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Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7: Chapter IV. The Representation of the Buddhacharitra

Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7

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Chapter IV. The Representation of the Buddhacharitra

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One of the most important features of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture, during the period of its existence, from the middle of the eighth century A.D. to the end of the twelfth, is the evolution of a particular style in which artists of the eastern provinces of Northern India represented scenes from the life of Buddha. The north-eastern provinces of India, specially Bengal with all its constituent parts (northern, central, eastern, southern and western), remained, for the most part, Buddhist in faith, even after the disappearance of Buddhism as a dominant religion from other parts of India. The artists of this part of India devoted their ingenuity to the discovery of new forms of the representation of the important incidents of the life of the great Master. Their efforts have come down to us in two different styles. There may have been other styles also, but the destruction of all ancient Buddhist structures in Bengal and Bihar has made it extremely difficult, at present, to ascertain whether the styles, specially in basreliefs, of the older schools of Gāndhāra, Mathurā and Benares, were continued in north-eastern India in the early mediæval age or not. Sufficient evidence, however, has been discovered to prove that the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture evolved at least two entirely different styles for the representation of incidents of the life of the Master. These two different styles, however, were adaptations of the basreliefs, with which students of ancient Indian art are familiar in the older schools of sculpture, such as Gāndhāra, Mathurā, Amarāvatī and Benares. These two different modes of representation of the incidents of the life of Buddha are also to some extent alike. In the first mode we find an image of Buddha representing one particular incident of the Master's life surrounded by numerous other images or small basreliefs, representing either particular incidents or the majority of the important incidents. This particular class of basreliefs therefore can be sub-divided into two other groups. In the first group are included those specimens which are surrounded by the majority of the incidents of the Master's life and in the second group we find that the main figure represents one particular incident of the Master's life, while on the backslab seven other principal incidents are portrayed. The second mode consists of the representation of a single incident of Buddha's life in the form of an image. The beginnings of both of these styles are to be found in the Benares school of sculpture. Thus, an image dedicated by a Buddhist elder named Bandhugupta, discovered in the first excavation of Sarnath in 1904-05, represents the Buddha seated on a rocky throne in the attitude of touching the earth (*bhūmisparśa-mudrā*), while in front of the pedestal a female is to be seen rushing upwards with a vase or jar in her hand¹. In this particular image is represented the incident of the enlightenment of Buddha, his call on the Earth-goddess to witness his perfection and her response to the call of the Master. In the basreliefs of the Benares School this particular incident is very often combined with the defeat of the legions of Māra, who are seen either assailing the Master or flying after their defeat. The difference between the basreliefs and the new style of representation consists in having an image proper in the centre, which is made much larger in comparison with the attendant figures.

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¹ *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1904-95, pl. XXVIII a.*

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The artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture continued the initial efforts made in this direction by the artists of the early Gupta period in Buddhist Benares. They finished the evolution of the more elaborate stelæ representing either all the eight or most of the principal incidents of the Master's life; as well as the special image representing one particular incident. The first group corresponds to some extent to the stelæ, with which one is so familiar in the Benares school of sculpture; whether it consists of superimposed panels or of separate panels. The artists of the eastern school of sculpture simply enlarged the main figure of one of these basreliefs and reduced the size of the others. In this respect therefore the first group of images or basreliefs of the Bengal School can be called stelæ. These stelæ of the Bengal school, as has been stated above, can be further subdivided into two different parts :—(a) The more elaborate and (b) the less elaborate.

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Specimens which can be relegated to the first group are very few in number. One of these has been discovered in the village of Sibbati in the Khulna District of Bengal which was brought to my notice by Professor Satish Chandra Mitra, M.A., of the Hindu Academy of Daulatpur in the same district as well as by Mr. Hemendra Prasad Ghosh, a well known journalist of Calcutta.¹ Another specimen appears to have been discovered somewhere in Bihar, most probably in the town of Bihar itself. It formed a part of the collection of Magadha sculptures described by the late Dr. John Anderson, the first Superintendent of the Indian Museum, who describes it in the following words : "An elaborate sculpture in very black stone, measuring 1'-11" high and 10".50 in breadth. Occupying nearly the centre of the sculpture is a recess 7".50 high and 1".75 deep, in which there is a figure of Buddha in the bhūmisparśa-mudrā. The arch of this recess is supported on octagonal pillars with bracket capitals, and, above each of the latter, there is a small recess bearing a small chaitya with a seated figure of Buddha, with another and similar recess above it. A vidyādhara is introduced between the main arch and these recesses, as if it were supporting the uppermost small recess with one hand, while its right hand holds up the basement of another large elaborate temple resembling the Great Temple of Buddha Gaya and which contains a figure of Buddha in the bhūmisparśa-mudrā. Above the chaitya-shaped pinnacle of this temple, there is a representation of the nirvāṇa of Buddha, the figure lying in a kind of frame supported at each corner by a seated human figure, above which, over the frame, is a small chaitya with a small human figure on each side of it. The remainder of the sculpture is covered with small figures, and, along the sides, there are a series of *chaityas* placed one above the other with small recesses containing figures of Padma-pāṇi, of Buddha and incidents in his life, of Māyā in the Lumbinī garden, this last scene, however, not being represented in the simple way it is in the Sarnath sculptures but in a conventional fashion. The mass of little figures in the upper part of the sculpture seems to refer exclusively to Buddha's temptation by Māra. The history of this sculpture is unknown, and it is only supposed to be from Bihar.¹

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¹ See pl. XIX c.

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¹ Anderson—*Catalogue and Handbook of the Archæological Collections in the Indian Museum, Calcutta, Part II*, Br. 5, p. 80. An illustration of this basrelief appeared in the *Journal of the Buddhist Text Society*, Vol. I, 1893. See pl. XIX *b*.

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This specimen is very small, but its carving is very elaborate. The Sib-bati stele is much larger in size than the one discovered in Bihar. Mr. K. N. Dikshit, Superintendent, Archæological Survey, Eastern Circle, has kindly examined the stele *in situ*, and informed me that the condition of this stele is not very good, as it is worshipped as Śiva at the present day and water is continually thrown on it during worship. Consequently it is also impossible to get a good photograph of it, as it is besmeared with oil and clarified butter, which cannot be removed without the use of soap; but as soap contains grease, an unclean substance according to orthodox Hindu ideas, the worshippers of the stele do not permit its application.²

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² See pl. XIX *c*.

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With the exception of the disparity in size, both the stelae are almost identical in other respects. In the centre of each of them is a large temple, the *śikhara* of which resembles that of the great temple at Bodh Gaya. Inside this temple, under a trefoil arch, Buddha is seated in the attitude of touching the earth, on a full blown lotus. The thunderbolt (*vajra*) is in each case shown in front of Buddha, on the top of the lotus throne, to mark it as the adamantine throne (*vajrāsana*), seated on which Buddha attained perfection. There is a slight difference in the arrangement of the throne on which this lotus is placed, the details of which are described below. Below the throne there are two rows of basreliefs one above the other, the upper one of which represents the attack of Māra's army on Buddha, the allurements of Māra's daughters, and the arrival of Māra and his wife on the scene. This part of the basrelief is connected with the figure of Buddha in the centre of the stele and represents the incidents immediately preceding the illumination (*sambodhi*). Surrounding this central group there is a band all round the stele which contains different incidents of the life of the Master, beginning with his birth and ending with his death. The scene of the birth is placed, in both stelae, inside a miniature shrine to the proper left of the main figure. In the stele from Bihar, we find Māyādevī standing under a *śāla* tree, clasping the neck of a female to her proper left, the child issuing from her proper right and two small figurines standing below; the arrangement of the details of this and the other incidents will be discussed below.

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Below the niche, containing the representation of the birth, is a small basrelief containing a seated figure of the Bodhisattva. Under it is a small basrelief representing the prediction of the sage Asita Devala, and below it again there is another basrelief, which perhaps represents the Bodhisattva going to school. Below this is a seated figure, at the proper left lower corner of the stele. To the proper right of this figure, which represents the first meditation of Buddha on the uncertainties of life, we find the following incidents :—(1) The Mahābhinishkramaṇa or the departure of Buddha from his home, (2) the leave taking of Chhandaka and Kaṇṭhaka, (3) the change of garments and (4) the emaciation of the Bodhisattva. At the lower proper right corner in the Bihar stele we find the figure of the donor kneeling with a garland between his hands. From this place we go up. On the Shibbati stele three recessed corners on the left or the proper right, bear three pairs of human figures, probably representing the family of the donor. Above the last two recessed corners, in this stele, we find a figure of the Bodhisattva seated in meditation, with two females standing on his right, the figures on the left having become indistinct. This portion of the basrelief may represent the presentation of the pāyasa to Buddha by Sujātā or Nandabālā, when the Master was famished; because one of the figures in the Sibbati stele, namely that on the extreme right, holds a vessel in her hand. We now return to the temple in the centre of the stele, the figure seated inside it, and the bands of basrelief immediately below the throne, which latter represent the incidents connected with the illumination of Buddha and his attainment of perfection. There cannot be any doubt as to this temple being intended to represent the great temple at Bodh Gaya, because just over the main figure there is a small chamber containing a similar but much smaller figurine, and corresponding to the chamber over the garbhagriha of the great temple at Bodh Gaya, which has survived to this day. The four small niches near the spire would then represent the four small shrines at the four corners of the great temple at Bodh Gaya, at the level of the upper chamber. On the top of the spire there is a chaitya, in the place of the usual finial, which has been placed over the āmalaka. It will be noticed that in both of the stelæ there are two smaller niches or miniature shrines, containing figures of minor Buddhist deities, near the base indicating that in the original temple there were four similar shrines on the ground level out of which only the two in the front have been portrayed in these stelæ. The representation of the temple in both of the stelæ is almost exactly the same. The next incident in the Master's life, immediately after the illumination, is the protection of his body from wind and rain by the Nāga king Muchalinda. This scene is to be found on both the stelæ, in the second line from the bottom near the lower proper right corner. The first sermon preached by Buddha at Benares is portrayed in a miniature temple at the level of the head of the main figure, on the proper right. A similar niche or temple on the proper left contains a similarly situated figurine, which, as we shall see later on when we come to describe the identity of the basreliefs of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture, represents the miracle of Śrāvastī. Higher up, on each side of the śikhara of the main shrine, there are two other miniature temples which contain scenes representing the taming of the robbers and the taming of the mad elephant Nālagiri or Ratnapāla by Buddha at Rājagṛiha. The upper part of the backslab, in both of the stelæ, represents the incidents connected with the death of Buddha.

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In the second sub-division of stelæ, which consist of an image of Buddha surrounded by smaller images or basreliefs representing other incidents of his life, there are also sub-varieties. The differentia between the sub-varieties pertain entirely to the number of details, which we find in the case of the main image and the subsidiary basreliefs or images. The most elaborate stele of this class is a big image lying in situ on a mound near the modern village of Jagdispur near Bargaon (Nālandā) in the Patna District of Bihar and Orissa. In this image, the lower part of which is still buried underground, the main image represents Buddha in the bhūmisparśa-mudrā, surrounded on both sides by the army of Māra attacking him furiously. The edge of the backslab is occupied by seven separate basreliefs, representing seven different incidents of the Master's life, which are almost complete in all details and would compare very well with the basreliefs on the stelæ discovered at Sarnath¹. Another image of this class has not been preserved entirely. It belongs to the Indian Museum Collection (No. 4575-76)². We see only the proper left side of the backslab containing three main incidents depicted in great detail. These details, however, will be discussed, when we come to the identification of the basreliefs themselves.

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¹ See pl. XX a.

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² Supplementary Catalogue, p. 53. See Pl. XX b.

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In the majority of cases the stelæ of this class consist of an image of Buddha in the bhūmisparśa-mudrā in the centre and a small basrelief representing his death or mahāparinirvāṇa overhead. There are, besides, six smaller images or basreliefs, three on each side of the main image. The incidents represented in the six latter basreliefs on the sides of the backslab differ in different stelæ. The following four incidents are common to almost all of them:—(1) the birth, (2) the illumination or sambodhi, (3) the first sermon at Benares or dharma-chakra-pravartana and (4) the death or mahāparinirvāṇa. Of these the birth and the first sermon at Benares are the most frequent. In addition to these two incidents there are four or five others which occur on the sides of the stelæ and vary in different specimens; these as:—(1) the presentation of honey by a monkey at Vaiśālī, (2) the attempt of Buddha's cousin Devadatta on the Master's life through hired assassins, (3) or by the mad elephant Nālagiri or Ratnapāla at Rājagṛiha, (4) the descent from the heaven of the thirty-three gods (Dev-āvatāra) and (5) the miracle of Śrāvastī. Any four of these might be selected by the artists to complete the eight principal incidents of the Master's life. In the majority of cases, the central figure is that of Buddha in the attitude of touching the earth (bhūmisparśa-mudrā), but there are several exceptions to this general rule.

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For instance, in several sculptures the central place is occupied by a standing figure of Buddha or one seated in the attitude of turning the Wheel of the Law. In another specimen now in the Indian Museum (No. 3755)¹ we find Buddha seated in the dharma-chakra-mudrā in the same position and in a number of others again a standing figure of Buddha. The best specimen of this class is a large sculpture placed inside the north-western corner shrine on the second storey of the main temple at Mahābodhi or Bodh Gaya. At one time the Indian Museum contained a very large number of such specimens, but the majority of them have been presented by its Trustees as duplicates to other institutions. Thus the Rajshahi Museum has come to possess at least two of these unique images.² The only specimen now remaining in the Indian Museum is No. 3766.³ The Museum of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad can boast of one specimen only (C(c)1).⁴ The standing figures of Buddha represent, as we shall see later on, his descent accompanied by Indra and Brahmā, from the heaven of the thirty-three gods. In this class many specimens do not represent all of the eight incidents of the Master's life. The image in the small temple in the north-western corner of the second storey of the great temple at Bodh Gaya represents seven only, while No. 3766⁵ of the Indian Museum represents only five.

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In this specimen the birth, the illumination and the death are omitted.⁶ In the Bodh Gaya specimen the central figure is that of the taming of Nālagiri or Ratnapāla. The birth is omitted and the death is to be found on the top. The scenes on the sides of the backslab are:—(1) the illumination or sambodhi, (2) the taming of the robbers at Rājagṛiha, (3) the first sermon at Benares, (4) the presentation of honey at Vaiśālī and (5) the miracle of Śrāvastī. In this class may be included stele No. 3739 of the collection in the Indian Museum. In this specimen the central figure is occupied by an image of Buddha in the attitude of touching the earth. Below it we find four more, but in different attitudes, and representing other incidents of the Master's life.⁷ Of the latter the two at the extremities are also in the bhūmisparśa-mudrā and cannot be properly identified; but of those between them, one is attended by the kneeling figure of a monkey, and holds a bowl in his hands, representing the presentation of honey on the bank of the tank to Buddha. The other figure is in the attitude of turning the wheel of the law (dharma-chakra-mudrā) and therefore represents Buddha preaching the first sermon at Benares.

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A similar fragment discovered at Nālandā represents four incidents of Buddha's life.⁸ The fragment bears four niches containing figures of Buddha in the following mudrās:—(1) vara(?), (2) dharma-chakra, (3) bhū-misparśa and (4) dhyāna representing, as we shall see later on, when we come to the explanation of the mudrās in the eastern school of mediæval sculpture:—(1) the descent from the heaven of the thirty-three gods? (2) the first sermon at Benares, (3) the illumination at Bodh Gaya and (4) the presentation of honey.¹

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¹ See pl. XXII c; Bloch. Supplementary Catalogue, p. 62.

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² A Catalogue of the Archæological relics in the Museum of the Varendra Research Society, Rajshahi, 1919, pp. 1-2.

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³ Ibid; see pl. XXIII b.

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⁴ Handbook to the sculptures in the Museum of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad, pp. 26-27, pl. IV. See pl. XXIV.

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⁵ See pl. XXIII b.

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⁶ Supplementary Catalogue, p. 62.

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⁷ Ibid. p. 46. See pl. XVIII c.

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⁸ See pl. XXIV b.

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¹ It is also quite possible that these four figures on the Nālandā specimen represent four out of the five Dhyāni-Buddhas but such an identification is precluded in the case of No. 3739 of the Indian Museum on account of the presence of the monkey in front of one of the figures.

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With the exception of one or two images discovered at Sarnath we do not know of any other specimens in India except those produced by the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture, which look like independent images but are really, in modified forms, basreliefs, representing particular incidents of Buddha's life. These image-basreliefs are totally unlike images of Buddha with which we are familiar in the older schools of Gandhāra, Mathurā, Amarāvatī or Benares. The artists of the eastern school enlarged the main figure in the basrelief; so much so, that it really looks like an image; at the same time they shortened the attendant figures and lessened their number, so that they look more or less like decorative figures on the backslab. Specimens discovered up to date of this peculiar class of image basreliefs contain the representations of the following incidents :—(1) the birth, (2) the illumination or *sambodhi*, (3) the first sermon at Benares, (4) the taming of the mad elephant Nālāgiri or Ratnapāla, (5) the descent of Buddha from the heaven of the thirty-three gods, (6) the presentation of honey to Buddha by the monkey at Vaiśālī, (7) the miracle of Śrāvastī, (8) the attempt of Devadatta to kill Buddha by means of assassins, and (9) the death or *mahāparinirvāṇa*.

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An analysis of these image-basreliefs produced by the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture proves that the majority of separate images of Buddha belonging to this school represent incidents of the Master's life. In many cases these incidents are to be identified from the posture of Buddha's hand or some attendant figure. Thus the *bhūmisparśa-mudrā* denotes the illumination or *sambodhi*, and the *dharma-chakra-mudrā* the first sermon at Benares or the miracle of Śrāvastī. Of the latter two again the particular incident represented can be identified by the presence or absence of the wheel and the deer on the pedestal. If the wheel flanked by the deer is present in a particular figure it should be taken to represent the first sermon at Benares. If it is absent, then it may be taken for granted that the figure represents the miracle of Śrāvastī. A standing figure of Buddha with his hands in the attitude of blessing (*varada-mudrā*) denotes the descent of the Buddha from the heaven of the thirty-three gods. Similarly a figure of Buddha with his hands in the posture of giving protection (*abhaya-mudrā*) denotes that it represents the incident of the attempted assassination of the Master by assassins at the instigation of his cousin Devadatta. A similar figure in which an elephant is to be found near the feet of the Master, represents the taming of the mad elephant Nālāgiri or Ratnapāla. Similarly, an umbrella over the head of the Master represents his descent from the heaven of the thirty-three gods.

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With the addition of numerous minor deities in the latter days of Mahāyāna, the Buddhist pantheon became so full, that images of Gautama Buddha were very rarely to be seen. Such images in Bengal or Bihar came to represent a particular incident of the Master's life and not a general image, as in the older schools. This feature was introduced by the artists of the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture, because in older images, say, of the Gupta period we find images of Buddha of the ordinary type; *cf.* the beautiful metal image discovered at Nālandā,¹ or that discovered near Gaya.²

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¹ *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India*, 1920-21, pl. XVIII. See pl. LXVI *a*.

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² See pl. LXVI *c*; for the inscription in Bhaikshuki Lipi, see *Indian Antiquary*, Vol. XIX, pp. 77-78.

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The artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture obtained distinction in another branch of Buddhist iconography, as their predecessors of the school of Gandhāra had done several centuries earlier. After the Gandhāra School, the later schools such as those of Mathurā, Amarāvatī and Benares used to represent only certain incidents of the Master's life; but none of them ever produced the amount and the variety, which we find in the Gandhāra School, where the artists seized upon as many incidents of Buddha's life as they could for representation in basreliefs. Eight centuries after the decline of the great school of sculpture in Gandhāra, the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture, at the other extremity of India, reintroduced the representations of many of the incidents of the Master's life, which had not been portrayed by the intermediate schools, after that of Gandhāra. In order to enumerate the varieties of the incidents of Buddha's life represented in the eastern school it is necessary, in the first place, to analyse the basreliefs of this school, which have been discovered up to date in stelæ or in the form of image-basreliefs.

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On all stelæ or basreliefs of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture the story of Buddha's life begins with the birth. Stories previous to his birth as Gautama Buddha, such as Māyā's dream or the Jātakas, have not been discovered in Bengal or Bihar up to this time. In the stelæ of the first class, such as those from Bihar³ or from Sibbati, there is a small shrine to the right of the main temple, in the centre of the composition, at the level of the shoulders of the main figure. This miniature shrine contains a female figure, standing, holding on to the branch of a tree over her head with her right hand, while she clasps the neck of another female standing to her left with her left hand. A child is seen issuing from her waist; while to her right, two males are standing in the Bihar stele. The number of figures in the Sibbati stele is not distinct. In both of these stelæ, the figure adjacent to Buddha's mother has the palms of his hands spread out in front. The big female figure standing in the centre, who holds the branch of a tree overhead, is no doubt Māyādevī, the mother of Buddha and the tree, she is holding, a Śāla tree representing the Lumbinī garden near Kapilavastu. The female on her proper left is her sister Prajāpati and the male on her immediate right Indra, who is to receive the child immediately after his birth on a cloth of gold. The second figure in the Bihar stele probably represents Brahmā.

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³ Br. 5 (Anderson, *Catalogue and Handbook*, Part II, p. 80).

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In certain cases, the scene of the birth is combined with that of the divine child taking the first seven steps. This is more noticeable in the huge stele of the second class at Jagdispur near Nālandā in the Patna District. Here we find a large number of attendant figures. In addition to Buddha's mother, her sister, Buddha himself, Brahmā and Indra we find a female seated on the ground in front of Māyādevī's sister Prajāpati over which are the busts of two devas and just below the figure of the child is a small figurine of Buddha, standing on the top of seven circular lotuses, which indicate the seven steps taken by the infant Buddha immediately after his birth. Usually in stelæ of the second class, the scene of the birth consists of Māyādevī standing under the śāla tree and the child issuing from her right side; such are stelæ Nos. 3752¹, 3737², 3713³ and 3755⁴ of the Indian Museum collection. There are three stelæ in the collection of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad. In C (a) 2/185 there is an additional figure, which is that of Brahmā⁵. In C (a) 3/5 we find the seven steps⁶. Among the metal images discovered at Nālandā we find the figure of Indra in addition in one case (photograph No. 2123)⁷, but it is absent in another case (photograph No. 2078).⁸ The seven steps taken by the child Buddha immediately after his birth are prominently associated with the scene of the birth in the following stelæ. In fragments Nos. 4575-6⁹ of the Indian Museum collection we find Māyādevī, her sister Prajāpati, and the child Buddha. Immediately under the child we find another figurine of Buddha standing on five lotuses, no doubt meant to represent the seven celebrated steps. In two other cases the seven steps are represented by a number of lotuses without the figure of the child Buddha; these are No. Br. 68¹⁰ of the Indian Museum collection and stele discovered at Nālandā—(photograph No. 2080)¹¹. The steps are also to be found in two separate images representing the birth of Buddha; these are No. B. G. 50¹² of the Indian Museum and No. A (f) 1/292 of the Museum of the Varendra Research Society at Rajshahi¹³.

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¹ Pl. XXI b. ² Pl. XXIII a. ³ Pl. XXI c. ⁴ Pl. XXII c. ⁵ Pl. XXIV c. ⁶ Pl. XXI a. ⁷ Pl. XXIV d. ⁸ Pl. XXIV e. ⁹ Pl. XX b. ¹⁰ Pl. XX c. ¹¹ Pl. XXII a. ¹² Anderson—Catalogue and Handbook, Part II, p. 43. ¹³ A Catalogue of the Archæological relics in the Museum of the Varendra Research Society, pp. 6-7. ¹⁴ A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, pl. XXIX.

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We should compare the scene of the birth as represented by the artists of the eastern school with basreliefs representing the same scene in the older schools of sculpture beginning with that of Gandhāra. The oldest representations of Buddha's birth are to be found in the Indo-Greek school of Gandhāra, in which the best known specimen representing this particular incident is the Berlin basrelief formerly in the collection of Mr. Longworth Dames¹⁴. The principal component parts of the birth scene, in this specimen as well as in two other elaborate Gandhāra basreliefs, are:—(1) Māyādevī, standing holding on to the branch of the śāla tree, (2) being supported by her sister or a female attendant, (3) the divine child issuing from her left side, and (4) Indra standing on the right waiting to receive the child on a cloth of gold. Around this main or central group stands a crowd consisting of mortals, semi-divine beings and gods, some of whom have placed a finger on their lips in expression of wonder. In some specimens of the Gandhāra school, the scene of the birth is combined with that of the seven steps, as is the case with the well known specimens in the Indian Museum collection (No. 5034)¹. In the specimen in the Guide's collection at Mardan², two other persons besides Māyādevī, Prajāpati or the female attendant and Indra are to be found. The Berlin specimen contains a larger number of attendant figures³.

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In the Mathurā school, the superfluous attendant figures disappear. Thus the basrelief on the drum of the stūpa from the Dhruva mound contains only the principal figures, viz., Māyādevī, Prajāpati or the female attendant, Brahmā or Indra and the child Buddha⁴. Similarly in another basrelief belonging to the Mathurā Museum, the superfluous attendant figures, which we see in the Gandhāra school, have disappeared⁵. In the Benares school, we find, that additional figures are once more introduced. In the fine stelæ discovered at Sarnath in the earlier excavations and now deposited in the Indian Museum the birth scene is combined with several others. Thus in S.¹ and S.³ only the principal figures are to be found, but we find the additional figures in S.². In this case Indra is kneeling in front of Māyādevī to receive the divine child, which, in itself, is an unusual feature and behind him we find another kneeling male figurine. Among the sculptures discovered during the excavations at Sarnath, started in the present century by Sir John Marshall, the birth scene is to be found on one stele, in which additional figures are not to be found⁶, but in another stele the reproduction is too indistinct to judge of the presence of other additional figures⁷.

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¹ L'Art Greco-Bouddhique, fig. 154.

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² Ibid, fig. 152.

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³ A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, pl. XXIX.

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⁴ V. A. Smith, Jaina Stupa of Mathura and other antiquities, pl. CV; Vogel, Mathura Museum Catalogue, p. 166 (N. 2).

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⁵ V. A. Smith, Jaina Stupa of Mathura and other antiquities, pl. CV; Vogel, Mathura Museum Catalogue, p. 125 (H. 1).

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⁶ Ann. Rep. of the Arch. Survey of India, 1906-07, pl. XXVIII, 5.

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⁷ Ibid, pl. XXVIII, 4.

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The scene of the birth is invariably to be found on stelæ of the first class in the eastern school. It is also to be found in the majority of cases in the stelæ of the second class. It is absent only on one stele (No. 3766). This scene is represented in separate images or basreliefs in some rare specimens only in the eastern school of mediæval sculpture. One specimen was found at Bodh Gaya and belongs to the latter half of the tenth century A. D. (B. G. 50)⁸, and the second is at Rajshahi⁹. The representation of the infant Buddha taking the first seven steps is always combined in the eastern school with that of the birth and is nowhere separately represented. It is stated that immediately after his birth the infant Bodhisattva walked seven steps and recited some verses¹. In Gāndhāra sculptures also, this scene is more than often to be found combined with that of the Nativity of Buddha, such as No. 5034 of the Indian Museum. This incident is to be found solely in a basrelief in the Guide's collection at Mardan.² It is represented separately in one instance only in specimens of the Mathurā School in a fragment discovered at Mathurā but it seems to have been omitted by the artists of the Benares School³. In the stelæ of the second class of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture this incident is once more revived.

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⁸ Catalogue and Handbook, Part II, p. 43.

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⁹ A Catalogue of the Arch. relics preserved in the Museum of the Varendra Research Society, Rajshahi, pp. 6-7.

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¹ W. W. Rockhill, Life of Buddha, p. 16.

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² L'Art Greco-Bouddhique, fig. 155.

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³ Cunningham, Arch. Survey Reports, Vol. XX, pl. IV, 1.

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We read in the lives of the great Master that immediately after his birth a sage named Kāla-Devala or Asita-Devala came to visit Śuddhodana and cast the horoscope of the new-born child. In the Gāndhāra School, basreliefs representing this incident of the Master's life are common. The basreliefs on the stūpa from Loriyan Tangai now in the Indian Museum collection represent this scene.⁴ There is a larger basrelief in the collection of the Lahore Museum,⁵ Representations of this incident have not been found in basreliefs of the Mathurā and Benares Schools discovered up to date. In the eastern school this incident is represented on the larger stelæ of the first class. In the stelæ from Bihār and Sibbati there is a small miniature temple, under the miniature temple containing the representation of the birth scene, which contains the figure of a Bodhisattva and no doubt represents one of the corner domes of the great temple at Bodh Gaya. Below this temple there is a basrelief within a still smaller shrine on the extreme right. To the left of this shrine, two bearded figures are seated side by side one of whom holds up the child Bodhisattva in his arms. This scene is indistinct in the Shibbati stelæ, but it is quite distinct in No. Br. 5. The sage Asita-Devala and others, whose names are to be found in Kshemendra's Buddha-Janma, predicted that the child would become a chakravartin or universal monarch or a Buddha.⁶

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⁴ Ibid., fig. 160.

c7.52

⁵ Ibid., fig. 161.

c7.53

⁶ Journal of the Buddhist Text Society, Vol. I; Sanskrit Texts, p. 7, verses 40-42.

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Representations of the Bodhisattva at school have been found among specimens of the Gāndhāra school only and are not known among known specimens of any other Indian School of art.⁷ Both the Indian Museum and the Lahore Museum collections contain excellent specimens of this scene.⁸ One portion of stele No. Br. 5 seems to represent this incident. Immediately below the scene of the prediction of the infant Bodhisattva's future, there is a small basrelief in which an empty miniature shrine is to be seen on the extreme right and three small male figurines stand, with hands clasped in adoration, in front of it, facing the left. It is not absolutely certain whether this portion of the stele is a representation of the Bodhisattva attending the school, but it seems to be a very near approach to the representation of this particular incident.

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⁷ D. R. Sahni, Catalogue of the Museum of Archæology at Sarnath, Calcutta. 1914, pp. 193-94, C (a) 12.

c7.56

⁸ L'Art Greco-Bouddhique, figs. 165-67.

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Another incident of the Master's life which is not usually represented in the intervening schools of Mathurā and Benares is the first meditation of the Bodhisattva. M. Foucher has given this title to the meditation of the Bodhisattva on seeing the afflictions of human existence; such as death, labour and old age. The ploughing scene is to be found on one of the medallions on the railing at Budh Gaya.¹ It is not very common even among specimens of the Gāndhāra school. In basreliefs of the school we find the Bodhisattva seated in the posture of meditation and a man ploughing in front; the plough being drawn by a pair of oxen. Indra and some other indistinct figures are to be seen on the basrelief on the drum of the Sikri stūpa in the Lahore Museum.² A specimen in the Madras Museum shows the charioteer and one of the horses of the chariot in the background.³ The essential feature of this scene is the Bodhisattva in meditation, which is indicated in the Bodh Gaya medallion by the adamantine throne (vajrāsana). So far as our knowledge goes, this scene has not been represented by the artists of Mathurā and Benares Schools. One portion of stele No. Br. 5 represents the Bodhisattva seeing the bhikshu and the aged man. This portion is to be found immediately below the school scene, where we find the Bodhisattva seated in meditation with a male figure standing on his extreme left. It is not a representation of the ploughing scene, but as both in the Bihar and the Sibbati stele this basrelief comes immediately before that representing Buddha's departure from his home, it shows that it must represent one of the four incidents connected with the first meditation. As it cannot be the meditation on the ploughing or the dead body, it must be either the Bodhisattva's meditation on seeing the bhikshu or the aged man. In the Sibbati stele the figure of the Bodhisattva seated is quite distinct but four or five human figures below him cannot be discerned clearly.

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¹ L'Art Greco-Bouddhique, fig. 177

c7.59

² Ibid., fig. 175.

c7.60

³ Ibid., fig. 176.

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The more elaborate stelæ of the first class contain representations of several other incidents of the Master's life, which are not usually to be met with in the older schools of Indian sculpture, after the school of Gāndhāra. On the stelæ from Bihar and Sibbati we find the mahābhinishkramaṇa or the departure of the Bodhisattva from his home, to the left of the scene representing the first meditation. It is said that the Bodhisattva left his home, on his horse Kaṇṭhaka, attended by his groom Chhandaka, at night; when the people of the city of Kapilavastu were asleep. The Gāndhāra and Mathurā schools supply many varieties of the representation of this incident. Thus, we find some scenes representing the Bodhisattva meditating on the great renunciation while seated by the side of his sleeping wife, while all the attendant females are sleeping on all sides.⁴ There is a fine series of basreliefs representing different incidents of the great renunciation, belonging to the Gāndhāra school, in the Lahore Museum. In one of them we find the Bodhisattva on horse-back, the feet of the animal being held by earth-spirits, so that they may not produce any sound.¹ Further on we find the Bodhisattva on horse-back emerging from the city gate.² In the Mathurā school representations of this incident are to be found on a fine pillar presented by Sir Alexander Cunningham to the Indian Museum after his retirement and on another specimen.³ The third specimen is in the Mathurā Museum.⁴ At least one specimen representing this particular incident has been found in Benares.⁵ The artists of the Gāndhāra school divided this scene into four parts:—(1) The Bodhisattva enjoying the pleasures of domestic life, (2) the sleep of the females and the meditation of the Bodhisattva by the side of his wife, (3) the Bodhisattva leaving the females and (4) the Bodhisattva leaving Kapilavastu on horse-back. The last event was recognised by the Buddhist artists of the Gāndhāra school and subsequent schools of Indian sculpture as the most important part of the great renunciation and its representations, even among specimens of the Gāndhāra school, outnumber those of any other part of the same incident. Here we find the Bodhisattva on horse-back issuing out of the city or the palace gate,⁶ or going away attended by an umbrella bearer and hosts of gods and men, while the horse's hoofs are held up by earthspirits or *yakshas*.⁷ In the Gāndhāra school he leaves the city on horse-back, while his groom Chhandaka holds an umbrella over his head. Moreover the Bodhisattva is attended by Indra, the *nagara-devatā* and other beings. In the Mathurā school the incident is divided into two parts:—The Bodhisattva leaving the female apartments, while the females are asleep and (2) the Bodhisattva leaving the city on horse-back. In the second part it is to be noted that the *yakshas* holding the hoofs of the horse, so prominent in the Gāndhāra school, are absent.⁸ The best preserved specimen was discovered by Sir John Marshall in 1906-07.⁹ Though the upper part of the slab is broken the basrelief is in a good state of preservation. Other known specimens of the Benares school are in the Indian Museum collection. In the lower right corner of stele No. S. 1 the figure of the Bodhisattva on horse-back is mutilated and the diminutive horseman in the lower right corner of S. 3 also represents this scene.¹⁰

c7.62

⁴ Ibid., fig. 178-80.

c7.63

¹ *L'Art Greco-Bouddhique*, fig. 182.

c7.64

² *Ibid.*, fig. 183.

c7.65

³ *Catalogue and Handbook*, Part I, p. 79, M. 3.

c7.66

⁴ *Catalogue of the Mathura Museum*, p. 127 (H. 3).

c7.67

⁵ *Catalogue of the Museum of Archæology at Sarnath*, pp. 186-87, C (a) 2.

c7.68

⁶ *L'Art Greco-Bouddhique*, fig. 183.

c7.69

⁷ *Ibid.*, fig. 182 and 184, a; *Supplementary Catalogue*, pp. 12-13.

c7.70

⁸ *Mathura Museum Catalogue*, p. 127; H. 4 and H. 5.

c7.71

⁹ *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India*, 1906-07, pl. XXVIII, 5.

c7.72

¹⁰ *Catalogue and Handbook*, Part II, pp. 4-7; *Étude sur l'Iconographique Bouddhique de l'Inde*, première partie, p. 163, fig. 29.

c7.73

The great renunciation is depicted by the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture only on the more elaborate stelæ of the first class. It is to be distinctly recognised both in Br. 5 and in the Sibbati stele. In Br. 5 the Bodhisattva on horse-back is followed by his groom Chhandaka. In the Sibbati stele the scene is divided into two parts. To the left of the middle portion of the lowest band of basreliefs we find a miniature temple containing two human figurines representing the Bodhisattva meditating on the great renunciation. To the left of this, again we find the Bodhisattva on horse-back, followed by his groom Chhandaka with his umbrella. In Br. 5 is to be found in front of the horse, an additional figure who is holding a staff in his hand. This figure may represent Indra or the city-god (nagara-devatā).

c7.74

Another additional incident represented in the more elaborate stelæ is that of Kanthaka, the Bodhisattva’s favourite mount, taking leave of him. According to the lives of the Master, after proceeding a certain distance on horse-back, the Bodhisattva left his horse, Kanthaka, which at that moment bowed down before him. Representations of this incident are very rarely to be found even in the Gāndhāra school. In the Gāndhāra basreliefs in the Indian Museum collection several other persons besides the Bodhisattva and his groom are present.¹ Here we find Indra and five others in addition to the main figures. In the specimen in the Lahore Museum we find Indra and one other additional figure.² So far as is known, the incident of Kanthaka bowing down before his master at the time of taking leave, has not been found in basreliefs produced by any other school of Indian sculpture. The stelæ of the first class of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture contain representations of this incident. It is to be found to the left of the scene of the great renunciation on both the stelæ from Bihar and that of Sibbati. In Br. 5 we find the horse kneeling down, behind which is the figure of Chhandaka, the groom; and in front of him an umbrella. The figure of the groom, the bowing horse and the umbrella can also be distinguished at the corresponding place in the Sibbati stele.

c7.75

¹ L'Art Greco-Bouddhique, fig. 184 (b).

c7.76

² Ibid., fig. 185.

c7.77

After taking leave of Kanthaka, the Bodhisattva changed his royal robes, made of the finest Benares silk, with the coarse clothes of a hunter, or, as some say, with the clothes of his groom Chhandaka. In the Gāndhāra school one or two persons are to be found in addition to the principal figures; but in this school also all representations of this incident are very rare. M. Foucher has reproduced only one basrelief from the Lahore Museum.³ Among specimens of the Mathurā school representations of this incident are also very rare and it is known from one specimen only in the Mathurā Museum.⁴ In this particular case, Dr. Vogel, who identified the scene for the first time, states that figures of the Bodhisattva, the horse Kanthaka and an elephant, indicating the Bodhisattva’s royal rank, are present. So far as our knowledge goes this scene has not been found among known specimens of the Benares school. But in one of the big stelæ we find a representation of the Bodhisattva cutting his hair. This is to be found in the lowest panel of S. 3.⁵ In the Bengal school the change of garments and the cutting of hair are represented on both stelæ of the first class and in both cases the incident is to be found represented to the left of the basrelief, representing the leave-taking of Kaṇṭhaka. In Br. 5 we find the Bodhisattva cutting his long hair with his sword, and a male is seated on each side with hands clasped in adoration. The scene is to be found in the corresponding place of the Sibbati stele, but, in this case, only the figure of the Bodhisattva cutting his hair with a long sword can be discerned with difficulty.

c7.78

³ Ibid., fig. 187 (b).

c7.79

⁴ Mathura Museum Catalogue, pp. 127-28; H. 5.

c7.80

⁵ Étude sur l'Iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde, 1 re partie, p. 163, fig. 129; See also Catalogue of the Museum of Archæology at Sarnath, pp. 186-87.

c7.81

After leaving his home, the Bodhisattva began to practise austerities, and became emaciated with continual fasting. The emaciation of the Master was a favourite scene with the artists of the Gāndhāra school. Consequently we find representations of the emaciated Bodhisattva in separate images as well as in basreliefs. The celebrated image of the emaciated Bodhisattva discovered at Sikri,¹ which is now in the Lahore Museum collection and the new one found by Dr. D. B. Spooner at Takht-i-Bahi in 1907-08,² are good examples. Among basreliefs the incident is to be found on a specimen in the Indian Museum collection.³ There is another basrelief representing the same incident in the Lahore Museum.⁴ Representations of this particular scene have not been discovered among the specimens of the Mathurā or Benares schools of sculpture. In the eastern school of mediæval sculpture this incident is represented on both stelæ of the first class. In Br. 5 it is to be found to the left of that representing the cutting of the hair. The Master is seated in the posture of meditation, attended by a human figure on each side. The corresponding space in the Sibbati stele is occupied by figures of the donor and his family. But the incident is to be found in that stele, to the left of the figure of Māra, shooting arrows at the Bodhisattva, on the extreme left of the last but one band. Here the Bodhisattva is surrounded by several other figures, all of whom have become indistinct. In this case, however, we find at least three figures standing on the right and two on the left. These figures may represent the presentation of the pāyasa to Buddha by Sujātā or Nandabālā, as one of the female figures, on the extreme right in the Sibbati stele, holds a vessel in her hands. These incidents, however, are minor incidents of the Master's life; they were followed by his illumination or sambodhi, when he became a perfect Buddha and this event is regarded by the Buddhists as the principal incident of the Master's life.

c7.82

¹ Smith—A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, p. 110, fig. 61.

c7.83

² Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, 1907-08, Part II, p. 140, pl. XLIII (a), Nos. 50-52.

c7.84

³ Supplementary Catalogue, p. 14 (5052).

c7.85

⁴ L'Art Greco-Bouddhique fig. 200.

c7.86.1

The representations of the illumination and the incidents connected with it form the favourite themes with the Buddhist artists of all schools. According to the well known story of the Master's life, the touching of the earth by him, and his call, thereby, on the earth-goddess to come and be the witness of his perfect knowledge, indicate the moment when he ceased to be a Bodhisattva and became "the perfect-one" or Buddha. Māra, the Buddhist Satan, having informed the Bodhisattva that there was nobody near at hand to witness his perfection or attainment of perfect knowledge, the latter summoned the Earth-goddess by touching her to be the witness of his enlightenment. In Buddhist iconography this peculiar posture of touching the earth has become one of the *mudrās* or special attitudes. It is called the attitude of touching the earth (*bhūmisparśa-mudrā* or *bhūsparśa-mudrā*) as well as the attitude of witnessing (*sākshi-mudrā*). This incident is regarded by Buddhists all over the world as the most important of the four principal incidents of the Master's life.

c7.86.2

In the oldest schools of Indian sculpture, before the adoption of Greek methods, the illumination of the Buddha was represented by an empty stone seat (*vajrāsana*) under a tree (*bodhi-druma*), over which was an umbrella indicating the presence of the Master, as we find in the case of the medallion on the railing at Bodh Gaya.¹ In the Indo-Greek school of Gāndhāra, specimens of the representation of this incident are profuse and the details much varied. Almost all incidents of the Master's life, both before and after the illumination, have been utilised by the artists of this school in their decorative schemes of Buddhist shrines. So we see the homage of the Nāga Kāliya,² the meeting with the grass dealer,³ the preparations for the illumination⁴ and finally the illumination itself. The last named incident is divided into two or three parts:—(1) The temptation of the Bodhisattva by Māra's daughters, (2) the attack on the Bodhisattva by the followers of Māra and (3) the call on the Earth-goddess to stand witness.

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