The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c12.25

c12.25

No one is unacquainted with the brilliant excavations carried out by Sir Aurel Stein, on the occasion of two successive missions, over the ancient alignment of this track across the present-day desert of Takla-Makan. One of them brought to light, in March 1908, at the north of the oasis of Domoko (itself situated at a longitude of a little more than one degree east of Khotan) a large figure of a woman, painted in tempera on a coating of mortar, in the embrasure of the door of a little Buddhist sanctuary. The cell measured on the interior m. 2,50 by m. 2,45, and its mud walls, decorated with Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, attained a thickness of m. 1,35. The panel, m. 1,15 wide, which particularly interests us here, had been preserved almost intact under a heap of sand accumulated by the wind to a height of m. 1,20. Only the lower part had in former times, when the entrance served as a passage for worshippers, suffered much from the abrasion of passers-by. However, according to the notes kindly communicated to us by the explorer, there could still be distinguished near the left foot of the woman, who, apparently, is seated, two little figures, clothed and gambolling about, whilst near her right foot a little naked boy seemed to be getting out of the way of a blow struck by a person completely effaced. As to the upper portion, it has reached the British Museum in an excellent condition; and Sir Aurel Stein has very kindly allowed us to give a first and double reproduction of it (pl. XLV). It shows clearly the characteristic features of the principal figure, the dreamy squint of the eyes, the symmetry of the two lovelocks, the perforated and frightfully distended lobes of the ears, the oval of the « moon face », too broad according to our taste, the folds (classic in India) of the neck, the net of pearls in the hair, finally and above all, the triple circular orb of the nimbus. The goddess, since such she is, is dressed to the waist in a short cassock, of a rich greenish hue, spotted with yellow and trimmed with fawn braid, the short sleeves terminating above the elbow in a frill of linen folded in fluted plaits. Underneath are long, reddish sleeves, evidently belonging to the bodice of the dress. A turquoise-coloured scarf, exactly similar to that worn by the Gandharian images (pl. XLVII, 1), hangs in folds in the hollows of her arms. Her left hand, with straightened index, rests on the front of her knee, which is bent in the Indian manner. Meanwhile a naked child clings to her left bosom, as if asking to be suckled, whilst another little boy is seated astride on her right forearm, and two more, one of whom is dressed, ride familiarly on her shoulders. This more than suffices to determine, from analogy with pll. XLVII-XLVIII, 1, the identification with Hâritî and her mischievous progeny. The opposite wall of the embrasure is, unfortunately, destroyed : we should have expected to see there the genius of riches, the usual counterpart of the goddess of children. Let us add that, according to the chronological indications elicited by Sir Aurel Stein, the decoration of the temple to which this image belonged could not be later than the VIIIth century A. D., and may be a little earlier.