Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c13.s5.9

c13.s5.9

As against the religious prohibition against the making of the Buddha image, it may be imagined that the Buddhists coming under the influence of the Bhāgavata movement of image-worship and temple-building had been wishing for some time past to depict the Buddha in human form. The force of the traditional prohibition was very strong and no one would dare easily transgress it. Therefore in the earliest stages of it to begin with a decision on the part of the highest patron of the faith was required in the matter. Archaeological evidence points to the fact that such a forward step was taken by Kanishka. Secondly in the beginning it was not the image of the Buddha but that of the Bodhisattva with which they started, and in which it was considered that no or the least violence to the belief or scriptures was involved.