The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.34

c9.34

turally long ears, the tangential eye-brows, etc., but we do not find any of these signs in Bodhisatva figures. The order of the Bodhisatvas, according to celestial adherence or Dhyānī Buddhas, is introduced for the first time with prominence in the Benares school. This is to be seen in images of Lokeśvara which bear a comparatively large figure of Amitābha on the head. It took sometime to reconcile the artist to the idea of celestial adherence in Benares and to make the Dhyānī Buddha a miniature figure, more decorative than expressive, on the crown or the head-dress of the Bodhisatva. In the Pāṭaliputra school we find that, even in the middle of the 5th century A.D., the idea of celestial adherence had been quietly assimilated by the artists of the metropolitan school and unnaturally large figures are altogether absent.