill, Leiden, I98I), p. I29.
64 Lucknow State Mus., G.z 5. Agrawala, Short Guide-Book..
.Lucknow, p. 41, fig. i; Sharma, fig. 2. 65 Mathura Mus., E 21, E
22. Vasudeva S. Agrawala, Mathura Museum Catalogue. Part III. Jaina
Tirthankaras and other
Miscellaneous Figures (U.P. Historical Society, Lucknow, 1952),
pp. 48-49; John M. Rosenfield, The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans
(University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, I967),
pp. I 5 I-5 2, fig. 5 I.
66 Hartel, pp. 86, 96, Figs. 22, 41.
32
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the corpus of his teachings (Dharmakdyd), which had been
gathered and preserved by his disciples.67 If the story of Upagupta
and Mara attests to the stubbornly human yearning to see the sacred
being (which persists in India in the practice of darsan),68 it
equally shows that only the Lord of Illusion himself could hope to
represent the tupakaya.
But what else could these images be except representations of
the Buddha? A possible clue may be found in Har Dayal's discussion
of the meaning of the term Bodhisattva.69 Its first part, Bodhi-,
offers no problem, signifying as it does full Enlightenment or
supreme knowledge, but its second part, -sattva, has been variously
translated. Dayal lists no less than seven interpretations for it,
concluding that it is related to the Vedic satvan, which signified
a warrior or hero, and should therefore be interpreted as
signifying a "heroic being, spiritual warrior." This so closely
corresponds to the expressive values embodied in the seated
Bodhisattva images that it suggests a possible explanation for
their original significance and for the historic process by which
the inhibition against the representation of the person of the
Buddha was overcome.
It is my suggestion that the first Bodhisattva images were
intended as anthropomorphic symbols of the Three Refuges
(Trisarana) which Buddhists still invoke with the ancient
formula:
I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take
refuge in the Samgha.70
This simple statement of faith, often referred to as the Three
Jewels (Triratna), is said to have been prescribed by the Buddha
himself when the disciple Mahanaman sought admission to the
Order.71 Dutt, however, observes that it is inconsistent with the
Buddha's teaching, very shortly before his death, that after his
Nirvana the only refuge (sarana) for his followers would be the
Dharma he had taught, and must therefore reflect an early
manifestation of the practice of bhakti, the cult of devotion to
the Buddha as Lord.72 But since the recitation of the Trisarana is
enjoined and practiced by Buddhists of every school, it must date
back to a very early period.
With the passage of time, however, it must have become
increasingly difficult for devotees to remember that such images
were only symbols. Their stability and vigor may
67 Strong, pp. 105-109. 68 Diana D. Eck, Daran, Seeing the
Divine Image in India (Anima Books, Chambersburg, PA, 198I). 69
Dayal, pp. 4-9. 70 Dr. Soper has kindly reminded me of a passage in
the Sarvastivadin Vinaya, translated into Chinese in 404 A. D.,
which
seems very apposite: the Elder Anathapindada, seeking permission
to erect and adorn stupas, says, "Lord of the World, since it is
not permitted to make a likeness of the Buddha's body, I pray that
the Buddha will grant that I make likenesses of his attendant
Bodhisattvas" (Alexander Coburn Soper, "Early Buddhist Attitudes
Toward the Art of Painting," The Art Bulletin, XXXII [195o],
I48).
This suggests that the Sarvastivadin tradition retained a
meniory of a period when (anthropomorphic?) symbols were flanked
and attended by bejewelled figures that later generations
identified as Bodhisattvas (in the Mahayana use), just as they
interpreted the symbols of Trisarana as depictions of the person of
the Buddha.
71 Etienne Lamotte, Histoire du Bouddhisme indien des origines a
I'ere Saka, Bibliotheque du Museon, vol. 43 (Louvain, 195 8), pp.
74-76.
72 Dutt, pp. 200-202.
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well have been understood as expressive of the qualities
practiced through countless lives by that being who ultimately
achieved Enlightenment beneath the Bodhi-tree at Uruvela, and
gradually they came to be understood as depictions of him.73 This
is almost certainly true of the Katra stele because of the presence
of the Wisdom Tree, and probably of the similar fragmentary stele
dedicated by Namda as well (Figs. 10, 9). But even in these it is
possible that the seated images were "correctly" understood as
symbols even though worshippers interpreted them as representations
of the Buddha.
Similarly, it is difficult to be entirely sure whether the
seated figures in the depictions of episodes of the Buddha's life,
as on the railing-post and gate-bar discussed, were intended as
representations or symbols. Elsewhere the Buddha's presence is
invariably symbolized, as by the throne, Wheel or Tree, and Mathura
artists may have adapted the seated Bodhisattva to signify that
even the gods take refuge in the Trisarana. Some support for this
interpretation comes from a probably slightly later representation
of the Indrasaila Cave episode (Fig. I4).74 Here the figure seated
within the cave is much smaller than either Indra or his attendant
and, moreover, is partially obscured by the mouth of the cave. One
can scarcely doubt that had it been intended to depict the person
of the Buddha himself the seated figure would have been given a
scale and compositional prominence commen- surate with his
importance, but in this case it looks very much as though the
artist was thinking of a relatively small image of the "seated
Bodhisattva" type.
The relief depicting Sakyamuni conversing with an unidentified
king, on the other hand, clearly shows that the seated Bodhisattva
type had become so fully identified with the historical Buddha that
the sculptor envisions such a figure standing, his upper garment
loosened and hanging about him in the customary mode (Fig. 15).
This contrasts signifi- cantly with the standing Bodhisattvas
dedicated by Bala and his pupil, the nun Bud- dhamitra, which
represent a different adaptation of the seated Bodhisattva type.
But the treatment of the lower portions of the standing Bodhisattva
images are formally derived from another early type represented by
the splendidly bejewelled figure from Ganeshra (Figs. I 6,
I7).75
This is a monumental but headless image whose stance, gestures
and drapery clearly anticipate those of the Bala Bodhisattvas
(Figs. 13). 3). The dress of this figure resembles that of the
figures the Ka Tfigures T of the lat his garments are extravagantly
long. His uttariya hangs down to the calf and its free end is
disposed in a lavish loop that falls over the left arm, while one
of the pleated ends of his transparent paridhana loops down to the
knee and is gathered up and grasped by the left hand. The great
swag formed by
73 It may be remembered that early Christians also eschewed the
representation of their Lord, and it was not until the fourth
century (when Christianity had become the official religion of the
Roman Empire) artists began to represent him, modelling their
images after the symbolic figures of Orpheus and the Good
Shepherd.
74 Indian Mus., Calcutta, M 7. Vogel, "Sculpture de M.", pp. 59,
122, P1. LIII-b. 75 Lucknow State Mus., B izb. Smith, p. 43, PI.
LXXXVII; Agrawala, Short Guide, p. 15, P1. 7. Ganeshra, which
lies
a few miles west of the city, appears to have been an important
early Buddhist center. The three mounds outside the village have
not been archaeologically investigated but fragmentary carvings and
inscriptions datable to the Kushan and Ksatrapa periods have been
found here, and inscribed bricks show that some kind of a building
was built here as early as the beginning of the last century B.C.
(Liiders-Janert, pp. I 56-60).
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the upper garment resembles that of the Bala-type samghatis, and
its folds or pleats are similarly carved as close-set ridges
incised with fine grooves. His jewelry, which is of unprecedented
splendor, consists of cuff-like bracelets, a long necklace composed
of pearl strands connected by flat metallic (?) placques and tied
at the back, a torque encircling the neck, and a magnificent
girdle. This appears to be made up of long fibers (or possibly very
fine pleated muslin) bound at intervals with rings, and it is tied
in a temporary square knot, its longer end terminating in a knot
and the other finished off with an ornament resembling a compound
flower from which dangle strings of seed pearls. Even the
cushion-like mass of stone that reinforces and supports the raised
hand and arm is adorned with bands of miniature pearls and leaves,
like that of the Katra stele (Fig. i).
Stylistically the anatomy of this figure is clearly earlier than
that of the dated images. The awkward position of the right hand
and arm, which are virtually identical with that seen in Amohini's
tablet (Fig. 2), reveals the tendency toward flatness
characteristic of the earliest Indian reliefs and suggests that it
may possibly have been adapted from such a work. The torso,
however, is very close to that of the Bala dedications except for
the sloping shoulders and slightly misplaced nipples, and the
sculptor has shown how the flesh of the hips is constricted by the
girdle and the swelling shape of the thighs. Its identity remains a
puzzle for it lacks the obesity characterizing the monumental
yaksas. It has been generally referred to as a Bodhisattva because
its splendid dress and adornments resemble those of Gandharan
Bodhisattvas, but these belong to the Mahayana branch of Buddhism,
which did not develop until the Kushana period. If, then, it is
unclear whether this represents an otherwise lost type of
Bodhisattva or a yaksa or belonged to some other cult, it or very
similar images were adapted for later Buddhist images, not only for
those dedicated by Bala but also for those representing Maitreya,
the Buddha to come.
The earliest unmistakable example of the Maitreya type is an
uninscribed figure now in the National Museum in New Delhi (Fig.
8).76 It bears no inscription and its head and arms are missing,
but its stance, costume and jewelry are so very similar to a
smaller one found at Ramnagar and explicitly identified by
inscription as Maitreya that there can be little doubt that it also
depicts the Future Buddha.77 A thick necklace of twisted strands of
pearls encircles the throat and a longer one, made up of chains and
pearls fastened by a metallic placque, falls over the chest where
it turns to form a V-shape. The paridhana is tied with a simple
kayabandha and is so sheer that it reveals the genitals, its uneven
pleats falling down to the ground in a conical mass, while the
uttariya (whose ends are broken off) falls from the left shoulder
as a narrow roll of pleats and is brought around the right leg to
be held in place by the now-broken left hand. The right hand was
presumably raised in abhaya-mudra while the other probably held a
water vessel (kamandalu) of the type traditionally carried by
Brahmans, the usual attribute of Maitreya in Kushana art.78 The
broken head probably resembled that of the Maitreya carved on a
railing-post found at
76 Mathura Mus., A 40, now on loan to the National Museum, New
Delhi. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 56; Rosenfield, pp. 23 1-32, fig.
54.
77 Mitra, "Three Kushan Sculptures," pp. 63-64, Pl. I. 78
Rosenfield, pp. 229-33.
I3 5
-
Jamalpur,79 which shows much the same smooth cap-like hair as
the Sarnath figure dedicated by the Trepitaka Bala, except that the
latter undoubtedly wore a snail-shaped top-knot while the crown of
the former's head is smooth. The fact that the Jamalpur figure is
also provided with a sunshade or parasol, like that of Bala's
Bodhisattvas, suggests that a similar structure may possibly have
sheltered the broken Maitreya, although this must remain in the
realm of speculation. The tiny broken figures kneeling on either
side of the base probably represent two of the gods of the Tusita
heaven where Maitreya now dwells.
Like the earlier one from Ganeshra, this image had no halo,
while both the Ramnagar and Jamalpur Maitreyas display very large
aureoles with inverted scallops forming star-like points, precisely
like those of the Katra stele and Bala's two dedications. This
suggests that it was probably commissioned by an adherent of the
Sarvastivadin school, for it is a tenet of this sect that Maitreya
is still a layman (prthag'ana) because he has not yet cast off the
bonds (samyojana) that hold him fast to the cycle of rebirths.80 It
is well known that the Sarvastivadin school, whose name (literally,
"all exists") refers to its doctrine that the past, present and
future are all real, was deeply concerned with questions regarding
the successive stages of the Bodhisattva career and therefore with
the nature of Maitreya, who according to the tradition accepted by
Buddhists of every school is only awaiting the time for his last
birth.81 It is also possible that the Sarvastivadins of Mathura
were willing to accept images of the future Buddha at a time when
they still avoided the representation of Sakyamuni himself.
Given the strong similarities between these Maitreya images and
the one found at Ganeshra, it seems possible to suggest that the
older one may have also depicted the Future Buddha, even though it
lacks the identifying attribute of the water-bottle. What is
unmistakable is the artistic relationship between the headless
Maitreya and the early standing Bodhisattvas, for their stances,
proportions and surface modelling are se close that it seems
certain they were produced in the same atelier and probably even by
the same sculptor.
A broken image unearthed in Mathura City is more unusual, both
for its style and subject (Fig. I9).82 Its inscription identifies
it as an image of Kasyapa Buddha, the last of the Buddhas preceding
Sakyamuni, but its proportions, stance and costume are much closer
to those of a yaksa than any of the early Bodhisattva-Buddha types.
It is close to the monumental image of Manibhadra found at
Pawaya,83 at least to judge from the surviving portions. It stands
easily with the weight resting on the right leg and the left knee
slightly flexed, the left hand hanging down to grasp the folds of
the pleated uttariya,
image except that it is diagonally bound and both ends terminate
in what appear to be
79 Lucknow State Mus., B83. Coomaraswamy, History, pp. 63, 233,
P1. XXI-79. 80 Andre Bareau, Les Sectes bouddhiques du Petit
Vehicule, Publications de l'Ecole franSais d'Extreme-Orient, t.
XXXVIII
(Saigon, 195 5), P. 144. 81 Lamotte, pp. 666-67, 693-94. 82
Mathura Mus., oo.2739. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva Images,"
pp. 75-76; idem., Studies, pp. 15 2-54 (reprinted
fromJUPHS, X, Pt. II [Dec. 1937], PP. 35-8). 83 Gwalior Mus.
Coomaraswamy, History, p. 34, P1. XVIII-63.
I36
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beaded tassels,84 and the pleats of the uttariya are very close
to those over the arm of the Katra Bodhisattva. This, together with
the general fluency of the modelling, suggests that it was executed
early during the Kushana era, probably in the first years of
Kanishka's reign.
The belief in previous Buddhas was well established by the third
century B.C., for Asoka's Nigali Sagar edict says that the emperor
visited and subsequently enlarged the stupa of the Buddha preceding
Konakamana (the Buddha preceding Kasyapa), and the sculptures of
the Bharhut stupa railing depict the Bodhi trees of five of the six
Buddhas preceding Sakyamuni (Fig. 5).85 It seems there may have
been a cult of the former Buddhas by the first century, for a
number of dedicatory inscriptions from Mathura include the phrase
"for the worship of all Buddhas". Two of these (L.97b and L.97d)
are attributed to the Ksatrapa period and allude to the Samitiya
and Mahasanghika schools; another (L.79b), found in the same place
and at the same time as the Kasyapa image and dated in the year I6
of the Kanishka era, also refers to the Mahasanghikas; while a
fourth (L.77a) undoubtedly pre-dates Kanishka and is dated in the
year 270 of an unknown era.86 It seems reasonable to surmise that
the image of Kasyapa Buddha was made for an establishment belonging
to the Mahasanghikas, but in the absence of other depictions of
former Buddhas its resemblance to the older yaksha types remains
puzzling. However its dissimilarity to the seated Bodhisattva
images tends to confirm our contention that these were not
originally understood as representations of Sakyamuni.
Two images found at the village of Anyor, some eighteen
kilometers west of Mathura, are significant because they represent
both the older and a new type of seated image. One is a partially
preserved stele of the familiar type. The treatment of its folds
indicate it is to be dated no earlier than the fourth decade of the
Kanishka era, but its significance is that its inscription (L. I 3)
explicitly refers to it as a Buddha image (Budhaprati,8 even though
it is visually indistinguishable from earlier ones identified by
inscription as Bodhisattvas. The other is a well-preserved if crude
example of a new type bearing a striking, albeit superficial,
resemblance to the usual Gandharan type of Buddha image (Fig.
20).88 The characteristic feature of these images is that they are
fully enveloped by their mantles or overrobes so that only the
head, necks and hands (and, in the case of standing figures, lower
legs and feet) are exposed. Hence they may be referred to as
samghati images.
The inscription (L. I 2a) of the Anyor samghati image is dated
in the year 5 I and makes reference to the Mahasamghika sect. It
also seems to refer to the image as a Bodhisattva, although the
loss of several letters makes this less than absolutely certain.89
The face
84 The girdle is even closer to those of the famous Patna yaksas
(Coomaraswamy, History, P1. XVIII-67 and Rowland, fig. 25). It may
be noted that these, which had been generally attributed to the
Maurya period, have recently been re-attributed to the period
"about the beginning of the Christian era" (Niharanjan Ray, Maurya
and Post Maurya Art [Indian Council of Historical Research, I975,],
pp. 37-38).
85 Coomaraswamy, Sculpture de Bharhut, pp. 65-66, Pls.
XXII-XXIII. 86 Liiders-Janert, pp. II5-I6, izi, 162-64. 87 Mathura
Mus., A 2. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 48-49, P1. 8; Bachhofer, P1.
83-I; Liiders-Janert, p. I71. 88 Mathura Mus., 65. Vogel, Cat.
A.M.M., p. 63; van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I80-8I, 188-97, fig. 39.
89 Luders-Janert, pp. 170-71.
I37
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resembles that of the Jamalpur Maitreya, with strongly marked
eyeballs and smiling lips, but the hair is incised with short lines
as if it had been cut in layers even though traces remain of a
topknot or chignon. Its general proportions are heavy, with very
sloping shoulders, but the folded legs are relatively thin and seem
inadequate as a support for the upper portions. The folds of the
samghati are treated as incised lines, much like those of the
loosely draped garments worn by the standing images from
Govindnagar and Lakh- nau, and their wide spacing seems to indicate
they depict a more substantial kind of fabric, even though this is
somewhat inconsistent with the clear indication of swelling
breasts. Close observation shows that the sculptor has carefully
indicated how the garment was worn. It appears to have been at
least as wide as the wearer's height and twice as long, for the
overthrow is long enough to be brought forward and grasped by the
left hand and its lower portion envelops both knees and leaves
enough to pass up over the right arm before falling over the lap.
The excess of both front and back edges is gathered together and
grasped by the left hand, the ends falling vertically over the left
leg.90 But these descriptive elements are obscured and even
camouflaged by the symmetry of the positions of the hands, the
folds descending from the shoulders in a series of U-shapes, and
the curiously similar shapes formed by the edge passing over the
right wrist and the folds falling from the left hand. The crude
carvings on the pedestal or throne are even more symmetrical,
showing two lions presented enface, two worshippers, one of whom
seems to wear a monastic robe, and a meditating Buddha whose heavy
body is swathed in a samghati whose folds are depicted by a series
of unvarying arcs.
Among images of this type, van Lohuizen-de Leeuw has identified
two which, because of their stylistic similarities to the Katra
stele and Bala dedications, undoubtedly predate the Anyor one. One
is a standing figure, very well-preserved except for the lower
legs, feet and base (Fig. 2i).91 Its halo and right hand, which is
raised shoulder-high and supported by a decoratively-carved cushion
of stone, resemble those of the Katra image, and the volumes of the
body and legs are revealed through the robe, much as in images of
the standing Bodhisattva type. As in the Anyor figure, the mantle
falls over the right arm to describe a deep U-shape marked by
incised folds, its left edge is grasped and held shoulder-high by
the left hand, and vertical folds fall from the hand. The treatment
of the hair, however, whose concave hairline echoes the upturned
arcs of the smiling mouth and lines of the neck, and whose topknot
has been reduced to a small conical mass, argues for a date several
decades after the beginning of the Kanishka era. The other is an
uninscribed stele found at the Jamalpur mounds, which seems to be
based on the familiar Bodhisattva triad type.92 Unlike those it is
enframed and the attendants turn inward, their outer feet and knees
projecting as far as the plane defined by the front of the throne
although their inner sides are overlapped by the elbows and knees
of the central figure. As in the standing image, the Buddha's hand
is raised shoulder-high, but the folds of the samghati are more
90 Compare with Griswold, Fig. z-a, c, d. 91 Mathura Mus.,
oo.A.4. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 49, P1. XV-a; Bachhofer, P1. 86-I;
van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I87-87, fig. 36.
92 Lucknow State Mus., BI4. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I84-88,
fig. 33.
I38
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deeply gouged. Moreover, while many of the fold-lines of the
standing Buddha's robe swing down but stop short just above their
lower point, thus preserving the even distribution of lines over
the surface, in this relief the incomplete U-shapes are confined to
the area of the mantle covering the Buddha's upper torso, while the
hanging folds fall in an undulating or serpentine mass that flares
out as it touches the throne. The squatting lions supporting the
throne are notably clumsier than those of the I(atra stele, with
massive heads and straight necks that rise at right angles from
their haunches, like those of the Palkhera stele of the year 39
(Fig. 12).
Two other seated images can be identified as representing
earlier experiments with the samighati type. One is a statuette
depicting a figure seated under a pipala tree and escorted by a
single attendant (Fig. 22).93 The trunk and foliage and hanging
garlands of the tree, like the back of the major figure and his
attendant, are carved in low relief and the trunk of the tree is
not directly behind the seated figure but set off to one side to
balance the attendant. The upper part of the tree, part of the
standing figure, and the Buddha's lower left arm and face have been
lost, but the resemblance to the earlier seated Bodhisattva type is
striking. The shapes of the legs and body, with its broad shoulders
and deep navel, are fully revealed, the right hand is raised
shoulder-high, and the pleats of the undergarment fan out over the
throne. The presence of the robe is indicated only by the edge that
curves up to the left hand, the fish-tail shape formed by its
hanging folds, and a system of incised horizontal and vertical
lines that apparently depict the kind of monastic garment (pdm-
sukula) stitched together from castaway rags.94 The lions
supporting its throne and the bulging form of the left upper arm
suggest this is not very much earlier than the stele of the year 39
from the village of Palikhera (Fig. i2).
Palikhera is also the source of the earliest dated samghati
image yet identified, a broken one whose inscription (L.2IC) says
it was dedicated in the year 8 by Simhaka (Fig. 23).95 The deeply
indented navel of the broken torso resembles that of the Katra
Bodhisattva and its incised folds are also very much like those
over the shoulder of that figure (Fig. IO). The positions of the
broken arms and hands can be reconstructed because the hand that
grasped the hanging folds must have been held waist-high and the
curving shape that rises behind the right knee must represent the
edge of the robe, while the area between it and the body shows how
the elbow was broken off. The drapery concealing the feet shows an
effort to depict a relatively substantial textile - perhaps thick
cotton or raw silk or even possibly wool-and its U-shaped folds are
carved as undulating ridges, each marked by a pair of shallowly
incised lines, as if the sculptor had adapted the convention used
for the overrobes of Bala's Bodhisattvas (Fig. 13). The zigzag
folds hanging down over the lap are simplified versions of the
delicate ones that fall between the legs of the headless
93 Mathura Mus., 5 I4. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva," p.
68; Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology, IX (Leiden, 1934),
P. I4, PI. IV-a.
94 An earlier depiction of such patchwork robes appears on the
reverse of a pre-Kushana Mathura tympanum in the Boston Museum of
Fine Arts (Vogel, "Sculpture de M.", P1. LV). Such robes were to
become a spectacular feature of monastic dress in China and Japan,
where contrasting colors and textures were often used for the
squares and the bands separating them.
95 Mathura Mus., 664. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva," p. 68;
Luders-Janert, pp. I67-68.
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Maitreya (Fig. 18), and their double or mirror-image form seems
to be intended to show they are the edges of the front and back of
the garment. The base, which shows bhiksus worshipping the
Dharmachakra or Wheel of the Law, appears to be a crude copy of an
older work. Rampant winged lions support the outer corners of the
throne, but their legs and wings are clumsy compared with earlier
ones (Figs. 8, 9), and their sway-backed bodies and thick-tasseled
tails resemble those of the Katra stele. The curious hook-shaped
objects carried by two of the worshippers defy identification
unless, perhaps, they represent lengths of cloth which are being
waved as an act of adoration.96
Both these early samghati images resemble Bodhisattvas of the
classical type both in their modelling and proportions, but they
may be based on different kinds of models. The figure robed in a
garment made up of stitched-together rags seems to be conceived in
essentially linear terms, as if adapted from a painting or drawing,
while the broken one was clearly envisioned in sculptural terms, as
is seen in the treatment of the swag over the lap. Like all the
other Buddhist images here discussed, they display the "no fear"
mudra, but the positions of their left hands alter their expressive
characters. Instead of pressing downward and thereby suggesting
heroic energy and resolution, they are fully occupied with holding
together the edges of their robes, which would otherwise tend to
fall off their left shoulders. As a result the emphasis shifts to
the gesture of abhaya-mudra, to such a degree that the sculptor of
the pamsukula image balanced his composition by moving the trunk of
the tree to one side and introducing a single attendant to the
right of the Buddha's upraised hand.
It has been generally assumed that these Mathura images
depicting the Buddha swathed in his monastic robe betray the
influence of Gandhara, where most Buddha images wear heavily draped
robes reminiscent of Roman togas. Yet it requires no such foreign
influence to explain the invention of the samghati type, for all
Buddhists must have been accustomed to seeing the bhiksus begging
their daily food, as they still do in parts of Southeast Asia,
their shoulders modestly covered by their overrobes in according
with the regulations laid down by the Vinaya.97 Once people began
to identify the older Bodhisattva images as representations of
Sakyamuni, it must only have been a matter of time before a demand
developed for new types which showed him clad in the Three Garments
that distinguished Buddhist monks from layfolk and those of other
sects, a demand that was satisfied, as has been shown, both by the
seated samghati images and by those of the type dedicated by Bala
only five years before that of the Pallkhera statue of the year
8.
A puzzling problem is the apparent loss of artistic quality in
later images of this type. While later images of the seated
Bodhisattva and standing types lose relatively little of their
refinement of proportions and surface, later images of the samghati
type tend to be clumsy and crudely carved. Moreover, the earlier
ones retain the graceful asymmetry of the mature Bodhisattva
images, while the later ones are rigidly symmetrical both in the
positions of
96 For comparable example of worshippers waving cloths, see the
Bharhut relief of the worship of Sakyamuni's Bodhi-tree
(Coomaraswamy, History, P1. XII-4I). 97 Under certain circumstances
bhiksus are required to adjust the overrobes to bare their right
arms and it is also permissable at times to fold them into a narrow
strip or to doff them entirely (Griswold, p. 88).
140
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their hands and the shapes formed by their drapery. One
hesitates to attribute this to a general stylistic change, for same
images of the period, such as the great Naga from Chhargaon dated
in the year 40,98 are as fine as any Bodhisattva and show even more
compositional freedom. It may be possible that after Kanishka's
death, in the year 23 of his era, Buddhism suffered from a loss of
official and popular patronage that was reflected in the quality of
Buddhist images produced under his successor, the emperor Huvishka.
The development of iconographic types, however, generally tends to
reinforce and clarify their expressive values, as observed in the
pre-Kanishka Bodhisattvas. It seems therefore more probable that
the changes observed in the sahmaghati images have at least as much
to do with their meaning as with the skills of the sculptors who
carved them.
It is perhaps significant and certainly appropriate that the
earliest known example of the samghati type was found at Palikhera,
which is known to have been the site of a vihara belonging to the
Mahasanghika school.99 According to its own tradition this school
separated from Buddha's other followers at the time of the First
Council, which tooli place immediately following the Parinirvana,
although alternative traditions said it separated some I 3 7 or I
60 years later.100 Whatever the reliability of these several
traditions, it appears the Mahasanghikas were always more open to
the spiritual needs of lay members of the community than were the
Theravadins (the school represented by the Pali canon), who were
primarily concerned with the ordained members of the community, the
theras and their disciples.101 Few Mahasanghika texts survive, but
the school seems to have early developed strongly docetic views of
the nature of the Buddha. While the Sarvastivadins, who belonged to
the Theravadin or Hinayana branch of Buddhism, held that the
historical Buddha had been truly born and aged and died, the
Mahasanghikas held that he was a completely pure being who only
appeared to have been born and lived and died like other living
beings.102 Thus in the Mahivastu it is said:
The conduct of the Exalted One is transcendental, his root of
virtue is transcendental. The Seer's walking, standing, sitting and
lying down are transcendental. The Sugata's body, which brings
about the destruction of the fetters of existence, is also
transcendental ... It is true that Buddhas eat food, but hunger
never distresses them. It is in order to provide men with the
opportunity to give alms that in this respect they conform to the
world. It is true that they drink, but thirst never torments
them-this is a wondrous attribute of the great seers. Their
drinking is mere conformity with the world. They put on robes, and
yet a Conqueror would also be covered without them and have the
same appearance as devas. This wearing of robes is mere conformity
with the world. They keep their dark and glossy hair close cropped,
although no razor ever cuts it. This is mere conformity with the
world.103
We suggest that the development of the samghati images reflect a
search for forms expressive of the Buddha's true nature as a
transcendental or supramundane (lokottara)
98 Mathura Mus., c I3. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 88-89. 99 A large
stone bowl (Mathura Mus., oo.662) found at this village bears an
inscription (L. I43d) saying that it was given
"for the acceptance of the (Maha)samghlyas (Mahasanghikas).. ."
(Liiders-Janert, p. I65). 100 Lamotte, pp. 3I2-I6. 101 Dutt,
I44-47. 102 Lamotte, pp. 690-92. 103 Mahavastu, tr. by J. J. Jones
(Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. XVI, London I949), I,
I32-33.
I4I
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being who seems to be a man of "mere conformity with the world."
The dated image from