The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c15.20

c15.20

A hint as to the district which may have produced the preceding sculptures is afforded by some fragmentary reliefs found by Professor Vogel and myself at Chārsada in 1902-3 and particularly by the phyllite panel illustrated in fig. 96, which was found in the ruins of Palātu-Dherī. What is left of it comprises seven partly mutilated figures, namely, the Buddha standing in the centre, with the Vajrapāṇi and a monk on his right, two *devas* above them in the background, and two other headless figures on the Buddha’s left. The episode in the Buddha’s career which is here portrayed has not been identified and there is no need for us to speculate about it here. What concerns us is the masterly handling of the drapery, which though fuller and more elaborately modelled than in the two preceding examples, is designed like them to show off the natural shapes underneath. Which of them is the earlier it would be difficult to say, but it is noteworthy that the *deva* head behind the Buddha’s right shoulder is of the same moustached type as those we encountered in figs. 59, 62, 68, and though manifestly posterior to them, points to a relatively early date for this relief.