Ancient Indian Education (Brahmanical and Buddhist) c9.s1.23

c9.s1.23

**Images of Rishis.** The Ideal of Life and Education as embodied in the Vedic Ṛishis became the established Ideal of the country and finds expression in its Art. I unexpectedly discovered some images in stone of these Ṛishis in the wilds of Rajgir [Plate II]. A proof of the popularity of the Ṛishi type in Indian culture and tradition is to be found in some old Sanskrit works on Tāntrika Buddhism, which were carried to China by the Nālandā scholar, Śubhā Kara Siṁha, in a.d. 716, and translated by him into Chinese in a.d. 730. Thus the original works were much older than their Chinese translations. These works contained portraits of (1) Ṛishi Atri and his wife (Anasūyā) and (2) Ṛishi Vasishṭha in two postures, seated and standing.