Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c12.s3.t5.24

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.