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182 बौद्ध धर्म-दर्शन, संस्कृति और कला
simultaneously. Buddha with a moustache as in the Gandhara style is Greek and unthinkable in the Indian system where Buddha the Yogi reminds one of the Vedic conceptions. The Mathura style resembles the forms of divinities as found in Bharhut. Thus the Buddha image is Indian in both conception and origin and is fashioned strictly according to the iconographic traditions embodied in the older indigenous works.
In India, art has been so closely related to religion that for its proper understanding it is necessary to have some knowledge of various forms and symbols representing the supernatural powers in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.
The earliest phase of Buddhism- a period of atleast two centuriesis shrouded in almost impenetrable darkness. In the beginning the enlightened teacher Gautama, the Sakya sage was the object of veneration to the devotees. Early Buddhism centered round the story of his life and episodes in his career, his birth, his remuneration of wife and kingdom, his enlightenment and death as well as folk stories of his good deeds in former lives. These formed the subjects of the reliefs which decorate the railings and gateways enclosing the stupas or mounds erected over his relics at Sanchi, Bharhut and Bodh-Gaya. Here Buddha is not potrayed in human form and his presence is indicated by symbols. His actual likeness was regarded as too sacred to admit of representation. His presence was shown by a tree (the Bodh tree), a wheel (the wheel of the law set turning at Sarnath), Stupa (his burial moundm or else by the foot-prints, or an empty saddle or throne or even by his umbrella, for the umbrella had long been a symbol of royalty. The whole of Buddhism was composed of Trinity made up of the Buddha, Dharma (the law) and the Sangha (the monastic order). This was embodied in the triratna (three jewels) symbol. About the first century A.D. Buddhism had to bow before the carvings of the people for gods and objects of worship. Hinduism offered a religion where god was presented to the masses in the theistic form of Krishna, Vishnu or Mahadeva always ready and anxious to save genuine devotees, who threw themselves upon his mercy. This led to the rise of a new school in Buddhism in the form of Mahayana movement. The Arhat ideal, that of the human being who, by strenuous effort, acquired enlightenment, gave way to that of the Bodhisattva, the saviour
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