Elements of Buddhist Iconography c4.28

c4.28

No less remarkable than the fiery pillars of Amarāvatī is the unique representation of a Buddha in the form of a kalpa-vṛkṣa or “wishing-tree” at Sāñcī (Fig. 1).¹⁶ This Tree of Life is like the fiery pillars at Amarāvatī as to its head and wheel-marked feet, but its trunk is built up of superimposed lotus palmettes,¹⁷ and bears laterally by way of fruits pearl garlands and other jewels suspended from pegs such as are elsewhere spoken of as nāga-danta. It may be remarked that only perhaps a century later (Mahā Sukhāvatī-vyūha, 16, and again, Saddharma Puṇḍarīka, V, 29–33) the seekers after Buddhahood are compared to small and great herbs, and small and great trees, and that Sukhāvatī is said to be crowded with jewelled trees made of precious metals and gems, presumably representing various degrees of enlightenment. The jewel-tree of Sāñcī corresponds directly to the Bodhi-tree of Amitāyus, Tathāgata, described in the Mahā Sukhāvatī-vyūha, 31: “A thousand yojanas in height . . . it is always in leaf, always in flower,