Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c5.60

c5.60

The more important basreliefs discovered at Benares have been found in the form of stelæ. Some stelæ were discovered by earlier excavators, such as Major Kittoe and Sir Alexander Cunningham, but the majority of them were discovered during the recent excavations begun by Sir John Marshall and continued by other officers up to the present day. The finds of the older excavations were partly transferred to the Indian Museum at Calcutta and were partly kept in the Library of the Queen's College at Benares, whence they were taken to the Lucknow Museum. They were then retransferred to the Museum at Sarnath. The small collection of Sarnath sculptures in the Calcutta Museum is, however, a representative one. It contains images of Buddha, Bodhisattvas, other minor deities and a number of basreliefs; some of which still form the best specimens discovered in Sarnath. Among the stelæ in this collection the most important ones are Nos. S. 1, S. 2, S. 3, and S. 4. Of these, S. 1 is the largest and by far the most important one.³ Unfortunately its upper part was broken off before its discovery and does not seem to have been recovered afterwards. The lower part of a rectangular slab of stone was covered with a single panel and the upper part, which is more than three quarters of the entire area, was divided into two vertical rows of rectangular panels, each containing a basrelief. Out of the latter only four panels over the bigger one are still intact. The basrelief in the lower part is a very important one for the history of Indian plastic art. Here we find a number of scenes from the life of Buddha, which have been found among basreliefs of the Gāndhāra School only and very rarely in the older Indian Schools. This single panel represents five different incidents of the Master's life:—(1) Buddha's mother, Māyā, dreaming that a white elephant is entering her womb. The subject is common in the Gāndhāra School.¹ Among products of the earlier Indian Schools, this scene is to be found on the railing of the stūpa of Bharhut.² In later schools this subject has been portrayed on the railing of the Amarāvatī Stūpa.³ The representation of the birth of Buddha is common in products of all schools but Māyā's dream has been represented very rarely. (2) The birth of Buddha, which, being one of the principal incidents of the Master's life, is common to all schools with variations of details. (3) The bath of the Bodhisattva, representing the new born Bodhisattva standing on a low seat by the side of his mother. This subject is to be found in the Gāndhāra and Mathurā Schools only and does not seem to have been represented by the artists of any other school.⁴ (4) The presentation of the alms-bowl (?)⁵ and (5) the Mahā-bhinishkramaṇa or Buddha leaving his home on horseback, which is to be found in all earlier schools.⁶ In the Mathurā school, the representation of this scene has been found on a solitary specimen which is the pillar dedicated by Vādhapāla Dhanabhūti and which was so long supposed to have been preserved at the Aligarh Institute.⁷ In reality it belonged to Cunningham's personal collection and he presented it to the Indian Museum, Calcutta, the day after his retirement from the Archæological Department.