About Looking at Buddha Images in Eastern IndiaAuthor(s): Janice LeoshkoSource: Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 52 (2000/2001), pp. 63-82Published by: University of Hawai'i Press for the Asia SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20111296 .Accessed: 17/10/2011 13:25

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About Looking at Buddha Images in Eastern India*

Janice Leoshko

University of Texas at Austin

Although Buddha images have not lacked for study,1 we

can enhance our understanding of them by an approach that may seem old-fashioned: considering the development of certain forms. In this essay, I specifically want to reex

amine images of the Buddha in hh?misparsa mudr?created

in eastern India. By tracing the influences that shaped this

development, I hope to discover new perspectives on the

significance of certain image types. Eastern India, in particular the area in the modern Indian

state of Bihar encompassing renowned Buddhist sites such

as Bodhgay? and N?land?, is well recognized for its impor tance in Buddhist history.2 Although many details of spe cific practices have been lost to us, ample artistic remains

at many sites there testify that the area was an important center in the production of visual expressions of Buddhist

teachings, and in the past two decades scholars have signif

icantly expanded our understanding of the images created

in this region of India.3 Neither stylistic nor iconographi

cally focused studies of the visual remains of eastern India

have fully addressed the idea of interaction among sites. The

stylistic studies do discuss regional characteristics, but in so

doing, they consider too broad an area to be exhaustive

regarding specific sites. On the other hand, studies focused

on iconography at particular sites?and there are still very few of these?tend to look only at a single site.4 The major

ity of iconographie studies concentrate on the earliest exam

ple of an image form, ignoring or scanting the appearance of later examples at various sites. Thus, origin or filiation

of image types is an aspect of iconographie development that has not been fully considered in such studies.5 At best, this last approach to exploring iconographie developments has tended to see interaction as occurring between specif ic places of production, i.e., as the transmission of artistic

influence between one single site and another. But clearly, more complex interrelationships were also possible, partic

ularly in areas of sustained Buddhist activity,6 and it is the

nature of such interactions?especially at the site of

Bodhgay??with which I am concerned.

The period under consideration is a long one, spanning the sixth through twelfth centuries, and the art dating from

this time is usually divided into separate phases, the pre P?la and Pala periods. Such divisions helpfully organize

material, but they can also obscure the character of late

Buddhist activity in the homeland of Buddhism, since the

centuries before the inception of P?la rule (ca. eighth c.) in the region bear directly upon subsequent developments.

i. Seated Buddha in abhaya mudrJ. Ca. 4th c. Bodhgay?. Stone. Indian

Museum, Calcutta.

This is especially true for Bodhgay?, the place of the

Buddha's Enlightenment, and for N?land?, the site of a

famous monastic institution, which seem to have witnessed

significantly increased artistic activity beginning about the

seventh century.

Bodhgay? and N?land? are perhaps the best-known sites

in the region, but our view even of them is incomplete, as

N?land? has been only partially excavated and Bodhgay? was radically reconstructed at the end of the nineteenth

century. Moreover, most previous studies consider only

cer

tain aspects of the activity at each site. For example, the

early structures at Bodhgay? and its Mah?bodhi Temple have

received far more attention than the great number of sculp tures from the seventh century and after.7 On the other

hand, sites such as N?land?, primarily studied for their later

63

2. Seated Buddha in bh?misparsa mudrJ. Ca. 7th c. Bodhgay?. Stone.

Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Buddhist activity, have been characterized chiefly as places of significant Esoteric orTantric practices, and indeed, there

survive at N?land? sculptures of angry or multilimbed forms

that seem links to such practice.8 Within this perspective, it is not surprising that the form of P?la-period images of

the historical Buddha has in certain ways received less atten

tion than that of the Jina Buddhas (the five transcendent, transhistorical Buddhas) although there are far fewer of the

latter. This interest in Jina figures follows from the Western

art-historical emphasis on innovation at the expense of well

established forms, producing studies that focus on what is

new rather than on what has endured. This bias relegated

S?kyamuni to the periphery of the dynamic mystical world

of the Jina Buddhas, suggesting that he was something other

than a major figure in this late Buddhist practice.9 The sustained production of Buddha images at Bodhgay?

has thus often been associated with conservative beliefs that

presumably isolated the site from more advanced practices elsewhere in eastern India, despite the fact that imagery of

64

3. Side view of Fig. 2.

the historical Buddha S?kyamuni was a major component of the late sculptural production throughout the region.10 Scholars have now begun to correct this long-held view

and to acknowledge that S?kyamuni remained a central

focus of worship throughout eastern India during the peri od of P?la rule (ca. eighth through twelfth c.).11 Some of

these studies of surviving Buddha sculptures indeed reveal

how such "traditional" imagery continued to evolve.12

PRODUCTION OF BUDDHA IMAGERY IN EASTERN INDIA

Buddhist sites located in the area of the Buddha's home

land in eastern India seem to have enjoyed their greatest artistic production, not in the early period of the faith s

expansion, but rather from the seventh through twelfth cen

turies, during the last florescence of Buddhism in India.

Except at Bodhgay?, eastern India has revealed no early

remains comparable to those found at sites outside the Bihar

region, such as Bh?rhut and S?nchi in M?dhya Pradesh. It is clear that by the sixth century a major change had

occurred at Bodhgay?, signalled by the rebuilding of the

Mah?bodhi Temple and the enlargement of its railing, the latter having been originally erected sometime in the first

century before the Common Era. As Frederick Asher has

noted, this reconceived the site, shifting its central focus from the bodhi tree to a shrine housing an image of the Buddha.13 This shift echoes contemporary inscriptions, whose wording more explicitly acknowledges the presence of the Buddha.14 Paralleling this development seems to be an increase in imagery at the site. Indeed, relatively few pre

sixth-century images are known from Bodhgay?. One of these is the fourth-century sculpture now in the Indian

Museum (Fig. j).This figure of a Buddha in abhaya mudr? has been frequently discussed because of its inscription and its heavy debt to Mathur?-region styles.15

Although eastern Indian Buddha imagery predominate ly comprises figures of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudra, even at Bodhgay? extant examples of these do not predate the late sixth century; the few earlier images of the Buddha known from the site display other gestures.16 Among the earliest examples from the site of a Buddha in bh?misparsa

mudr?, perhaps the most spectacular is one dating from the seventh century, now located in the Indian Museum (Fig. 2). Its provenance was not preserved in the records of the Indian Museum, but I recognized its origin because

Rajendralala Mitra in the nineteenth century had published its inscription and noted that it was inscribed on the base

of a Buddha image at Bodhgay?.17 Its partial neglect in the

study of eastern Indian sculpture is likely due to ignorance of its place of origin as well as to its headless state.18

Even though damaged, this sculpture remains impressive, solidly yet softly modelled in the round with delicately delineated hems and folds of drapery (Fig. 3). The Buddha sits on a plain cushion resting on a base inscribed with the

donors wish for emancipation from worldly troubles for his parents, relatives, and teachers.19 The hands are inscribed

with wheels, the soles of the feet with various auspicious symbols; the meticulous rendering of such details as well as

the large size of the figure (more than 122 cm) make this one of the most distinctive seventh-century Buddha images

surviving from eastern India.

Because Buddha images of the P?la period are well known to be most commonly in bh?misparsa mudr?, the

significance of this sculpture now in the Indian Museum

may not be apparent. But this form of a Buddha, as an inde

pendent sculpture, is not found at Bodhgay?, or at other sites in eastern India, or, indeed, anywhere else in India before the sixth century. Because bh?misparsa mudr? occurs

in earlier narrative reliefs depicting the Maravijaya

("Triumph over M?ra"), and thus seems a well-established

component of Buddha imagery already in the Ku??na peri

4- Standing Buddha. Ca. 8th c. Bodhgay?. Stone. Indian Museum, Calcutta.

od (ca. first-third c), the lateness of its appearance in sin

gle images is not well recognized. Perhaps the recognition of this lateness has also been obscured by the well-known

lengthy account of Xuanzang, dating from the seventh cen

tury, concerning the miraculous creation of the Bodhgay? image.20 Xuanzang reported that a sculpture of a Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? was enshrined inside the Mah?bodhi

Temple. But the account is rather vague about when this

happened, noting only that this image had been created

after the time of Asoka and before the reign of Sas?nka, who supposedly cut down the bodhi tree and wished to

destroy the image. That was not exactly a small span of time

(ca. third century BCE to sixth century CE).21 The fact that the earliest extant Buddha images from Bodhgay? are

not shown in bh?misparsa mudr? certainly suggests that

any privileged role for this gesture was not an early phe nomenon at the site.22 Because the headless sculpture

now

in the Indian Museum could be one of the earliest exam

65

........ -.?..- .-',^ >.,_ ??..'-s ?.-i 5. De??ii/ of doorframe. Ca. 7th-8th c.

^ "^ Bodhgay?. Stone. Indian Museum,

Calcutta.

pies of a Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? created at

Bodhgay?, it prompts us to consider why this form became a dominant one only after the seventh century.

Since the vast majority of eastern Indian sculptures are

steles with figures carved in deep relief, its fully three

dimensional character distinguishes the Indian Museum

image. More than other Buddhist deities, Buddha figures tend to be three-dimensional, and this contrast lends the

latter a distinctive presence.23 This quality of "presence" is

augmented at Bodhgay? by the large size of many of these

Buddha sculptures. Indeed, the visual impact produced by such Buddha images must have created a powerful sense of

Buddha presence at Bodhgay?, one that likely increased

through the centuries.24

A marked concern for manifesting the presence of the

Buddha at Bodhgay? also seems apparent in two other

sculptures from the site, both slightly later in date than the

seated headless Buddha image?likely created sometime in

the eighth century.25 These too are fairly large three-dimen

sional sculptures; one is still at the site, found in a niche to

the viewer's right of the entrance into the Mah?bodhi

Temple, and the other, which is now headless, is in the col

lection of the Indian Museum (Fig. 4).26 Each of these

Buddhas stands on a fully fashioned lotus which emerges from a base carved to suggest rocky forms. In the Indian

Museum image, also carved in relief on the front of the

base, are nagas (serpent deities) emerging from water and

apparently pouring something from pots held in their arms.

Similar figures appear on a door frame of approximately the same date, also from Bodhgay? and now located in the

Indian Museum (Fig. 5).27The similarity between the n?ga

figures on the image and those on the door frame is anoth er intriguing reminder that we know little of how the sculp tures functioned in their larger contexts and of how works

relate to other works. But the pedestals are perhaps most

interesting for their resemblance to treatments found in

66

S?rn?th sculptures. In fact, various features of these two

standing Buddha sculptures from Bodhgay? recall images from S?rn?th (in present-day Uttar Pradesh).28

Influence from S?rn?th, a site well known for its fifth

century Buddha images (Fig. 6), is widely acknowledged in

the formation of Buddhist imagery in eastern India. The

S?rn?th style is considered an especially significant force

upon the art associated with the site of N?land?, and it cer

tainly seems reasonable to assume that S?rn?th s pronounced

fifth-century activity had an impact on the recent estab

lishment of Buddhist practice at N?land?. As others have

noted, it is even possible that artists from the S?rn?th region travelled to N?land? in response to new patronage there.29

Much of N?land? s imagery bears a marked resemblance to

S?rn?th works, and figures such as the stucco Buddhas from

site 3 at N?land? (Fig. 7), believed to date from the seventh

century, seem to attest the enduring influence of S?rn?th

styles.30

S?rn?th influence on the art produced at Bodhgay? has, on the other hand, been perceived as less pronounced. Susan

Huntington and Frederick Asher have both attributed this

difference in part to the fact that images were produced earlier at Bodhgay? than at N?land?, likely influenced by the artistic traditions of Ku??na-period Mathur?.31 Indeed,

Bodhgay? sculptures, such as the fourth-century Buddha

image now in the Indian Museum (see Fig. 1), with its fuller

figurai forms, suggest links to Mathur?-region styles.32

Having their own earlier and perhaps ongoing tradition,

Bodhgay?'s artists may have been less open than those of

N?land? and other parts of eastern India to influence from

S?rn?th; the resemblance to S?rn?th forms that are seen in

Bodhgay?'s images are often attributed to N?land?'s influ ence rather than to S?rn?th directly. Thus, seventh-centu

ry works from N?land? are seen to identify that site as a

conduit of S?rn?th influence upon works created at

Bodhgay?.This view avoids invoking past styles?i.e., fifth

century S?rn?th images?as direct influences upon works at Bodhgay? dating after the sixth century. The dearth of

excavation and other records precludes precise knowledge of the artistic activity at Bodhgay? and N?land? in the sev

enth and eighth centuries. Still, the greater number of

Buddha sculptures surviving at Bodhgay? makes it difficult to grant to N?land? artists a significant role in the devel

opment of at least this aspect of Bodhgay?'s imagery. Moreover, other categories of images at Bodhgay?, such as

bodhisattvas and female deities, do not seem influenced by N?land?. The interaction between Bodhgay? and N?land?

in the seventh and eighth centuries, when both seem to

have been thriving places of Buddhist devotion, prompts a

different perspective on the transmission of influences.

It may be useful here to rethink the chronological param eters of possible influence exerted by S?rn?th. Perhaps direct

influence was not limited to the time of the Gupta period, for S?rn?th, after all, clearly sustained activity beyond the

sixth century, although the amount of its production unmis

takably declined.33 The possibility that later S?rn?th works

influenced imagery in eastern India is not usually consid

ered, largely owing to the way the picture of influence is

often constructed, as well as to the frequent identification

of sites with a limited period of activity. In general, there

has been little reflection on the operation of influence, even

though it is a concept frequently invoked in writing about

Indian art.34 S?rn?th is especially well known for its large number of accomplished works created in the fifth centu

ry. The site's reputation and this artistic production certainly influenced artistic activity elsewhere, N?land? being but

one example. S?rn?th s later artistic activity, even if it fell

short of the fifth-century level of excellence, could have

also exerted influence elsewhere. Bodhgay? works now

viewed as influenced by N?land?'s S?rn?th-based style might instead incorporate later direct influences from S?rn?th.

Although no written records testify to specific instances of

contact, further consideration of Buddha imagery supports such possible relationships. Perhaps surprisingly, it is the

form of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? in eastern Indian

images that, in fact, suggests such continued contact with

S?rn?th after the fifth century.

RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN S?RN?TH AND BODHGAY? IMAGERY

It is the presence of two earth goddesses in an eighth-cen tury sculpture from Bodhgay? depicting a Buddha seated in bh?misparsa mudr? that raised for me the question of such later S?rn?th influence (Fig. #).When initially explor

ing the identity of these two figures, I had assumed that

they evolved from treatments found in fifth-century steles

from S?rn?th depicting a group of Buddha life scenes (Fig. 9) that often included two such females below the figure of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?.35 But other images

6. Standing Buddha. Ca. 5th c. S?rn?th. Stone. Indian Museum,

Calcutta.

67

7- Standing Buddha. Ca. 7th c. N?land?. Stucco. Site 3, N?land?.

from S?rn?th suggest connections of greater scope and dura

tion.

Various scholars have interpreted the increased popular

ity of images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? as result

ing from generally increased image making in eastern India

and from the symbolic reference of this form to Bodhgay?, where the Enlightenment happened. Similarly, the fifth

century proliferation at S?rn?th of images of the Buddha

in dharmacakra mudr?is usually credited to the direct con

nection between this site and the activity symbolized. This

view does not, however, explain the production of sculp tures of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr? at S?rn?th, such

as an image that was more nearly complete when Markham

Kittoe sketched it in the nineteenth century (Figs. 10,11). A number of such examples were excavated in the nine

teenth and early twentieth centuries. Stylistic details sug

gest a date in the sixth or seventh century; in the absence

of dated examples, as Joanna Williams has noted, greater

chronological precision for this period is hardly possible.36

68

8. Seated Buddha in bhUmisparsa mudr?. Ca. 7th c. Bodhgay?. Stone.

Enshrined at Mah?bodhi Temple complex, Bodhgay?.

These S?rn?th works are markedly close in treatment to

representations of the M?ravijaya found in life scenes on the

well-known fifth-century steles from S?rn?th (see Fig. 9). This resemblance to earlier S?rn?th images and the lack of

earlier eastern Indian examples of the Buddha in bh?mis

parsa mudr? certainly undermine the possibility that influ

ences on production of such sculptures could have travelled

from eastern India to S?rn?th.

In these S?rn?th images smaller figures surround the cen

tral Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?, much as in steles depict

ing a group of life scenes.37 M?ra, who can be identified

by the bow that he carries, usually stands to one side of

S?kyamuni, while a female representing one of his daugh ters appears on the other and members of his army hover

among the leaves of the bodhi tree over the Buddha s head.

The pedestal often contains figures of the two earth god desses, one holding a pot, the other moving menacingly. As

is well known, S?kyamuni makes the gesture of bh?mis

parSa mudr? in response to challenges by M?ra. In order to

9- Stele with grouping of Buddha life scenes. Ca. 5th c. S?rn?th. Stone.

National Museum, New Delhi.

demonstrate his right to sit at this place and become enlight ened, S?kyamuni calls upon the earth to act as his witness, and with the earth s support M?ra is vanquished.

The two earth goddesses in these S?rn?th images of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr? are not found elsewhere in

earlier examples of the M?favijaya or in the few known con

temporaneous ones from Mathur?.38 These two females

appear with such figures of the Buddha at Bodhgay? and also at Ellora in the eighth century. Although the depiction of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr? at Ellora during the

eighth century has been linked to Bodhgay?, artistic activ

ity at S?rn?th could well have been the source.39 It is cer

tainly possible that the production of such imagery at

S?rn?th stimulated the form s increasing popularity else where in India.

io. Seated Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?. Ca. 7th c. S?rn?th. Stone.

S?rn?th Site Museum.

In addition to a number of surviving S?rn?th sculptures presenting figures of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?, there also survive sculpted fragments originally belonging to such figures that clearly depict the two earth goddesses

(Fig. 12) A0 It may be argued that independent sculptures were originally combined in groups, functioning then in a

manner akin to the groupings of scenes from the Buddha s

life on steles. But no evidence exists of the production of

individual sculptures depicting all the other life scenes cus

tomarily found on steles. Most studies of S?rn?th empha size the production there of images of the Buddha in

dharmacakra mudr?, emblematic of the Buddha's First

Teaching, which took place at S?rn?th; they pass over the

independent sculptures of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?.

It is important to note that some S?rn?th images of the Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?, dating after the sixth cen

tury, seem to scant the narrative detail seen in the earlier

groupings of life scenes on steles. For instance, in another

sculpture of a Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?, which is also

illustrated in a Kittoe drawing (Figs. 13, 14), members of

69

11. Drawing of Fig. 10. Courtesy India Office Library and Records, The

British Library, London.

M?ra s army hover above the head of the Buddha, but the

two figures standing beside him have halos and lack the

attributes that would identify them as M?ra and his daugh ter. The earth goddesses, however, are quite similar to those

depicted in earlier pedestal treatments (see Fig. 12). One earth

goddess holds a pot, while the other chases a sprawling fig ure, presumably M?ra. In yet another S?rn?th example (Fig.

13), likely dating from the eighth century, neither M?ra nor

any of his daughters nor his army is present; only the

Buddha's gesture, the bodhi leaves (much damaged), and

the two earth goddesses appear. In addition to the eighth-century image previously men

tioned (see Fig. #), there survive at Bodhgay? several other

pre-P?la Buddha sculptures with figures of earth goddess es. One is only the pedestal of an image, but the earth god desses are exceptionally well preserved, and the inscription

provides possible evidence of a late sixth-century date.41

On the other hand, N?land? has hitherto revealed no stone

sculptures comparable to those surviving at Bodhgay? and

70

12. Fragment of Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?. Ca. 7th c. S?rn?th. Stone.

S?rn?th Site Museum.

S?rn?th.42 Given the incomplete excavation of the site,

however, arguments based on a lack of evidence are tenu

ous ones. But it can at least be stated that the S?rn?th images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? suggest that the image

type may have originated there and been transmitted east

ward to sites such as Bodhgay?, where it later came to dom

inate Buddha imagery. But the question of why this form

became popular remains.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE FORM OFTHE BUDDHA IN BH?MISPARSA MUDRA

Although well recognized as the most common form of

the Buddha represented in later Buddhist art of eastern

India, there is no clear understanding of why images of the

Buddha displaying the bh?misparsa mudr? became com

mon there only after the sixth century.43 The vague assump tion that this reflects increasing activity at Bodhgay? seems

undermined by the early appearance of such figures at

S?rn?th. This assumption also fails to explain why single

images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? first became

popular at a site where the event to which the mudr? sup

posedly refers did not occur. Certainly the mudr?'s increas

ing popularity at Bodhgay? could be linked with a

heightened concept of the significance of the site, but why this heightening should have occurred in turn remains

unclear, although it may well have to do with a greater doc

trinal emphasis on the concept of Enlightenment and hence

on the site where this occurred.

Scholarly attention to these P?la-period images of the

Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? has focused primarily on

tracing the specific textual sources for the few narrative

details preserved in these works, reflecting the scholarly

assumption of a close link with imagery that more fully

presents the event of the MaravijayaA4 The focus on find

ing textual support, irrespective of geographical or chrono

13- Seated Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?. Ca. 7th c. S?rn?th. Stone.

S?rn?th Site Museum.

logical connections (or more likely the lack of such) between images and texts, has often reduced an image to

little more than an illustration of a text. The approach is

especially unfortunate with regard to images of the Buddha, since such figures are frequently seen as continuations of

centuries-old iconic traditions closely based on textual nar

ratives, interesting solely insofar as they show changes in

details such as attendants or stylistic elements. Studies con

cerned with the development of imagery often simply trace

a succession of forms, with little or no reflection upon the

ways in which such imagery continued to be produced. Texts can illuminate themes encountered in art, but the

relationship between a text and image is not necessarily the same as between a text and subject.45 Discussing sculptures of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? solely in terms of the

narrative detail they present surely limits our appreciation of their visual impact and our understanding of their devel

14- Nineteenth-century drawing of Fig. 13. Courtesy India Office Library and Records, The British Library, London.

opment, especially undermining the significance of differ

ent types of presentation.

Considering a different type of textual evidence, how

ever, may allow us to advance our understanding beyond

the narrative aspects of such images. This evidence comes

from the increasing appearance of inscriptions of the so

called Buddhist creed on Buddhist images dating after the

sixth century. Simon Lawson has discussed this well-known

Buddhist formula: ye dharm? hetuprabhav? hetum tes?m

tath?gato hy avadat tes?m ca yo nirodha ev?m vad? mah?sramanah, which he translates as: "All things arise from a cause, the

Tath?gata has explained the cause. This cause of things has

finally been destroyed. Such is the teaching of the great Sramana."46 Lawson noted its frequent appearance on seal

ings produced after the sixth century and that the seventh

century Chinese pilgrim Xuanzang called them dharma

sartra sealings, meaning relic-of-the-Law sealings. Lawson

71

15- Seated Buddha in bhmnisparsa mudr?. Ca. 7th c. S?rn?th. Stone.

S?rn?th Site Museum.

explains these sealings as chiefly consecratory, based on their

placement inside miniature st?pas. Daniel Boucher has also

explored their use in consecrating st?pas and the signifi cance of this verse, which summarizes the prat?ya samutp? da, the doctrine of dependent origination.47 Boucher views

this use as a transforming of dharma into relic, the verse into

a manifestation of the Buddha's presence, and he also notes

that it occurs more often after the sixth century. It certainly seems reasonable to assume that the increased popularity of that verse, connoting the Buddha's understanding of

dependent origination, enhanced the importance of

Bodhgay?, the place where he is thought to have realized

that understanding. But this increased popularity of the

72

16. Lower portion of seated Buddha in bhthnisparsa mudr?. Ca. 9th c.

Bodhgay?. Stone. Enshrined at Mah?bodhi Temple complex,

Bodhgay?.

verse did not necessarily originate at Bodhgay? itself; indeed, the artistic evidence from S?rn?th suggests that it did not.

The rising importance of the concept of prat?tya samutp? da may, then, explain the greater production at S?rn?th of

images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? after the fifth

century, which in turn may have stimulated its popularity at other Buddhist centers.

If this form of the Buddha, like the increasing promi nence of the doctrine of dependent origination, reveals a

new emphasis on the Buddha's Enlightenment, we might

usefully consider how that newly important verbal formu

la was presented in nonverbal terms,48 especially since sin

gle sculptures of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? became

popular at sites such as S?rn?th and Bodhgay? only after

the sixth century, at about the same time that inscriptions of this Buddhist formula begin to appear frequently on

objects. Perhaps the modern interpretation of images of the

Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr??whether as expressions of

narrative or as allusions to Bodhgay??has concentrated too

literally and narrowly upon the event and concept of the

Buddha overcoming M?ra. They may equally (if not pri

marily) have been conceived as that which happened after

M?ra's defeat, when S?kyamuni passed through a series of

meditations.These brought about his comprehension of the

concept of prat?tya samutp?da ("dependent origination"), often described as the experience constituting his

Enlightenment.49 It is thus interesting to consider such

Buddha images within the context of specific representa

17- Seated Buddha in bhUmispars'a mudr?. Ca. 9th c. Bodhgay?. Stone.

Enshrined at Mah?bodhi Temple complex, Bodhgay?.

tions of prat?tya samutp?da depicted in images of the bhava

cakra ("wheel of Ufe"). Pictorial representations of the prat?tya samutp?da in India

have been little discussed, probably because only one extant

Indian example is known: a painting at Ajant?. This fifth

century painting depicts the bhavacakra with various realms of existence arranged within the form of a wheel and a

sequence of scenes symbolizing the concept of dependent origination in the wheel's outer rim. In his 1892 article

which uses nineteenth-century Tibetan sources to identi

fy the subject of the Ajant? wheel painting, Austine Waddell discusses at some length how the scenes symbolize the

sequence of dependent origination (prat?tya samutp?da/50 Waddell also notes that the importance of the concept of

dependent origination is attested by the frequency with

which the stanza recounting its utterance, termed by many the Buddhist creed, is encountered in Buddhist inscriptions.

But he did not further explore connections between the

18. Standing Buddha. Ca. 9th c. Bodhgay?. Stone. Enshrined at

Mah?bodhi Temple complex, Bodhgay?.

emphasis on the creed and its visual portrayal. Bhavacakra

images are more frequently found in the Buddhist world

outside of India and usually date after the seventeenth cen

tury. Although such Tibetan paintings, as well as lesser

known Chinese and Japanese examples, always present the

sequence of dependent origination in the outer rim, they have not been discussed in relation to the use of the

Buddhist formula.51 Because of their late date, perhaps they have seemed completely disconnected from the beginning of the use of the Buddhist formula in India. As Dieter

Schlingloff states, writing about the Ajant?" bhavacakra, there seems to be no extant visual link between this fifth-centu

ry painting and later examples.52 For scholars interested in Buddhist doctrine, the well

known Tibetan depictions of the wheel of life are prima

rily important as illustrations of the prat?tya samutp?da,53 and, as SchlinglofF notes, the partially preserved wall paint

ing of a wheel at Ajant? is most often viewed as significant

73

19- Seated Buddha in bliRmisparsa mudr?. Ca. late 10th c. N?land?. Stone.

Enshrined at Jagdishpur, adjacent to N?land?.

evidence that such depictions were being made in India in

the fifth century, bolstering the evidence found in early Buddhist texts that contain explicit directions for their cre

ation.54 In other words, the painting has been considered

noteworthy largely for the light it sheds on a seemingly more significant matter?the interpretation of the early and

thus authentic teaching of the Buddha as contained in early Buddhist texts.55 Current art-historical investigations

increasingly recognize that visual images possess impact and

multivalence independent even of related texts,56 a recog nition which may conduce to a better understanding of the

many extant bhavacakra paintings, which are mostly late

works from outside India.

The widespread and sustained appearance of the Buddhist

formula, the prat?tya samutp?dag?th?, on various types of

objects allows us to consider further the significance of

imagery of the wheel of life within Indian Buddhist tradi

tions.57 Such consideration requires moving beyond tradi

74

tional iconographical analysis, which often obscures the

dynamic between different but related types of images.

Enlarging our perspective so as to consider, for example, how the concepts of the Buddha's presence and the prat?tya

samutp?dag?th? are connected to each other as well as to

other visual imagery, helps to frame new ways of explor

ing textual and visual traditions which Buddhist practices

developed.58 In viewing images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?

as something more than iconic presentations of narrative

forms, it seems important to note that such sculptures at

Bodhgay? reveal continued development after the eighth

century, as seen, for example, in a characteristic work still

at the site that likely dates from the ninth century. In these

works the army of M?ra no longer appears regularly; only the earth-touching gesture and the leaves of the bodhi tree

above the head of the Buddha remain; he now sits on a

double lotus supported by two lions. On the central por tion of this base?as on other contemporaneous images?

appear diminutive figures of the two earth goddesses with

a vajra above their heads, marking this seat as the vajr?sana

(Fig. 16). In later images only a single earth goddess appears,

occasionally with a vajra and sometimes accompanied by a

figure of the defeated M?ra. It seems significant to note that

in these later images M?ra never appears without the earth

goddess, although the earth goddess may appear without

M?ra.59 The emphasis on the earth goddess, seemingly established first in images at S?rn?th, was thus preserved in

P?la-period sculptures. The lack of narrative detail in most P?la-period eastern

Indian sculptures depicting the Buddha in the bh?misparsa mudr? has often been taken to demonstrate the degenera

tion of narrative imagery in late Buddhist art.60 Often only a canopy of leaves, signifying the bodhi tree beneath which

he sat, and diminutive figures of one earth goddess and per

haps a defeated M?ra, are all that serve, in addition to the

Buddha's gesture, as references to the events at Bodhgay?.

But these images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? are

more than a literal portrayal of the events related to the

Mafavijaya; they likely serve also as a visual reference to the

concept of dependent origination and the realization of the

concept, at which S?kyamuni arrived while seated in med

itation at that spot beneath the bodhi tree.

On sealings showing the Buddhist formula along with

figures of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?, Boucher con

cludes that both senses of the place of Enlightenment are

juxtaposed: the site and the essence of the experience at

the site.61 Such sealings commonly present the figure of a

Buddha inside a tower that seems to represent the

Mah?bodhi Temple, so that they indeed convey a sense of

the image enshrined at the site. Something slightly differ

ent may be true of larger sculptures that do not regularly include the tower, but rather than viewing such later images as simply abbreviations of an earlier narrative tradition, it

may be more accurate to see them as using well-established

narrative elements also to signify the importance of the

concept of dependent origination. In this perspective the

images are both narrative and iconic. This view is congru ent with such recent hypotheses as that of Robert Brown,

who argues that Buddhist j?taka depictions are not merely illustrations of texts, but were meant as manifestations of

his presence, as visual biography independent of textual

biography.62

CONSIDERING FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

A number of P?la-period images from eastern India, espe

cially Bodhgay?, show the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?

accompanied by two bodhisattvas, usually Maitreya and

Avalokite?vara; one such image, of the late tenth century, is still at the site (Fig 17). Such images, even more than

those combining the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? with

inscriptions of the Buddhist formula, have a far broader

connotation than the event of the M?favij'aya. The seven

teenth-century Tibetan historian T?ran?tha wrote of

AtisVs teacher, Jn?nasrimitra (tenth?eleventh c), that in

meditating on bodhicitta ("awakened mind") he had

repeated visions of the Buddha (called by T?ran?tha

Bhagavan S?kyar?ja), Maitreya, and AvalokiteSvara.63 The same trio is described in three Vajr?sana s?dhanas (liturgi cal texts that include detailed descriptions of the visionary process through which deities are experienced) included

in the S?dhanamai?, in which the Buddha is named

Vajr?sana Tath?gata.64 Visions of deities are an intended

goal of s?dhana practice. T?ran?tha's account, though

obviously not verifiable, links s?dhana practice and those

three particular deities to an Indian teacher, Jn?naMmitra. One of the s?dhanas also refers to the Buddha as S?kya muni,65 but although certain elements of the Vajr?sana

image accord with depictions of the Maravijaya, the most

significant being the gesture of bh?misparsa mudr? by the

figure of the Buddha, these images are not overtly narra

tive. They seem to have become frequent only in the late

ninth century, but remained long popular.66 It seems rea

sonable to view such images not simply as degenerate treatments of narrative forms but as icons whose power

was enhanced by narrative elements. Thus we might understand the frequent presence of the earth goddess (and the less frequent appearance of the figure of a defeat

ed M?ra) in such images as adding resonance to the pres ence of the Buddha rather than as remnants of a fuller nar

rative tradition.

From this perspective of multi-layered meaning we might also better understand a number of Bodhgay? sculptures of

standing figures of the Buddha in varada mudr?with attend

ing bodhisattvas (Fig. 18). Such images, found at various sites

in eastern India, are especially numerous at Bodhgay?.Their presence at Bodhgay?, however, has been overshadowed by

20. Seated Buddha in dharmacakra mudr?. Ca. late 10th c. N?land?. Stone.

N?land? Site Museum.

the images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?, found

there. In a general way, these standing images of the Buddha

recall Gupta-period S?rn?th sculptures of a standing Buddha

in abhaya mudr?attended by small figures of the bodhisattvas

AvalokitesVara and Maitreya (see Fig. 6). Like such earlier

standing images, these P?la-period works do not seem to

depict S?kyamuni at a particular event in his life. Yet the two attending bodhisattvas, Avaloki tesvara and Maitreya, are

the same ones that frequently appear with figures of the

Buddha in bh?misparSa mudr?, which would seem to iden

tify the Buddha depicted as S?kyamuni. Whatever the

mudr?, images of the Buddha with attendants need have no narrative connotations, or

they can merge narrative with

iconic meaning. Indeed, recognizing this web of connec

tions from the past and the present can surely enrich our

perception of these images, whose form might otherwise

be dismissed as simply continuing well-established types.

Previously I have suggested that the numerous Buddha

images at Bodhgay? are not simply evidence of the greater conservatism of the site, since Esoteric deities are also found

75

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76

at Bodhgay?. I argued instead that these Buddha images are

evidence of a particular emphasis upon S?kyamuni. Clearly, sites such as N?land??despite a number of P?la-period sculptures of S?kyamuni?reveal a different emphasis. The

notable impressiveness of one S?kyamuni image at N?land?

certainly testifies to his importance at the site and testifies as

well to the development of differing image traditions at dif

ferent centers.This sculpture, datable to the eleventh centu

ry, presents a grouping of seven small life scenes around a

central, large Buddha figure making the earth-touching ges ture (Fig. iq). The grouping of eight figures is found in images created at various sites throughout eastern India, but the

example surviving at N?land? is the most spectacular both in size and detail; it is located today in the adjacent village of

Jagdishpur.John Huntington insightfully noted that the many smaller examples found at N?land? that replicate this imagery are likely signaculae of the large Jagdishpur image, evidence

perhaps of a cult at the site centered upon this form.67 This configuration seems to have appeared first in sculp

tures at the end of the tenth century.68 Consideration of

such works has most often failed to recognize or has ignored the relative lateness of the form, concentrating instead on

the degenerate treatment of narrative found in the major

ity of such images.69 But these works are much more than

simply narrative representations. That this grouping of a

central figure surrounded by seven life scenes may well have

emerged at N?land??at the very least the numerous sur

viving examples show that it was quite favored there?may seem surprising, especially if one posits some distinction

between sites that emphasized S?kyamuni and those that

emphasized Tantric or Esoteric traditions. But the sur

rounding life scenes were not intended purely as narrative, but also, and importantly, to lend resonance to the central

iconic figure of S?kyamuni.70 Another Buddha image at N?land?, dating from the tenth

century, provides further evidence for the polys?mie possi bilities of Buddha images. This sculpture depicts a Buddha

in dharmacakra mudr? (Fig. 20). This mudr? and the presence on the base of the sculpture of the small wheel flanked by deer allude to the Buddha's First Teaching at S?rn?th, although the attendant bodhisattvas seen here are not regularly a part of such depictions.71 The bodhisattva on the Buddha's right could be identified as Maitreya, based on the flower he holds

and the small st?pa in his headdress, but the other cannot be

Avalokitesvara, for the figure bears neither the appropriate flower nor the image of a Buddha in his headdress, the stan

dard elements used to designate Avalokitesvara (Fig. 21). Another unusual feature of this work is the monastic dress of the two vidy?dharas (celestial beings) at the top of the stele;

usually such figures are richly garbed and ornamented. But

21. Detail of bodhisattva in Fig. 20.

what is truly remarkable about this stele are the inscriptions

identifying these four figures attending the Buddha.The fig ure that seems to represent the celestial bodhisattva Maitreya is labelled Maitreyan?tha. As C.S. Upasak points out in his

discussion of these inscriptions, Maitreyan?tha was the

founder of the Yog?c?ra ("mind-only") school of Buddhism, and the other bodhisattva is called ?rya Vasumitra, another

well-known Buddhist teacher.72 The two vidy?dharas are

identified as ?rya S?riputra and ?rya Mah?maudgaly?yana, two of the Buddha's foremost disciples. Both were reputed

ly born in the N?land? area and converted to the Buddha's

path when one of his disciples, Assaji, recited the Buddhist

formula in answer to S?riputra s query about the nature of

the Buddha's teaching. As is common, the Buddhist formu

la is inscribed on the throne-back of the image, but the

Buddha figure is not otherwise labelled. Below the lotus seat

an additional inscription records that the merit of donating this image is assigned to the donor's parents and all sentient

beings, that they may attain enlightenment.

Identifying figures of the Buddha in dharmacakra mudr? as depictions of the First Teaching alone surely limits our

understanding of such images.The motif on the base of the

stele, two deer flanking a wheel, was, in fact, used widely from the sixth century onward as an emblem by many Buddhist monasteries.73 Thus, this is an image combining common and uncommon elements to portray S?kyamuni in his role as teacher, and indeed, the inscriptions make clear

that this sculpture encompasses more than a depiction of

the First Teaching. Moreover, the labels attached to the four

accompanying figures suggest that the identity of such fig ures was somewhat fluid rather than hard and fast.74 The

careful boundaries often drawn between narrative and non

narrative representations seem

quite irrelevant here, as the

labels reveal the ability to conflate quite concretely repre sentations of mundane and celestial beings.

Considering Bodhgay?'s Buddha images as a group also

reveals something about their continued transformation; in

the eleventh century at Bodhgay? Buddhas begin to attend

Buddhas, largely replacing the pair of bodhisattvas that had so regularly served as attendants (Fig. 22). At about the same

time Buddha figures wearing ornaments begin to appear in eastern Indian sculptures; the ornaments indicate a new

emphasis on the Buddha's celestial nature, but he remains

S?kyamuni and is not transformed (as some scholars have

thought) into a Jina Buddha. Benjamin Rowland, writing some time ago, conveys a view still widely held:

In the case of the statues carved in the hard, black stone of Magadha, it is impossible to tell whether the icon represents the mortal Teacher

or one of the mystic Buddhas who had assumed the mudras of

Sakyamuni's mortal career. Akshobhya, the Lord of the East, is shown

in the bh?misparsa mudra of the Enlightenment, and Vairocana, the cos

mic Buddha, assumes the dharmacakra mudra of the First preaching.75

But there are only a few Bodhgay? images that could pos

sibly be identified as Jina Buddhas.

Emphasis on iconographie issues has also obscured the fact

that late Bodhgay? Buddha imagery is stylistically closer to

contemporaneous sculptures produced at S?rn?th than to

images at other sites in eastern India (Fig. 23), which again raises the question of interaction and challenges our basic

assumptions about production. Some evidence from the

twelfth century links the Bodhgay? area and S?rn?th; for

example, the twelfth-century S?rn?th inscription of

Kumaradev?, a queen of the G?hadav?la ruler Govindacandra, identifies her as the daughter of Devaraksita, who seems to

have ruled some portion of the land around Bodhgay?.76 And a surviving inscription at Bodhgay? mentions the

G?hadav?la king Jayacandra, who apparently was able to

extend the eastern boundary of his kingdom into the

Bodhgay? area.77 Such tantalizing fragments suggest a much more complicated relationship between these two major Buddhist centers, Bodhgay? and S?rn?th, than is usually sup

posed. These sites are usually discussed quite separately, the

former in the context of the P?la empire, the latter in the

context of the G?hadav?la empire. But stylistic connections

77

between late sculptural production at Bodhgay? and S?rn?th

suggest the usefulness of other views. Indeed, late Bodhgay?

imagery might be better understood as reflecting renewed

contacts with S?rn?th, whose influence proved more pow erful than that of Buddhist centers farther east, such as

N?land?. Clearly, this is an issue that deserves fuller consid

eration in the assessment of late activity at Bodhgay? as well

as at other Buddhist sites throughout northern India.

CONCLUSION

There is indeed much that we do not know and cannot

know about P?la-period sculptures, since these are so often

displaced from any specific context of use and unaccom

panied by texts that document the specific circumstances

of their production. We have rather little to tell us how these

images were regarded in the past, though pilgrim accounts?such as those of the Chinese Faxian and

Xuanzang and the later Tibetan Dharmasv?min?indicate

that they were considered significant. We shall never recov

er all the responses intended or made in connection with

the many sculptures surviving in this homeland of

Buddhism. This should not, however, stop us from think

ing further about what we can do to understand more fully the import of these images in their own times.

By considering the influence of the concept of depend ent origination (prat?tya samutp?da) in conjunction with

the development of images of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?, it becomes apparent that such images functioned as

more than narrative representations.That approach also leads

us to ask the significance of inscribing the Buddhist for

mula of dependent origination on images. Consecration is

the explanation usually offered, but perhaps it is not the

complete answer or at least does not completely convey what an image so inscribed meant. Inscriptions on P?la

period sculptures are usually valued for providing a date, a

record of donation, or an identification of the deities rep resented.78 Since this Buddhist formula does not bear on

these issues, the inscriptions of it have become as if invisi

ble, although sometimes their paleography is used as evi

dence of date. Indeed, as the verse is a conspectus of the

Buddha's realization of dependent origination, its inscrip tion on the many surviving Buddha images from eastern

India imbues them with the Buddha's presence; other deities

inscribed with the same verse may also thereby acquire con

notations of the Buddha's presence. This interaction raises

especially interesting questions about the relationships between text and images.79 Moreover, a consideration of

the concept of dependent origination in conjunction with

images inscribed with the Buddhist formula reveals the

ongoing importance of this Buddhist teaching. This is espe

cially useful since the emphasis onTantric elements of late

Indian Buddhist practice has tended to obscure connec

tions to earlier aspects of the Buddhist tradition.80

78

23- Standing Crowned Buddha. Ca. i ith-i2th c. S?rn?th. Stone. Indian

Museum, Calcutta.

Charting changes as well as continuities is one step toward

a better view of shifting concerns and relationships, which

can perhaps generate a better understanding of the influ

ences at work in the development of images. Our view of

these Buddhist sculptures may also be enriched by the

awareness of the rhetorical function of art, a recognition that the manner of presentation can be an element of the

intended message. Such approaches may transcend the lim

itations resulting from separate consideration of form and

content as well as from conflation of text and image, help

ing us to understand how visual images not only reflected

beliefs but shaped devotion.

Notes

I acknowledge the kind permission of the National Museum and the

Indian Museum to publish photographs of sculptures in their collec

tions, and the kind permission of the Archaeological Survey of India to

publish images from their site museums at Bodhgay? and S?rn?th.

i. Many exhibitions have focused on Buddha images?Benjamin Rowland's The Evolution of the Buddha Image (New York: The Asia Society,

1963) and Pratapaditya Pal's Light of Asia (Los Angeles: Los Angeles

County Museum of Art, 1984) are particularly notable examples. Many

books, such as David Snellgrove's Image of the Buddha (Tokyo and Paris:

Kodansha and UNESCO, 1978), and countless articles have also exam

ined the different traditions of images of the Buddha.

2. The significant influences of this artistic tradition have been valu

ably examined by Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves

of the Bodhi Tree: The Art ofPda India (8th-12th centuries) and Its International

Legacy (Dayton: Dayton Art Institute, 1990).

3. Frederick M.Asher, The Art of Eastern India, 300-800 (Minneapolis: Univ. of Minnesota Pr., 1980); Susan L. Huntington, The uPMa-Sena"

Schools of Sculpture (Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1984); and various articles by Claudine Bautze-Picron (e.g. "Lakhi Sarai: An Indian Site of Late

Buddhist Iconography, and Its Position in the Asian Buddhist World," Silk Road Art and Archaeology, vol. 2 [1991-92], pp. 239-83) are impor tant studies.

4. Recent studies of iconographie developments at particular sites?

e.g., Kurkih?r,Bodhgay?, Ratnagiri?do not emphasize interactions with

other sites.

5. For example, Mallar Ghosh, Development of Buddhist Iconography in

Eastern India: A Study of Tara, Praj?as of the Tath?gatas and Bhrikutl (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,i98o) provides a valuable study of female

imagery, but does not accord much significance to provenance. 6. As other scholars have noted, major Buddhist sites likely maintained

active workshops that influenced the production of imagery in sur

rounding areas, which complicates our tracing of the way in which pat terns of imagery emerged.

7. I have discussed the consequences of this focus in "On the

Construction of a Buddhist Pilgrimage Site," Art History, vol. 19

(December 1996), pp. 573-97. 8. For examples, see S.K. Sarasvati, Tantray?na Art: An Album (Calcutta:

Asiatic Society, 1977). For a good discussion of N?land?'s sculptural devel

opment, see Debjani Paul, The Art of NMand? (New Delhi: Munshiram

Manoharlal, 1995).

9. For example, David Snellgrove, The Image of the Buddha, p. 3 53, notes

that S?kyamuni was never completely forgotten, but "in the expression of Buddhahood we may note a gradual change from the quasi-histori cal approach, as represented by the special cult of S?kyamuni Buddha, to a mystical and fully divinized one, where all ideas of a particular his

torical Buddha manifestation are transcended completely." 10. In my previous work, I found that the prominence at Bodhgay?

of images of the historical Buddha had been taken as evidence of con

servative, unchanging practices, even though the site also affords images of deities similar in complexity to imagery found elsewhere in eastern

India. See J. Leoshko, "Pilgrimage and the Evidence of Bodhgay?'s

Images," in Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art, ed. K.R. van Kooij and

H. van der Veer (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995), pp. 45-57. 11. One example of a recent work which has considered this ques

tion is Jacob Kinnard, "Reevaluating the Eighth-Ninth Century P?la

Millieu: Icono-Conservatism and the Persistence of S?kyamuni," Journal

of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 19, no. 2 (1996), pp.

281-99. 12. See, for example, Claudine Bautze-Picron,"Shakyamuni in Eastern

India and Tibet from the Eleventh to the Thirteenth Centuries," Silk

Road Art and Archaeology, vol. 4 (1995-96), pp. 355-408.

13-Asher, Art of Eastern India, pp. 27-28.

14. Gregory Schopen, "The Buddha as an Owner of Property and

Permanent Resident in Medieval Indian Monasteries," Journal of Indian

Philosophy, vol. 18 (1990), pp. 181-217.

15. Frederick M. Asher, "Bodhgay? Image of the Year 64: A

Reconsideration," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, vol. LVIII (1972),

pp. 151-57. 16. For discussion of other early Buddha images at Bodhgay?, see

Asher, Art of Eastern India.

17. See Rajendrala Mitra, Buddha-Gay?, the Great Buddhist Temple, the

Heritage ofSakya Muni (Calcutta: Bengal Secretariat Press, 1878), pp. 132,

192-93.1 first discussed the attribution of this sculpture to Bodhgay? in

"The Iconography of Buddhist Sculptures of the P?la and Sena Periods

from Bodhgay?," (Ph.D. diss.,The Ohio State University, 1987), pp.

102-4. The Indian Museum has now corrected its record.

18. Susan Huntington published the sculpture, but following the muse

um's information, she discussed it as simply a work from Bihar ("PMa Sena>} Schools, p. 20, fig. 16).

19. The inscription also notes that the image is dedicated to the lord

who is the destroyer of worldly passions and victorious over M?ra.

20. Samuel Beal, trans., Si-Yu-Ki: Buddhist Records of the Western World

(London: Trubner, 1884) vol. 2, p. 120.

21. Si-Yu-Ki, vol. 2, p. 121.

22. At Bodhgay? there are not even narrative panels known that depict the M?ravijaya as found in Kus?na-period works from Mathur? or

Gandh?ra.

23.The distinctiveness of three-dimensional Buddha images may well

have extended to the way in which people perceived Buddha images that were not three-dimensional.

24. We should consider the effect that such sculptures as a group may have had on artists as well as on devotees at Bodhgay?. The impact of

the accumulated works at the site is evident in various pilgrim records;

see, for example, the account of his visit to Bodhgay? by the thirteenth

century Tibetan monk Dharmasv?min, who was clearly overcome by both early and late works (George Roerich, trans., Biography of

Dharmasv?min [chag lo tsa-ba chos rje-dpal]:A Tibetan Monk Pilgrim [Patna:

K.PJayaswal Institute, 1959]).

25. Standing figures appear frequently at Bodhgay?, but are less com

monly encountered at other sites.

26.The sculpture at the site still retains its head. It has been published

by both Asher (Art of Eastern India, pi. 141) and Huntington ("PMa-Sena"

Schools, fig. 17).

27. Nagas and overturned pots appear in various other contexts in the

imagery of Bodhgay?, suggesting a particular visual vocabulary favored

by artists there.

28. Others have noted that the treatment of the bodies and robes are

related to S?rn?th forms. Similarities include the robe covering both

shoulders and the fall of the drapery over the left arm, the latter trait

also seen in Fig. 2, although the style ofthat robe is different. These sim

ilarities, however, are usually attributed to influence from N?land?

imagery, which had in turn been influenced by S?rn?th styles. 29. Asher (Art of Eastern India, pp. 46-47) discusses the patronage at

N?land? and the possible presence there of artists from S?rn?th.

30. There is also activity near N?land? at the neighboring sites, such

as Rajgir, that further suggests connections to S?rn?th styles. 31. Huntington, ((PMa-Sena

" Schools, pp. 16-22, and Asher, Art of Eastern

India,pp. 25-26,47-48, discuss the influence of S?rn?th on eastern Indian

art.

32. In addition to this image, which has even been thought to be an

import from the Mathur? region, other Buddha sculptures at Bodhgay?

suggest ties to Mathur? style.

33. Joanna G.Williams, The Art of Gupta India, Empire and Province

(Princeton: Princeton Univ. Pr., 1982), pp. 157-80.

34. One of the few exceptions is the article by GaryTartakov and

Vidya Dehejia, "Sharing, Intrusion, and Influence:The Mahis?suramardini

79

Imagery of the Calukyas and the Pallavas," Artibus Asiae, vol. 45 (1984),

pp. 287-345.

3 5. Janice Leoshko,"The Case of the Two Witnesses to the Buddha's

Enlightenment," Marg, vol. XXXIX, no. 3 (Fall 1988), pp. 40-52.1 dis

cuss the identification here of two earth goddesses in various images.

36. Williams, Art of Gupta India, p. 149, discussing another single fig ure of the Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? (fig. 235) which is now in the

British Museum.

37. The best general discussion of the S?rn?th steles with groupings of life scenes remains the article by Joanna Williams, "S?rn?th Gupta Steles of the Buddha's Life," Ars Orientalis, vol. X (1975), pp. 171-92.

38. Williams, Art of Gupta India, p. 79, notes that few Gupta-period narrative representations of the Buddha's life are known from Mathur?.

39. In her valuable study of Ellora, Geri Malandra, Unfolding a M?ndala:

The Buddhist Cave Temples of Ellora (Albany: State University of New York

Press, 1993), pp. 13,114, presents an interesting analysis of the appearance of this form at Ellora, but she links it only to Bodhgay? and its signifi cance as the site of Enlightenment and does not consider possible influ

ence from S?rn?th.

40. Another such example from S?rn?th is illustrated in Journal of

Bengal Art, vol. 1 (1996), p. 164.

41. For illustration of this pedestal, see Leoshko,"The Case of the Two

Witnesses," p.45, and for discussion of the inscription, see John F. Fleet,

Corpus Inscriptionum Indicarum, vol. 3 (2nd ed.,Varanasi: Indological Book

House, 1963) pp. 281-82. An early description of the pedestal is pre sented by John Anderson, Catalogue and Hand-book of the Archaeological

Collections in the Indian Museum (Calcutta: Indian Museum, 1883), pt. 2,

p. 54. The forms of the earth goddesses in this fragment relate especial

ly well to treatments found in earlier fifth-century S?rn?th sculptures,

although the treatment of the pedestal in the Bodhgay? work is more

formal; most S?rn?th examples show the Buddha sitting on a rocky plat form.

42. There are images from N?land? of this time of the Buddha in bh?

misparsa mudr?. But these are metal sculptures, and they include only the bodhi leaves above the head of the Buddha and his gesture to refer

to the events of the M?ravijaya. For examples, see Debjani Paul, Art of

NMand?, ph. 55-56.

43. Susan Huntington (Leaves of the Bodhi Trees, pp. 104-5) discusses

the possibility that the increased popularity was tied to concepts invoked

by P?la rulers, and the idea that the concept of the Buddha overcoming M?ra may have been used by P?la rulers as a metaphor for their dynasty

is certainly an interesting one. Although Huntington notes that this may be suggested in some inscriptions, there is no evidence that these rulers

commissioned such Buddha images or supported the increased popu

larity of visual representations of the form. Indeed, it seems more like

ly that the concept would have been used politically because it was

already a powerful and pervasive image. This would likewise seem to be

the reason behind the P?las s adoption of the emblem of the dharma

cakra flanked by deer for their copper plates.

44. This is the approach taken most recently by Vidya Dehejia

(Discourses in Early Buddhist Art, Visual Narratives of India [New Delhi:

Munshiram Manoharlal, 1997] pp. 238-49). She discusses these P?la-peri od sculptures primarily as continuations of earlier narrative presenta tions.

45. For example, the deities described in the S?dhanam?l?are by no

means always encountered in images, or they might occur as paintings but not as sculptures. Finding a match between textual description and

visual image is useful but not sufficient to understanding an image type.

46. Simon Lawson, "Dharan? Sealings in British Collections," South

Asian Archaeology, 1983, ?d. Janine Schotsmans and Maurice Taddei

(Naples, 1985), vol. 2, p. 703. (Lawson refers to the translation of this for

mula by Takakusa in 1896.)

47. Daniel Boucher, "The Pratttyasamutp?dag?th?'and Its Role in the

Medieval Cult of the Relics," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies, vol. 14, no.i (1991), pp. 1-27.

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48. Brendan Cassidy, Iconography at the Crossroads (Princeton: Dept. of

Art and Archaeology, 1993), p. 7, usefully discusses such questions with

regard to Western medieval images.

49. For translation of canonical passages concerning this concept of

dependent origination, see Dialogues of the Buddha, trans. T.W Rhys Davids (London: H. Frowde, 1899), vol. 2, pp. 42-70 ("Mah?-nid?na

Suttanta"); Samyutta Nikaya (Book of Kindred Sayings), trans. C.A.F. Rhys Davids and F.L. Woodward (London: Pali Text Society, 1917), vol. 2, pp.

1-94 ("The Kindred Sayings on Cause"). Useful studies of the concept include: B.M. Barua, "Prat?tya-samutpada as Basic Concept of Buddhist

Thought," in B. C. Law Volume, ed. D.R. Bhandarkar et al. (Calcutta:The Indian Research Institute, 1945), vol. 1, pp. 574-89; H. Chatterjee,

"Pratityasamutp?da," Annals of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute

at Poona, vol. 37 (1954), pp. 313-18; B.C. Law, "Formulation of

Pratityasamutp?da," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1937), pp. 287-92. See also Etienne Lamotte, "Conditioned Co-production and Supreme

Enlightenment," in Buddhist Studies in Honour ofWalpola Rahula, ed.

Somaratna Balasooriya et al. (London: Gordon Fraser, 1980), pp. 118-32.

50. L. Austine Waddell, "The Buddhist Pictorial Wheel of"Life," Journal

of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 61 (1892), pp. 133-55; see also L.A.

Waddell, "Buddha's Secret from a Sixth Century Pictorial Commentary and Tibetan Tradition," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1894), P- 367. I discuss some effects of Waddell's identification and representations of

the sequence of the concept of dependent origination in "What is Kim?.:

Rudyard Kipling and Tibetan Buddhism," South Asia Research (Spring

2001).

51. Moreover, the doctrinal significance of the concept of prat?tya

samutp?da in relation to paintings of the wheel is not usually explored in studies of Tibetan art. For example, Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the

Himalayas-.Treasures from Nepal and Tibet (New York: Hudson Hill Press,

1991), p. 184, cites only Lauf (Tibetan Sacred Art) as the source for his

discussion of the wheel.

52.The temporal gap between the single known Indian example and

other such images serves the differing perspectives of scholars such as

Schlingloff and Pal by allowing them to highlight the significance of

their particular visual examples. Schlingloff, in discussion of the Ajant?

painting, could demonstrate the importance of India as the source of

enduring traditions, and Pal, writing about Tibetan examples, could

emphasize the innovative character of even late Tibetan painting. See

Dieter Schlingloff, Studies in Ajanta Paintings: Identifications and

Interpretations (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1987), pp. 168-69, and

Pratapaditya Pal, Art of the Himalayas, p. 184.

53. Gerda Hartmann, "Symbols of the Nid?nas in Tibetan Drawings of the Wheel of Life," Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. 60 (1940),

pp. 3 56-60, was also concerned largely with concepts represented by the

links of dependent origination. Geshe Sopa, "The Tibetan "Wheel of

Life: Iconography and Doxography," Journal of the International Association

of Buddhist Studies, vol. 7, no. 1 (1985), pp. 125-45, dealt with all parts of

the image, but concentrated on the issue of dependent origination. Like

Geshe Sopa, L.A. Govinda, Foundations of Tibetan Mysticism (London: Rider and 0,1969), pp. 234?46, uses an image as the basis for his exten

sive analysis of the wheel's parts. Greater attention to a specific image of

the bhavacakra is found in J. Przyluski, "La Roue de la Vie ? Ajanta,"

Journal Asiatique, vol. 214 (1929), pp. 328-37. Przyluski noted the con

tradiction between the twelve steps in the chain of dependent origina tion and the fact that there appear to be more than twelve vignettes in

the now partially ruined Ajant? painting.

54. Schlingloff, Studies in Ajanta Paintings, pp. 168-69. He lists the

twelve symbols for the chain of dependent origination as given in the

M?iasarv?stiv?da Vinaya, noting their differences from the Tibetan tradi

tion recounted by Waddell. Schlingloff's major concern is the disparity between textual (vinaya) instructions for making such images and the

actual examples: the Ajant? example and most Tibetan depictions rep resent six rather than the five realms which are mentioned in early

Buddhist texts. For discussion of that numerical difference, see Paul

Mus, La Lumi?re sur les six voies: Tableau de la transmigration bouddhique

(Paris:Travaux et m?moires de l'institut d'ethnologie, 1939). Geshe Sopas article, "The Tibetan Wheel of Life: Iconography and Doxography," uses

the Vinaya sutra of Gunabhadra, and other textual accounts related to the

wheel. Although vinaya descriptions do not completely accord with

extant examples, they do include directions for painting the image in

monastery vestibules, which is where they are often found.

55.This long-held emphasis was established by early scholars; see, for

example, T.W Rhys-Davids, The History and Literature of Buddhism (3rd

ed., New York: Putnam, 1909), pp. 80-81. It would be useful to compare

depictions of the wheel of life with accounts of the various realms in

texts other than those describing the making of paintings of the wheel of

life.The Mah?vastu, for example, relates a detailed account of Maudgaly?yana's visits to other realms (The Mah?vastu, Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol.

XVI, trans.J.J.Jones [London: Luzac, 1949], vol. 1, pp. 6-52).

56. The wheel paintings demonstrate the continued significance of

central concepts of early Buddhism, but also reflect the particular char

acter of later practices such as those in Tibet.

57. Indeed, depictions of the wheel of life clearly resonate with the

richness of the concept of the wheel in Buddhist thought. Robert

Brown, for instance, has recently published a major study on Dv?ravat?

cakras in which he discusses the richness of wheel symbolism. In partic ular he relates these cakras to bhavacakras, see The Dvaravatt Wheels of the

Law and the Indianization of South East Asia (Leiden: EJ. Brill, 1996), pp.

115-16.

58. The fact that bricks were inscribed with the Buddhist formula

indicates that there is much to consider about the significance of its

appearance on a wide variety of objects. See Hirananda Sastri,"The Clay Seals of N?land?," Epigraphia Indica, vol. 21, p. 72.

59. One interesting and significant example of the earth goddess with

out M?ra occurs in the image now in the main shrine of the Mah?bodhi

Temple.The sculpture is illustrated in Huntington, "PMa-Sena" Schools,

fig 106. In this tenth-century sculpture the earth goddess kneels in the

center of the base, flanked by pairs of elephants and lions.

60. For example, see Ratan Parimoo, Life of the Buddha in Indian

Sculpture: (Ashta-maha-pratiharya" (New Delhi: Kanak Publications, 1985). 61. Boucher, "The Pratttyasamutp?dag?th?zna Its Role in the Medieval

Cult of the Relics," p. 7, discussing how the Buddhist formula trans

formed dharma into relic, notes texts stating that those who see this verse, see the dharma and those who see the dharma, see the Buddha. Indeed, the widespread use of the prat?tya samutp?dag?th? may indicate that such

sculptures refer with equal emphasis to what the Buddha thought and

what the Buddha did.

62. Robert L. Brown, "The J?taka Stories in Ancient Indian and

Southeast Asian Architecture," in Sacred Biography in the Buddhist Traditions

of South and Southeast Asia, ed. Juliane Schober (Hawaii: Univ. of Hawaii

Pr., 1997), pp. 97-100.

63.Lama Chimpa andAlaka Chattopadhyaya, trans., T?ran?tha's History

of Buddhism in India (Simla: Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, 1970),

p. 302.

64. See Marie-Th?r?se de Mallmann, Introduction a l'iconographie du

t?ntrisme bouddhique (Paris: Adrien Maisonneuve, 1975), p. 418, and Alfred

Foucher, Etude sur Viconographie de Vlnde d'apr?s des documents nouveaux

(Paris: Ernest Leroux, 1900-1905), vol. 2, pp. 15-21.

65.1 discuss the sculptural presentations of this form and relationships to S?dhanamM? descriptions in Bodhgay?, Site of Enlightenment (Bombay:

Marg, 1988), pp. 36-40. 66. In the eighth-century sculpture previously discussed (see Fig. 8),

the bodhisattvas are too damaged to be conclusively identified, but they at least reveal the early appearance at Bodhgay? of bodhisattvas as atten

dants to a Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr?. Moreover, it may be relevant

that Xuanzang, in his seventh-century description of the site, mentioned

figures of Maitreya and Avalokitesvara flanking the Mah?bodhi Temple. 67. John C. Huntington, "Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the

Ashtamahapratiarya, Part 2," Orientations, vol. 18, no. 8 (1987), pp. 56-68.

68. I discuss this configuration and its late date in "Scenes of the

Buddha's Life in P?la-Period Art," Silk Road Art and Archaeology, vol. 3

(1993?94), PP- 257?76- Many scholars, such as John Huntington, do not

recognize that the S?rn?th stele in which this group of eight first appears dates from the eighth century; they have assumed it to be a fifth-centu

ry work. In this post-Gupta period stele the eight scenes are all the same

size, as they are on votive st?pas of the ninth century from eastern India.

The configuration of one large scene surrounded by seven smaller scenes

(forming the same group of eight) did not occur until some time in the

tenth century.

69. Vidhya Dehejia continues this emphasis in her recent work

(Discourse in Early Buddhist Art, p. 273), writing: "From the sixth centu

ry onward, enthusiasm receded for the visual narration of events from

the historic life of the Buddha or his previous lives. As Buddhism became

more esoteric, emphasis shifted from the original historical Buddha with

human characteristics, to the concept of an unborn, unchanging supreme Buddha."

70. The meaning of these later images is subverted by viewing them

solely as increasingly simple narrative forms, or by contrasting the sites

where Jagdishpur-type images are prominent with sites where they are

not. The central Buddha in bh?misparsa mudr? in the Jagdishpur stele

dominates the grouping but it accrues power from the rich narrative

details such as M?ra s horde. Moreover, the base of the Jagdishpur sculp ture includes a group of eight bodhisattvas and two tantric female deities

(on the oblique sides of the base). These non-narrative elements frame

the central section containing M?ra, his daughters, and earth goddesses.

Although there is no concrete evidence, it is tempting to consider that

this image type was emphasized at N?land? as a way to compensate for

that site's lack of historical ties to S?kyamuni at the moment of

Enlightenment.

71. The motif of a wheel with flanking deer appears quite common

ly in Jain images dating after the fifth century. This seems meant to rep resent the idea of teaching, though not the specific event of the Buddha's

First Teaching at S?rn?th.

72. C.S. Upasak, "Inscriptions on the Dhelva B?b?: A Buddha Image in the N?land? Museum," Journal of the Bihar Research Society, vol. 53, p. 141; he is incorrect, however, in identifying this bodhisattva as

Avalokitesvara. Debjani Paul, The Art of N?land?, p. 96, fig. 74, repeats

Upasak s mistaken identification but otherwise presents a useful discus

sion of the inscriptions.

73. Gregory Schopen has noted that after the fifth century, all Buddhist

monasteries adopted this motif; again, it seems to signify the concept of

teaching in general rather than the specific episode at S?rn?th.

74. We are left with the very real question, to whom were these

inscriptions directed: who could read them and to whom were they sig nificant? The donative inscription notes that the female donor was not

a monastic devotee, and seemingly the female named in the inscription is the figure depicted at the proper right on the base of the stele.

75. Benjamin Rowland, The Evolution of the Buddha Image (New York:

The Asia Society, 1963), p. 16.

76. Hiram W Woodward, Jr., "Queen Kumaradev? and Twelfth-Century S?rn?th," Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, n.s. 12-13 (1981-83),

pp. 7-24, discusses the patronage of this queen at S?rn?th and her east

ern Indian family connections: her maternal uncle was the P?la ruler

Mathana whose sister, Sankaradev?, married Devaraksita, the lord of P?th?.

P?th? has been identified by DC. Sircar as the region around Bodhgay?; for a brief discussion of the very interesting rulers of P?th?, see DC.

Sircar, "Bodhgay? Inscription of P?th?pati ?cary? Buddhasena," in Senarat

Parnavitana Commemoration Volume, Studies in South Asian Culture, vol.

VII, ed. Leelananda Prematilleke, Karthigesu Indrapala, and J.E. van

Lohuizen-de Leeuw (Leiden: EJ.Brill, 1978), pp. 255-56.

77. See Niradbandhu Sanyal, "A Buddhist Inscription from Bodh

Gay? of the reign of Jayaccandradeva?vs. 124X," Indian Historical

Quarterly, vol.V, no.i (1929), pp. 14-30; the inscription dates from 1185 CE.

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78. Records of donation, moreover, have been primarily valued for

establishing the dates of various rulers, even though they do not record

donations by such rulers.

79. There are interesting discussions of such issues that could be use

fully applied to Buddhist art; for example, Mieke Bal, "On looking and

reading: Word and image, visual poetics and comparative arts," Semi?tica,

vol. 76 (1989), pp. 283-320. Although Boucher doubts that the Buddhist

verse was understood when used to mark objects?maintaining that its

presence rather than its content was important?this begs the question of its selection and repeated appearance.

80. Likewise, scholars have tended to concentrate on early sources

when discussing the prat?tya samutp?da, with less attention to its con

tinued significance in later Buddhist writing, for which, in fact, there is

interesting evidence. For example, it was a feature of M?dhyamika ("mid dle doctrine") Buddhist thought as reflected in the eighth-century text

Tattvasamgraha of S?ntaraksita, trans. G. Jha, Gaekwad's Oriental Series, nos. 80, 83 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1937-39). A later example of its

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continued importance occurs in the work of the major Tibetan teacher

Tsong Kha pa, who lived at the end of the fourteenth century. He wrote

a text praising the Buddha as the source of this doctrine of dependent

origination. Tsong Kha pa founded the order which later rose to dom

inate the religious and political activities ofTibet; the Dalai Lamas always

belong to this order, the Gelug pa, or Yellow Hats. See

Pratityasamutp?dastutisubh?sitahrdayam of?c?rya Tsong kha pa, trans. Gyaltsen Namdol and Ngawang Samten, The Dalai Lama Tibeto-Indological

Series, vol. Ill (S?rn?th: Central Institute of Tibetan Higher Studies,

1982).The fact that an important Tibetan teacher now in exile in India, Ven. Lobsang Gyatso, recently published a commentary upon Tsong Kha

pa's text, The Essence of Eloquent Speech, Praise to the Buddha for Teaching

Profound Dependent-Arising, is one demonstration of the ongoing impor tance of this teaching. See The Harmony of Emptiness and Dependent

Arising by Ven. Lobsang Gyatso (Dharmasala: Library of Tibetan Works

and Archives, 1992).