Epigraphia Indica Vol 08

SR No.: 032562
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: E Hultzsch
Publisher: Archaeological Survey of India
Publication Year: 1905
Total Pages: 398
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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178
EPIGRAPHIA INDICA.
(VOL. VIII.
I may add that in Mathura we often find a cluster of lotus flowers between the feet of the image. Dr. Bloch noticed between the feet of the Sråvastî image" a peculiar object of uncertain meaning."
It has already been noted that the image is curved on the back. Unlike medieval images it is in the round and not in relief. This circumstance makes it probable that it never stood in a temple, but was placed in the open, sheltered only by its umbrella, a probability that is strength. ened by the discovery of all the fragments of the image and of the umbrella in the open space between the Asoka pillar and the vihara excavated by Mr. Oertel.
The Sarnath image, though an important addition to our materials, only complicates one of the problems of Buddhist iconography. Had it not been inscribed, no one would have hesitated to call it a Buddha image. Both the royal dress and ornaments which were hitherto thonght to characterise the Bodhisattva are absent, and the figure wears only the plain attire of a Buddhist monk, such as is invariably associated with statues of the Buddha. But the inscriptions alike on the umbrella post and, as will be seen presently, on the image itself, are quite explicit in designating it a Bodhisattva.
What then are the distinguishing features of the Bodhisattva ? Can it be, as Dr. Bloch holds, the bare right shoulder ? Such a theory seems hardly tenable. For there are numerous bareshouldered images which represent Säkyamuni at the moment of the Bodhi, and we find among Gandhåra sculptures the uncovered right shoulder regularly combined with that position of the hands which expresses the turning of the wheel of the Law' (dharmachakra-mudra), and which can only indicate an omniscient Buddha.
To decide on this point, it would be necessary first of all to compare the two images of Anyor and Kaman, which belong to the same period and are designated by their inscriptions as Buddha images. That of Kaman (Bharatpur Stato, Rajputâna), as noted above, must be 71 years posterior to the Sârnâth statue, assuming that the date is expressed in Kanishka's era, which in the light of its palæographical evidence seems most plausible. The Anyor Buddha image must be nearly contemporaneous with the Bodhisattvas of Sârnâth and Sråvasti. This is evident from the similarity both in the script and language and in the wording of their inscriptions. Unfortunately no photographs of either of these two statues are at present available. Of the Káman image I only find the statement that it represents Buddha seated.
Anyhow, these four are among the earliest Buddhist images hitherto found in India proper; or more correctly I should say that no image has been found, which on epigraphical evidence can be assigned to an earlier period. The fact that it was thought necessary to indicate the subject in the inscription makes it indeed highly probable, that at the beginning of Kanishka's reign statues of Sakyamuni- either as Buddba or Bodhisattva- were a novelty, at least in Gangetic India. We noticed, however, in describing the Sârnâth Bodhisattva certain fostures which seem to be borrowed from the Graeco-Buddhist school of Gandhara. This fact not only confirms the theory that the practice of making Buddha images originated from the north-west, but also indicates that the flourishing period of the Gandhára school must be anterior to Kanishka's reign. Thas we should be led to the conclusion that the Graeco-Buddhist school of Gandhara flourished, not under the Kushana kings, but under the earlier Yavana and Saka rulers. This conclusion,
1 This practice was also known in Gandhara. Compare Foucher, L'art Gréco-bouddhique, Vol. I. p. 191:"1 faut dire cependant, pour étre tout-à-fait exact, que quelques-unes d'entre elles se contentaient, comme abri, d'un parasol."
2 Grünwedel-Burgess, Buddhist Art, p. 182: "The Bodhisattva representation of later art is that of a royally attired young man . . . . . Thus we may claim these youthful figures in rich attire, so frequent among Gandhårs sculptures, 48 Bodhisattvas."
* Compare 4. S. R. for 1902-03, p. 171.
• To the same period belongs the Sánchi image of the year 70 in the reign of Vasushka, but from its inscrip tion it is not evident what it represents.