The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c8.14

c8.14

Besides the Jātaka fables and old world symbols described above there were many other religious elements handed down from earlier times which by a natural process of absorption became incorporated in the fabric of Buddhism. Thus, prominently featured among the early sculptures were the six Inferior or kāmāvacara heavens, with the gods who reside in them, including the Lokapālas, Yama, Śakra and Māra. Of the three heavens illustrated in fig. 9 the lowest is that of Yama, god of death; the next the Tushita heaven, where the Buddhas-to-be await the hour for their last coming to earth; and the uppermost the heaven of the Nirmāṇarati, who rejoice in their own creations. Each heaven is represented by the storey of a palace, in which sits a king with his viceroy on his right and the court musicians and dancers on his left, the same figures being repeated with slight variations in each of the heavens.