Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.57

c7.57

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.