A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c12.s1.57

c12.s1.57

At the adjoining village of Mankuwār a very perfect seated Buddha of unusual type was found (Fig. 119), bearing a dedicatory inscription dated in the year 129 g. e. = a. d. 448–9. The peculiar head-dress, if it be a head-dress, is, as Cunningham remarked, like that now worn by the Abbots of Bhutān, and the image may be the work of a northern artist.² The webbed hand was one of the traditional marks of a Buddha, according to some schools. The wheel below symbolizes the turning of the Wheel of the Law, that is to say, the preaching of the doctrine destined to traverse the world like the chariot wheels of a conquering monarch. The expression of the face differs from that of most images, and the work undoubtedly is a notable example of fifth-century sculpture. The clothing is merely the Indian waist-cloth, quite different from the robe of the ordinary Buddha.