A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c7.53

c7.53

In early times Buddhist artists abstained deliberately from attempting to model or depict the likeness of the founder of their religion, but about the beginning of the Christian era his effigy was brought into common use, and soon became the leading feature of Buddhist decoration. The later Buddhism of the ‘Great Vehicle’ kind, which delighted in the multiplication of countless images, differed fundamentally in many ways from the earlier or ‘Little Vehicle’ schools.¹ But all schools alike agreed in venerating the memory of Gautama, the Buddha, or Enlightened One. The personal enthusiastic devotion thus roused converted a system of cold philosophical and ethical doctrine into a religion cherished with passionate fervour. The greater part of the remains of Buddhist art is the work of votaries of the ‘Great Vehicle’, and is mainly concerned with the expression of devotion to the person of Buddha, to his Law, and to his Church. The development and diffusion of that art were effected by the monastic Order.