Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s5.1

c13.s5.1

The question of the origin of the Buddha image is a significant one from the stand-point of religious and art history. The emergence of the Buddha image was the outcome of long drawn preceding movement of devotional theism or *Bhakti*. The image was not an isolated event which happended all of a sudden without its predisposing causes. Opinions have differed as to the place of origin of the Buddha image whether in the Gandhāra school or in the Mathura school of sculpture. This question must be examined independently against the background of religious history and secondly with reference to the various elements of Buddhist iconography as they can be explained in the context of India's religious and art symbolism.