The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c17.17

c17.17

Besides these cult statues of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas, there are many other images which equally well reflect the changing character of Gandhāra sculpture during this period. Two such are the figures of Pāñcika, the genius of riches, and his consort Hāritī illustrated in figs. 143 and 144. For many years fig. 143, which is in the Lahore Museum, was called a Scythian Chief. Later, it was identified with Kubera, Guardian of the Northern Quarter and king of the Yakshas. It was left to M. Foucher to identify it more precisely with Kubera’s general, Pāñcika, Dispenser of Riches and consort of Hāritī, the goddess of Fertility. The pair were very popular in Gandhāra in the latter part of the second century, and their statues are many. Fig. 144, which is in the Peshāwar Museum, shows the two deities seated side by side. In both examples Pāñcika’s corpulent, well-nourished body and richly jewelled ornaments are appropriate to a god of riches; and the little children clustered about his knees proclaim his intimate connexion with the goddess of Fertility. But in fig. 143 he is more than the personification of material wealth and prosperity. He is also a warrior, commander-in-chief (senapati) of Kubera’s army, and it is for this reason that the sculptor has placed a spear in his hand and endowed him with such strong, imperious features and a look of fierce determination in his eyes. Altogether, and in spite of his corpulence, this statue of Pāñcika makes a noble, dominating figure, of which the Kushān donor (the one holding a bunch of lotuses in the right-hand bottom corner) may well have been proud. Certainly it is the finest of its kind in Gandhāra. At first sight it is tempting to place this statue near the close of the early phase of the Maturity Period because of its striking originality and individualistic qualities, but the artificial treatment of the drapery falling from the knees in stiff loops and at an impossible angle, and the little figure of the Kushān donor leave no doubt of its later age.