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The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9: The Tutelary Pair

The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and Other Essays in Indian and Central-Asian Archaeology c9

Language
English

Contents

The Tutelary Pair

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in Gaul and in India (¹)

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¹ *Revue archéologique*, 1912, II, pp. 341-9.

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When turning over the leaves of the monumental and valuable *Recueil des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule romaine* of M. Espérandieu, we see again and again a figure usually entitled « Abundance » or « Goddess Mother ». Rare in Provence, where apparently it is better concealed under the purely classical features of Demeter and Fortune, it shows itself from time to time in Aquitaine with an appearance already more indigenous; then multiplying itself, it passes into « Lyonnaise », where we have counted it no less than forty times (vols. III-IV) : the sequel of the publication will tell us whether it enjoyed the same favour in Belgian Gaul. Its most usual type, very close to that of the pullulant *Matres*, holds in the left hand a horn of abundance, and in the right a patera. In no. 3225 (Langres) we see moreover on either side of the goddess two little genii, one of whom « dips into a purse placed between her feet ». If it is not she, then it is one of her sisters, who elsewhere is represented with a child in her arms, like a Madonna (nos. 1326-1334, Saintes), or with a sack on her knees, from which drop coins (no. 1367, Ruffec). At times fruits are also placed actually on the lap of the goddess (nos. 2350, Mont Auxois ; 3237, Langres). Lastly, the patera is occasionally replaced by a cake (nos. 1528, Bourges), or, in the more debased pieces, by a goblet of the special form called an olla (nos. 1161, Puy-de-Dôme; 2112, Beaune). These last attributes seem to be only borrowings from another Gallic divinity, or rather two others who are masculine and likewise of frequent occurrence. Their usual attributes are the olla and the purse, often difficult to distinguish from one another; but local and barbarous variants represent them as holding likewise the cake and the sack of money (no. 1555, La Guerche, Cher), or even a child (no. 2882, Auxerre), when they do not in their turn borrow the patera full of fruits (no. 2263, Entrains) or the horn of abundance (nos. 2162, Mâcon; 2166, Chalon-sur-Saône). One of the types is bearded like Jupiter, whose long sceptre it replaces, as we know, by the handle of a mallet. The other, beardless, most often hides his personality under the figure of Mercury. The intimate relationship of both with the goddess, or goddesses, of « Abundance » is certain : for a proof we require only the numerous groups in which they appear in company, standing on the same stele or seated side by side on the same seat. Some represent the god without a beard, and indicate clearly — from the wings on his feet up to the petasus, taking the caduceus en route — his assimilation to Mercury (nos. 1800, Fleurieu-sur-Saône ; 1836, Autun), or give him the appearance of a « local Mars » (no. 1832, Autun). The majority resort to the model of the bearded god with a mallet (nos. 2066, Nuits ; 3441, Dijon etc.). Often they assign to the husband, as mark of office, the same horn of abundance as to his companion, unless they lend to the latter the purse (no. 3382, Châtillon-sur-Seine), or make both place their hands on the same olla (no. 2118, Beaune). In one case a child is playing at their feet (no. 1830, Autun). For the necessities of our case we will I. An engraving borrowed from *Sur la frontière indo-afghane* (Paris, Hachette et Cie, 1901, fig. 11; cf. *Tour du monde*, Nov. 1899, p. 543); executed from the author's photographs. On the left, beyond the ploughed land, is seen the village of Shâhbâz-Garhî. In the background rises the hill of Mekha-Sandha, once sanctified by the legend of prince Viçvantara (cf. *ibid.*, p. 55; *Notes sur la géographie ancienne du Gandhâra*, in *B. É. F. E.-O.*, I, 1901, pp. 347-59; and above, p. 123). Quite to the right stands the rugged hill-side, on which is still to be found the inscription of Açoka (cf. p. 121).

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1. BUDDHAS IN THE LAHORE MUSEUM

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2. BUDDHA IN THE GUIDES MESS, MARDAN

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II. A photograph taken by the Archæological Survey and placed at our disposal by Dr. J. Ph. VOGEL (cf. p. 124). In the foreground we see the central spur, on which stands the principal monastery : the view extends towards the north-east above the hills of the little range of Takht-i-Bahai as far as the Swât mountains. For other views of the same site cf. *Sur la frontière indo-afghane*, fig. 14, or *Tour du monde*, *ibid.*, p. 545, and *Art g.-b. du Gandh.*, figg. 1 and 63-4 (with plan and description of the buildings, pp. 160-163).

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1. THE VILLAGE OF SHAHBAZ GARHI

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2. THE RUINS OF TAKHT-I-BAHAI

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Cf. p. 124.

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I. — An engraving borrowed from *Sur la frontière indo-afghane*, fig. 15, (or *Tour du monde*, Nov. 1899, p. 544); after a photograph taken by the author. The eminence, increased in height by the slow accumulation of the dust of the past, is still surrounded by a magnificent wall, now buried in the earth. The people of the country continue to maintain a connection between the village and the hill of Takht-i-Bahai, situated at a distance of less than a league to the north, which would represent respectively the capital and the « throne » of one and the same râjah (cf. p. 124).

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II. — An Archæological Survey photograph, communicated by Dr. J. Ph. VOGEL, representing a corner of the recent excavations of Dr. D. B. SPOONER in one of the neighbouring tumuli of Sahri-Bahlol (cf. p. 124). These excavations have been described by their author in the *Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report*, 1906-7, pp. 102-118. For previous explorations of the same district see H. W. BELLEW, *General Report on the Euzufzai* (Lahore, 1864) and *Punjab Gazetteer, Peshawar District* (1897-1898), pp. 46 sqq.; for the more modern researches (1912) of Sir Aurel STEIN see, on the other hand, *Annual Report of the Archæological Survey of India, Frontier Circle*, 1911-12 (Peshawar, 1912, with map).

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1. THE VILLAGE OF SAHRI-BAHLOL

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2. EXCAVATIONS NEAR SAHRI-BAHLOL

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I. — An engraving borrowed from *Sur la frontière indo-afghane*, fig. 40, (or *Tour du Monde*, nov. 1899, p. 556). The identification of this tumulus with the « Pagoda of Kanishka » (cf. above, p. 129) was first developed in our *Notes sur la géographie ancienne du Gandhâra* (B. É. F. E.-O., I, 1901, pp. 329-333, with maps). Of the excavations by which it was verified an account has been given by Dr. D. B. SPOONER in *Archæological Survey of India, Annual Report*, 1908-9, pp. 38-59.

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II. — The four coins reproduced are borrowed from the *Catalogue of Indian Coins in the British Museum, The Coins of the Greek and Scythic Kings of Bactria and India*, by PERCY GARDNER (London, 1886), pll. IV, 1; II, 9; XI, 7; XXVI, 8 : *a*. Head of « Alexander, son of Philip », wearing a lion's skin, like Heracles; on the reverse, mention of the « reigning king, Agathokles the just », inscribed round a Zeus seated on a throne with a back, holding in his raised left hand the long sceptre and on his extended right hand the eagle (cf. p. 126). — *b*. Head of a king, wearing a diadem and a helmet in the form of an elephant's head; on the reverse, mention of « King Demetrios », inscribed on both sides of a standing Heracles, bearing in his left hand the club and the lion's skin and with the right hand crowning himself with an ivy-wreath (cf. p. 126). — *c*. Diademed head of the « Saviour King Menander » ; on the reverse, Pallas Athene, bearing the aegis and hurling the thunderbolt : round her the same inscription, but this time in the Indian alphabet and language of the north-west (cf. p. 127). — *d*. Full-length portrait of the « Shah of Shahs, Kanishka the Kushan » ; spear in the left hand, the right extended above a pyre; on the reverse, a standing Buddha, having an aureole and a nimbus (cf. p. 128).

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1. SHAH-JI-KI-DHERI (KANISHKA STUPA)

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2. INDO-GREEK AND INDO-SCYTHIC COINS

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I. — *Archaeological Survey photograph, supplied by Sir Aurel Stein* (for other reproductions cf. *A. S. I., Annual Report*, 1908-9, pll. XII XIII). At the top a Buddha is seated on the slightly expanded stem of a lotus, whose petals decorate the upper face of the lid, between two standing lay persons, probably Brahmâ and Indra. On the lip of the lid is a frieze of geese (*hamsa*). On the main body of the casket itself a Buddha seated in meditation and two half-length deities repose in the waves of a garland supported by frolicking Cupids. On the left we see the profile of the standing figure of Kanishka. It will be observed that not only is the design superior to the execution, but also the mantles of the Buddhas cover them right to the neck and hide their crossed feet, and that their hands as yet know only two *mudrâs*, that of meditation and that of reassurance. It is therefore permissible already to speak of stylization and even of decadence, but not yet of the ultimate decline of the school (cf. p. 130).

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II. — *Statue of Bodhisattva, obtained from Shâhbâz-Garhî, at present in the museum of the Louvre* (cf. p. 132). With its costume formed of two pieces of material, one for the trunk and the other for the lower limbs, with its turban, its sandals, its rich adornments, and finally its nimbus, this statue represents that ideal type of the great lay noble which in India serves for kings and gods. (For a heliogravure and a detailed description of this particular one cf. *Sculptures gréco-bouddhiques du Musée du Louvre* in *Monuments et Mémoires*, vol. VII, part I, 1900). On the pedestal is represented the worship of Buddha's alms-bowl.

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2. THE BODHISATTVA TYPE

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1. THE RELIC-CASKET OF KANISHKA

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I. — The type of Bodhisattva and that of Buddha are borrowed from a frieze in the museum of the Louvre (cf. Art g.-b. du Gandh., fig. 134); that of the monk from a bas-relief in the British Museum. For the reason of their being placed together cf. pp. 133-134.

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II. — The image of Christ is reproduced from a plate in Professor STRZYGOWSKI'S *Orient oder Rom*; let us not omit to confess that it has been artificially isolated from the rest of the sarcophagus. In contrast to its slender figure the image of Buddha (no. 527 of the Lahore Museum; height m. 0,60) is noticeably squat. The gesture of the left arm we shall find again in the Buddha of this same plate XVI, 1, and in the sixth of the seven which are ranged on the base of plate XXVI, 1. For comparison the Sophocles of the Lateran museum may be found reproduced in most manuals of classical archæology. (Cf. pp. 135-136).

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restrict ourselves to borrowing from M. Espérandieu’s collection an almost complete specimen of each of the two principal variants of the subject (pl. XVII, 1 and 2) (¹).

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¹ In addition to the specimens represented or quoted in the texts, see also nos. 1564, 1573, 1828, 1837, 1849, 2129, 2249, 2252-2253, 2255-2256, 2271, 2313, 2334, 2353, 2878-2881, 2911, etc. It seems that the same two gods are again found in the company of the same goddess on the « triades » of nos. 2131 (Autun) and 2357 (Asile-Sainte-Reine).

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No one expects from an Indianist that he shall undertake more closely to identify Gallo-Roman divinities or even to distinguish very carefully between them; but perhaps he may be allowed to point out the existence, on the opposite confines of the world known to the ancients, of perfectly analogous figures and even groups (pl. XVIII, 1 and 2). As far as one can judge of the popularity of gods by the always fortuitous result of excavations, this divine pair was in Gandhâra no less in vogue than in Lyonnaise; but there we possess more precise information concerning it. The Buddhist community showed itself more receptive to popular superstitions than the Christian clergy. It assigned a place in its convents, and dedicated passages of its scriptures, to this conjugal association of the fairy with the children and the genius with the purse : for, after all, they are only demi-gods of fairly low extraction, created for the use of the middle classes, and on a level with them. In the man it has long been proposed to recognise Kuvera, the « King of the Spirits » (²); but the texts merely designate him as their « general », by his name Pâñcika, and it is in virtue of this title that he is nearly always leaning upon a lance. These *Yakshas* of India, like the dwarfs of our mythologies, are essentially guardians of treasures; and doubtless this is how Pâñcika must have commenced his career; but the « purse of gold », which he holds in his right hand, would sufficiently prove, even if we were not expressly told, that he had already transformed himself from a jealous gaoler into a generous dispenser of riches. Whilst the miserly demon was thus changing into a liberal genius, his wife Hâritî was undergoing a parallel evolution, and from an ogress was becoming a matron. Originally she personified some terrible infantile epidemic; and, although herself a mother of five hundred little elves, she found her food in the children of men; but when she is depicted for us by religious art, she is supposed to have been already converted by Buddha, and her sole function is to accord to the vows of the faithful a numerous progeny. If we care to translate the myth into Greco-Roman terms, Lamia was metamorphosed into Lucina. Most often she is represented as holding on her knees, or even suckling, her last-born, which has caused her to be called the Buddhist Madonna (¹), whilst numbers of her sons frolic around her or, climbing about her person, make her look like an Italian allegory of Charity. The authors of pl. XVIII, 1 and 2 have expressed the traditional conception of the fruitful and fructifying Hâritî in a manner more sober than usual, being content with putting a cornucopia into her left hand. They forget only one point, namely that according to Indian ideas a horn or any other remnant of a dead animal (except the black antilope) is an unclean thing, and that only people of the currier caste, the least fastidious and the most despised of men, can touch such an object. For us Europeans, who are not disturbed by such refinements of delicacy, this attribute, far from shocking, only awakens in the delighted mind ideas of fer-

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² Cf. Dr. J. Ph. VOGEL, *Note sur une statue du Gandhâra*, in *B. E. F. E.-O.*, III, 1903.

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(¹) Cf. infra, the last essay.

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tile maturity and maternal prosperity. This is, indeed, how the Indo-Greek sculptors understood it, and the mere choice of this symbol would be sufficient to prove that they were more Greek than Indian : but the meaning of these abridged versions remains evidently the same as that of the more ornate replicas, which encumber with urchins the pedestal, the knees, and even the shoulders of these same persons (cf. pl. XLVIII, 1). The mere sight of the god leaning lovingly on the arm or the shoulder of his companion, and the latter not fearing to caress his knee in public, leaves us in no doubt that popular imagination and cult have in fact united in matrimony the genius who dispenses riches and the fairy who grants posterity.

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We should be willing to believe that the Gallic groups, like their Indian prototypes, must practically answer to the same eternal desires of humanity for offspring and for money — although our modern civilization seems to detach itself from the one to the advantage of the other. As far as the god is concerned, whether it be a question of the Gallic Mercury, who, we are told by Caesar, controlled the gains of commercial transactions, or of that *Dis Pater*, who seems to be the native double of Plutus, as well as of Pluto, the purse which he holds in his hand is in all languages an expressive emblem : and as for the goddess, by whatever name she may be called, Rosmerta, Maïa, Tutela, Nantosvelta, or simply Bona Dea, her horn of abundance signifies fecundity. According to all appearance, whilst her husband was more particularly destined to fulfil the aspirations of the men, her task was to satisfy those of the women ; and thus in Gaul, as in India, both sexes must have found satisfaction in the worship of this divine pair. Besides, it is sufficient or four purpose that their tutelary character should be incontestable. What chiefly interests us is the analogy between the procedures followed by the artists of such distant countries, in order to picture before our eyes ideas on the whole analogous.

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Between the two groups reproduced in our plates the only contrast at all striking consists in the respectively inverse positions of the two spouses. But, inverted as it is, it retains the same intention of reserving for the goddess the place of honour in relation to the man — that being according to the old Indian custom on the left, and not on the right as with us (¹). The stool placed beneath the left foot of the persons in pl. XVII, 1 is lacking in pl. XVIII, 1 and 2; but it exists on other replicas, and, besides, the group of pl. XVII, 2 dispenses with it likewise. The scaly decoration of the pedestal of pl. XVIII, 1, made of coins half covering each other, is only a paraphase of the signification of the purse. The double seats on pl. XVIII allow a sight of their four feet, turned on the lathe in the Indian manner: but, on the other hand, the nimbus which emphasizes the divine character of the pair is perfectly familiar to our western eyes. Then, beside these small local differences, what resemblances are to be observed! If we leave aside the leggings and the large earrings of the Indian genius, his costume even, consisting of a tunic and a cloak, is not so very different from that usually worn by his Gallo-Roman equi-

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(¹) For other conjugal pairs thus placed cf. *Art gréco-bouddhique du Gandhâra*, figg. 160-162. A curious fact to be noticed is that two Gallo-Roman groups, to be classed among those which have best retained the accent of their birthplace, also place the goddess on the left of the god; they are nos. 1319 (Saintes) in which the god with the purse is crouched down « à l'indienne » near the goddess with the horn of abundance, who is seated in the European manner, and 2334 (Auxois). We may ask ourselves if the custom of the Gauls was not the same as that of the Indians on this point, exactly as we know that it was the common custom of the two nations to count past time by nights and not by days, etc.

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valents. To the mallet of the one corresponds well enough the long sceptre of the other, with its end rounded in the form of a mace (pl. XVIII, 1). As for the beardless god of pl. XVII, 2, he, we are told, « holds in his left hand a lance, and in the other an object scarcely recognizable, perhaps a purse » : these are precisely the insignia of the corresponding person in pl. XVIII, 2. Last but not least, the women have the same pose, the same attributes, the same draperies, even the same headdress in the form of a « bushel », or « basket » : between them a quasi-identity asserts itself, and there would be no exaggeration in saying that, from the banks of the Indus to those of the Seine, it would have cheated even the eyes of the donors.

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Such is the testimony of the monuments. What does it prove? Let us hasten to say, nothing very new : for certainly no one will venture to imagine direct influences between Gaul and India. Moreover, the connection, as far at least as the goddess is concerned, is already established in the memory of instructed readers by a number of intermediary figures : at need it would soon be discovered among those tiny mercantile and travelling folk, the Mediterranean terracottas. We shall be excused for holding in this case also to prudent generalities and confining ourselves to the introduction of our Indian replicas into the discussion. If it were not sufficient to indicate this new fact, and if we ought further to essay an interpretation of it, that which we should propose is a very simple one. It has long been ascertained that the art of Gandhâra borrowed its technique from Hellenistic art : it is impossible then that it should not have features in common with Greco-Roman, and consequently with the Gallo-Roman art. This kind of relationship, however distant the degree may be, is justified principally, in archæology as well as in linguistics, by the same construction of the forms and the employment of the same grammar, verbal or decorative: and in this particular case no specialist could turn over the leaves of M. Espérandieu’s collection without noticing, in support of the cousinship of these distant schools, a number of details of composition and the constant return of the same ornamental subjects, amorini, griffons or tritons, garlands, acanthuses or flowers. But, after all, nothing is more striking and more persuasive for the public than a comparison bearing on vocabulary, especially if it is a question of a common significant word. This is just the kind of contribution that we believed we could supply here by noting the suggestive correspondence of the oriental and occidental expressions of the same ideas, or, better, of the same religious needs. In truth, these works, however complex they may be, only transcribe quite rudimentary notions; but notions only the more deeply grounded in human nature. Such as they are, these groups — which, besides, are nearly contemporaneous — seem to us to furnish for the moment one of the most palpable verifications of the fact that in the first centuries of our era the sculptors of the Gauls and those of Ariana had each learned at the school of the Greeks, and spoke from one end of the ancient world to the other the same common language, the same artistic « koinê ».

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These two bas-reliefs are nos. 80 (height m. 0, 46) and 81 (height m. 0, 30) of the Archæological Museum of Dijon; they were both found on Mount Auxois, the first in 1803, the second in 1834. With the kind consent of Major E. ESPÉRANDIEU, our plate reproduces the two stereotypes of nos. 2347 and 2348 of his *Recueil général des bas-reliefs, statues et bustes de la Gaule romaine*, whence, for the sake of greater impartiality, we content ourselves with reproducing the descriptions :

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I. — « God and Goddess, seated facing us, booted and each with the left foot on a footstool. The god, on the right, is bearded, and wears a long tunic and a mantle; he holds in his right hand a naked sword, and with the other he leans on the iron of a mallet, the handle of which rests on the arm of his seat. The goddess, crowned with a tower, has a long tunic, which leaves her right shoulder and part of her breast bare; with her left hand she holds against her shoulder a horn of plenty, filled with fruits; with the other hand a slanting patera ».

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II. — « God and Goddess seated facing us, their feet shod. The god, on the right, is beardless, his body naked, and he has a mantle over his knees; in his left hand he carries a lance, in the other an object which is scarcely recognizable, perhaps a purse. The goddess, clothed in a long robe which leaves a part of her breast and her right shoulder uncovered, holds in her right hand a patera and in the other a horn of plenty, filled with fruits ».

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1

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2

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I. — Archæological Survey photograph, supplied by Dr. J. Ph. VOGEL, who himself published it in the *B. É. F. E.-O.*, VIII, 1908, p. 488. The original, bought at Sahri-Bahlol, is at present to be found in the Peshawar Museum; it measures m. 0, 21 in height. The genius, curiously clothed with a tunic, a chlamys and leggings, holds a long sceptre and a purse; the fairy, whose head is unfortunately lost, rests her right hand on her husband's knee, and with the other holds up the horn of plenty. At the two corners of the plinth two gaping vessels pour out streams of gold coins.

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II. — The original (height m. 0, 18) is found in the Museum für Völkerkunde in Berlin (I. C. 32805), and for the photograph we are indebted to Prof. GRÜNWEDEL and Dr. VON LE COQ. This time the genius bears the customary lance and purse. As in the preceding group, his left arm leans on the shoulder of his wife, whose right hand likewise caresses his knee. As to the latter, she clearly has for headdress the *modius* or *κάλαθος* (like the goddess on pl. XVII, 1 ?).

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1

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2

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The Great Miracle at Çrâvastî (¹).

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The narratives of the death of Buddha assert that after his cremation eight kings or ruling clans shared his ashes, and that they deposited their several portions under as many stûpas. We see no reason for disbelieving tradition on this point : the important thing is not at times to confuse these first eight sanctuaries with the historical « eight grand caityas » (²). We know, indeed, for certain that eight towns of Madhyadeça had finally divided among themselves, not the relics, but the legend, of Buddha. In their immediate neighbourhood were eight specially holy places, supposed to preserve the vestiges of the eight principal miracles of the Master. This implies that they formed as many centres of attraction for pilgrims, the organized exploitation of whom — one of the few industries which still survive in India — must have constituted an appreciable source of income. It may easily be imagined that the definite choice of scenes and sites was not accomplished without rivalries

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(1) Journal asiatique, Jan.-Feb. 1909.
(2) That there is no lack of opportunity for these confusions we find proved at once in Une poésie inconnue du roi Harṣa Çilâditya, restored from Chinese transcription by M. S. LÉVI (Actes du Xe Congrès int. des Orient., 1894, I, p. 188, Leiden, 1895) and entitled « Hymn to the Eight Great Caityas », which enumerates still more. The « eight reliquaries » of stanza 5, followed by the stûpas of the « urn » and the « ashes », are evidently the 8 + 2 stûpas of the Mahâparinibbâna-sutta, VI, 62, and have nothing to do with the « eight great caityas » of the title.

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and hesitations. At least four cities, indeed, received from the first an undisputed recognition. A relatively ancient text, the *Mahâparinibbânasutta*, already recommends the pilgrimages to the four sacred places of the Birth, the Illumination, the First Preaching, and the Death, of Buddha (¹). On the square bases of the little *stûpas* of Gandhâra and the stelæ of Amarâvatî these four scenes are invariably associated (pll. II-IV) : only we must draw attention to the fact that in the latter case Kapilavastu is usually represented not by the nativity of the child Buddha, but by what might be called his birth into the spiritual life, we mean his « abandonment of home » (²). However, neither the cities of Gayâ and Benares, nor certainly the obscure frontier market towns of Kapilavastu and Kuçinagara could pretend to monopolize between them the Buddhist legend and the advantages accruing therefrom. Through the disconnected accounts of

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(¹) V, 16-22 ; the *Jâti*, the *Abhisambodhi*, the *Dharmacakrapravartana*, and the *Parinirvâna* are similarly associated in the *Divyâvadâna*, ed. COWELL and NEIL, p. 244 and p 397, l. 18.

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(²) For the little *stûpas* of the north-west, cf. *Art gréco-bouddhique du Gandhâra*, fig. 208. For the stelæ of Amarâvatî see J. BURGESS, *The Buddhist Stûpas of Amarâvatî and Jaggayyapeta*, pll. XVI, 4; XXXII, 4; XXXVIII, 5; XLI, 6 (with the departure on horseback; cf. J. FERGUSSON, *Tree and Serpent-Worship*, pl. LXXV on the right), and pl. XVI, 3 (with the farewell to Chandaka; cf. FERGUSSON, *ibid.*, pl. LXXV, to the left). On all those stelæ which are complete the *Parinirvâna* is constantly symbolized by a simple *stûpa*. With these one may connect others, in which the *Abhisambodhi* and the *Dharmacakrapravartana* are figured by an empty throne under a tree or a wheel (BURGESS, *ibid.*, pll. XXXVIII, 3 and 6; XLV, 2 and 4; XLVI, 1-3; XLVII, 3; XLVIII, 1; FERGUSSON, *ibid.*, pll. XCIII; XCIV, 1, 4). The most curious of this kind are those which shrink from representing not only the Buddha, but even the Bodhisattva, and wherein the *Mahâbhinishkramana* is no longer represented, except by a horse without a rider (FERGUSSON, *ibid.*, pll. XCIII, to the left; XCVI, 3 and XCVIII, 2). It will be observed besides that on several stelæ of Benares (*Anc. Mon. Ind.*, pl. 67, 2 and 68, 1) the *Mahâbhinishkramana* is associated with the *Jâti* in the same framework.

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the documents we seem to catch the play of the two dominant forces which brought the number of the great pilgrimages up to the sacred figure of eight. Sometimes the preponderant element seems to be the prestige which a certain miracle had very early acquired in the popular imagination. Thus we see the « descent from heaven » separate itself very early from the crowd of traditional marvels; but its localization continues fluctuating, at least if we keep to the letter of the texts (¹). On the other hand, the ancient capital of Magadha, Râjagṛiha, and the wealthy free town of Vaiçâlî easily, by reason of their preëminent rôle in the Buddhist scriptures, eclipsed the titles of Kauçâmbî or Mathurâ : there is, however, no consensus of testimony as to which among all the edifying scenes which had there come to pass it was right more particularly to commemorate. At Çrâvastî even, where the interest is at once concentrated upon the Jetavana, the Master's favourite sojourn, unanimity of choice does not fall, as might have been expected, on the « great miracle », the triumph whereby its immediate environs had been rendered famous (²). In the face of the capricious divergencies of the texts the concordant precision of the figured monuments has fortunately permitted us to make out the list, and to sketch the traditional scheme, of the four supplementary great scenes, the miracle of Çrâvastî, the descent from heaven at Sânkâçya, the monkey’s offering at Vaiçâlî, the subjugation of the savage elephant at Râjagriha (¹). It is true that, in order definitely to fix this scheme, we have availed ourselves chiefly of miniatures in Nepalese and Bengali manuscripts of rather late date (XIth-XIIIth centuries). At the most we had been able to compare with them only a few carved slabs, which came from the scene of the « first preaching », at Sârnâth, in the northern suburb of Benares, and which date back approximately to the Vth century of our era. Unfortunately, these slabs were quite incomplete : we may be permitted, therefore, to emphasize the interest of the recent discovery at the same place of a stele in fairly good condition, divided into eight panels and consecrated precisely to the eight great scenes (pl. XIX, 1). Let us say at once that seven of these bas-reliefs only confirm what we already knew of the subjects which they represent and the conventional manner of treating them. Besides, Mr. J. H. Marshall has completely identified them. He has no hesitation, except as regards one single scene, « of which the identification », he says, « is doubtful, but which appears to have taken place at Çrâvastî » (²). And it is, in fact, concerning the traditional

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¹ It is known that the *Divyâvadâna* and Fa-hien localize the *Devâvatâra* at Sânkâçya, Hiuan-tsang at Kapitha and Fa-t'ien (cf. S. LEVI, *loc. cit.*, p. 190) at Kanyâkubja; the *Mahâvyutpatti* (§ 193) and Wou-k'ong (trans. S. LEVI and Ed. CHAVANNES, *Journal Asiatique*, sept-oct. 1895, p. 358) do not give definitely the place of this « Descent » of Buddha.

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² The *Mahâprâtihârya* is indeed mentioned by the text of Harsha and placed, somewhat incorrectly, by Fa-t'ien in the Jetavana of Çrâvastî (the *Divyâvadâna* [pp. 151 and 155, ll. 12-14 and 17-18] specifies, in fact, that the theatre of the scene was situated between the town and the park); but Wou-k'ong associates with the Jetavana the preaching of the *Mahâprajñâpâramitâ-sûtra*. In the same way, at Râjagṛiha, in direct antithesis to the vague « teachings » of Fa-t'ien, he places the preaching of the *Saddharmapundarika* on the neighbouring hill of the Gṛidhrakûṭa. At Vaiçâlî both agree to call by different names the touching episode of the rejection of life (*âyur* or *âyuḥ-saṃskâra-utsarjana*), which supervened three months before the *Parinirvâṇa*. But we shall see that, guided by considerations of a pictorial and technical

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order, the artists made from the mass of the traditional accounts a quite different choice from the men of letters.

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(¹) See Ét. sur l'Iconogr. bouddh. de l'Inde, I (1900, pp. 162-170), summarized, corrected and completed, ibid., II (1905), pp. 113-114.

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(²) See Mr. MARSHALL'S (article in J. R. A. S. 1907, pp. 999-1000, and pl. IV, 1). We take pleasure in here thanking the very distinguished Director-General of Archæology, India, for his extreme kindness in putting at manner of representing the « Great miracle » of Çrâvastî that this new document will furnish us with useful evidence.

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The canonical importance of the *mahâ-prâtihârya* of Çrâvastî is incontestable. The *Divyâvadâna* gives it expressly as one of the ten acts of which every perfect Buddha must necessarily acquit himself before dying (¹). It is likewise in this text — that is to say, as MM. S. Lévi and Ed. Huber have shown, in the *Vinaya* of the Mûla-Sarvâstivâdins — that we find the most ancient and most detailed account of the miracles whereby on this occasion Çâkyamuni triumphed over his rivals, the six chiefs of sects. Thanks to the translation of Burnouf, this account is too well known to need citation here (²). We shall restrict ourselves to bringing out the essential points. After having wrought a few minor miracles, which were mere preliminary trifles, and refusing to allow anyone, monk or layman, man or

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our disposal a photograph of the stele in question and authorizing its reproduction.

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(¹) *Divyâvadâna*, pp, 150 151; no Buddha of the past has failed in it *ibid.*, p. 147, ll. 24-27); according to the Tibetan testimonies the Buddha of our age accomplished it in the sixteenth year of his ministry (ROCKHILL, *Life of the Buddha*, p. 79).

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(²) *Divyâvadâna*, XII and BURNOUF, *Introduction à l'hist. du Bouddh. indien*, pp. 162 sqq. The XIIIth story of the *Avadânakalpalatâ*, deplorably edited indeed in the *Bibl. Indica*, V, 1895 (see, below, p. 174, n. 5), adds, in accordance with the usual custom of Kshemendra, nothing but poetic graces; ROCKHILL (*Life of the Buddha*, pp. 79-80, following the Dulva) and SCHIEFNER (*Eine tibet. Lebensbeschr. Çâkyamuni's*, p. 293) restrict themselves to a reference to BURNOUF. For the connections of these various authors with the tradition of the Mûla-Sarvâstivâdins see also the very clear conclusions of Prof. S. LÉVI, *Journal Asiatique*, July-August 1908, pp. 102 and 104.

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woman, to be substituted for him, so as to confuse the *Tirthyas* by the exhibition of a supernatural power, the Blessed One accomplishes successively, on the direct and twice repeated invitation of king Prasenajit, two kinds of miracles. At first he displays what in technical terms is called the *yamaka-prâtihârya*, which consists in walking the air in various attitudes, while emitting alternately flames and waves from the upper and lower parts of his body; in the second place, multiplying images of himself up to heaven and in all directions, he preaches his law. A violent storm, raised by a chief of the genii, completes the overthrow of the heterodox. An immense multitude is converted to the good law.

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If now after the Sanskrit version we consult the Pâli tradition, we find that the *mahâ-prâtihârya* of Çrâvastî is there usually designated « the miracle at the foot of the mango-tree ». The *Mahâvamsa* and the commentary of the *Jâtaka*, for example, give it no other name. According to the latter, as also according to the Singhalese and the Burmese (¹) accounts, Buddha did, in fact, begin by accomplishing the magical operation which the jugglers of India are always endeavouring to imitate : from the stone of a mango planted in the ground he is supposed to have forthwith grown an enormous tree, covered at once with flowers and fruits. But then this is merely a simple extra, scarcely even a curtain-raiser. When the great day has come, the divinities assemble, and the introduction to *Jâtaka* no. 483 tells us in a single sentence that « The Master, having accomplished the *yamaka-pātihāriya*, and having recognized the believing dispositions of a great number of people, redescended, and, seated on his Buddha seat, taught the law » (¹). If we analyse this brief résumé of the scene, it is not difficult to recognize in it, exactly as in the overelaborate version of the *Divyāvadāna*, the distinct and successive enunciation of the same two moments, that of the « pair of miracles » and that of the preaching.

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¹ Cf. *Mahâvamsa*, ed. TURNOUR, pp. 107, 181, 191; ed. GEIGER, pp. 137, 241, 254; *Jâtaka*, ed. FAUSBØLL, I, p. 77, l. 23; 88, l. 20, etc.; *ambamûle*, or *gaṇḍamba-mûle*, is written; Gaṇḍa has become in the commentary of the *Jâtaka*, no. 483, and Gaṇḍamba in Sp. HARDY (*Manual of Buddhism*, 1st ed. pp. 295-296), the name of the gardener who supplied the mango : see also BIGANDET, *Life of Gaudama*, Rangoon, 1866, p. 205.

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¹ See *Jātaka*, IV, p. 265, ll. 13-14 ; the English translation (IV, p. 168, l. 13) of *oruyha* = *avaruyha* by « then arose » seems to us to be a *lapsus calami*, going directly against the meaning. It will be noticed that the Pāli, like the *Mahāvastu*, makes use of the technical term of *yamaka-p°*; BIGANDET, *loc. cit.*, p. 207, gives us a very clear description of it (perhaps even two descriptions, cf. below, p. 157); it is also easily recognized through the *tejo°* and *apokasina-samāpatti* of Sp. HARDY, *loc. cit.*, p. 297.

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Of these two manifestations the first strikes one immediately as the more original and the more picturesque : one would have wagered that it must have thrust itself on the choice of the artists whose duty it was to decorate the Buddhist monuments with edifying scenes, or to compose pious *ex-votos* for the use of the laity. As a matter of fact, we have found in the ancient school of Gandhāra at least one indubitable representation of the « twin miracles » ; and even at the present moment the special attribution of this bas-relief to the *mahā-prātihārya* of Çrāvastī seems to us not in the least untenable, on the sole condition that we mark well its exceptional character (²). It was, besides, the accidental circumstance of this find that prevented our carrying still further our researches on this point. Nevertheless, as we had already observed, it was the scene of the manifold preaching of the Master that later, if we may judge from the miniatures of the manuscripts, inspired the traditional image of the « great miracle » : at least, they represent it regularly by three Buddhas teaching, seated side by side upon as many lotuses (¹). Now the stele recently exhumed from the ground of the ancient Mṛigadâva testifies, five or six centuries earlier, to this same manner of conceiving the subject : the compartment which we know beforehand to have been reserved for the miracle of Çrâvastî shows us, in fact, like the miniatures, three Buddhas seated on lotuses in the attitude of teaching. This is the new fact supplied by this discovery, and it will not be long before its consequences unfold themselves before our eyes.

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² See *Art g.-b. du Gandh.*, pp. 516 and 535, and fig. 263 (= *Anc. Mon. India*, pl. 115, 5), where we give the reasons which led us to prefer this identification to the equally possible one of « the arrival at Kapilavastu ».

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¹ See *Icon. bouddh. de l'Inde*, I, pl. X, 1 (cf. BENDALL, *Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge*, 1883, pl. II, 1), and cf. *ibid.* p. 205, no. 82, and II, pp. 114, no. 4.

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But, first of all, a question arises as to whether we must restrict ourselves to merely stating, or whether we can succeed in explaining, the unexpected choice of the artists. If we consider only the stele in question (pl. XIX, 1), it seems that we may immediately see a reason, although an external one, for the course taken by its author. Let us observe, in fact, that of the four great supplementary scenes of the legend of Buddha there are two which absolutely necessitate a standing posture : they are the subjugation of the wild elephant and the descent from heaven. A legitimate care for symmetry in the alternation of the poses would have demanded a sitting posture in the corresponding scenes, not only in the monkey’s offering, but also in the great miracle of Çrâvastî. Such, at least, is the idea imperiously suggested by an examination of the apportionment of the subjects on the new stele — the only one, let us remember, that we possess with the eight scenes complete (cf. the table below).

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| *First Preaching* BUDDHA SEATED | *Parinirvâṇa* BUDDHA LYING DOWN |
| *Descent from Heaven* BUDDHA STANDING | *Miracle of Çrâvastî* BUDDHA SEATED |
| *Offering of the monkey* BUDDHA SEATED | *Subjugation of the elephant* BUDDHA STANDING |
| *Nativity* MÂYÂ STANDING | *Perfect enlightenment* BUDDHA SEATED |

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It is scarcely necessary to remark that this reason, valid for the whole, is inapplicable to an isolated panel. The reading of the texts will furnish an argument of wider bearing. It does not, in fact, take us long to perceive that they use and abuse the *yamaka-prâtihârya*. The general introduction of the *Jâtaka* makes it to be wrought by Buddha as early as the eighth day after the Bodhi, and specifies that he repeated it under three other circumstances, (1) at the time of his visit to Kapilavastu and of his meeting with his father and his relatives, the Çâkyas, (2) at the time of his encounter with the heterodox monk Paṭikaputta, and last, (3) at Çrâvastî, at the foot of the mango-tree ('). The *Divyâvadâna* attributes it further to a simple monk; the *Mahâvastu* to Yaçoda or Yaças, the converted son of the banker of Benares; the *Sûtrâlaṅkâra* to the five hundred *bhikṣuṇīs*, companions of Mahâprajâpatî; the *Jâtaka*-

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(1) *Jâtaka*, I, pp. 77 and 88; trans. RHYS DAVIDS, *Buddhist Birth Stories*, pp. 105 and 123; on the first of the three other occasions cf. *Mahâvastu*, III, p. 115, and on the second the *Manual* of SP. HARDY, p. 331.

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mâlâ to a Pratyeka-Buddha; finally, the *Mahâvaṃsa* twice places it to the account of simple relics of the Blessed One, etc. (¹). We receive the impression that the *yamaka-prâtihârya* has become hackneyed in consequence of being classic. Moreover when, after having accomplished it, Buddha returns and seats himself in his place, he informs king Prasenajit in a moment of proud modesty that « this kind of magical power is common to all the disciples of the Tathâgata » (²). Hence it may be conceived that artists and worshippers were of one mind in no longer finding this banal wonder anything to characterize with sufficient clearness the great scene of Çrâvastî, and preferred the multiplication of the teaching images of the Master : for it is written that this last miracle is realizable only by the special power of the Buddha and the gods (³).

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Finally, if we must conceal nothing, we seem to detect in the texts themselves a tendency to confuse the two kinds of wonders, and even to eliminate the former in favour of the latter. First of all, there seems to have been at times a misapprehension as to the real meaning of the expression *yamaka-prâtihârya*. This technical term « twin miracles » does in fact lend itself to confusion. We know now from the very explicit descriptions of the *Divyâvadâna* and the *Mahâvastu* that it must be understood

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(¹) *Divyâvadâna*, p. 378 ; *Mahâvastu*, III, p. 410 ; *Sûtrâlaṅkâra*, trans. Ed. HUBER, p. 399 ; *Jâtakamâlâ*, IV, 20 ; *Mahâvaṃsa*, pp. 107 and 191 (TURNOUR), 137 and 254 (GEIGER).

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(²) *Divyâvadâna*, p. 161, l. 13 : *sarvaçrâvaka-sâdhâraṇa*. The text of the commentary of *Jâtaka*, nº 483, p. 265, ll. 12-13 : *Asâdhâraṇaṃ sâvakehi yamaka-p°*, which seems to mean the contrary, becomes in consequence most suspicious, at least if the two texts are speaking of the same miracle.

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(³) *Divyâvadâna*, p. 162, *ad fin*. The power of holding a dialogue with a magic double is likewise stated a little further (on p. 166, l. 11) as a privilege of perfect Buddhas only and inaccessible to simple *çrâvakas*.

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as the combined alternation of the two opposite wonders of water and fire : but it was not without reason that in 1880 Prof. Rhys Davids understood it to mean « making another appearance like unto himself ». In the Burmese narrative translated by Bigandet (¹) Buddha does, indeed, begin by making flames or streams gush forth alternately from the upper and lower parts of his body : but very soon he hastens to create a companion for his conversation and his walks, and sometimes it is his turn, and sometimes that of his double, to walk or to sit down, to question or to reply. It is curious to notice that the *Divyâvadâna* also makes the magically multiplied images of the Blessed One assume varied attitudes, and whilst some repeat afresh the marvels of water and fire, « others either ask questions or give answers to them ». It even goes so far as to introduce most unexpectedly, as an ending to the chapter, a dialogue between Buddha and another self, created expressly for this purpose (²). Thus it manifests at least a certain propensity to amalgamate the two successive moments which it at first endeavoured to distinguish, and to confuse the reduplication of the miracles with that of the images (³). But this is not all. In another passage of the same collection the reverend Piṇḍola Bhâradvâja relates to king Açoka this same miracle of Çrâvastî, of which he represents himself as an eye witness. Now he no longer even mentions the *yamaka-prâtihârya* : « And when, o! Great King, in order to triumph over the Tîrthyas, the great miracle was accomplished at Çrâvastî by the Blessed One, and there was created an array of Buddhas which mounted up to the heaven of the Akanishtha gods, at that time I was there, and I saw these sports of Buddha (¹) ». Here it is no longer a question of anything but the second miracle. Finally, we again find this latter, reduced to its most simple expression, in the *Buddhacarita* of Açvaghosha, whose descriptions are always so close to the figured monuments. According to him (so far as we can trust the English translation made by the Rev. S. Beal from the Chinese translation of the original Sanskrit) Buddha restricts himself to rising into the air and there remaining seated, and « diffusing his glory like the light of the sun, he shed abroad the brightness of his presence ». In this version — by a strange coincidence, but one which in our opinion it would be vain to seek to press further — the *mahâ-prâtihârya* quite assumes the characteristics of a Transfiguration : « His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white as the light (²) ».

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¹ See Rhys Davids, *Buddh. Birth Stories*, p. 105, n. 4; and Bigandet, *loc. cit.*, p. 207.

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² *Divyâvadâna*, p. 162, ll. 17-20, and 166, ll. 3-11; cf. the description of plate XXI, 2.

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³ The same confusion seems to be reproduced with regard to the miracles attributed to the monk Panthaka ; as regards these last I am indebted to the obliging friendship and incomparably extensive information of Prof. S. Lévi for the following references : *Divyâvadâna*, p. 494; *Aṅguttara-Nikâya*, I, 14 (p. 24); *Visuddhi-magga*, analysed in J. Pâli Text Society, 1891-1893, p. 114; *Vinaya* (Chinese) of the Sarvâstivâdins (c. 11), of the Mahiçâsakas (c. 7), of the Dharmaguptas (c. 12), etc.

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¹ *Divyâvadâna*, p. 401 (cf. BURNOUF, *Introd.*, p. 398) : it will be noticed that these are exactly the same terms as are employed on two occasions in the previously quoted *sûtra* (*Divyâvadâna*, p. 162, ll. 16 and 26). — P. 401, l. 15, read probably *aham* instead of *mahat*.

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² *Sacred Books of the East*, XIX, p. 240; *Gospel according to St. Matthew*, XVII, 2.

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These waverings of tradition, as they are thus indicated in the texts, may help us to understand the at first somewhat surprising choice of the Indian image-makers. Regarding the fact of the choice itself there is, as we said above, no room for doubt. Let us resume the examination of the new panel, no. 5 of plate XIX, 1 : On a lotus, whose peduncle issues from a ripple of waves rolled into volutes, Buddha is seated with crossed legs in the hallowed posture, and his hands are joined in the gesture of instruction; on his right and left, again, there rises a *padma* with a long stalk, bearing another smaller Buddha, similar in all respects to the first... Now it is written in the *Divyâvadâna* that at that moment — namely, at a second invitation from Prasenajit and when the first series of miracles was already accomplished — « Buddha conceived a mundane thought ». Immediately the Gods rush forward to execute it : Brahmâ takes a place at his right and Çakra at his left, while the two Nâga kings, Nanda and Upananda, create entire a wonderful lotus, on the corolla of which the Blessed One seats himself. Then by the force of his magic power, « above this lotus he created another, and on this one also a Buddha was seated with his legs crossed : and thus in front, behind, at the sides... » The crowd of Buddhas, holding themselves in the four consecrated attitudes (erect, walking, seated, or recumbent), soon rise to the highest heavens (¹). The bas-relief, unable to juggle, like the text, with numbers and forms, shows us just three of them, all alike seated : but by now there is for us no question that we must see in this restricted space an attempt, however timid, to realize the legendary phantasmagoria.

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¹ Cf. *Divyâvadâna*, p. 162. We know that the heaven of the Akanishṭhas is the highest heaven of the *Rûpadhâtu*, at the 23rd story of the Buddhist paradises. We remember also that the two kings of the serpents, « Nanda and his junior », play a part in a number of episodes in the life of Buddha, beginning with the bath which followed the nativity. We shall find information concerning them extracted by M. Ed. HUBER from the *Vinaya* of the Mûla-Sarvâstivâdins in the *B. É. F. E.-O.*, VI, 1906, pp. 8 sqq.

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With this abridged version we may connect immediately other more developed pictures, such, for example, as that which totally covers another stele originating from Sârnâth (¹), and in which are staged no less than four rows of Buddhas, seated or standing pl. (XIX, 2). On seeing the upward-branching lotus stems which bear these small figures, we might believe ourselves in the presence of a genealogical tree of Buddhas. Thus we are invincibly led to recall those which, either carved or painted, entirely cover great stretches of the walls of several of the subterranean temples of Ajaṇṭā. One of these frescoes, of which a copy has been published, very gracefully combines wreaths of flowers and foliage with the dreamy figures of the seated or standing Buddhas (²) : it decorates the wall on the right, in the antechamber of the sanctuary of Cave I;

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