The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c16.13

c16.13

The three reliefs which follow (figs. 117-19) all come from Loriyān Tangai and are made of the same micaceous schist as the foregoing. The subject of fig. 117 is the Buddha preaching his First Sermon in the Deer Park at Sārnāth. It is the same subject as that depicted in fig. 4, and probably also in fig. 59, but in fig. 4, which belongs to the Early Indian School, there is only a wheel set on the top of a column to symbolize the ‘Wheel of the Law’ (dharmacakra) which, in Buddhist parlance, the Teacher then for the first time set in motion; and below it some deer to symbolize the Deer Park. In this Gandhāran relief (fig. 117) the same symbols are repeated, but the centre of the picture is occupied by the Teacher himself seated on a grass-strewn throne beneath a mango canopy. On his right and left are Kauṇḍinya and his companions—the Band of Five—listening to his immortal words, and beyond them, in symmetrical array, a troupe of celestial figures, with the ever-faithful Vajrapāṇi in the background. Note the strongly characterized face of Kauṇḍinya, seated next to the Buddha on his right, which contrasts so sharply with the doll-like countenances of the devas, all fashioned in one mould. These neat and elegant celestials, substantially smaller in stature than the monks, are, as already noted, an outstanding feature of this period. On the other hand, the portrait-like head of Kauṇḍinya calls vividly to mind the features of the monks in fig. 59. As both these reliefs emanate from Loriyān Tangai and both are made of the same stone, it seems likely that, despite their great difference in age, they may have been products of the same art school.