The Buddhist Art of Gandhara: The Story of the Early School, its Birth, Growth and Decline c9.20

c9.20

There remains one more of these early Gandhāra sculptures from Taxila, which is in a class by itself (fig. 26). It is made of micaceous schist and was found on the Sirkap site. Its special value lies in the fact that it is the oldest of all the pictorial reliefs of the Buddhist School of Gandhāra, and that the composition and handling of the figures show the closest dependence on the Early Indian School. The Jātaka story which it illustrates has not yet been identified. In the foreground a young anchorite is being borne along, suspended head downwards, on a pole which is carried on the shoulders of two of his companions. Looking on from the background are five other anchorites, the one on the extreme right headless. All have long hair and are distinguished by their staring eyes. Two are young and clean-shaven, one is bearded, another wears a moustache. The one on the left holds a flask in his left hand. Two of the older men have spotted deer-skins over their left shoulder. All appear to have the right hand upraised in front of the body, the centre one holding it against his right shoulder, palm inwards. The pole-carrier on the right wears a short skirt, the left one is defaced. The suspended figure grasps the pole with his two hands, with his knees around the pole and his feet extended upwards. There are traces of another figure behind the pole-carrier on the right.