Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c8.s1: I. The Buddhas

Eastern Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture c8.s1

Language: English

I. The Buddhas

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In the Eastern School of Mediæval Sculpture, images of Buddha generally represent one particular incident of his life. A separate image of Buddha, without any characteristics, which label it as the figure of the Master representing a particular incident, is extremely uncommon in Bengal and Bihar. The Buddha figures discovered in these two provinces represent the Master at the time of one of the following incidents :—

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(1) The illumination, (2) The First Sermon at Benares, (3) The descent from the heaven of the *Trayastriṃśas*, (4) The submission of Nālagiri or Ratnapāla, (5) The presentation of honey at Vaiśālī and (6) The Miracle of Śrāvastī. Besides these six different forms we possess separate representations of the birth and the death and, if these are also counted as images, then there are eight different species of the Buddha images amongst specimens of the Eastern School. The only case, where, in the Eastern School, artists have represented the figure of Buddha only without reference to any particular incident of his life is in the representation of the seven past Buddhas and the Messiah of Buddhism, the Bodhisattva Maitreya. Here we find that the seven past Buddhas, including Gautama, stand under their respective Bodhi trees.¹ In this group the future Buddha Maitreya is known by the *chaitya* in his head-dress. Such groups of Buddhas including the one referred to were found in comparatively large numbers at Bodh Gaya and another of the series was dedicated by a Chinese pilgrim (B. G. 133).² Another specimen was dedicated either in the Kushan or Gupta period and a portion of it was recovered during the excavations at Bodh Gaya by Cunningham and Beglar.¹ Yet another specimen was found at Bishanpur Tandwa in the Gaya district by Sir Aurel Stein in 1901.²

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¹ See pl. XIV e I. M. No. B. G. 83.

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² See pl. XXXI b.

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¹ See pl. XXXIIIc.

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² *Ind. Ant.* Vol. XXX, fig. V.

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In the Eastern School, the illumination is represented by the seated figure of the Buddha in the *bhūmisparśa-mudrā* and in the language of the *Sādhanas* this particular type is styled the *Vajrāsana-Buddha-Bhaṭṭāraka*. In such images, in addition to the figure of Buddha seated cross-legged in the attitude of meditation, we find Maitreya on the left and Lokeśvara on the right of the main figure.³ Larger images instead of being carved out of one piece were made by joining several carvings together. An example of such a gigantic figure was discovered by Stein at Bishanpur Tandwa, in 1901⁴; but these figures have now been removed to the Patna Museum.⁵ According to the late Dr. Th. Bloch this group represents the best work of the artists of the Eastern School.⁶

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³ *Étude sur l'Iconographie Bouddhique de l'Inde* 2ᵐᵉ partie, p. 17, fig. 1.

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⁴ *Ind. Ant.* Vol. XXX, fig. IV.

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⁵ See pl. XXXII.

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⁶ *Annual Report, Archæological Survey, Bengal Circle, 1901-02*, p. 14.

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A third class of peculiar images are to be found in Benares, Bihar and Bengal only. In these specimens Buddha wears a crown and a necklace but no other ornament on any part of his body. The best example is the separate image B. G. 80⁷ in the Indian Museum, which represents the taming of the mad elephant and a copper gilt image of Buddha in the possession of Mr. Saurendra Mohan Sinha of Bhagalpur.⁸ These crowned Buddhas are also to be found among second class stelæ representing eight principal incidents of the life of the Buddha. Such specimens are common all over Bengal and Bihar. The best specimens in the Indian Museum are I. M. No. 3703,⁹ 3755,¹⁰ 3713¹¹ and Br. 68.¹² The Baṅgīya Sāhitya Parishad contains one specimen collected from Bihar in the Patna District, (C(a)2)/185 ¹³. An earlier generation of archæologists took them to be figures of *Dhyānī* Buddhas and they were labelled as such by the late Dr. Th. Bloch in 1896, but later on he was compelled to admit that the crown and the necklace on the bodies of these Buddhas could not be explained.¹⁴ Whatever be the cause of the presence of the crown and the necklace in these images it is quite certain that they are not figures of the *Dhyānī* Buddhas or the Bodhisattva Maitreya. The second class stelæ with the crowned Buddha as the main figure prove this conclusively. Such images are by no means confined to Bengal and Bihar, because they have also been discovered at Tewar¹⁵ and Tigowa ¹⁶ or Tegowa in the Central Provinces.