Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.t5: Western Gateway

Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.t5

Language
English

Western Gateway

c12.s3.t5.1

Top Architrave—Repetition of the seven Mānushī Buddhas by their Stūpas and Bodhi Trees.

c12.s3.t5.2

Middle Architrave—The sermon on the Deer Park. The Dharmachakra is set on a throne and there are numerous deer to indicate the Mṛigadāva in which the sermon was preached.

c12.s3.t5.3

Lowest Architrave—The Chhaddanta Jātaka (also shown on north and south gateways), shown as King of the elephants worshipping the Bodhi Tree.

c12.s3.t5.4

On the north end of the architraves are scenes of Gaja-Lakshmī, Stūpa worship and Bodhi Tree worship, and the usual capital of addorsed animals. The capital above the pillar consits of standing *Kumbhāṇḍa* or *Kichaka* dwarfs with hands raised aloft, a motif which is mentioned in the Sabhāparva as *Kiṅkara*, *Guhyaka* or *Antarikshachara Rākshasa*.

c12.s3.t5.5

Back view—The chief of the Mallas of Kusīnārā bearing the relics of the Buddha on his head into the town of Kusīnārā.

c12.s3.t5.6

Middle Architrave—War of the relics, also depicted on the south gateway showing the seven chiefs distinguished by their seven royal umbrellas, advancing with their armies to the city of Kusīnārā.

c12.s3.t5.7

Lowest Architrave—Temptation of the Buddha. In the centre is the temple of Bodhgaya with the *Pipal* Tree and the Throne of the Buddha within; to the right, the armies of Māra fleeing discomfitted from the Buddha; to the left, the Devas celebrating the victories of the Buddha over the evil one and exalting his glorious achievements. The *Māra-Dharshaṇa* scene set a model for its subsequent portrayal in other places and even in the Ajanta painting.

c12.s3.t5.8

The ends of the architraves on the two sides as usual show scenes of Stūpa worship, Chakra worship, winged lions, and false capitals.

c12.s3.t5.9

LEFT PILLAR : Front Face—The top panel shows a cross-section of the Uttarakuru land with four seated *mithunas* and one standing couple engaged in music and drinking under various *Kalpavrikshas* producing ornaments, In the lower panel partly defaced is the repetition of a similar scene with *Kalpavrikshas* producing ornaments and coins.

c12.s3.t5.10

INNER FACE: Top Panel—Śyāma Jātaka. Śyāma, the only son of a blind hermit and his wife, who are entirely dependent on him for support, goes to draw water and is shot with an arrow by the king of Vārāṇasī who is out hunting; thanks to the king’s penitence and his parent’s sorrow, Indra intervenes, and allows Śyāma to be healed and his parents’ sight to be restored.

c12.s3.t5.11

At the right hand top corner of the panel are the two hermitages with the father and mother seated in front of them. Below them their son Śyāma is coming to draw water from the stream. Then, to the left, we see the figure of the king thrice repeated, first shooting the lad in the water, than with bow in hand, then standing penitent with bow and arrow discarded; and in the left top corner are the father, mother and son restored to health, and by their side the god Indra and the king, the former wearing his characteristic head-dress.

c12.s3.t5.12

Second Panel—Nāgarāja Muchalinda shielding Buddha from rain.

c12.s3.t5.13

Third Panel—Only the upper part of this panel is now preserved. It appears to depict the miraculous crossing of the Ganges by the Buddha when he left Rājagṛiha to visit Vaiśālī.

c12.s3.t5.14

RIGHT PILLAR: Front Face—Top Panel—Mahākapi Jātaka. The Bodhisattva born as the king of monkeys formed a bridge across the river with his own body over which his followers crossed over to eat the fruits of a large mango tree. Brahmadatta surrounded the tree but the Bodhisattva saved his tribe. But Devadatta jumped on his back and made the heart of the Bodhisattva break. Brahmadatta seeing the good deed of the Bodhisattva and repenting of his own attempt to kill him, tended him with great care when he was dying and afterwards gave him royal obsequies.

c12.s3.t5.15

Higher up the panel is the great mango tree to which two monkeys are clinging, while the king of the monkeys is stretched across the river, from the mango tree to the opposite bank and over his body some monkeys have escaped to the rocks and jungles thereon. In the lower part of the panel, to the left, is king Brahmadatta on horse back with his soldiers.

c12.s3.t5.16

Higher up the panel the figure of the king is repeated sitting under the mango tree and conversing with the dying Bodhisattva.

c12.s3.t5.17

SECOND PANEL—*Adhyeshana* i.e. the gods led by Brahmā and Indra entreat the Buddha to show mankind the way of salvation.

c12.s3.t5.18

THIRD PANEL—Indra’s visit to the Buddha in the Indraśaila cave.

c12.s3.t5.19

LOWEST PANEL—Three rampant lions standing on the lotus tree of life and fortune. The foliage is peculiar to the early school and is never found in later art. We see here a combination of the twisted and corrugated palm leaves in combination with the lotus.

c12.s3.t5.20

INNER FACE—Sambodhi or the enlightenment of the Buddha showing the Throne, Bodhi Maṇḍa under the Bodhi Tree, and round them Māra with his daughters.

c12.s3.t5.21

SECOND PANEL—The conversion of the Śākyas in which the Buddha preaches in the Banyan Park at Kapilavastu to his father Śuddhodana and the assembled Śākya chiefs.

c12.s3.t5.22

Back—Parinirvāṇa of the Buddha, represented by a Stūpa and attendant figures.

c12.s3.t5.23

The sculptures on these four gateways with their architraves and pillars are sometimes bold being conceived independently and at others crowded in multitudinous groups as for example those in the war of relics. In other cases as in the depiction of the Vessantara Jātaka the scenes are synoptically treated and of clear composition.

c12.s3.t5.24

There is an abundance of natural scenes showing Bodhi trees and domestic and wild animals like elephants, lions and deer. There are certain marked points of contrast between Bharhut and Sanchi portrayals. At Bharhut the number of Jātaka scenes are much more in excess than at Sanchi; whereas the Bharhut sculptors took pleasure in depicting a number of minor Jātakas, the Sanchi artisans only concentrate on the great Jātakas and those also limited in number—for example, Vessantara Jātaka, Chhaddanta Jātaka (repeated several times), Śyāma Jātaka and Mahākapi Jātaka. The number of Buddha's life scenes is much in excess at Sanchi and even there the sculptors are more fond of depicting the miracles of the Master, e. g. his walking in the air, on water and the miracles in the hermitage of Kāśyapa. The historical scenes also may be said to be more frequent at Sanchi; for example, we find the visit of Ajātaśatru and Prasenajit Kosala to the Buddha and of Prasenajit visiting the mango tree at Śrāvastī, Ajātaśatru visiting the Āmravana of Jīvaka, king Śuddhodana going to meet the Buddha, and Aśoka's visit to the Bodhi-vṛiksha at Bodhgaya and the Nāga Stūpa at Rāmagrāma. The life episodes of the Buddha had become very much standardised at Sanchi, being frequently portrayed in the form of the worship of the Bodhi Tree, Dharmachakra and Stūpa.

c12.s3.t5.25

A new feature at Sanchi is the especial emphasis on depicting scenes of the Uttarakuru country where happy mithunas enjoy dance, music and drink under the Kalpavṛiksha trees. It appears that the Uttarakuru had been accepted as the land of Buddhist paradise, although still retaining its Maha character. The toranas at Bharhut are finished in crocodile-shaped volutes and those at Sanchi in the ‘spiral’ motifs (*Chakravyūha*) which was a marked difference between the two Stūpas. The *Saṅghāṭa* of the addorsed animals like the horses, elephants, deer, bulls and lions is much more emphasised at Sanchi. The Śrī-Lakṣmī depiction on the false capitals and also that of *Pūrṇakumbha* is a conspicuous feature on the Sanchi *toraṇas*. It appears that the spirit behind the Śrī-Lakṣmī cult was still alive, but more evolved at Sanchi and became assimilative of the religious beliefs about Uttarakuru on the one hand and about the nativity of the Buddha on the other; but still we should recognise its popular character as part of a folk cult. [Fig. 65].

c12.s3.t5.26

Marshall noticed the diversity of style and inequality in technique amongst the sculptors at Sanchi. The second panel on the front face of the right pillar of western gateway, the *Adhyeṣaṇa* scene shows a strong archaising tendency whereas the *Chūḷāmaha* scene on the lowest panel of the front face of the left pillar of the south gateway shows as advanced a style as anything produced by the early school. The war of the relics on the southern and western gateways exhibits a fine sense of composition and modelling. This school of Vidiśā situated on the highway between Mathura and Pratiṣṭhāna exerted a strong influence on the subsequent Mathura School of Sculpture which derived many of its ideas of composition of the various life-scenes of the Buddha in their symbolical form and also its technique and style. The southern gateway was carved by a guild of ivory workers of Vidiśā, *Vediśakehi dantakārehi rūpakammaṃ kataṃ*. The carvers have succeeded in the clear treatment of the bas-reliefs and figures either alone or in groups and based themselves on the simplicity and naturalness of their rendering. It is a great quality by which this early school was marked and which their patron, namely the wealthy merchants of Vidiśā and Ujjayinī specially liked. The sculptors were definitely advancing towards giving an increasing religious tone to the subjects handled by them as shown by the abundance of the religious symbols depicted in these bas-reliefs. Marshall criticised some of these scenes as mundane and sensuous but that was due to misunderstanding, for, as pointed out above, these were Elysian scenes of ideal happiness from the Uttarakuru land which were now put into great relief, and probably synchronised with the descriptions in the epics and Jātakas with which the scenes faithfully agree. It may also be noted that these Stūpas serve as commentaries on the many religious cults that were prevalent during the centuries prior to the Christian era and which were seeking marked embrace with Buddhism.

Linked texts (3)