Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.141
Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c11.141
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c11.141
MEANING OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE SARNATH LION-CAPITAL :-Several suggestions have been put forward about the meaning of the abacus. Bloch was of the view that they stand for the four gods, Indra, Śiva, Sūrya and perhaps Durgā, whose *Vahanas* they are and consequently they are meant to indicate the subordination of these gods to Buddha and his Law. This theory, however ingenious has little to support it. Foucher connected them with the four great events of the Buddha's life, the Bull standing for his birth, the Elephant for the conception in the womb of Māyā who saw a great white elephant in her dream, the Horse with the renunciation and the Lion with the Buddha himself as Śākya-Simha Daya Ram Sahni suggested that they are connected with the imagery of the four outlets of the Buddhist *Anotatta* lake.