Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.27

c7.27

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