Studies in Indian Art c12.s3.t2.19
Studies in Indian Art c12.s3.t2.19
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c12.s3.t2.19
The above nine antiquities furnish valuable evidence for a proper study of the beginnings and growth of the Dhyāni Buddha and Bodhisattva cult in the philosophical schools of the Mahāyāna Buddhists at Mathurā. We are well aware from the extended studies of Dr. Coomaraswamy that Mathura took a leading part in the origin and development of the Buddha image [*vide his essay on the Origin of the Buddha Image*]. It is therefore in the fitness of things that the creative and prolific genius of her artists should have been employed to carve also the various Bodhisattvas who appeared with the rise of Mahāyānism. The available specimens from Mathurā include the following special classes of Buddha images: