Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s5.42

c13.s5.42

We should also, while considering the formula of Buddha images, have a look back into Maurya-Śunga art in quest of the various elements constituting the images in order to find out whether any of them was recognised as such in the early Buddhist art prior to Kushāṇa period. While the standing Bodhisattva was modelled after the standing Yakshas the seated type of the earliest Bodhisattvas like Katra and Anyor requires to be traced. Our attention is directed to the Aśokan Lion-capital of the Sarnath pillar. We find here a Dharmachakra as the topmost symbol surmounting the heads of the four lions. In this case it is possible to recognise the presence of the Buddha in the form of Dharmachakra, the four lions represent the lion-seat or Simhāsana. The lion seat stands for the Chakravartī aspect of his dominant personality. The symbolism of the Lion-capital clearly stands for the combination of the Yogī and the Chakravartī ideals which inspired the religionists and artists in formulating the personality of the Buddha. If we compare the Lion-capital and the Katra Bodhisattva image we find them to be the products of a single formula with only a slight modification. The Dharmachakra is replaced by the actual human figure of the Buddha holding his hand in *abhayamudrā* and the four lions carved in the round are replaced by the royal throne supported on the heads of two or three lion figures carved in relief. The search for the formula for the Buddha image must have been a very intensive one and the religious teachers as well as the artists must have gone all out with their resources both in the matter of traditional motifs and representations as well as religious traditions and beliefs in order to perfect an iconographic from which would be acceptable to all. The type of image that we find in the shape of the Katra Bodhisattva at Mathura does represent a synthesis and commingling of several strands that were available in the eclectic religious atmosphere of Mathura.