Indian Art: A History of Indian Art from the Earliest Times up to the Third Century A.D. c8.s1.33

c8.s1.33

Buddha, whatever may be said of him as Gautama the Man, has been rendered in art with a gushing acceptance of an ancient symbolism from the Vedas. The Lokottaravādin biographers of the Buddha, as in Lalitavistara, wholeheartedly admitted the strands of yore for weaving the rich texture of Buddha's life. What is the meaning of the white elephant, of oblique birth, seven steps, first bath, Bodhi-tree, Māra, Indra-śaila cave, Honey gift by the monkey, conversion of four bowls into one, miracle of fire and water and assumption of the Thousand-Buddha form? The answer to these questions is a despair of the Buddhist texts; the key lies in the long tradition of Vedic and popular symbols. Buddha is Sūrya, the white elephant is the principle of universal consciousness incarnating in the individual centre; oblique birth is the appearance of life from an unknown source which is neither up nor below; the First Bath of hot and cold streams is a dip in the duality of Agni and Soma; the honey was the symbol of Soma or immortal knowledge, light and life; the monkey is the ancient Vṛishākapi, a friend of Indra; Indra's cave is a Vedic idea where Agni was first lit or the light first appeared; the conversion of four cups into one is reverse of what the Vedic Ṛibhus did in making four of the one original bowl, viz. a tatradic cosmos from a single cause; Fire and Water miracles are plainly of metaphysical import and are remind of the two views in the Ṛigveda of the Waters (Āpo-Bhūyishṭha) and Fire (Agni-bhūyishṭha) views of creation (RV. I. 161. 9).