The Age of the Imperial Guptas c9.5

c9.5

In the Mathurā school, the traditions of the Kuṣāṇa school continued up to the middle of the 5th century A.D. Up to 448-9 the great quarries of mottled red sandstone at Karri produced material which was fashioned by artists of the Mathurā school and carried away to distant places. The image of Buddha, discovered at Mankuwar, in the Karchana Tahsil of the Allahabad district, dedicated in G.E. 129, during the reign of the emperor Kumāragupta I, is one of the latest examples of the migration of products of the Mathura school. Because the inscription states that the image is one of Buddha, therefore, it is possible for us to recognise it as a Buddhist image. The head is shaven and the posture is *abhaya*, very often adopted by Jinas also. The presence of the lions and the wheel on the pedestal do not help us. In its proportions, the treatment of the torso and the expression on the face of the main figure, this image, of 448-9