Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.35

c7.35

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.