Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c7.97

Language: English

c7.97.1

Two new features are to be noticed in the representation of this incident by the artists of the Benares school. These are the makara standard of Māra and the presence of the Earth-goddess. In specimens of this school, we generally find Buddha, in representations of the illumination, as seated on a rocky seat which represents the adamantine throne (vajrāsana) under the Bodhi tree in the attitude of touching the earth. The demons of Māra’s army are shown as coming to attack the Master through the air. In one specimen, two daughters of Māra are to be found on the proper left and Māra himself, armed with a bow and arrow, followed by an attendant holding his makara standard (makara-ketana) and in another case, a pensive Māra, vanquished and seated on the ground. The makara standard is to be found in a specimen discovered in 1904-05 when the excavations of Sarnath were restarted.⁴ The makara is also to be found on the top of a staff in one of the stelæ from Sarnath in the collection of the Indian Museum.⁵ In three different stelæ we find Māra vanquished and seated on the ground in a dejected attitude (S. 1 and S. 2 and on a fragment discovered in 1904-05).⁶ In all representations of this incident by the artists of the Benares school we do find Māra standing with a bow in his hand on the right side of Buddha.

c7.97.2

The makara standard of Māra shows that the Buddhist Satan, whose name is the same as the ancient and modern Persian word for a snake (6), which snake, again, is the symbol of Satan in Jewish, Christian and Muhammadan mythology, was becoming identified with the Indian god of love, Kāma, who is called makara-ketana, i.e., “one whose standard was the makara.” The other new feature of the Benares school is the presence of the Earth-goddess. In stele No. S. 1 of the Indian Museum collection, we find a female on the pedestal of the stele running towards the proper right. This is the figure of the Earth-goddess rushing out of the centre of the earth, at the call of the Master. Her right hand is close to her mouth and most probably the artist wanted to show that she had placed a finger on her mouth in expression of wonder. A finger of her left hand is pointed upwards, showing that the cause of her appearance is the call of the Master. Anderson stated about this basrelief, "The other to the left consists of three women within a walled enclosure, one kneeling and apparently engaged in her devotions, holding up a vase with some object on it, and offering it to one of the women, whose attitude is peculiar."¹ We find the figure of the Earth-goddess in the same position, but only half emerged out of the earth both in S. 3 and S. 4.

c7.97.3

The figure of the Earth-goddess is to be seen very clearly on the fragment of a stele discovered by Sir John Marshall at Sārnāth.² In addition to these basreliefs or stelæ, the artists of the Benares school represented the illumination on separate images, which are really modifications of basreliefs. The first excavations of Sārnāth in the present century brought to light a magnificent image of this class representing the illumination which was dedicated by the Buddhist elder (sthavira) Bandhugupta. This particular image is indeed the earliest specimen of this new class of image-basreliefs which were elaborated to a very great extent by the artists of the eastern school of mediæval sculpture. On this image we find the Earth-goddess represented fully and not as emerging partly out of the earth and approaching the adamantine throne, on which the Master is seated, from the proper left.³ Unfortunately the image could not be identified at the time of its discovery.⁴ The Earth-goddess Prithivī is also to be found in a small fragmentary basrelief exhumed in the same year.⁵ In certain specimens discovered at Sārnāth we find a female with a jar on the pedestal of images representing the illumination. Thus in a basrelief of the Gupta period discovered in 1906-07⁶ we find a female offering a pot or a jar, evidently containing some food, in front of the adamantine throne.

c7.97.4

To the left are the figures of a male and a female running away, evidently standing for Māra and his daughters, who are running away after their defeat by the Master. In the collection of Sārnāth sculptures in the Indian Museum at Calcutta the Earth-goddess is absent in S. 2.⁷ The figure of the Earth-goddess is to be found on a pedestal discovered at Bodh Gaya which according to the inscription on it is to be referred to the Gupta period.⁸ In this case we find one female figure, carved out in bold relief in front and holding a vase in her hands. To her left a second female is running towards her with a finger of her left hand, while the right is slightly turned upwards. This second female is undoubtedly the Earth-goddess but the female with the jar has not been properly identified as yet. There cannot be any doubt about the fact that this sculpture belongs to the Gupta period (C. 500 A.D.).¹