Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.158

Language: English

c7.158.1

When Buddha was seated on the bank of a tank at Vaiśālī, which, later on, became celebrated among the Buddhists as the monkey tank (Markaṭa-hrada), a monkey offered some honey to him, then committed suicide by drowning himself in a well and was reborn as a god. This tank has been identified at Basarh in the Muzaffarpur district by the late Dr. Th. Bloch who excavated the ruins at this place for the first time in 1903-04.² The representation of this incident does not seem to have been very popular with the artists of the Gāndhāra school. There is not a single specimen of the representation of this scene in the splendid collection of Gāndhāra basreliefs in the Indian Museum at Calcutta, and there appears to be only one specimen in the Lahore collection. In this specimen the incident is divided into three parts:—(1) the monkey bringing the bowl of honey, (2) Buddha holding it with one hand and imparting protection with the other and (3) the monkey walking out of the scene.³ The representation of this scene has not been discovered among the specimens of the Mathurā school of sculpture. Among specimens of the Benares school, it is to be found very rarely.

c7.158.2

Thus the scene is represented as one of the eight principal incidents of the Master's life, on a stele discovered by Sir John Marshall during the working season of 1906-07.⁴ In this specimen, Buddha is to be seen seated in the attitude of meditation, on a lion-throne, while the monkey stands on his proper right with a bowl in his hands. Subsequently, in the Bengal school, we find that the representation of this incident is more popular. It is to be found on stelæ both of the first and second classes as well as in separate images. Thus it is to be found both in Br. 5 and the Sibbati stele, to the proper right of the main temple, at the level of the knees of the main figure. Here Buddha is to be seen seated on a lotus with his legs hanging down. In the Sibbati specimen Buddha is holding a bowl in both of his hands, while in Br. 5 another figure is to be found behind the back of Buddha with a round vessel in his hands. The very elaborate stele of the second class discovered at Jagdispur near Nālandā depicts this scene in greater detail. On this specimen the incident is to be found at the bottom of the backslab, at the proper right corner. Here Buddha is seated on a lotus throne with his hands placed on his lap in the posture of meditation (dhyāna-mudrā). Two attendant figures are to be found on each side of the figure and on the pedestal, we find, the monkey, in three different positions showing three different stages of the incident.

c7.158.3

On the proper left the monkey is kneeling with a bowl in his hands in the act of offering it to the Master. In the centre, he is dancing showing his exultation on account of the acceptance of his offering by the Master. On the extreme right we find the monkey disappearing down a well, which represents his suicide. In the stelæ of the second class this incident is mostly represented in the first row at the bottom. Thus, in No. 3737¹ of the Indian Museum collection, the Master is seated on a lotus, with a bowl in his hands, while the monkey is kneeling with another bowl in front of the pedestal. In No. 3752² the incident is to be found on the same side, but the Master is seated on a raised seat with both legs hanging down. It is to be found in the same place in No. Br. 68,³ of the same collection, where the Master is seated in the same fashion. The monkey is to be seen dancing in front of the pedestal. The incident is to be found represented on the right side of the backslab, in the bottom row, in No. 6264⁴ and on the left side in No. 6265. It is to be found on the right side at the bottom in Nos. 3734, 3755⁵ and 3703.⁶ In No. 3713⁷ it is to be found in the bottom row, on the left, while in No. 3766,⁸ a peculiar stele in which the birth, the death and the illumination are not represented, the representation of this incident is to be found in the second row from the bottom, to the right.

c7.158.4

In the stele, in the collection of the Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad, this incident is to be found on the right, in the bottom row, in two cases:—Nos. C(c) 1 9 and C(a) 2 10. In 185 No. C(a) 3 11 it is represented without any monkey and the Master is seated 5 with both legs hanging down, instead of being cross-legged.