The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c15.24

c15.24

The following relief (fig. 98) comes from the Dharmarājikā Stūpa at Taxila and is of phyllite stone. The scene depicted has not been identified. In the centre sits the Buddha enthroned, in the *abhaya-mudrā*, with the Vajrapāṇi and seven female devotees on his right and left. The Buddha wears a moustache, the Vajrapāṇi a bushy beard as well as a moustache. Of the devotees, three—a young mother and two children—stand on the Buddha's right; the other four on his left—two elderly ones in front and two middle-aged behind. The figures are of much the same stocky build as those in the preceding relief and are distinguished by the same highly realistic countenances. But there is a noticeable difference in the treatment of the eyes; for, whereas in fig. 97 the eyes are more or less normal in shape, here they are pear-shaped and slanting, not unlike those of the *yakshi* in fig. 89. As in the case of fig. 89, this unwonted shape of the eye was doubtless intended to give the countenance an other-worldly, superhuman look, and it is reasonable to assume that in adopting it the artist was thinking primarily of the Buddha, and that he subsequently extended it to some other members of the group.