About Looking at Buddha Images in Eastern India

Author(s): Janice Leoshko

Source: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 52 (2000/2001), pp. 63-82
Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia Society
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111296 .
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About

Looking

Leoshko
Janice
of Texas
University

at Buddha

Images

in Eastern

India*

at Austin

we
Buddha
images have not lacked for study,1
Although
can enhance our understanding
of them by an approach
the development
that may seem old-fashioned:
considering
to reex
of certain forms. In this essay, I specifically want
in hh?misparsa mudr?created
amine images of the Buddha
in eastern India. By tracing the influences that shaped this
on the
I hope to discover new perspectives
development,
significance of certain image types.
Indian
Eastern India, in particular the area in the modern
sites such
state of Bihar encompassing
renowned Buddhist
as Bodhgay?
iswell recognized for its impor
and N?land?,
tance in Buddhist
many details of spe
history.2 Although
cific practices have been lost to us, ample artistic remains
at many
sites there testify that the area was an important
in the production
of visual expressions of Buddhist
in
the
and
past two decades scholars have signif
teachings,
our
of the images created
understanding
icantly expanded
in this region of India.3 Neither
stylistic nor iconographi
the
remains of eastern India
visual
of
studies
cally focused
interaction
idea
of
addressed
the
have fully
among sites. The
so
discuss
studies
do
regional characteristics, but in
stylistic
an area to be exhaustive
too
broad
consider
they
doing,
center

regarding specific sites. On the other hand, studies focused

on iconography
at particular sites?and
there are still very
a
at
to
look
few of these?tend
single site.4 The major
only
on the earliest exam
concentrate
studies
ity of iconographie
or
an
scanting the appearance
image form, ignoring
ple of
at
sites.
later
various
of
Thus, origin or filiation
examples
an
is
of
of image types
aspect
development
iconographie
in such studies.5 At best,
that has not been fully considered
this last approach to exploring
developments
iconographie
between
has tended to see interaction as occurring
specif
ic places of production,
i.e., as the transmission of artistic
influence between one single site and another. But clearly,
were also possible, partic
more complex
interrelationships
areas
in
Buddhist
of
sustained
activity,6 and it is the
ularly
at the site of
nature of such interactions?especially
am
I
concerned.
which
Bodhgay??with
is a long one, spanning
The period under consideration
the art dating from
and
twelfth
the sixth through
centuries,
into separate phases, the pre
this time is usually divided
P?la and Pala periods. Such divisions
organize
helpfully
the character of late
but they can also obscure
material,
since the
of Buddhism,
Buddhist
activity in the homeland
rule
of
P?la
centuries before the inception
(ca. eighth c.)
in the region bear directly upon subsequent developments.

i. Seated
Museum,

in abhaya mudrJ. Ca.

Buddha

4th c. Bodhgay?.

Stone.

Indian

Calcutta.

true for Bodhgay?,

the place of the
is especially
This
the site of a
for
and
Buddha's
N?land?,
Enlightenment,
seem
to
witnessed
have
which
famous monastic
institution,
about the
artistic
increased
activity beginning
significantly
seventh

century.

Bodhgay?
in the region,
has
N?land?
was radically
century.

are perhaps the best-known

sites
and N?land?
as
but our view even of them is incomplete,
and Bodhgay?
been only partially excavated
at the end of the nineteenth
reconstructed

Moreover,

most

previous

studies

consider

only

cer

at each site. For example,

the
have
and itsMah?bodhi
Temple
than the great number of sculp
tures from the seventh century and after.7 On
the other
later
as
for
their
studied
such
sites
N?land?, primarily
hand,
tain aspects of the activity
early structures at Bodhgay?
received far more attention

63

2. Seated

Buddha

Indian Museum,

in bh?misparsa
Calcutta.

mudrJ. Ca.

7th c. Bodhgay?.

Stone.

Buddhist
chiefly as places
activity, have been characterized
of significant Esoteric orTantric practices, and indeed, there
forms
survive atN?land?
sculptures of angry or multilimbed
this perspective,
that seem links to such practice.8 Within
it is not surprising that the form of P?la-period
images of
the historical Buddha has in certain ways received less atten
tion than that of the Jina Buddhas
(the five transcendent,
are far fewer of the
there
transhistorical Buddhas)
although
latter. This interest in Jina figures follows from theWestern
art-historical emphasis on innovation at the expense of well
is
studies that focus on what
established forms, producing
rather than on what has endured. This bias relegated
S?kyamuni to the periphery of the dynamic mystical world
of the Jina Buddhas, suggesting that he was something other

new

than amajor figure in this late Buddhist practice.9

The sustained production
of Buddha images at Bodhgay?
has thus often been associated with conservative beliefs that
isolated the site from more advanced practices
presumably
in eastern India, despite the fact that imagery of
elsewhere
64

3. Side

view of Fig. 2.

the historical Buddha S?kyamuni was amajor component

the region.10
of the late sculptural production
throughout
view
Scholars have now begun to correct this long-held
a central
remained
that S?kyamuni
and to acknowledge
focus of worship
throughout eastern India during the peri
od of P?la rule (ca. eighth through twelfth c.).11 Some of
these studies of surviving Buddha
sculptures indeed reveal
to evolve.12
how such "traditional" imagery continued

PRODUCTION OF BUDDHA IMAGERY

IN EASTERN INDIA
Buddhist
sites located in the area of the Buddha's home
land in eastern India seem to have enjoyed their greatest
not in the early period of the faith s
artistic production,
from the seventh through twelfth cen
rather
but
expansion,
in India.
of Buddhism
turies, during the last florescence
no early
at
eastern
revealed
India
has
Except
Bodhgay?,

remains comparable to those found at sites outside the Bihar

and S?nchi inM?dhya
Pradesh. It
region, such as Bh?rhut
a major
is clear that by the sixth century
change had
at Bodhgay?,
occurred
signalled by the rebuilding of the
Mah?bodhi
of its railing, the
Temple and the enlargement
latter having been originally
in the first
erected sometime
Common
As
before
the
Era.
Frederick Asher has
century
this
reconceived
the
noted,
site, shifting its central focus
an image of the
from the bodhi tree to a shrine housing
Buddha.13 This shift echoes contemporary
inscriptions,
whose wording more explicitly acknowledges
the presence
of the Buddha.14 Paralleling
seems to be
this development
an increase in
at
the
site.
Indeed, relatively few pre
imagery
sixth-century
images are known from Bodhgay?. One of
these is the fourth-century
sculpture now in the Indian
Museum
in abhaya mudr?
(Fig. j).This figure of a Buddha
has been frequently discussed because of its inscription and
its heavy debt to Mathur?-region
styles.15
eastern Indian Buddha
Although
imagery predominate
in bh?misparsa mudra,
ly comprises figures of the Buddha
even at Bodhgay?
extant examples of these do not predate
the late sixth century; the few earlier images of the Buddha
known from the site display other gestures.16 Among
the
earliest examples from the site of a Buddha
in bh?misparsa
mudr?, perhaps the most spectacular is one dating from the
seventh century, now located in the Indian Museum
(Fig.
in the records of the
2). Its provenance was not preserved
Indian Museum,
but I recognized
its origin
because
Mitra
in the nineteenth
century had published
Rajendralala
its inscription and noted that itwas inscribed on the base
of a Buddha
Its partial neglect in the
image at Bodhgay?.17
eastern
of
Indian sculpture is likely due to ignorance
study
of its place of origin as well as to its headless state.18

4- Standing
Calcutta.

Buddha.

Ca.

8th c. Bodhgay?.

Stone.

Indian Museum,

Even

though damaged, this sculpture remains impressive,

in the round with delicately
solidly yet softly modelled
delineated
hems and folds of drapery (Fig. 3). The Buddha
sits on a plain cushion resting on a base inscribed with the
donors wish for emancipation
from worldly
troubles for
his parents, relatives, and teachers.19 The hands are inscribed
with wheels,
the soles of the feet with various auspicious
symbols; the meticulous
rendering of such details aswell as
the large size of the figure (more than 122 cm) make this
one of the most distinctive
Buddha images
seventh-century
surviving from eastern India.
are well
Because
Buddha
images of the P?la period
to be most commonly
known
in bh?misparsa mudr?,
the
of this sculpture now in the Indian Museum
significance
may not be apparent. But this form of a Buddha, as an inde
or at other
pendent
sculpture, is not found at Bodhgay?,
sites in eastern India, or, indeed, anywhere
else in India
before the sixth century. Because bh?misparsa mudr? occurs
in earlier
narrative
reliefs depicting
the Maravijaya
("Triumph over M?ra"), and thus seems awell-established
component

of Buddha

imagery already

in the Ku??na peri

od (ca. first-third c), the lateness of its appearance

in sin
gle images is not well recognized. Perhaps the recognition
of this lateness has also been obscured by the well-known
lengthy account of Xuanzang,
dating from the seventh cen
the miraculous
creation of the Bodhgay?
tury, concerning
image.20 Xuanzang
reported that a sculpture of a Buddha
in bh?misparsa mudr? was enshrined
inside theMah?bodhi
But the account
is rather vague about when
this
happened,
noting only that this image had been created
after the time of Asoka and before the reign of Sas?nka,
cut down
who
to
the bodhi tree and wished
supposedly
destroy the image. That was not exactly a small span of time
(ca. third century BCE to sixth century CE).21 The fact
are
that the earliest extant Buddha
images from Bodhgay?
not shown in bh?misparsa mudr?
suggests that
certainly
Temple.

role for this gesture was

any privileged
nomenon

at

the

site.22

in the Indian Museum

Because

the

headless

not

an early phe
sculpture

could be one of the earliest

now

exam

65

........

at
in bh?misparsa
mudr?
created
pies of a Buddha
it prompts us to consider why this form became
Bodhgay?,
a dominant
one only after the seventh century.
Since the vast majority
of eastern Indian sculptures are
steles with figures carved in deep relief, its fully three
dimensional
character distinguishes
the Indian Museum
More
than
other
Buddhist
Buddha figures
deities,
image.
tend to be three-dimensional,
and this contrast lends the
latter a distinctive presence.23 This quality of "presence" is
at Bodhgay?
augmented
by the large size of many of these
the visual impact produced by
Buddha
Indeed,
sculptures.
must
such Buddha
have
created a powerful sense of
images
one that likely increased
at Bodhgay?,
Buddha
presence
through the centuries.24
concern for manifesting
A marked
the presence of the
at Bodhgay?
in two other
Buddha
also seems apparent
the
both
later
in
date
than the
from
site,
sculptures
slightly
in
seated headless Buddha
created
sometime
image?likely
the eighth century.25 These too are fairly large three-dimen
sional sculptures; one is still at the site, found in a niche to
the viewer's
into the Mah?bodhi
right of the entrance
now
is
and
the
is in the col
which
other,
headless,
Temple,
lection of the Indian Museum
Each
of these
(Fig. 4).26
Buddhas
stands on a fully fashioned
lotus which
emerges
from a base carved to suggest rocky forms. In the Indian
Museum
image, also carved in relief on the front of the
from water and
base, are nagas (serpent deities) emerging
apparently pouring something from pots held in their arms.
Similar figures appear on a door frame of approximately
the same date, also from Bodhgay?
and now located in the
Indian Museum
the n?ga
(Fig. 5).27The similarity between
on
on
the
and
those
the
door
is
anoth
frame
figures
image
er intriguing reminder that we know little of how the sculp
tures functioned
in their larger contexts and of how works
relate to other works. But the pedestals are perhaps most
to treatments found in
for their resemblance
interesting
66

-.?..-

.-',^

>.,_

^
??..'-s

?.-i
"^

of doorframe. Ca. 7th-8th

Stone.
Indian Museum,
Bodhgay?.
Calcutta.
5. De??ii/

c.

In fact, various features of these two

sculptures.
recall images
standing Buddha
sculptures from Bodhgay?
from S?rn?th (in present-day Uttar Pradesh).28
Influence from S?rn?th, a site well known for its fifth
in
century Buddha
images (Fig. 6), iswidely
acknowledged
eastern
in
India.
of Buddhist
The
the formation
imagery
an especially
S?rn?th style is considered
significant force
and it cer
upon the art associated with the site of N?land?,
s
seems
assume
to
reasonable
that
S?rn?th
pronounced
tainly
S?rn?th

activity had an impact on the recent estab

fifth-century
lishment of Buddhist
practice at N?land?. As others have
noted, it is even possible that artists from the S?rn?th region
in response to new patronage
travelled to N?land?
there.29
s imagery bears amarked resemblance
to
Much
of N?land?
S?rn?th works, and figures such as the stucco Buddhas from
to date from
site 3 at N?land?
(Fig. 7), believed
seem to attest the enduring
influence

century,

the seventh
of S?rn?th

styles.30

at Bodhgay?
S?rn?th influence on the art produced
has,
on the other hand, been perceived as less pronounced.
Susan
and Frederick Asher have both attributed
this
Huntington
in part to the fact that images were produced
difference
than at N?land?,
earlier at Bodhgay?
likely influenced by
the artistic traditions of Ku??na-period
Mathur?.31
Indeed,
as
Buddha
such
the
Bodhgay?
sculptures,
fourth-century
its fuller
(see Fig. 1),with
image now in the Indian Museum
to
links
forms,
suggest
styles.32
figurai
Mathur?-region
their own earlier and perhaps ongoing
tradition,
Having
artists may have been less open than those of
Bodhgay?'s
N?land?
and other parts of eastern India to influence from
to S?rn?th forms that are seen in
S?rn?th; the resemblance
are
often
attributed to N?land?'s
influ
Bodhgay?'s
images
ence rather than to S?rn?th directly. Thus, seventh-centu
are seen to identify that site as a
ry works from N?land?
at
S?rn?th
influence
created
upon works
view
fifth
avoids
past
invoking
styles?i.e.,
Bodhgay?.This
conduit

of

direct influences upon works

century S?rn?th images?as
at Bodhgay?
after
the
sixth century. The dearth of
dating
excavation
and other records precludes precise knowledge
of the artistic activity at Bodhgay?
in the sev
and N?land?
enth and eighth centuries.
of
Still, the greater number
at
Buddha
it
makes
difficult
sculptures surviving
Bodhgay?
to grant to N?land?
artists a significant role in the devel
of at least this aspect of Bodhgay?'s
opment
imagery.
other categories of images at Bodhgay?,
such as
Moreover,
bodhisattvas
and female deities, do not seem influenced by
N?land?. The interaction between Bodhgay?
and N?land?
in the seventh and eighth centuries, when
both seem to
have been thriving places of Buddhist devotion, prompts a
on the transmission of influences.
different perspective
Itmay be useful here to rethink the chronological
param
eters of possible influence exerted by S?rn?th. Perhaps direct
influence was not limited to the time of the Gupta period,
for S?rn?th, after all, clearly sustained activity beyond
the
sixth century, although the amount of its production unmis
that later S?rn?th works
takably declined.33 The possibility
eastern
in
influenced
India
is not usually consid
imagery
to
the
is
the
ered, largely owing
way
picture of influence
as well as to the frequent identification
often constructed,
of sites with a limited period of activity. In general, there
has been little reflection on the operation of influence, even
invoked in writing
about
though it is a concept frequently
Indian art.34 S?rn?th is especially well known for its large
works created in the fifth centu
number of accomplished
site's
The
and
this artistic production
ry.
reputation
certainly
influenced
artistic activity elsewhere, N?land?
being but
one
example. S?rn?th s later artistic activity, even if it fell
short of the fifth-century
could have
level of excellence,
now
also exerted
works
influence
elsewhere.
Bodhgay?
viewed as influenced by N?land?'s S?rn?th-based
style might
instead incorporate
from S?rn?th.
later direct influences
no written
records testify to specific instances of
Although
of Buddha
contact, further consideration
imagery supports
such possible
it is the
relationships.
Perhaps surprisingly,
form of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? in eastern Indian
contact with
images that, in fact, suggests such continued
S?rn?th after the fifth century.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN S?RN?TH

AND BODHGAY? IMAGERY
It is the presence of two earth goddesses
in an eighth-cen
a Buddha
from
seated
tury sculpture
depicting
Bodhgay?
in bh?misparsa mudr?
that raised for me the question of
such later S?rn?th influence
(Fig. #).When
initially explor
ing the identity of these two figures, I had assumed that
steles
they evolved from treatments found in fifth-century
a group of Buddha
from S?rn?th depicting
life scenes (Fig.

6. Standing
Calcutta.

Buddha.

Ca.

5th c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

Indian Museum,

9) that often included two such females below the figure

in bh?misparsa mudr?.35 But other images
of the Buddha

67

7- Standing

Buddha.

Ca.

7th c. N?land?.

Stucco.

Site

3, N?land?.

from S?rn?th

suggest connections

of greater

scope and dura

tion.

scholars have interpreted the increased popular

as result
of
ity
images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?
eastern
in
India
increased
from
image making
ing
generally
and from the symbolic reference of this form to Bodhgay?,
where
the Enlightenment
Similarly, the fifth
happened.
at
of
S?rn?th
century proliferation
images of the Buddha
in dharmacakra mudr?is usually credited to the direct con
nection between
this site and the activity symbolized. This
of sculp
view does not, however, explain the production
tures of the Buddha
in bh?misparSa mudr? at S?rn?th, such
as an image that was more nearly complete when Markham
Various

Kittoe
sketched it in the nineteenth
century (Figs. 10,11).
in the nine
A number of such examples were excavated
centuries. Stylistic details sug
teenth and early twentieth
gest a date in the sixth or seventh century; in the absence
as Joanna Williams
has noted, greater
of dated examples,
is
for
this
hardly possible.36
period
precision
chronological
68

in bhUmisparsa mudr?. Ca.

at Mah?bodhi
Temple
complex,

8. Seated Buddha
Enshrined

7th c. Bodhgay?.

Stone.

Bodhgay?.

to
are markedly
close in treatment
S?rn?th works
on the
scenes
in
life
found
of
the
M?ravijaya
representations
steles from S?rn?th (see Fig. 9).
well-known
fifth-century
to earlier S?rn?th images and the lack of
This resemblance
in bh?mis
earlier eastern Indian examples of the Buddha
that influ
the
undermine
mudr?
possibility
certainly
parsa
These

ences on production
of such sculptures could have travelled
from eastern India to S?rn?th.
In these S?rn?th images smaller figures surround the cen
tral Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?, much as in steles depict
can be identified
ing a group of life scenes.37 M?ra, who
to one side of
stands
he
that
the
bow
carries, usually
by
one
a
of his daugh
while
female
representing
S?kyamuni,
of his army hover
ters appears on the other and members
among the leaves of the bodhi tree over the Buddha s head.
The pedestal often contains figures of the two earth god
desses, one holding a pot, the other moving menacingly. As
the gesture of bh?mis
is well known, S?kyamuni makes
to
in
mudr?
response
challenges by M?ra. In order to
parSa

io. Seated Buddha

S?rn?th

in bh?misparsa

mudr?. Ca.

7th c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

Site Museum.

to a number of surviving S?rn?th sculptures

in bh?misparSa mudr?,
presenting
figures of the Buddha
there also survive sculpted fragments
originally belonging
to such figures that clearly depict the two earth goddesses
In addition

9- Stele with grouping of Buddha

National
New
Delhi.
Museum,

life scenes. Ca.

5th c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

his right to sit at this place and become enlight

calls upon the earth to act as his witness,
ened, S?kyamuni
and with
the earth s support M?ra is vanquished.
The two earth goddesses
in these S?rn?th images of the

demonstrate

Buddha
in bh?misparSa mudr? are not found elsewhere
in
earlier examples of theM?favijaya or in the few known con
ones from Mathur?.38
two females
These
temporaneous
at Bodhgay?
such figures of the Buddha
and
appear with
also at Ellora in the eighth century. Although
the depiction
of the Buddha
in bh?misparSa mudr? at Ellora during the
has
been linked to Bodhgay?,
artistic activ
century
eighth
ity at S?rn?th could well have been the source.39 It is cer
that the production
of
tainly possible
S?rn?th stimulated
the form s increasing
in India.
where

imagery at
else
popularity

such

(Fig. 12)A0 It may be argued that independent

sculptures
were originally
in groups, functioning
combined
then in a
manner
akin to the groupings of scenes from the Buddha s
life on steles. But no evidence
exists of the production
of
individual sculptures depicting
all the other life scenes cus
studies of S?rn?th empha
tomarily found on steles. Most
size the production
there of images of the Buddha
in
dharmacakra
emblematic
of the Buddha's
First
mudr?,
took place at S?rn?th; they pass over the
Teaching, which
independent

sculptures

of

the Buddha

in bh?misparSa

mudr?.

It is important to note that some S?rn?th images of the

in bh?misparSa mudr?, dating after the sixth cen
Buddha
seem
to scant the narrative detail seen in the earlier
tury,
of
life scenes on steles. For instance, in another
groupings
a
of
in bh?misparSa mudr?, which
Buddha
is also
sculpture
illustrated in a Kittoe
members
of
13,
14),
(Figs.
drawing
69

12. Fragment of Buddha

S?rn?th Site Museum.

in bh?misparsa

mudr?. Ca.

7th c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

excavation
of the site,
the incomplete
are tenu
on
a
lack
of
evidence
however, arguments based
ous ones. But it can at least be stated that the S?rn?th images
of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? suggest that the image
there and been transmitted east
type may have originated
as
to
it later came to dom
sites such
ward
Bodhgay?, where
this form
But
the question of why
inate Buddha
imagery.
S?rn?th.42

became

Given

popular

remains.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FORM OFTHE

BUDDHA IN BH?MISPARSA MUDRA

11. Drawing
10. Courtesy
of Fig.
British
Library, London.

India Office

Library

and Records,

The

M?ra s army hover above the head of the Buddha, but the
two figures standing beside him have halos and lack the
attributes that would
identify them asM?ra and his daugh
ter.The earth goddesses, however, are quite similar to those
depicted in earlier pedestal treatments (seeFig. 12).One earth
the other chases a sprawling fig
goddess holds a pot, while
ure, presumably M?ra. In yet another S?rn?th example (Fig.
13), likely dating from the eighth century, neither M?ra nor
nor his army is present; only the
any of his daughters
and
leaves (much damaged),
Buddha's gesture, the bodhi
the two earth goddesses
appear.
In addition to the eighth-century
image previously men
several other
tioned (see Fig. #), there survive at Bodhgay?
sculptures with figures of earth goddess
pre-P?la Buddha
es. One
is only the pedestal of an image, but the earth god
desses are exceptionally
well preserved, and the inscription
date.41
of a late sixth-century
provides possible evidence
On the other hand, N?land? has hitherto revealed no stone
to those surviving at Bodhgay?
and
sculptures comparable
70

common
as the most
form of
well recognized
Although
eastern
art
in
of
Buddhist
later
the Buddha
represented
no
of why images of the
clear understanding
India, there is
com
mudr?
became
the bh?misparsa
Buddha displaying
mon there only after the sixth century.43 The vague assump
seems
tion that this reflects increasing activity at Bodhgay?
of such figures at
undermined
by the early appearance
to
also fails
S?rn?th. This assumption
single
explain why
in bh?misparsa mudr? first became
images of the Buddha
the mudr? sup
the event to which
popular at a site where
occur.
not
the mudr?'s increas
Certainly
posedly refers did
a
at Bodhgay?
could be linked with
ing popularity
but
concept of the significance of the site,
why
heightened
in turn remains
should have occurred
this heightening
unclear, although itmay well have to do with a greater doc
and hence
trinal emphasis on the concept of Enlightenment
on the site where
this occurred.
to these P?la-period
attention
images of the
Scholarly
on
in bh?misparsa mudr? has focused primarily
Buddha
tracing the specific textual sources for the few narrative
the scholarly
in these works,
details preserved
reflecting
a
of
close link with
fully
imagery that more
assumption
event
of the MaravijayaA4 The focus on find
presents the
or chrono
ing textual support, irrespective of geographical

14-Nineteenth-century
drawing of Fig. 13. Courtesy
and Records,
The British
Library, London.
in bh?misparsa
13- Seated Buddha
S?rn?th Site Museum.

mudr?. Ca.

7th c. S?rn?th.

ratives, interesting
solely insofar as they show changes in
details such as attendants or stylistic elements. Studies con
of imagery often simply trace
cerned with the development
a succession of forms, with
little or no reflection upon the
to be produced.
such imagery continued
ways in which
in art, but the
Texts can illuminate
themes encountered
a text and image is not necessarily
the
relationship between
same as between
a text and subject.45 Discussing
sculptures
in bh?misparsa mudr? solely in terms of the
of the Buddha
narrative detail they present surely limits our appreciation
impact and our understanding

Library

Stone.

(or more
logical connections
likely the lack of such)
between
often
reduced an image to
and
has
texts,
images
than an illustration of a text. The approach is
little more
especially unfortunate with regard to images of the Buddha,
seen as continuations
since such figures are frequently
of
centuries-old
iconic traditions closely based on textual nar

of their visual

India Office

of their devel

the significance of differ

opment, especially undermining
ent types of presentation.
a different type of textual evidence, how
Considering
ever,

may

us

allow

to

advance

our

understanding

beyond

comes
aspects of such images. This evidence
of the so
from the increasing appearance of inscriptions
creed on Buddhist
called Buddhist
images dating after the
sixth century. Simon Lawson has discussed this well-known
Buddhist
formula:
ye dharm? hetuprabhav? hetum tes?m
ca yo nirodha ev?m vad? mah?sramanah,
tes?m
avadat
tath?gato hy
which
he translates as: "All things arise from a cause, the
the cause. This cause of things has
Tath?gata has explained
the narrative

finally

been

Sramana."46

destroyed.
Lawson

ings produced
century Chinese
sartra

sealings,

noted

Such
its

is the teaching
frequent

after the sixth century

pilgrim

meaning

Xuanzang
relic-of-the-Law

of the great

appearance

on

seal

and that the seventh

called them dharma
sealings.

Lawson

71

in bhthnisparsa mudr?. Ca. 9th c.

16. Lower portion of seated Buddha
at
Stone.
Enshrined
Mah?bodhi
Temple
complex,
Bodhgay?.
Bodhgay?.

verse did not necessarily originate at Bodhgay?

itself; indeed,
the artistic evidence from S?rn?th suggests that it did not.
The rising importance of the concept of prat?tya samutp?
at S?rn?th of
da may, then, explain the greater production
in
after
the fifth
mudr?
Buddha
of
the
bh?misparsa
images
its popularity
in turn may have stimulated
century, which
centers.
at other Buddhist

in bhmnisparsa
15- Seated Buddha
S?rn?th
Site Museum.

mudr?. Ca.

7th c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

explains these sealings as chiefly consecratory, based on their

inside miniature
st?pas. Daniel Boucher has also
placement
use
in
their
st?pas and the signifi
consecrating
explored
cance of this verse, which
summarizes
the prat?ya samutp?
da, the doctrine of dependent
origination.47 Boucher views
this use as a transforming of dharma into relic, the verse into
amanifestation
of the Buddha's presence, and he also notes
that it occurs more often after the sixth century. It certainly
seems reasonable
to assume that the increased popularity
of
the Buddha's
of that verse, connoting
understanding
of
the importance
enhanced
origination,
dependent
to
is
have
realized
he
the
where
thought
Bodhgay?,
place
But this increased popularity
of the
that understanding.
72

like the increasing promi

If this form of the Buddha,
nence of the doctrine
reveals a
of dependent
origination,
we might
new emphasis on the Buddha's Enlightenment,
usefully consider how that newly important verbal formu
in nonverbal
lawas presented
terms,48 especially since sin
in
of
the
Buddha
bh?misparsa mudr? became
gle sculptures
as
at
sites
and Bodhgay?
such
S?rn?th
only after
popular
the sixth century, at about the same time that inscriptions
on
to appear frequently
of this Buddhist
formula begin
interpretation of images of the
objects. Perhaps the modern
as expressions of
in bh?misparsa mudr??whether
Buddha
too
concentrated
narrative or as allusions to Bodhgay??has
event
of
the
the
and
and
concept
upon
narrowly
literally
Buddha overcoming M?ra. They may equally (if not pri
as that which happened
after
marily) have been conceived
a
series
of
M?ra's defeat, when
S?kyamuni passed through
of the
meditations.These
brought about his comprehension
of
concept
origination"),
prat?tya samutp?da ("dependent
as the experience
his
often
described
constituting
to
such
is
consider
It
thus
interesting
Enlightenment.49
the context of specific representa
Buddha
images within

17- Seated
Enshrined

in bhUmispars'a mudr?. Ca. 9th c. Bodhgay?.

at Mah?bodhi
Temple
complex,
Bodhgay?.

Buddha

Stone.

tions of prat?tya samutp?da depicted

in images of the bhava
cakra ("wheel of Ufe").
Pictorial representations of the prat?tya samutp?da in India
have been little discussed, probably because only one extant
Indian example
is known: a painting at Ajant?. This fifth
century painting depicts the bhavacakra with various realms
of existence
the form of a wheel
and a
arranged within
scenes
of
the
of
sequence
concept
symbolizing
dependent
in the wheel's
outer rim. In his 1892 article
origination
uses nineteenth-century
sources to identi
which
Tibetan
the
of
the
wheel
fy
subject
Ajant?
painting, Austine Waddell
at some length how the scenes symbolize
discusses
the
of
sequence
dependent
origination
(prat?tya samutp?da/50
Waddell
also notes that the importance
of the concept of
is
attested
the
dependent
origination
by
frequency with
which
the stanza recounting
its utterance, termed by many
the Buddhist creed, is encountered
in Buddhist
inscriptions.
But he did not further explore connections
between
the

18. Standing Buddha.

Mah?bodhi
Temple

Ca.

9th c. Bodhgay?.

complex,

Stone.

Enshrined

at

Bodhgay?.

emphasis on the creed and its visual portrayal. Bhavacakra

found in the Buddhist world
images are more frequently
cen
outside of India and usually date after the seventeenth
as
as
such
Tibetan
well
lesser
tury. Although
paintings,
known Chinese
and Japanese examples, always present the
in the outer rim, they
sequence of dependent
origination
to the use of the
have not been discussed
in relation
Buddhist

formula.51 Because of their late date, perhaps they

have seemed completely
disconnected
from the beginning
of the use of the Buddhist
in India. As Dieter
formula
about
the
Schlingloff states, writing
Ajant?" bhavacakra, there
seems to be no extant visual link between
this fifth-centu
and
later
ry painting
examples.52
For scholars interested
in Buddhist
the well
doctrine,
known Tibetan depictions
of the wheel
of life are prima
rily important as illustrations of the prat?tya samutp?da,53
and, as SchlinglofF notes, the partially preserved wall paint
at Ajant? ismost often viewed as significant
ing of awheel
73

the
often obscures
analysis, which
iconographical
related
of
different
but
between
types
images.
dynamic
so as to consider, for example,
our perspective
Enlarging
how the concepts of the Buddha's presence and the prat?tya
to each other as well as to
are connected
samutp?dag?th?
other visual imagery, helps to frame new ways of explor
practices
ing textual and visual traditions which Buddhist
tional

developed.58
in bh?misparsa mudr?
In viewing
images of the Buddha
as something more
of narrative
than iconic presentations
to
note
seems
such
that
it
forms,
sculptures at
important
reveal continued

Bodhgay?
century,

as

seen,

for

example,

after the eighth

development

in a characteristic

work

at the site that likely dates from the ninth century. In

works
the army of M?ra no longer appears regularly;
the earth-touching
gesture and the leaves of the bodhi
above the head of the Buddha
remain; he now sits
double lotus supported by two lions. On the central
tion

of

this

base?as

on

other

contemporaneous

still

these
only
tree
on a
por

images?

appear diminutive
figures of the two earth goddesses with
a vajra above their heads, marking
this seat as the vajr?sana
a
In
later
single earth goddess appears,
(Fig. 16).
images only
a
sometimes
and
with
by a
accompanied
vajra
occasionally
seems significant to note that
M?ra.
It
of
the
defeated
figure
the earth
in these later images M?ra never appears without
without
earth
the
goddess may appear
goddess, although
on the earth goddess,
M?ra.59 The emphasis
seemingly
in
established first in images at S?rn?th, was thus preserved
sculptures.
P?la-period
The lack of narrative

19- Seated
Enshrined

in bliRmisparsa mudr?. Ca. late

to N?land?.
at Jagdishpur,
adjacent

Buddha

10th c. N?land?.

Stone.

that such depictions were being made in India in

evidence
found in early
the evidence
the fifth century, bolstering
texts that contain explicit directions for their cre
Buddhist
the painting has been considered
ation.54 In other words,
for
the
light it sheds on a seemingly
noteworthy
largely
more significant matter?the
interpretation of the early and
in early
thus authentic teaching of the Buddha as contained
texts.55 Current
art-historical
Buddhist
investigations
increasingly recognize that visual images possess impact and
even of related texts,56 a recog
multivalence
independent
of the
nition which may conduce to a better understanding
are
extant
late
which
bhavacakra
many
mostly
paintings,
works from outside India.
and sustained appearance of the Buddhist
The widespread
on various types of
the
formula,
prat?tya samutp?dag?th?,
us
to
of
the significance
consider
further
allows
objects
Indian Buddhist
imagery of the wheel of life within
tions.57 Such consideration
beyond
requires moving
74

tradi
tradi

eastern
detail in most P?la-period
in the bh?misparsa
the Buddha
Indian sculptures depicting
the degenera
mudr? has often been taken to demonstrate
art.60 Often only
tion of narrative imagery in late Buddhist
a canopy of leaves, signifying the bodhi tree beneath which
he sat, and diminutive figures of one earth goddess and per
are all that serve, in addition to the
haps a defeated M?ra,
Buddha's

gesture,

as references

to

the

events

at

Bodhgay?.

in bh?misparsa mudr? are

But these images of the Buddha
more
than a literal portrayal of the events related to the
to the
Mafavijaya; they likely serve also as a visual reference
of
the
realization
and
the
of
concept
origination
dependent
in
med
at
while
seated
which
arrived
concept,
S?kyamuni
the bodhi tree.
itation at that spot beneath
formula along with
the Buddhist
sealings showing
con
in
the
Buddha
of
bh?misparsa mudr?, Boucher
figures
are
cludes that both senses of the place of Enlightenment
at
essence of the experience
site
the
the
and
juxtaposed:
a
the
of
the site.61 Such sealings commonly
present
figure
to represent
the
that seems
inside a tower
Buddha
so that they indeed convey a sense of
Mah?bodhi
Temple,
at the site. Something
the image enshrined
slightly differ
ent may be true of larger sculptures that do not regularly
such later images
include the tower, but rather than viewing
as simply abbreviations
of an earlier narrative tradition, it
On

may be more accurate to see them as using well-established

narrative elements
also to signify the importance
of the
In this perspective
the
concept of dependent
origination.
images are both narrative and iconic. This view is congru
ent with such recent hypotheses
as that of Robert
Brown,
are not merely
who argues that Buddhist j?taka depictions
illustrations

his presence,

of

texts,

as visual

but

were

meant

biography

as manifestations

independent

of

of textual

biography.62

CONSIDERING

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

of P?la-period
images from eastern India, espe
show the Buddha
in bh?misparsa mudr?
cially Bodhgay?,
and
accompanied
by two bodhisattvas, usually Maitreya
one such image, of the late tenth century,
Avalokite?vara;
is still at the site (Fig 17). Such images, even more
than
in bh?misparsa mudr? with
the Buddha
those combining
of the Buddhist
formula, have a far broader
inscriptions
connotation
than the event of the M?favij'aya. The seven
wrote
historian
of
Tibetan
T?ran?tha
teenth-century

A number

AtisVs

teacher, Jn?nasrimitra
c), that in
(tenth?eleventh
on bodhicitta
he had
("awakened
mind")
visions
of the Buddha
(called by T?ran?tha
and AvalokiteSvara.63
The
Bhagavan
S?kyar?ja), Maitreya,
same trio is described
in three Vajr?sana s?dhanas (liturgi
cal texts that include detailed descriptions
of the visionary
deities are experienced)
included
process through which

meditating
repeated

in the S?dhanamai?,
in which
is named
the Buddha
of deities are an intended
Vajr?sana Tath?gata.64 Visions
account,
goal of s?dhana practice. T?ran?tha's
though
not verifiable,
links s?dhana practice and those
obviously
three particular deities to an Indian teacher, Jn?naMmitra.
as S?kya
One of the s?dhanas also refers to the Buddha
certain elements
but although
of the Vajr?sana
of the Maravijaya,
the most
image accord with depictions
significant being the gesture of bh?misparsa mudr? by the
these images are not overtly narra
figure of the Buddha,
seem to have become
tive. They
frequent only in the late
ninth century, but remained long popular.66 It seems rea
sonable to view
such images not simply as degenerate
treatments of narrative forms but as icons whose
power
was
elements. Thus we might
enhanced
by narrative

muni,65

understand
the frequent presence
of the earth goddess
(and the less frequent appearance of the figure of a defeat
to the pres
ed M?ra)
in such images as adding resonance
ence of the Buddha rather than as remnants of a fuller nar
rative

tradition.

From this perspective of multi-layered

meaning we might
a number of Bodhgay?
also better understand
sculptures of
in varada mudr?with
attend
standing figures of the Buddha
ing bodhisattvas
(Fig. 18). Such images, found at various sites
in eastern India, are especially numerous at Bodhgay?.Their
however, has been overshadowed
presence at Bodhgay?,
by

20. Seated
N?land?

Buddha

in dharmacakra

mudr?. Ca.

late

10th c. N?land?.

Stone.

Site Museum.

in bh?misparsa mudr?,
the images of the Buddha
found
there. In a general way, these standing images of the Buddha
recall Gupta-period
S?rn?th sculptures of a standing Buddha
in abhaya mudr?attended
by small figures of the bodhisattvas
AvalokitesVara

and Maitreya
(see Fig. 6). Like such earlier
these
works do not seem to
P?la-period
standing images,
a
at
event
in his life. Yet the
depict S?kyamuni
particular
are
two attending bodhisattvas, Avaloki tesvara and Maitreya,
the same ones that frequently
appear with figures of the
seem to iden
Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?, which would
as
Whatever
the
tify the Buddha
S?kyamuni.
depicted

mudr?,
no

images of the Buddha

narrative

connotations,

or

with
they

attendants

can merge

need

narrative

have
with

iconic meaning.
this web of connec
Indeed, recognizing
tions from the past and the present can surely enrich our
otherwise
of these images, whose
form might
perception
be dismissed as simply continuing well-established
types.
numerous
I
the
Buddha
have
that
suggested
Previously
are not simply evidence
images at Bodhgay?
conservatism of the site, since Esoteric deities

of the greater
are also found

75

at Bodhgay?.
I argued instead that these Buddha
images are
evidence of a particular emphasis upon S?kyamuni. Clearly,
a number of P?la-period
sites such as N?land??despite
a different emphasis. The
of
sculptures
S?kyamuni?reveal
notable impressiveness of one S?kyamuni
image at N?land?
to
at
his
testifies
the
site
and testifies as
certainly
importance
well to the development
of differing image traditions at dif

,**l**?*<*.Ml*v **'

*m$

.o&*3, |
.-*? V?^'-'"
w'-'?1%*

?fr**

ferent centers.This
sculpture, datable to the eleventh centu
ry, presents a grouping of seven small life scenes around a
the earth-touching
central, large Buddha figure making
ges
ture (Fig. iq).The grouping of eight figures is found in images
eastern India, but the
created at various sites throughout
at
most
is
the
N?land?
example surviving
spectacular both
in size and detail; it is located today in the adjacent village of

Mi
?/,r

.:3tt?fa^*.

Iff1--*.'" ?

.Vf

??HgK?'

Jagdishpur.John Huntington
insightfully noted that the many
smaller examples found atN?land?
that replicate this imagery
are likely
the
of
signaculae
large Jagdishpur image, evidence
a
at
the
site
of
cult
centered upon this form.67
perhaps
seems to have
This configuration
appeared first in sculp
tures at the end of the tenth century.68 Consideration
of
such works has most often failed to recognize or has ignored
the relative lateness of the form, concentrating
instead on
treatment of narrative found in the major
the degenerate
ity of such images.69 But these works are much more than
That this grouping
of a
simply narrative representations.
central figure surrounded by seven life scenes may well have

.<&*

/?a
&i??

emerged

at N?land??at

the

very

least

the

numerous

sur

show that itwas quite favored there?may

if one posits some distinction
especially

viving examples
seem surprising,
between
sites that emphasized
and those that
S?kyamuni
or
Tantric
Esoteric
But the sur
traditions.
emphasized
scenes
were
not
life
intended
rounding
purely as narrative,
to the central
but also, and importantly, to lend resonance
iconic figure of S?kyamuni.70
Another Buddha
image at N?land?, dating from the tenth
further
evidence for the polys?mie possi
century, provides
bilities of Buddha
images. This sculpture depicts a Buddha
in dharmacakra mudr? (Fig. 20). This mudr? and the presence
on the base of the
flanked by
sculpture of the small wheel
deer allude to the Buddha's First Teaching at S?rn?th, although
seen here are not regularly a part
the attendant bodhisattvas
of such depictions.71 The bodhisattva on the Buddha's right
could be identified asMaitreya, based on the flower he holds

?S&
!?'

,.^#*^V

;.

and the small st?pa in his headdress, but the other cannot be
for the figure bears neither the appropriate
Avalokitesvara,
in his headdress, the stan
flower nor the image of a Buddha
dard elements
used to designate Avalokitesvara
(Fig. 21).
Another
unusual feature of this work
is the monastic
dress
of the two vidy?dharas (celestial beings) at the top of the stele;
But
usually such figures are richly garbed and ornamented.

21. Detail

76

of bodhisattva

in Fig. 20.

is truly remarkable about this stele are the inscriptions

identifying these four figures attending the Buddha.The
fig
ure that seems to represent the celestial bodhisattva Maitreya
As C.S. Upasak points out in his
is labelled Maitreyan?tha.
was
the
discussion
of these inscriptions, Maitreyan?tha
school of Buddhism,
founder of the Yog?c?ra ("mind-only")

what

is called ?rya Vasumitra, another

and the other bodhisattva
well-known
Buddhist
teacher.72 The two vidy?dharas are
identified as?rya S?riputra and ?rya Mah?maudgaly?yana,
two of the Buddha's foremost disciples. Both were reputed
area and converted
to the Buddha's
ly born in the N?land?
one
the Buddhist
of
his
recited
when
disciples, Assaji,
path
formula in answer to S?riputra s query about the nature of
the Buddha's teaching. As is common,
the Buddhist formu
la is inscribed on the throne-back
of the image, but the
labelled. Below the lotus seat
Buddha figure is not otherwise
an additional inscription records that the merit of donating
to the donor's parents and all sentient
attain enlightenment.
in dharmacakra mudr?
Identifying figures of the Buddha
as depictions
alone surely limits our
of the First Teaching
of such images.The motif on the base of the
understanding
two
deer
stele,
flanking a wheel, was, in fact, used widely
from the sixth century onward as an emblem by many
Buddhist monasteries.73
Thus, this is an image combining
this image is assigned
beings, that they may

common

to portray S?kyamuni
elements
and uncommon
in his role as teacher, and indeed, the inscriptions make clear
than a depiction
of
that this sculpture encompasses more
the First Teaching. Moreover,
the labels attached to the four
accompanying
figures suggest that the identity of such fig
ures was somewhat fluid rather than hard and fast.74 The
careful boundaries often drawn between narrative and non
narrative

representations

seem

quite

irrelevant

here,

as

the

labels reveal the ability to conflate quite concretely

repre
and celestial beings.
sentations of mundane
images as a group also
Considering
Bodhgay?'s Buddha
in
reveals something about their continued
transformation;
the eleventh century at Bodhgay? Buddhas begin to attend
that had
Buddhas,
largely replacing the pair of bodhisattvas
so regularly served as attendants (Fig. 22). At about the same
time Buddha
in eastern

figures wearing

Indian

sculptures;

ornaments
the

ornaments

begin
indicate

to appear
a new

on

the Buddha's
celestial nature, but he remains
emphasis
not
and
is
transformed
(as some scholars have
S?kyamuni
a
into
Buddha.
writing
Jina
Benjamin Rowland,
thought)
some time ago, conveys a view still widely held:
In the case of the statues carved
in the hard, black stone of Magadha,
to tell whether
it is impossible
the mortal Teacher
the icon represents
or one of the mystic
who
had assumed
the mudras of
Buddhas
career. Akshobhya,
mortal
the Lord of the East, is shown
Sakyamuni's
in the bh?misparsa mudra of the Enlightenment,
and Vairocana,
the cos
assumes
the dharmacakra mudra of the First preaching.75
Buddha,

mic

there are only a few Bodhgay?

sibly be identified as Jina Buddhas.

But

images

that could pos

issues has also obscured the fact

Emphasis on iconographie
that late Bodhgay? Buddha
imagery is stylistically closer to
at S?rn?th than to
contemporaneous
sculptures produced
eastern
at
sites
in
India
other
(Fig. 23), which
again
images
raises the question of interaction and challenges our basic
from the
Some evidence
about production.
assumptions
area and S?rn?th; for
links the Bodhgay?
twelfth century
of
S?rn?th
the twelfth-century
inscription
example,
a
of
ruler
the
G?hadav?la
Govindacandra,
Kumaradev?,
queen
seems to
identifies her as the daughter of Devaraksita, who
ruled some portion of the land around Bodhgay?.76
a surviving
at Bodhgay?
the
mentions
inscription
was
to
who
able
G?hadav?la
apparently
king Jayacandra,
into the
extend
of his kingdom
the eastern boundary
Bodhgay? area.77 Such tantalizing fragments suggest amuch
more
between
these two major
relationship
complicated
Buddhist centers, Bodhgay? and S?rn?th, than is usually sup
are usually discussed quite separately, the
posed. These sites
former in the context of the P?la empire, the latter in the
context of the G?hadav?la empire. But stylistic connections
have
And

77

at Bodhgay? and S?rn?th

late sculptural production
the usefulness of other views. Indeed, late Bodhgay?
as reflecting renewed
imagery might be better understood
contacts with S?rn?th, whose
influence proved more pow
centers farther east, such as
erful than that of Buddhist
N?land?. Clearly, this is an issue that deserves fuller consid
aswell
eration in the assessment of late activity at Bodhgay?
between
suggest

as at other Buddhist

northern

sites throughout

India.

CONCLUSION
that we do
is indeed much
about P?la-period
sculptures,
from
any
specific context
displaced
texts
the
that
document
panied by

There
know

not know

and cannot
since these are so often
of use and unaccom

specific circumstances
of their production. We have rather little to tell us how these
in the past, though
pilgrim
regarded
images were
as those of the Chinese
Faxian
and
accounts?such
Dharmasv?min?indicate
the
Tibetan
later
and
Xuanzang
never recov
that they were considered
significant. We shall
with
in connection
er all the responses intended or made
in this homeland
of
the many
surviving
sculptures
Buddhism. This should not, however,
stop us from think
we can do to understand more fully
ing further about what
the import of these images in their own times.
the influence of the concept of depend
By considering
in conjunction
with
ent origination
(prat?tya samutp?da)
in bh?misparsa
of images of the Buddha
the development
as
mudr?, it becomes
apparent that such images functioned
more

than narrative representations.That

approach also leads
us to ask the significance
for
the Buddhist
of inscribing
on
is
Consecration
mula of dependent
images.
origination
not
is
it
the
but
the explanation
offered,
usually
perhaps
answer or at least does not completely
convey
complete
on P?la
what an image so inscribed meant.
Inscriptions
a date, a
period sculptures are usually valued for providing
of the deities rep
record of donation, or an identification
formula does not bear on
resented.78 Since this Buddhist
as if invisi
issues, the inscriptions of it have become
is used as evi
sometimes
their paleography
ble, although
of the
dence of date. Indeed, as the verse is a conspectus
these

its inscrip
Buddha's realization of dependent
origination,
eastern
from
Buddha
tion on the many
images
surviving
India imbues them with the Buddha's presence; other deities
inscribed with the same verse may also thereby acquire con
raises
notations
of the Buddha's presence. This interaction
especially
between

interesting
text

and

questions

images.79

about

Moreover,

the concept of dependent

origination
the Buddhist
images inscribed with
ongoing
importance of this Buddhist

the

relationships

a consideration

of

in conjunction with
formula reveals the
teaching. This is espe

elements of late
cially useful since the emphasis onTantric
connec
to
obscure
has
Indian Buddhist
tended
practice
tions to earlier aspects of the Buddhist
tradition.80
78

23- Standing Crowned

Calcutta.
Museum,

Buddha.

Ca.

i ith-i2th

c. S?rn?th.

Stone.

Indian

is one step toward

Charting changes aswell as continuities
concerns
a better view of shifting
and relationships, which
a
can perhaps generate
of the influ
better understanding
ences at work
of images. Our view of
in the development
these Buddhist
by the
sculptures may also be enriched
awareness of the rhetorical function of art, a recognition
can be an element of the
of presentation
that the manner
intended message. Such approaches may transcend the lim
of form and
itations resulting from separate consideration
text
as
content aswell
and image, help
from conflation of
not only reflected
ing us to understand how visual images
beliefs

but shaped devotion.

Notes

Art of Eastern India, pp. 27-28.

as an Owner
"The Buddha
14. Gregory
Schopen,
Permanent
inMedieval
Resident
Indian Monasteries,"
13-Asher,

I acknowledge
Indian Museum

the kind

Museum

of the National

permission

and the

to publish

in their collec
of sculptures
photographs
of the Archaeological
tions, and the kind permission
Survey of India to
at Bodhgay?
and S?rn?th.
publish
images from their site museums
i. Many

exhibitions

have

on Buddha

focused

images?Benjamin
(New York: The Asia Society,
Los Angeles
(Los Angeles:

Rowland's
1963)
County
books,
Kodansha

The Evolution
of the Buddha Image
and Pratapaditya
Pal's Light
of Asia
Museum
of Art, 1984) are particularly
notable
such as David
Image of the Buddha
Snellgrove's

examples. Many
(Tokyo and Paris:
articles have also exam

and UNESCO,
1978), and countless
ined the different
traditions
of images of the Buddha.
2. The
influences
of this artistic tradition
significant

have

been

valu

and John C. Huntington,

Leaves
ably examined
by Susan L. Huntington
of the Bodhi Tree: The Art ofPda India (8th-12th centuries) and Its International
Art Institute,
1990).
Legacy (Dayton: Dayton
3. Frederick M.Asher,
Univ.
of Minnesota
Pr.,
Schools
Claudine

The Art
1980);

of Eastern India, 300-800

(Minneapolis:
Susan L. Huntington,
The uPMa-Sena"

(Leiden: EJ. Brill,

of Sculpture
Bautze-Picron
(e.g. "Lakhi

articles
1984); and various
by
Site of Late
Indian
Sarai: An

in the Asian Buddhist World,"

and Its Position
Iconography,
are impor
Silk Road Art and Archaeology,
vol. 2 [1991-92],
pp. 239-83)
tant studies.

Buddhist

4. Recent

studies

e.g., Kurkih?r,Bodhgay?,
other sites.

of iconographie
Ratnagiri?do

at particular
sites?
developments
not emphasize
interactions with

in
5. For example, Mallar
Ghosh, Development
of Buddhist
Iconography
Eastern India: A Study of Tara, Praj?as of the Tath?gatas
and Bhrikutl
(New
a valuable
Delhi: Munshiram
Manoharlal,i98o)
provides
study of female
imagery, but does not accord much
significance
6. As other scholars have noted, major Buddhist

to provenance.
sites likely maintained

in sur
that influenced
the production
of imagery
workshops
our
in which
areas, which
pat
rounding
complicates
tracing of the way
terns of imagery
emerged.
in "On
discussed
the consequences
of this focus
the
7. I have
active

of a Buddhist
vol.
19
Site," Art History,
Pilgrimage
1996), pp. 573-97.
(December
see S.K. Sarasvati,
8. For examples,
(Calcutta:
Tantray?na Art: An Album
a
Asiatic
For
discussion
of N?land?'s
1977).
Society,
good
sculptural devel
see Debjani
Paul, The Art ofNMand?
opment,
(New Delhi: Munshiram
Construction

Manoharlal,
1995).
The Image of the Buddha, p. 3 53, notes
9. For example, David
Snellgrove,
was never
that S?kyamuni
but "in the expression
completely
forgotten,
we may note a gradual
of Buddhahood
from the quasi-histori
change
as
cal approach,
Buddha,
represented
by the special cult of S?kyamuni
to a mystical
and fully divinized
all ideas of a particular
his
one, where
are transcended
torical Buddha manifestation
completely."
10. In my
at Bodhgay?
I found
that the prominence
previous work,
of the historical
Buddha
had been
taken as evidence
of con

of images

even
the site also affords images
practices,
unchanging
though
to imagery
similar in complexity
in eastern
found
elsewhere
India. See J. Leoshko,
and the Evidence
of Bodhgay?'s
"Pilgrimage
van
in Buddhist Art, ed. K.R.
and Meaning
and
Images," in Function
Kooij

servative,
of deities

H.

van der Veer

Forsten,
(Groningen:
1995), pp. 45-57.
Egbert
11. One
of a recent work which
has considered
this ques
example
tion is Jacob Kinnard,
the Eighth-Ninth
P?la
"Reevaluating
Century
Millieu:
Icono-Conservatism
and the Persistence
of S?kyamuni," Journal
of the International

Association

281-99.
12. See, for
example,
India and Tibet
from
Road Art

of Buddhist

Studies,

vol.

19, no. 2 (1996),

pp.

vol. 18 (1990), pp.

Philosophy,
M. Asher,
15. Frederick
Reconsideration,"
pp.

Journal

151-57.
16. For discussion

Asher,

Art

and

of Indian

181-217.

of the Year
Image
"Bodhgay?
of the Bihar Research Society, vol. LVIII

of other

of Eastern

of Property
Journal

early Buddha

64: A
(1972),

at Bodhgay?,

images

see

India.

the Great Buddhist Temple, the

17. See Rajendrala
Mitra,
Buddha-Gay?,
Secretariat
Press, 1878), pp. 132,
(Calcutta: Bengal
ofSakya Muni
to Bodhgay?
in
the attribution
first discussed
of this sculpture
192-93.1

Heritage
"The

of Buddhist

Iconography

from

(Ph.D.
Bodhgay?,"
Indian Museum
102-4. The

of the P?la and Sena Periods

Sculptures
Ohio
State University,
diss.,The
1987), pp.
its record.
has now corrected

18. Susan Huntington

the sculpture, but following
the muse
published
it as simply a work
she discussed
from Bihar
information,
("PMa
Sena>} Schools, p. 20, fig. 16).
to the lord
also notes
that the image is dedicated
19. The
inscription

um's

who

is the destroyer
20. Samuel Beal,

(London: Trubner,
21. Si-Yu-Ki,
vol.
22. At

Bodhgay?

over M?ra.
of worldly
and victorious
passions
trans., Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of theWestern World
1884) vol. 2, p. 120.
2, p. 121.
there are not

as found

the M?ravijaya
Gandh?ra.

even narrative

panels
works

in Kus?na-period

distinctiveness
of three-dimensional
23.The
to the way
in which
have extended
people
that were not three-dimensional.
24.We
have had

should
on

that depict
or

Buddha

images may well

Buddha
images

perceived

as a group may
sculptures
at Bodhgay?.
The
impact of
at the site is evident
works
in various pilgrim
records;
the account
of his visit to Bodhgay?
by the thirteenth
consider

as well

artists

the accumulated

known

from Mathur?

the effect

that such

as on devotees

see, for example,

monk
who was
Dharmasv?min,
century Tibetan
clearly overcome
by
both
and
late
works
trans., Biography
Roerich,
early
(George
of
Dharmasv?min
[chag lo tsa-ba chos rje-dpal]:A Tibetan Monk Pilgrim
[Patna:
Institute,
1959]).
K.PJayaswal
at
but are less com
25. Standing
figures appear frequently
Bodhgay?,
at other
sites.
encountered
monly
at the site still retains its head. It has been
26.The
sculpture
published
(Art of Eastern India, pi. 141) and Huntington
by both Asher
("PMa-Sena"
Schools, fig. 17).
and overturned
in the
27. Nagas
pots appear in various other contexts
a
of Bodhgay?,
visual
favored
imagery
suggesting
particular
vocabulary
by artists there.
28. Others

have

to S?rn?th

related

noted
forms.

that the treatment

Similarities

of the bodies

include

and robes

are

the robe

both
covering
the left arm, the latter trait
robe is different. These
sim

over
and the fall of the drapery
in Fig. 2, although
the style ofthat
are
to influence
attributed
from N?land?
ilarities,
however,
usually
had in turn been
influenced
imagery, which
by S?rn?th
styles.
at
discusses
the patronage
29. Asher
India, pp. 46-47)
(Art of Eastern
shoulders

also seen

N?land?

and the possible

there
presence
is also activity near N?land?

30. There
as Rajgir,

25-26,47-48,

to this image, which

has even
32. In addition
from the Mathur?
region, other Buddha
suggest ties to Mathur?
style.
import

S?rn?th.

at the
neighboring
to S?rn?th
styles.

sites, such
suggests connections
"
((PMa-Sena Schools, pp. 16-22, and Asher, Art of Eastern
discuss the influence
of S?rn?th on eastern Indian

that further

31. Huntington,
India,pp.
art.

of artists from

been

to be an
thought
at Bodhgay?

sculptures

The Art of Gupta

and Province
G.Williams,
India, Empire
Princeton
Univ.
Pr., 1982), pp. 157-80.
of the few exceptions
is the article by GaryTartakov
and
Mahis?suramardini
Intrusion, and Influence:The
Dehejia,
"Sharing,

33. Joanna

in Eastern
Bautze-Picron,"Shakyamuni
to the Thirteenth
the Eleventh
Silk
Centuries,"
vol. 4 (1995-96),
and Archaeology,
pp. 355-408.
Claudine

(Princeton:
34. One
Vidya

79

of the Calukyas

Imagery

and

the Pallavas," Artibus

vol.

Asiae,

45

48. Brendan
Cassidy,
Iconography at the Crossroads
and Archaeology,
discusses
1993), p. 7, usefully
medieval
regard toWestern
images.

(1984),

3 5. Janice

Case

Leoshko,"The

to the Buddha's

of the Two Witnesses

no.

vol. XXXIX,
here of two

dis
1988), pp. 40-52.1
in various
earth goddesses
images.
Art of Gupta
another
India, p. 149, discussing
36.Williams,
single fig
ure of the Buddha
in bh?misparsa
is now
in the
mudr?
(fig. 235) which

Marg,
Enlightenment,"
cuss the identification

3 (Fall

Museum.

British

of

discussion

the S?rn?th

steles with

the

article

as the site of Enlightenment

S?rn?th.

not

and does

consider

at Poona,

B.C.
of
Law, "Formulation
pp. 313-18;
(1954),
Journal
of theRoyal Asiatic Society (1937), pp. 287-92.
"Conditioned
and Supreme
Lamotte,
Co-production
in Buddhist
in Honour
Studies
ed.
Rahula,
Enlightenment,"
ofWalpola
et al. (London: Gordon
Somaratna
Fraser, 1980), pp. 118-32.
Balasooriya

from

40. Another
Bengal Art, vol.

such

from

example

S?rn?th

is illustrated

in Journal

of

1 (1996), p. 164.
illustration
of this pedestal,
p.45, and for discussion

see Leoshko,"The
Case of the Two
see
of the inscription,
John F. Fleet,
Book
Indicarum, vol. 3 (2nd ed.,Varanasi:
Inscriptionum
Indological
An early description
is pre
of the pedestal
1963) pp. 281-82.
and Hand-book
of theArchaeological
by John Anderson,
Catalogue

41. For
Witnesses,"
Corpus
House,
sented

in the Indian Museum

Indian Museum,
1883), pt. 2,
(Calcutta:
in this fragment
relate especial
p. 54. The forms of the earth goddesses
to treatments
in earlier fifth-century
S?rn?th
found
ly well
sculptures,
treatment
in
is more
work
the
of
the
the
Bodhgay?
although
pedestal

Collections

formal; most
form.

S?rn?th

show

examples

sitting

on a rocky

leaves

to the events

above

of

the head

the M?ravijaya.

of this time of the Buddha

sculptures,
of the Buddha

For

examples,

plat

in bh?

and they include

only
to refer
and his gesture
see Debjani
Paul, Art of

NMand?,

ph. 55-56.
discusses
43. Susan Huntington
(Leaves of the Bodhi Trees, pp. 104-5)
was tied to concepts
invoked
that the increased popularity
the possibility
of the Buddha
overcoming
by P?la rulers, and the idea that the concept

as ametaphor
for their dynasty
by P?la rulers
notes
an interesting
one. Although
that this may
is certainly
Huntington
that these rulers
in some inscriptions,
there is no evidence
be suggested
the increased
commissioned
such Buddha
popu
images or supported
like
it seems more
of the form.
Indeed,
larity of visual representations
it was
because
would
have been used politically
ly that the concept
seem to be
a
likewise
and pervasive
image. This would
already
powerful

M?ra

have

may

the reason
44. This

od

used

of the dharma
of the emblem
the P?las s adoption
by deer for their copper plates.
is the approach
taken most
by Vidya
Dehejia
recently
in Early Buddhist Art, Visual Narratives
of India [New Delhi:

behind

cakra flanked

(Discourses
Munshiram

been

Manoharlal,

sculptures
tions.

primarily

1997] pp. 238-49).

as continuations

She discusses
of earlier

these P?la-peri
narrative
presenta

no
in the S?dhanam?l?are
the deities described
45. For example,
by
occur as
means
in images, or they might
paintings
always encountered
amatch
and
textual description
between
but not as sculptures.
Finding
an image type.
to understanding
visual image is useful but not sufficient
in British
South
"Dharan?
Collections,"
Lawson,
46. Simon
Sealings
Taddei
and Maurice
Schotsmans
1983, ?d. Janine
Archaeology,
of this for
1985), vol. 2, p. 703. (Lawson refers to the translation
(Naples,
in 1896.)
mula by Takakusa
in the
Its Role
"The Pratttyasamutp?dag?th?'and
47. Daniel
Boucher,
of the Relics,"
Medieval
Cult
of
Journal
of the International Association
Asian

Buddhist

80

Studies,

vol.

14, no.i

(1991),

pp.

1-27.

37

"The Buddhist
Pictorial Wheel
50. L. Austine Waddell,
of"Life," Journal
see also L.A.
Society of Bengal, vol. 61 (1892), pp. 133-55;
of the Asiatic
Secret from a Sixth Century
"Buddha's
Pictorial
Waddell,
Commentary
and Tibetan
Tradition,"
(1894), P- 367.
Journal
of the Royal Asiatic Society
some

I discuss

effects

ofWaddell's

identification

the sequence

of the concept
of dependent
and Tibetan
Buddhism,"
Kipling

Rudyard

and

of
representations
in "What
isKim?.:

origination
South Asia

Research

(Spring

2001).
the doctrinal
of the concept
of prat?tya
51. Moreover,
significance
to
not
in
is
relation
of
the
wheel
paintings
samutp?da
usually
explored
art. For example,
in studies
of Tibetan
Pal, Art
Pratapaditya
of the
Hill
and
Tibet
York:
Hudson
Press,
(New
Himalayas-.Treasures
from Nepal
1991), p. 184, cites only Lauf
(Tibetan Sacred Art) as the source for his
discussion

are images from N?land?

42. There
But
mudr?.
these are metal
misparsa
the bodhi

the Buddha

vol.

Pratityasamutp?da,"
See also Etienne

influ

possible

1917), vol. 2, pp.

(London: Pali Text Society,
on
Useful
studies
of the concept
Cause").
Sayings
as Basic Concept
of Buddhist
"Prat?tya-samutpada

et al. (Calcutta:The
in B. C. Law Volume, ed. D.R. Bhandarkar
Thought,"
H. Chatterjee,
Indian Research
1, pp. 574-89;
Institute,
1945), vol.
Annals
Institute
Oriental Research
"Pratityasamutp?da,"
of the Bhandarkar

aM?ndala:
39. In her valuable
study of Ellora, Geri Malandra,
Unfolding
of New York
The Buddhist Cave Temples of Ellora (Albany: State University
an interesting
Press, 1993), pp. 13,114, presents
analysis of the appearance
and its signifi
of this form at Ellora, but she links it only to Bodhgay?
cance

and F.L.Woodward

1-94 ("The Kindred

include: B.M. Barua,

groupings
"S?rn?th Gupta
by Joanna Williams,
vol. X
Steles of the Buddha's
Life," Ars Orientalis,
(1975), pp. 171-92.
Art of Gupta
that few Gupta-period
India, p. 79, notes
38.Williams,
narrative
of the Buddha's
life are known
from Mathur?.
representations

ence

of canonical
this concept
of
49. For translation
passages
concerning
see
trans. T.W Rhys
origination,
dependent
Dialogues
of the Buddha,
Davids
1899), vol. 2, pp. 42-70
(London: H. Frowde,
("Mah?-nid?na
Suttanta");
Samyutta Nikaya
(Book ofKindred Sayings), trans. C.A.F. Rhys
Davids

37. The best general

life scenes remains

of

of
(Princeton:
Dept.
with
such questions

Art

pp. 287-345.

of the wheel.

the single known

Indian example
and
52.The
gap between
temporal
serves the differing
other
such images
of scholars
such as
perspectives
and Pal by allowing
them to highlight
the significance
of
Schlingloff
in discussion
their particular
visual examples.
of the Ajant?
Schlingloff,
could

the importance
and Pal, writing
about
traditions,
character
of even
the innovative

painting,
enduring

demonstrate

emphasize
Dieter
Schlingloff,
Interpretations
Pratapaditya
53. Gerda
of theWheel

in Ajanta

Studies

of

India

Tibetan

source

examples,

late Tibetan

Paintings:

as the

painting.

Identifications

of

could
See
and

and
Publications,
168-69,
1987),
pp.
(Delhi: Ajanta
Pal, Art of theHimalayas,
p. 184.
in Tibetan
of the Nid?nas
Hartmann,
Drawings
"Symbols
of Life," Journal of theAmerican Oriental Society, vol. 60 (1940),

concepts
pp. 3 56-60, was also concerned
represented
by the
largely with
Geshe
"Wheel
of
links of dependent
origination.
Sopa, "The Tibetan
Life: Iconography
and Doxography,"
Journal of the International Association
dealt with
all parts of
Studies, vol. 7, no. 1 (1985), pp. 125-45,
on the issue of
Like
but concentrated
origination.
dependent
Foundations
(London:
of Tibetan Mysticism
Sopa, L.A. Govinda,

of Buddhist
the image,
Geshe

uses an image as the basis for his exten

and 0,1969),
pp. 234?46,
to a specific
attention
sive analysis of the wheel's
parts. Greater
image of
is found
in J. Przyluski,
"La Roue
de laVie
? Ajanta,"
the bhavacakra
vol. 214 (1929), pp. 328-37.
noted
the con
Przyluski
Journal Asiatique,
tradiction
between
the twelve
steps in the chain of dependent
origina
in
tion and the fact that there appear to be more
than twelve vignettes
Rider

the now

ruined Ajant?
painting.
partially
inAjanta
lists the
Studies
54. Schlingloff,
pp. 168-69. He
Paintings,
as
in the
for
the
chain
of
twelve
origination
dependent
given
symbols
tradi
their differences
from the Tibetan
M?iasarv?stiv?da
Vinaya, noting
tion

recounted

between
actual
resent
Buddhist

textual
examples:
six rather
texts.

byWaddell.

Schlingloff's

(vinaya) instructions
the Ajant?
example
than
For

the

five

discussion

is the disparity
and the

images

rep
depictions
are mentioned
in early
see Paul
that numerical
difference,

realms
of

concern
major
such
for making
and most Tibetan
which

La Lumi?re

Mus,

sur les six voies: Tableau

et m?moires
(Paris:Travaux
article, "The Tibetan Wheel

de l'institut

de la transmigration
bouddhique
1939). Geshe
Sopas

d'ethnologie,

of Life:

Iconography
and other textual

and Doxography,"
accounts
related

uses

the Vinaya sutra of Gunabhadra,

to the
not
wheel.
do
accord
with
vinaya
Although
descriptions
completely
extant
directions
for painting
the image in
examples,
they do include
is where
which
vestibules,
monastery
they are often found.
55.This
long-held
emphasis was established
by early scholars; see, for
The History
and Literature of Buddhism
example, T.W Rhys-Davids,
(3rd
ed., New

York:

depictions
texts other

of

Putnam,
the wheel

It would
1909), pp. 80-81.
accounts
of life with
of

be useful
the various

to compare
realms in

than those describing

the making
of paintings
of the wheel
of
life.The Mah?vastu,
for example, relates a detailed account of Maudgaly?yana's
visits to other realms (The Mah?vastu,
of the Buddhists,
Sacred Books
vol.
[London: Luzac, 1949], vol. 1, pp. 6-52).
trans.J.J.Jones
demonstrate
the continued
of
56. The wheel
paintings
significance
central concepts
of early Buddhism,
but also reflect the particular
char
acter of later
such as those in Tibet.
practices

XVI,

of

57. Indeed, depictions

richness
of the concept

the wheel

of

life clearly
in Buddhist

resonate

with

the

of the wheel
thought. Robert
a major
on Dv?ravat?
for instance, has recently
Brown,
published
study
cakras in which
he discusses
the richness of wheel
In partic
symbolism.
see The Dvaravatt Wheels
ular he relates these cakras to bhavacakras,
of the
Law

and the Indianization

of South East Asia

(Leiden:

EJ. Brill,

1996), pp.

115-16.
fact that bricks were
inscribed
58. The
to consider
indicates
that there is much

with

the Buddhist

formula

about
the significance
of its
on awide
appearance
Sastri,"The
variety of objects. See Hirananda
Clay
Seals of N?land?,"
Indica, vol. 21, p. 72.
Epigraphia
and significant
of the earth goddess with
59. One
interesting
example
out M?ra
occurs
in the image now in the main
shrine of the Mah?bodhi
is illustrated
in Huntington,
Temple.The
sculpture
the earth
fig 106. In this tenth-century
sculpture

"PMa-Sena"

Schools,
in the
kneels

goddess
of the base, flanked by pairs of elephants
and lions.
see Ratan
60. For example,
in Indian
Parimoo,
Life of the Buddha
Sculpture: (Ashta-maha-pratiharya"
(New Delhi: Kanak Publications,
1985).
61. Boucher,
"The Pratttyasamutp?dag?th?zna
ItsRole
in the Medieval
center

Cult

of

the Relics,"
trans
how
the Buddhist
formula
p. 7, discussing
see this verse,
dharma into relic, notes texts stating that those who
see the dharma
see the dharma,
see the Buddha.
and those who
Indeed,
use of the prat?tya
the widespread
indicate
that such
may
samutp?dag?th?

formed

refer with
sculptures
equal
what
the Buddha
did.
62. Robert

L. Brown,

emphasis

to what

the Buddha

thought

and

in Ancient
Stories
Indian
and
J?taka
Southeast Asian Architecture,"
in Sacred Biography
in the Buddhist Traditions
of Hawaii
of South and Southeast Asia, ed. Juliane Schober
(Hawaii: Univ.
Pr., 1997), pp. 97-100.
63.Lama
of Buddhism

Chimpa
in India

"The

andAlaka
(Simla:

trans., T?ran?tha's History

Chattopadhyaya,
Indian Institute of Advanced
Studies,
1970),

p. 302.
a
de Mallmann,
Introduction
64. See Marie-Th?r?se
l'iconographie du
t?ntrisme bouddhique (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve,
1975), p. 418, and Alfred
sur
Etude
Foucher,
Viconographie de Vlnde d'apr?s des documents nouveaux
vol. 2, pp. 15-21.
(Paris: Ernest Leroux,
1900-1905),
of this form and relationships
65.1 discuss the sculptural presentations
to S?dhanamM?

in Bodhgay?, Site of Enlightenment

descriptions
(Bombay:
1988), pp. 36-40.
In the eighth-century
discussed
sculpture
(see Fig. 8),
previously
are too
the bodhisattvas
to be
but they
identified,
damaged
conclusively
at least reveal the
at
as atten
of bodhisattvas
early appearance
Bodhgay?
dants to a Buddha
in bh?misparsa
mudr?. Moreover,
it may be relevant
in his seventh-century
that Xuanzang,
of the site, mentioned
description

Marg,
66.

of Maitreya

and Avalokitesvara
the Mah?bodhi
flanking
Temple.
as
C. Huntington,
of the
"Pilgrimage
Image: The Cult
Part 2," Orientations,
vol. 18, no. 8 (1987), pp. 56-68.
Ashtamahapratiarya,
figures

67. John

68.

I discuss

Buddha's

Life

this configuration
in P?la-Period
Art,"

its late date

and

Silk Road

Art

in "Scenes

of

and Archaeology,

the

vol.

do not
scholars, such as John Huntington,
PP- 257?76- Many
that
the
in which
stele
S?rn?th
this group of eight first appears
recognize
dates from the eighth
it to be a fifth-centu
century;
they have assumed
(1993?94),

In this post-Gupta
stele the eight scenes are all the same
period
from eastern
India.
they are on votive
st?pas of the ninth century
seven
The configuration
of one large scene surrounded
smaller scenes
by
the same group of eight) did not occur until some time in the
(forming
ry work.
size, as

tenth

century.
continues
in her recent work
this emphasis
69. Vidhya
Dehejia
"From
the sixth centu
(Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 273), writing:
enthusiasm
receded
for the visual narration
of events from
ry onward,
the historic
more

life of the Buddha

or his previous
lives. As Buddhism
became
the original historical
Buddha with

shifted from
emphasis
to the concept
characteristics,

esoteric,

human

of an unborn,

supreme

unchanging

Buddha."
70. The
as

later images is subverted

them
by viewing
narrative
the sites
forms, or by contrasting
sites where
with
Jagdishpur-type
images are prominent
they are
not. The
in bh?misparsa
central Buddha
in the Jagdishpur
mudr?
stele

solely
where

of

meaning

increasingly

these

simple

the grouping
but it accrues power
from the rich narrative
s horde. Moreover,
such asM?ra
the base of the Jagdishpur
sculp
ture includes a group of
and two tantric female deities
eight bodhisattvas

dominates
details

sides of the base). These

non-narrative
elements
frame
(on the oblique
the central section
and earth goddesses.
M?ra, his daughters,
containing
to consider
there is no concrete
it is tempting
that
evidence,
Although
at N?land?
as away
this image type was emphasized
to compensate
for
that

site's

lack

of

ties

historical

to

S?kyamuni

at

the moment

of

Enlightenment.
71. The motif

of a wheel
with
deer appears quite common
flanking
seems meant
to rep
ly in Jain images dating after the fifth century. This
resent the idea of
teaching,
though not the specific event of the Buddha's
at S?rn?th.
First Teaching
on the Dhelva
B?b?: A Buddha
72. C.S. Upasak,
"Inscriptions
Image
in the N?land?
Museum,"
Journal
of the Bihar Research Society, vol. 53, p.
is incorrect,
as
in identifying
this bodhisattva
141; he
however,

Avalokitesvara.
Paul, The Art of N?land?,
p. 96, fig. 74, repeats
Debjani
smistaken
a useful discus
identification
but otherwise
Upasak
presents
sion of the inscriptions.
has noted
that after the fifth century, all Buddhist
73. Gregory
Schopen
monasteries
this
of
motif;
adopted
again, it seems to signify the concept
teaching
74. We

in general
at S?rn?th.
rather than the specific episode
are left with
to whom
were
the very real question,

directed: who
could read them and to whom
inscriptions
notes
nificant? The donative
that the female
inscription
a monastic
and seemingly
the female named
in
devotee,
at the proper
on the base of
is the figure depicted
right

were
donor

these

they sig
was not

the inscription
the stele.

The Evolution
75. Benjamin
Rowland,
of the Buddha Image (New York:
The Asia Society,
1963), p. 16.
and Twelfth-Century
76. Hiram W Woodward,
Jr., "Queen Kumaradev?
S?rn?th," Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, n.s. 12-13
(1981-83),
at S?rn?th
the patronage
of this queen
and her east
pp. 7-24, discusses
ern Indian
connections:
her maternal
uncle was
the P?la ruler
family
Mathana
whose
the lord of P?th?.
sister, Sankaradev?, married
Devaraksita,
P?th? has been
for

a brief

Sircar as the region around

by DC.
Bodhgay?;
the very
rulers of P?th?, see DC.
interesting
of P?th?pati ?cary? Buddhasena,"
in Senarat
Inscription

identified

discussion

of

Sircar, "Bodhgay?
Parnavitana
Commemoration
ed. Leelananda
VII,
Leeuw
Lohuizen-de

Volume,

Prematilleke,

Studies
Karthigesu

in South Asian
Indrapala,

vol.
Culture,
and J.E. van

(Leiden: EJ.Brill,
1978), pp. 255-56.
from Bodh
77. See Niradbandhu
Sanyal, "A Buddhist
Inscription
of the reign of Jayaccandradeva?vs.
124X," Indian Historical
Gay?
dates from 1185
(1929), pp. 14-30; the inscription
Quarterly, vol.V, no.i
CE.

81

78. Records

of donation,
moreover,
the dates of various
rulers,
establishing
donations
by such rulers.
79. There
fully

applied
reading: Word

have
even

been

valued
for
primarily
they do not record
though

are interesting
of such issues that could be use
discussions
to Buddhist
and
art; for example, Mieke
Bal, "On looking
and image, visual poetics
and comparative
arts," Semi?tica,

Boucher
doubts
that the Buddhist
76 (1989), pp. 283-320.
Although
verse was understood
when
used to mark
that its
objects?maintaining
rather than its content was
presence
important?this
begs the question
of its selection
and repeated
appearance.

vol.

on early sources
to concentrate
have tended
to its con
the prat?tya samutp?da, with
less attention
in later Buddhist
in
tinued significance
for
there is
which,
fact,
writing,
For example,
itwas a feature of M?dhyamika
evidence.
("mid
interesting
as reflected
text
in the eighth-century
dle doctrine")
Buddhist
thought
80. Likewise,

when

scholars

discussing

of S?ntaraksita,
Tattvasamgraha
nos. 80, 83 (Baroda: Oriental

82

trans. G. Jha, Gaekwad's

Oriental
Series,
A later example
of its
1937-39).

Institute,

occurs
in the work
of the major Tibetan
continued
teacher
importance
lived at the end of the fourteenth
century. He wrote
Tsong Kha pa, who
a text praising
as the source of this doctrine
the Buddha
of dependent
the order which
later rose to dom
origination.
Tsong Kha pa founded
inate
belong

the religious
to
this

activities
and political
the
order,
Gelug

Pratityasamutp?dastutisubh?sitahrdayam
Namdol
and Ngawang
Samten,
Series, vol. Ill (S?rn?th: Central

The

the Dalai

ofTibet;
pa,

of?c?rya
Dalai

Institute

or

Yellow

Lamas
Hats.

always
See

Tsong kha pa, trans. Gyaltsen

Lama Tibeto-Indological
of Tibetan
Studies,
Higher

in exile in India,
fact that an important Tibetan
teacher now
1982).The
a commentary
Ven. Lobsang Gyatso,
upon Tsong Kha
recently published
pa's text, The Essence
of Eloquent
Speech, Praise to the Buddha for Teaching
is one demonstration
of the ongoing
Profound Dependent-Arising,
impor
tance

of

this

teaching.

Arising
by Ven. Lobsang
and Archives,
1992).

See

The Harmony

Gyatso

(Dharmasala:

of Emptiness
Library

and Dependent
of Tibetan Works