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Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathurā Author(s): Prudence R. Myer Source: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 47, No. 2 (1986), pp. 107-142 Published by: Artibus Asiae Publishers Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249969 . Accessed: 17/10/2011 13:23 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae. http://www.jstor.org

Bodhisattvas and Buddhas Early Buddhist Images From Mathurā

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  • Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from MathurAuthor(s): Prudence R. MyerSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 47, No. 2 (1986), pp. 107-142Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3249969 .Accessed: 17/10/2011 13:23

    Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

    JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

    Artibus Asiae Publishers is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Artibus Asiae.

    http://www.jstor.org

  • PRUDENCE R. MYER

    BODHISATTVAS AND BUDDHAS: EARLY BUDDHIST IMAGES FROM MATHURA

    As is well known, the first images of the Buddha are said to have been produced either in the ancient province of Gandhara, in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent,

    or at Mathura, a flourishing commercial and religious center some I25 kilometers south of Delhi.1 This city, which once formed the focus of the southern part of the I(ushana empire and, before that, had been ruled by satraps (ksatrapa) belonging to a branch of the Sakas (a Central Asian people better known in Europe as Scythians), is the scene of a story telling how Mara, the Lord of Illusion, was vanquished and converted by the renowned monk and preacher Upagupta. Lamenting that he had been born too late to see the Blessed One, Upagupta commanded his erstwhile enemy to show the appearance of the Buddha, and Mara assented on condition the monk not prostrate himself before it. But when the radiant apparition appeared, the monk promptly fell to his knees before it. Reproached by the god for having broken his word, Upagupta justified his spontaneous action by saying:

    Of course, I know that the Best of Speakers has gone altogether to extinction, like a fire swamped by water. Even so, when I see his figure, I bow down before that Sage. But I do not revere you! . . .

    Note on terminology and transliteration: Indian words are italicized the first time they appear. Sanskrit words are transliterated in accordance with the system employed by Monier-Williams' Sanskrit-English Dictionary except for the unaspirated palatal c, which is transliterated as ch in order to make it more consonant with English pronunciation. 1 Specialists will recognize that the present author is profoundly indebted to the late Johanna E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, whose doctoral dissertation brilliantly resolved the fundamental problems of chronology and style associated with the Buddhist images from Mathura (The "Scythian" Period: An Approach to the History, Art, Epigraphy, and Paleography of North India from the ist Century to the 3rd Century A.D. [Leiden, 19491, hereafter to be referred to as van Lohuizen-de Leeuw).

    The most comprehensive study of Buddhist art here is R. C. Sharma, Buddhist Art of Mathura (Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi, I984). This is particularly valuable for its account of the excavations that have taken place in and around the city, especially the finds from the ancient mounds known as Govindnagar, which lie westward from the Katra mounds and on the other side of the railroad. It was in I969-70 that laborers leveling the mounds in preparation for the construction of an extensive housing colony began to turn up quantities of sculptures. Most of these were purchased by antique dealers, but in 1976 Mr. Sharma (then Curator of the Mathura Museum) and his staff attempted to rescue and record the pieces that were being found, and the U. P. government declared that area a protected site. The material so recovered, although only a fraction of what had been dispersed, showed that the site went back to the pre-Maurya period and remained an important Buddhist site until the Huna invasion of the early 6th century.

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  • Just as men bow down to clay images of the gods, knowing that what they worship is the god and not the clay, so I, seeing you here, wearing the form of the Lord of the World, bowed down to you, conscious of the Sugata, but not conscious of Mara.2

    In summarizing this story as evidence of the growing practice of Buddbha-pjd, the cult of devotion to the Buddha as Lord, Sukumar Dutt points out that the description of the figure or illusion created or presented by Mara is couched in such vague and general terms as to indicate that the text antedates the first man-made images of the Buddha.3 The present paper reconsiders the early Buddhist images from Mathura, starting with the seated and standing figures identified by inscription as Bodhisattvas. A suggested explanation for this nomenclature is followed by comparisons with images of the "bejewelled Bodhisattva" type, and a concluding study of the early Buddha images considered to show Gandharan influence.

    All the Mathura sculptures are carved of red or rose-hued sandstone, usually mottled or dappled with cream color, but as the passage quoted from the Asokadvaddna suggests, wood and clay must also have been used for images here as in other parts of India. That some sculptural types were originally conceived in these materials is indicated by the presence of such features as the upraised right hand, which is so ill-adapted to the medium of stone that it obviously caused early stone-carvers some difficulty. Bronze may also have been used, for two small cast-bronze images were found in Kushana levels of Sonkh, an archaeological site 221/2 kilometers southwest of the city;4 but no early Buddhist bronzes have yet been identified.

    Discussions of the Buddhist sculpture from Mathura often start with the monumental

    figure dedicated at Sarnath by the monk (bhikSu) Bala in the year 3 of the Kanishka era, and with the smaller and well preserved stele found at the IKatra Tila (Figs. I, 10, 13). Because of its material and inscriptions (L.925, L.g27), which are the earliest indisputable

    2 John S. Strong, The Legend of King Asoka: A Study and Translation of the Asokdvaddna (Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J., 1983), PP. 195-196.

    3 Sukumar Dutt, The Buddha and Five After-Centuries (London, 1957), P. 236. 4 Herbert Hartel, "Some Results of the Excavations at Sonkh," German Scholars on India, Contributions to Indian Studies,

    ed. by Cultural Department of the Federal Republic of Germany (Bombay, n. d.), II, pp. 70-99. The Sonkh excavations, which have revealed an uninterrupted sequence of occupations from the the late Kushana

    period down to pre-Maurya levels, constitute the first reliable archaeological evidence for the history of the Mathura region. About 00oo B.C. Mathura seems to have broken away from the Sunga empire, and coins found in levels 28-25 are inscribed with the names of Gomitra and three successors having names ending with -mitra. Following these came a king named Ramadatta whose reign, at least at Sonkh, seems to have been interrupted or overlapped by that of the Kshatrapas Hagamasa, Rajuvula, and Rajuvula's son Sodasa (levels 24 and 23); and these were immediately followed by the Kushanas Wima Kadphises and Kanishka in levels 22 and 21. Because the beginning of the era established by Kanishka (which continued to be used at Mathura for more than I50 years) has been dated as early as 78 A.D. and as late as 144 or even later, particular interest attaches to Hartel's assertion, "Notwithstanding the theory one may follow in dating Kanishka I, after Sonkh there is no justification of placing him in the second or even in the third century A.D."

    io8

  • post-Asokan ones,5 it is sometimes assumed that Bala's image must be among the earliest Buddhist images carved at Mathura.6 Yet as early as I9IO the catalogue of the Mathura Museum, in discussing the Katra stele, noted that both its very dark red color and the language of its inscription (L.I 2 a), identifying its donor as one Amohaasi (Amoghadasi), indicate that it pre-dates the Kanishka era.7 Both images are identified by their inscriptions as Bodhisattva, and both obviously come from the same iconographic and stylistic tradition, even though one is standing and the other seated. The head of the Sarnath image has been damaged and its right arm and hand broken off, but it is apparent the lost hand must have been raised in front of the shoulder in abhaya-nmudra, the gesture signifying "no fear".

    This gesture, familiar to all students of Buddhist art, may well have been introduced into India by the Sakas (more accurately Saka-Pahlavas), who reigned at Mathura before the advent of the Kushanas.8 It was not restricted to male figures but appears in a number of representations of a goddess usually identified as Trisala, the mother of the Jina Mahavira. It is presumably she who is depicted (although the inscription names her AryavatI) on a tablet found at the site of Kankali Tila, which was dedicated by the lady Amohini in the year 42 or 72 during the reign of the Mahakshatrapa (Great Satrap) Sodasa, the second Saka ruler of Mathura. (Fig. 2).9 Her pose is virtually identical with that of the images dedicated by Bala except that her right hand is not directly in front of her shoulder but off to the side, the palm facing outward. Similar figures appear both in reliefs and independent images during the Kushana period,10 and the same gesture was also used for early representations of Hindu gods.11

    It seems that this gesture is probably the same one that l'Orange calls "the Gesture of Power" or "Saving Right Hand," which can be traced back to Babylonian seals and reliefs.12 There it perhaps signified the divine power to protect the god's servant from malign influences and evil spirits; and it appears frequently in Achaemenid reliefs of Ahuramazda and the kings and satraps who served as his earthly counterparts. Its meaning therefore seems to be similar to that of abhaya-mudra, although in West Asia the arm was fully extended. The difference can be explained by the artistic conventions of the two regions, for in West Asian reliefs figures were depicted in profile, while in India divine 5 Sarnath Museum, B(a) I. D. R. Sahni and J. P. Vogel, Catalogue of the Museum of Archaeology at Sdrndth (Calcutta, I 9 I 2),

    pp. 33-37; H. Liiders, "A List of Brahmi Inscriptions from the Earliest Times to about 400 A.D.," Appendix to Epigraphia Indica, X (I909), pp. 93-94.

    6 Benjamin Rowland refers to it as "one of the very first images of Buddha to be carved at Mathura" (The Art and Architecture of India, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, The Pelican History of Art, ist paperback ed. [Baltimore, Md., 1970], P I 5 3)

    7 Mathura Museum, oo.A I. J.P. Vogel, Catalogue of the Archaeological Museum at Mathura (Allahabad, 1910), pp. 47-48, pl. 7; also, H. Liiders, Mathura Inscriptions, ed. Klaus Janert (G6ttingen, I961), pp. 30-3I. These two will hereafter be referred to as Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., and Liiders-Janert, respectively.

    8 B. N. Mukherjee, Mathura and its Society: The Saka-Pahlava Phase (Calcutta, I 98 I), especially Chapter VI. See also supra, note 4.

    9 Lucknow State Mus., J. . Vincent Smith, The Jain Stupa and Other Antiquities of Mathura (Allahabad, i901), p. 2z i, pl. XIV; Vasudeva S. Agrawala, A Short Guide-Book to the Archaeological Section of the Provincial Museum Lucknow (Allahabad, 1940), p. 5; Debala Mitra in Jaina Art and Architecture Published on the Occasion of the 2aooth Nirvana Anniversary of Tirthankara Mahavira, ed. A. Ghosh (New Delhi), I, p. 67, pl. 19.

    10 Lucknow State Mus., J. 623, and Mathura Mus., oo. F.6. See Jain Art and Architecture, pl. 3, and Ludwig Bachhofer, Early Indian Sculpture (New York, 1929), I, pl. 75.

    11 Mathura Mus., 00.2520. Vasudeva S. Agrawala, Studies in Indian Art (Varanasi, I965), pp. 191-93, fig. Io6. 12 H.P. l'Orange, Studies on the Iconography of Cosmic Kingship in the Ancient World (Oslo, 1953), pp. 39-58.

    IO9

  • figures are traditionally presented frontally. Since it is impossible to carve the outstretched hand of a frontal figure without risking damage to it, Indian artists seem to have adapted the older position of the raised hand holding a flower or flywhisk (chauri), familiar from earlier representations ofyaksas andyaksinzs.13

    Both van Lohuizen-de Leeuw and the Japanese scholar Takata Osamu14 have compared the earliest Buddhist images with the tiny figures of Jinas (Tirthankaras) depicted on some of the early ayaga-patas found at Kanikall Tila, which must have been a major center of Jaina worship.15 None of these square slabs are dated, but they have been generally attributed to the Saka period. The earliest one may be that here illustrated, whose encircling lotus-creeper is carved in a flat relief style very close to that of a fragmentary door-jamb, found at Mora, whose inscription (L.82a) shows it was executed during the reign of Sodasa (Fig. 3).16 The Jina in the central medallion, identifiable by the multiple cobra-hoods of the serpent king as Parsvanatha, is seated on a low throne and venerated by a pair of naked Jain monks.17 The four large nandipada shapes occupying the space between the medallion and lotus-creeper are framed by double cords; their surfaces are carved with rows of small leaf-shapes alternating with pearl bands, a motif recalling both the garlands hanging from the upper border of Amohini's tablet and the surface of the cushion-like mass of stone that supports the raised hand of the Katra Bodhisattva. The similar ayaga-pata dedicated by Simha-nadika is distinguished by a pair of pillars supporting a wheel (chakra) and an elephant.18 Here the nandipadas are bordered by pearl bands and their forms are more fully modelled, as are those of the faceted shafts of the framing pillars and the figure in the central medallion, while the Jina's torso is slimmer, with the diagonal lines of his upper arms reinforcing the triangularity of his proportions.

    Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw and Takata point to close similarities between these Jaina images and the small Buddha figures seen in a couple of architectural reliefs, and have concluded that such miniatures antedated the development of independent images. A notable example appears on the center of a crossbar from a torana or gateway illustrating the story of Indra's visit while Buddha meditated in the Indrasaila (or Indra-sala) cave (Fig. 4).19 Here the king of the gods approaches from the right attended by a pair of

    13 E.g., Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art New York, I927), pls. IV-I7, XI-37; Rowland, figs. 25, 39, 45.

    14 Van Lohuizen, pp. 145-80; Takata Osamu, Butsugo no kigen (The Origin of the Buddha Image) (Tokyo, I967), PP. 3 20-97. (I am indebted to Michiko Grube-Sato for having translated relevant portions of this book for me.)

    15 These square slabs are generally referred to as votive plaques, but Mitra argues that they were mounted on oblong bases or platforms near the stupa and may derive from the sacred seats (redi), often set up at the foot of a sacred tree to signify "the physical presence of the invisible divinities," which were therefore themselves objects of worship (Jaina Art and Architecture, pp. 63-65). 16 Mathura Mus., oo.367. Takata, p. 345, fig. 142; Liiders-Janert, p. I55.

    17 Lucknow State Mus., J. 253. Smith, p. 17, pl. X; Takata, pl. 45. fig. 53 18 Lucknow State Mus., J. 249. Smith, p. I4, pl. VII; J.P. Vogel, "La Sculpture de Mathura", Ars Asiatica, XV (Paris

    et Bruxelles, I930), pp. 122-23, pl. LIV-a. 19 Mathura Mus., M.3. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. i63-64 and "Sculpture de M.," p. 94, pl. VII. Rowland observes that the blank background of this relief and "nimbus-like" arrangements of the scarves relate it to the stair-riser reliefs from Buner (Gandhara), which show strong influence from ist century Roman art (Benjamin Rowland, "Gandhara, Rome and Mathura: The Early Relief Style," Archives of the Chinese Art Society, X [I956], I 5-I6.) Precisely the same style can be seen in the crossbar (Mathura Mus. SOIV-36) found near the Sonkh Apsidal Temple No. 2, which can be dated in the period of Kanishka (Hartel, pp. 95, 99, fig. 44).

    I IO

  • celestial females and three elephants, while his emissary, the divine musician Panchasikha, and six other females approach from the left. The small figure seated within the cave is heavy and resembles the Jina of the earlier ayaga-pata except that its left hand rests on the left thigh and the right is raised in front of the shoulder in clear anticipation of the Katra type. Although it has no halo, the upper garment of this figure also anticipates that of the Katra stele, clinging closely to the torso as if so transparent that the form of the body shines through it. This appears to be a variation of the arrangement observable in the foreground figures of a pillar relief from Bharhut (Fig. 5), where the sculptor carefully indicated how the pleated length of cloth forming the upper garment was wrapped about the torso and the free end thrown over the left shoulder.20 The folds over the upper arms of the Mathura figures show how its other end, which normally hung down in front, could be brought back and wrapped around the upper arm and then tucked back behind the body.

    Another one, which is carved on a railing post or stambha found at Isapur on the other bank of the Jumna, depicts a similar but clumsier figure seated on a tall throne supported by couchant lions and surrounded by four figures identified as the guardians of the four quarters (Fig. 6).21 The central figure, like that of the Indrasaila relief and Jain ayaga-patas, has no halo but the position of the raised hand resembles that of Aryavati of Amohini's dedication, and folds seem to fall under the left arm, suggesting that it belongs to the period when artists were still working out the conventions for the type.

    Takata believes these representations of Buddha receiving the homage of gods were inspired by and modelled after those of the ayaga-patas,22 but the Buddhist figures are distinguished from Jain ones in several ways. Although their torsos have deep navels, the lines passing under their right breasts and up over their left shoulders show they are conceived as swathed in clinging garments. Moreover the feet of Jina figures are merely crossed at the ankles, while Buddhist ones are locked in the full lotus position (padma- asana), the soles being turned outward toward the observer. Nor does their scale necessarily indicate that they were inspired by the Jaina tablets. Indeed the Indrasaila relief must be dated to the period of Kanishka because of its stylistic resemblance to the archaeologically datable torana found at Sonkh.

    Whether the small Buddhist depictions derive from Jain prototypes or from an independent Buddhist tradition peculiar to the Mathura region, there can be no doubt that larger images were also made and installed in Buddhist monasteries (yihdras) of this region during the Kshatrapa period, for Liiders identifies at least five inscriptions of this period as coming from image bases.23 To these may be added the fragmentary image dedicated by a Kshatrapa lady named Namda, a seated image found at Sravasti, and two uninscribed ones whose style also argue for a date antedating the establishment of the Kanishka era.24

    20 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, La sculpture de Bharhut (Paris, I956), Fig. 34. 21 Mathura Mus., H. 12. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. I 3 I-I 3 2; van Lohuizen, pp. 157-158. 22 Takata, p. 378. 23 Liiders-Janert, pp. 30-3I, 105-o6, II5-I6, I2I, I90. Three of these (L.I25a, L.88, L.97b) identify the image as a

    Bodhisattva while the two others (L.I43a, L.I 3 5c) lack explicit identifications. 24 Liiders seems to have reserved the term Kushana for inscriptions datable to the reigns of Kanishka and his successors.

    Most scholars now agree that Mathura had been earlier conquered by the Kushana Wima Kadphises, as confirmed by the Sonkh excavations. (See note 4, supra, and B.N. Puri, India Under the Kushdnas [Bombay, I965], pp. I9-28.)

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  • Of the Buddhist inscriptions attributed by Luders to the Kshatrapa or (more accurately) pre-Kanishka era, the only one associated with a fully preserved image is that dedicated by Amohaasi and found at the Katra (Figs. I, IO). But the others are interesting because of the light they cast on the life of the Buddhist community at Mathura even when the images themselves are missing or badly mutilated. Thus one (L.97b) refers to an image of a Bodhisattva set up "for the acceptance of the Samitiya teachers," and another (L.97d) says that something was dedicated "at the Alanaka convent for the acceptance of the Mahasaghiyas (Mahasdnghikas) for the worship of all Buddhas."25

    The broken image van Lohuizen-de Leeuw considered the earliest example of this type is distinguished by the representation on the base of two figures, the gods Brahma and Indra (Fig. 7).26 All that remains of the major figure are folded legs and one foot, but it can be seen that the soles of the feet were turned outward toward the observer and incised with wheels. The hem of the undergarment, which is treated as two cord-like ridges, ripples over the calf and hangs down to overlap the folds spread out over the throne. Brahma and Indra wear long stole-like uttarzyas whose folds are indicated by paired ridges, that of Brahma rising stiffly from the shoulders to enframe the head, much like celestial figures of the Indrasaila crossbar.

    A different treatment of drapery appears on the similarly damaged figure executed by a Mathura sculptor which was dedicated by two Ksatriya brothers at the Jetavana vihara at Sravasti.27 Here the folds over the throne are treated as crisply defined pleats radiating like a fan across the throne, the ends of the girdle lie neatly over the central pleats, and the hems of the garment flare slightly over the calves, describing smooth curves that emphasize their rounded volumes. The soles of the feet are almost horizontal and the left hand seems to have been clenched on the thigh.

    Much the same style is to be seen in an uninscribed and similarly damaged image in the Mathura Museum (Fig. 8).28 Its most significant features are the clenched fist and the rampant lions supporting the throne. Those at the corners are lithe and graceful with long thin tails terminating in tight spirals and long tassels or plumes, and the one enface at the center, although somewhat clumsy, is equally slender.

    The last of the broken Bodhisattvas was found in a shrine near the Katra and appears to have been very similar to that dedicated by Amohaasi (Fig. 9)29. The surviving portion of the inscription (L.I25C) identifies the donor as a Ksatrapa lady named Namda, who dedicated a Bodhisattva "for the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings for the acceptance of the savasthidyas (Sarvdstivddas)."30 As in the Katra stele, the throne projects

    25 Luders-Janert, pp. I I 5-I6, I 121. 26 Lucknow State Mus., B.I8. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. i74-75, pl. XXI-34. 27 Lucknow State Mus., 66.48. G.R. Sahni, "A Buddhist Image Inscription from Sravasti," A.S.I. Ann. Report 90o8-o9,

    PP. I33-38. 28 Mathura Mus., 00oo.2073. V. S. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva images in Mathura Museum," Journal of U.P.

    Historical Society, XXI (1978), p. 73. 29 Mathura Mus., A.66. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 63-64. 30 Liiders noted that the letters of the inscription look very archaic, but concluded it should be dated to the Kushana

    period because of its faulty spelling (Liiders-Janert, pp. 31-32).

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  • from a backslab on which can be seen the lower portion of a standing attenldant; the fingers of the Bodhisattva's left hand are similarly extended to rest on his calf, and the sole of the foot is incised with a wheel and the toes with tiny swastikas, but the outward turn of the sole of the foot and the undulating hem of the garment indicate it antedates that piece. Moreover the rampant winged lion of the base, although somewhat less fluid and energetic than those of the preceding image, is very different from those squatting on the bases of the Katra stele and its successors.31

    Despite the fragmentary state of these images, enough remains to show that the Katra stele was not only more complex but more carefully integrated, and deserves to be considered the classical statement of the type (Fig. IO). The Bodhisattva's smooth, swelling torso rises vigorously from the broad, horizontal base formed by his folded legs and feet and culminates in the highly articulated volumes of his neck, egg-shaped head, and coiled top-knot of hair; the inward slant of his right forearm is balanced by that of his left upper arm; the strong three-dimensional accent formed by his projecting right hand is balanced by the deep folds over his left arm, and these continue downward and are continued by the lines of his girdle, unifying the upper and lower parts of the figure. Comparison with the surviving portions of the earlier dedication by Namda show that there the backslab was relatively wider, the throne projected less, and the Bodhisattva's legs and soles tilted outward (Fig. 9). These, together with the wavering line described by the hem of the garment and the soft shape of the hand, contrast greatly with the strongly architectonic forms of the Katra figure. By setting the left hand farther out, closer to the bent knee, and straightening the fingers so they continue and emphasize the vertical line of the lower arm, the later sculptor suggested a vigorous downward pressure that both counterbalances and emphasizes the significance of the gesture made by the right hand. The Bodhisattva's suave but vigorously modelled volumes, unobscured by any folds, are set off by the lively rhythms of the pipala tree (presumably that under which Sakyamuni achieved Enlighten- ment), the hovering figures above him, and the tilted heads and swaying postures of the two standing figures. Here everything seems to be in movement, effectively contrasting with and emphasizing the stability of the central figure and strengthening its expression of power and authority.

    Significant comparisons can be made between this and two well preserved steles found some two hundred kilometers north of Mathura at Ramnagar (District Bareli, U.P.).32 One appears to derive from the pre-Kanishka period, for the soles of the Bodhisattva's feet turn outward and his left hand, although placed just above the knee, is clenched in a fist like that of the central figure on the Isapur railing-post, and the lower portions of the attendant on the Bodhisattva's left are almost identical with those of Namda's dedication. While the general clumsiness of the piece may be partially attributed to incompetence on the part of the sculptor (as seen in the misunderstanding of the lateral branches of the tree, the

    31 These rampant lions link these two Bodhisattva images with a number of architectural pieces that seem to reveal the influence of Iran or the mixed cultures of old Bactria.

    32 Debala Mitra, "Three Kushan Sculptures from Ahichchhatra,"Journal of the Asiatic Society, XXI, I (I95 5), pp. 65-67, Pls. II-IV, VI.

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  • inconsistent proportions of the figures, and the asymmetry of the flying figures' positions), he probably followed his model in the rectangular shape of the upper portion of the stele, for the outer legs of the flying figure are bent at an acute angle to fill in the corners of it. This, together with the rigid stance of the attendants, suggest that the subtleties of the Katra stele were the result of conscious refinements perfected over a period of time.

    The other Ramnagar stele, which is dated in the year 32 (presumably of Kanishka's era), is clearly more developed, both stylistically and iconographically (Fig. I I). The swaying postures of the standing attendants and the attitudes of the flying ones, whose gazes seem to be directed toward the Bodhisattva, together with the horse-shoe shape of the backslab and the rigidity of the central figure, show that we here have to do with a later work. The standing figures do not carry flywhisks but are clearly differentiated by their costumes and attributes. The cluster of lotuses carried by that to the central figure's left indicate that he may possibly represent Padmapani ("lotus-hand" or "holding a lotus in the hand"); but although this title is often applied to images of Avalokitesvara, the most popular Bod- hisattva of the Mahayana pantheon, in this case the figure may be only a divine worshipper or attendant. The other one, whose short skirt animal-skin mantle and thunderbolt (yajra) attribute suggest he may possibly represent Indra in the guise of Hercules,33 is more probably Vajrapani, the yaksa who, according to Mahayana traditions, accompanied the Buddha on his (apocryphal) journey to Gandhara.34

    In summary, we have seen that the type of the seated Bodhisattva seems to have developed during the Saka or Kshatrapa period and reached its classical statement prob- ably shortly before the beginning of Kanishka's era, in such works as the image dedicated by two Ksatriya brothers at Sravasti and the Katra stele dedicated by Amohaasi. They continued to be made well into the reign of Huvishka, as indicated by the inscription (L.4Ib) of an image from Pallkhera dated in the year 39 (Fig. I2),35 but later examples reveal a distinct loss of artistic refinement, especally in the treatment of the folds of the garments. Their dedicatory inscriptions show they were dedicated by both monks and lay people, especially women, at viharas belonging to the Mahasamghika and Samitya schools or sects; but during the Kushan period the popularity of the type was rivaled by standing images and the type of fully-draped image to be discussed at the end of this paper.

    The earliest surviving images of the standing type are known to have been dedicated by members of the Sarvastivada school at sites hallowed by their associations with the Buddha's ministry. The first was unearthed by Cunningham in I862 in the ruins of the

    33 I am indebted to A.C. Soper for this suggestion. 34 It may be noted that J.E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw believed that this type of image inspired the first Buddhist images

    from the Gandhara region ("New Evidence with regard to the Origin of the Buddha Image," South Asian Archaeology 179 ...jth International Conference of South Asian Archaeologists, ed. Herbert Hartel [Berlin, n.d.], pp. 377-400). In support of this thesis she presented a number of reliefs which closely resemble the seated images from Mathura, some of which come from the level of the great stupa at Butkara in Swat datable to the pre-Kushana period. While it cannot be doubted they represent a hitherto unrecognized extension of the North India style, there are significant iconograph- ic and stylistic differences between them and the early Buddhist images from Mathura, which suggest they may represent parallel developments, unrelated except for their common roots in the thought and practice of Buddhists in the two regions.

    35 Indian Mus., Calcutta N. S. 4145. Bachhofer, pl. 83-2, Liiders-Janert, I65-66.

    II4

  • Fig. 2 Tablet dedicated by Amohinl in year 72 (42?), Lucknow State Museum.. (Photo Lucknow Mus.)

    Fig. i Bodhisattva dedicated by Amohaasi ("Katra stele") Mathura Museum. (Photo J. Huntington)

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    Fig. 5 Buddha preaching at Safikasya, from Bharhut stupa railing, Indian Museum, Calcutta.

    (Photo Indian Mus.)

  • Fig. 6 Railing post from Tsapur, Mathurd Museum. (Photo Mathura Mus.)

    Fig. 7 Bodhisattva with Brahma and Indra, Lucknow State Museum. (Photo Lucknow Mus.)

  • Fig. 8 Uninscribed Bodhisattva, Matburd Museum. (Photo P. Myer)

    Fig. 9 Bodhisattva dedicted by Namda, Mathura Museum. (Photo Mathura Mus.)

  • Fig. Io Katra stele, Mathurea Museum. (Photo Mathura Mus.)

    Fig. I Stele from Ramnagar dated year 32z, National Museum, New Delhi. (Photo P. Myer)

  • Fig. I2 Bodhisattva from Pllkhera dated year 39, Indian Museum, Calcutta. (Photo Indian Mus.)

    Fig. x 3 Bodhisattva dedicated by Bala at Sarnath in year 3, Sarndth Museum.

    (Photo Sarnath Mus.)

  • A Fig. 14 Indrasaila legend, Indian Museum, (Calcutta.

    (Photo Indian Mus.)

    Fig. IS5 Buddha addressing a king, Lucknow State Museum. (Photo A. Peres after Takata)

  • Fig. I6 Bodhisattva (?) from Ganeshra, Lucknow State Museum. (Photo Lucknow State Mus.)

    Fig. 17 Bodhisattva (?) from Ganeshra, right rear view, Lucknow State Museum.

    (Photo P. Myer)

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  • Fig. 20 Image from Anyor dated year 5 i, Matbura Museum. Fig. 2z Standing image, Mathura Mu seum. (Photo Mathurd Mus.) (Photo Mathura Mus.)

    b a Figs. 22 a, b Buddha from Maholi, Mathura Museum.

    (Photo Mathura Mus.)

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    41 00

  • Jetavanarama at Sravasti and is now in the Indian Museum in Calcutta, while its inscribed umbrella staff is in the Lucknow Museum.36 Although the dates of its inscriptions (L.9I 8, L.9I9) are obliterated, they tell us that the image was a Bodhisattva dedicated by the bhiksu Bala, master of the Tripitaka (trepitaka), at the Buddha's walk (chankrama) of the Kosamba vihara for the acceptance of the Sarvastivadin teachers. Its head is badly damaged and the right arm and hand are lost, but in size, iconography and style it is virtually identical with that dedicated by Bala at Sarnath except that a cluster of lotus-flowers occupy the space between the legs where that one has a lion.

    The often-illustrated Sarnath Bodhisattva, discovered in I904-o05 near the Asoka column, bears three inscriptions, one on the front of the base, one on the back of the undergarment, and a long one on the shaft of the great stone umbrella or chattra that once sheltered the figure (Fig. I3).37 Like the Sravasti image it has lost its right arm and hand, and the badly-abraded head was once broken off and has been re-affixed. A barely recognizable lion squats between the feet and a cluster of lotus flowers and leaves are carved next to the left leg to support the weight of the falling folds of the robe, while traces of color on the breast and thorax show that it was once fully polychromed.

    A smaller image of identical type, found in the ruins of the venerable Ghositarama at IKausambi (Kosam) and dated in year (22 ?), names the nun Buddhamitra trepitikaye as donor.38 Presumably this is the same learned lady referred to in a Mathura inscription (L.38) dated year 33, which identifies her as a pupil of the bhiksu Bala.39 While it is conceivable Buddhamitra may have been the first to dedicate a standing Buddhist image, it seems more probable that Bala was the innovator and she was emulating him, in which case her image probably should be dated year 22, as suggested by Ghosh. Some confirma- tion of the later date appears in the carving of the folds over its arm, which seem slightly less finely cut than those of Bala's Sarnath and Sravasti images.

    The upper portions of these images are very similar to those of the seated ones. It is apparent that their right hands performed the abhaya-mudra and their torsos are fully revealed by their transparent garments, but their left hands are clenched and the folds over their arms extend from shoulder to wrist. Their skirt-like under-garments resemble the undercloth worn in Thailand by monks of the HYnayana branch of Buddhism, being brought round the hips so that the long pleated ends hang down evenly in front and the upper portion is turned down all around and secured by a ribbon-like belt or girdle (kayabandhana) tied on the right hip.40 It has generally been assumed that they wear a single

    36 Indian Museum, Calcutta, Si.B. John Anderson, Catalogue and Hand-Book of the Indian Museum. Part I (Calcutta, 188 3, reprinted New Delhi, i977), pp. i94-95. For inscriptions, see H. Liiders, "Set-Mahet Image Inscription of the Time of Kanishka or Huvishka," Epigraphia Indica, VIII, 80o-8I; T. Bloch, "Inscription on the Umbrella Staff of the Buddhist Image from Sahet Mahet," Epigraphica Indica, IX, 290-91; Liders, Epigraphica Indica, X, Appendix, pp. 92-93?.

    37 Supra, n.6. 38 Allahabad Mus., AM 69. Pramod Chandra, Stone Sculpture in the Allahabad Museum (American Institute of Indian Studies, n.p., n.d.) pp. 61-62, pl. XXXVII.

    39 Liiders-Janert, pp. 54-5 5. 40 A.B. Griswold, "Prolegomena to the Study of the Buddha's Dress in Chinese Sculpture," Artibus Asiae, XXVI, i

    (1963), 87-88, fig. i.

    I27

  • voluminous overgarment, but careful examination shows that the sculptors depicted two

    separate garments which must be identified as the uttardsanga and sanghati, the second and third of the Three Garments (trichbvara) comprising the monastic habit specified by the Vinaya, the rule of life for the bhikshus and their female counterparts.41 The uttarasamga or robe, like the seated Bodhisattvas' uttariyas, is worn in the "open mode," the cloth passing around the back (where its upper edge is concealed by the images' haloes) and under the right arm and up and over the left shoulder and upper arm, the free end or overthrow being brought forward and held in place by the left hand. The samghati or overrobe is loosely draped about the legs, its upper edge encircling the hip while the hem is gathered up into a thick roll.42 Both these garments appear to have been made of a fine, stretchy fabric which has been dried in pleats but is drawn smoothly over the body. The folds of the uttarasamgha and the hem of the samghati are indicated by ridges, each one with a lightly incised line, while the more widely spaced folds radiating from or converging on the left hip are indicated by shallow grooves which are separated from each other by pairs of shallow incisions.

    The inscriptions of these images tell us that they (and presumably the Sravasti one as well) were installed at chankramas or promenades where the bhiksus were accustomed to practice walking meditation. This almost certainly explains their stance, since standing figures are obviously more appropriate than seated ones for such a location. Since the monasteries where they were erected were ancient ones hallowed by their associations with events of the Buddha's life, they attracted pilgrims from every quarter of the rapidly- expanding Buddhistandi one may suppose that these figures, with their radiant haloes, powerful forms and impressive size, must have appeared to the pilgrims almost as impressive and awe-inspiring as the illusion created by Mara at the behest of Upagupta.

    It can scarcely be doubted that the type of these images originated at Mathura. Not only are their materials and style unmistakably Mathuran and their forms adapted from the earlier Bodhisattva images executed here, but we know that both Bala and Bud- dhamitra were natives (or at least residents) of this city. Judging from the number discovered, standing images of this type must have been very popular during the first half-century or so of the Kanishka era, but none of them appear to predate the dated ones. An unusually well preserved one, broken at the waist but retaining both arms, head, and most of the halo, was acquired for the Mathura Museum from the Govindnagar mounds.43 Its proportions and carving are very close to those of the fine one from Lakhnau (Aligarh Dt.), which is dated in the year 35 in the reign of Huvishka.44 Both show a similar reduction of the thick folds, which have become simple rounded ridges, and the folds of the overrobe, which are treated as widely spaced incisions. Most of the others are more or less clumsy variations on the type.

    41 Ibid., pp. 88-90, figs. 2-a,3. 42 Allahabad Mus., AM 71 clearly shows the distinction between these two garments (Chandra, P1. XXXVI and pp.

    60o-6 ). 43 Mathura Mus., 71.I05. Sharma, p. 183, fig. 92. 44 Mathura Mus., oo.A63. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 62; Bijutsu Kenkyuj, 234 (May i964), pl. V.

    28

  • Interestingly enough, a stylistically pre-Kanishka relief found at Kankalil Tila offers evidence that Mathura knew an earlier type of standing Sakyamuni image (Fig. I5).45 Although little Buddhist material has been identified here, van Lohuizen-de Leeuw recognized this as the depiction of an unidentified episode from the Buddha's life, for it shows a kingly figure, accompanied by three attendants, confronting a taller man whose halo, gesture and head crowned by a low twist of hair unmistakably mark him as Sakyamuni Buddha. While the slim-hipped body of this figure resembles that of the Bala Bodhisattvas and contrasts with the more obese forms of the king and his minister, all three are similarly dressed except that the Buddha wears no jewelry. Their legs are swathed in dhoti-like paridhanas whose ends hang down in fine pleats and long uttariyas are loosely slung about them, one end hanging down along the left side and the other falling over the left wrist. It would require only slight readjustments - tightening the cloth around the torso and throwing its end over the shoulder, bringing the other end around the upper arm and tucking it back behind the figure - to achieve precisely the effect depicted in the seated Bodhisattva images.

    Some writers assert that all of these images are recognizable because they display the thirty-two Great Marks (Mahalak.sana) of a Great Being (Mahbpurusa), one born to become either a World Ruler (Chakravartin) or a Buddha, which were recognized by the seers who predicted the future of the infant Siddhartha.46 Study of the traditional lists show that the lakshanas seem to have come from several sources. A few of them seem to refer to physical peculiarities or even abnormalities that may well have been considered auspicious.47 Many seem to reflect traditional Indian ideals of beauty,48 while a few can be best understood as metaphors expressive of qualities appropriate to a heroic ruler.49 A number of them are incapable of depiction in sculpture,50 and some are so variously or ambiguously stated that it is impossible to know precisely what was intended.51

    The most puzzling and most discussed of the Mahalakshanas is usn-sa-s'iraskata (Pali, nhzisasisa). In most periods and regions of the Buddhist world this has been understood

    to refer to a protruberance on the top of the head. Its literal meaning seems to be that the head has the shape of a turban or cap, but it has been variously interpreted. The learned commentator Buddhaghosa (fifth century A.D.), thought that it signified a broad and full

    45 Lucknow State Mus., J.531. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I58-I6I; Takata, Plate 48, fig. 56. 46 The Pali and Sanskrit lists vary slightly, especially in sequence. We have used the Sanskrit list from Lalita-vistara as

    presented by Har Dayal, The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhist Sanskrit Literature (reprint, Delhi, I970), PP. 300-305. 47 4, between his eyebrows a white [tuft of?] hair; 7, forty teeth of even size; I 8, when standing erect and not bending,

    hands reach down to the knees; 23, penis concealed in a sheath; 3 , wheels on the soles of the feet. 48 2, hair turning towards the right in dark blue locks; 3, forehead even and broad; 5, eyelashes like a cow; 6, very dark

    pupils; 8, no gaps or interstices between the teeth; 9, white teeth; I4, evenly-rounded shoulders; 15, seven convexitites or prominences (i.e., backs of arms, legs, shoulders and trunk); i6, space between shoulders "heaped up"; 17, fine skin of the color of gold; 20, body of the symmetrical proportions of a banyan tree; 24, well-rounded thighs; 26, long fingers; 27, long heels.

    49 I3, jaw like a lion's; 19, front part of body like a lion; 25, legs like an antelope's; 32, feet well-set or well-planted. 50 I0, excellent voice; I I, acute and keen sense of taste; 1 2, large and slender tongue; 21 i; each hair on the body rising

    straight upward; 29, soft and delicate hands and feet. 51 28, ankles prominent (or the reverse?); 30, hands and feet webbed or netted.

    129

  • forehead and well-rounded head,52 and several modern scholars have advanced other explanations for it. Thus Coomaraswamy concluded that it should be understood as meaning "destined to wear a turban,"53 while van Lphuizen-de Leeuw argued that it refers to the spiral coil (or, in Gandhara, bun or chignon) of hair around which a turban could be wound and that its connotation is "having a head fit for a turban."54 While all three of these explanations are visibly consistent with the appearance of the early Mathuran images (and early Gandharan Buddha images as well), it must be noted that Buddha images from the Andhra region of South India display modest but distinct cranial protuberances covered, like the rest of the head, with spiral curls. Although the earliest of these, which come from AmaravatT, are later than those from Mathura, they indicate that an alternative tradition regarding the Buddha's head was known there. Both southern and northern accounts of the youth of the future Buddha agree that after leaving his father's palace and divesting himself of his jewels the young prince cut off his hair and his chuda (the hair together with the turban wound around it) was transported to the Trasyastrimsa Heaven, there to be venerated by the gods.55 The Sanskrit Mahdvastu, a Sarvastivadin text, says nothing more about the hair, but the Nidanakatha, the Pali introduction to the Jataka commentary, goes on to say that the "hair was reduced to two inches in length, and curling from the right, lay close to the head, remaining of that length as long as lhe lived,t"56 precisely as seen in the images and reliefs from Amaravati.

    Finally it may be observed that Mathura images do not display the disproportionately long arms specified in all Mahalakshana lists, which say "when he is standing erect and not bending, his arms reach down to the knees."57 Indeed such very long arms are rare in Buddha images, although they appear much later in Thailand and occasionally in Japan, and in medieval Indian images of the Jain Tirthankaras as well. Moreover, two con- spicuous features of the Mathuran images, namely the wheel-marks on their upraised hands and the swastikas on their toes, are not listed among the Mahalaksanas, even though they undoubtedly come from the ancient repertory of auspicious signs. In short, the Bodhisatt- vas from Mathura cannot be said to display the Mahalaksanas distinguishing a Buddha.

    While Buddhist literature contains several references to images of Sakyamuni produced during his life or shortly after the Parinirvana, most scholars agree that the "invention of the Buddha image" took place shortly before the advent of the Kushanas and was stimulated by the rise of new attitudes and practices which called for images to receive the devotion of the faithful.58 S. Dutt has thus summarized this view:

    52 J.N. Banerjea, "Usnzsa-siraskata (a mahapurusa-laksana) in the early Buddha images of India," Indian Historical Quarterly, VII (I 9 3 1), 5 oo00-0o I

    53 Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The Buddha's cidd, Hair, usnisa and Crown," Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain (1928), 829-35.

    54 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I63-67. 55 Coomaraswamy, "Buddha's ciuda," p. 821. 56 Ibid., p. 827. 57 Dayal, p. 32; see supra, note 41. 58 Huntington has argued that the literary evidence for very early seated images of the Buddha is corroborated by the

    discovery of a small plaque depicting an image of the "seated Bodhisattva" type, which he dates to the Maurya period. Unfortunately the plaque is lost, but even if it proves to date so early it would merely prove that such images were known some 200 years after Buddha's death. See, John C. Huntington, "The Origin of the Buddha Image: Early Image Traditions and the Concept of Buddhadarsanapunya," Studies in Buddhist Art and Archaeology, ed. A. K. Narain (New Delhi, I986).

    130

  • It was the urge of this yearning that resulted in the invention of an image of the Lord in human likeness which appears in the early sculpture of Mathura, -a seated image in stone in the form of a Yogin and Superman with the physiognomical marks on him for recognition. This was probably in the early part of the first century A.D.59

    Two objections must be raised to this statement. First, as demonstrated, the early Mathura images do not in fact display the marks or Mahalaksanas of a Superman. Moreover, the surviving ones and their possible lost predecessors were probably modeled after wooden or clay (i.e., terracotta) prototypes. Therefore the "invention" of the type should probably be put somewhat earlier, perhaps in the preceding century.

    More significant are the dress and attitudes of the seated images. Unlike the standing ones, they do not wear the monastic habit or Three Garments but are garbed in the paridhana and uttariya invariably worn by representations of gods and laymen. But they dispense with the jewelry and turbans commonly worn by those, in this respect resembling the ascetics and hermits depicted in reliefs at Bharhut and SanchT. Although their legs are locked in the lotus position (padma-asana) appropriate for meditation, their wide-open eyes and energetic gestures (which became more vigorous as the type was perfected) seem more appropriate for a god or hero offering protection to his votaries. As we have seen, although it was to become standard in later Buddha images, the gesture of abhaya-mudra was by no means restricted to Buddhist images but appears in many images of deities, male and female, Jaina and Hindu. In combination with the jutting elbow and down-pressed left hand, it seems to be expressive of inner power barely restrained by the exertion of perfect control. In short, their characteristics are so remote from those observable in most Buddha images that there is little to identify them as representations of Sakyamuni Buddha except, of course, for the pippala tree under which he achieved Enlightenment.

    And finally, why are these images identified in their inscriptions as Bodhisattva? In early Buddhist literature this term is applied either to the youthful Siddhartha before his Enlightenment or to his previous lives since he vowed to become a Buddha. While it was once thought that these images might represent Sakyamuni immediately before his En- lightenment, this theory seems to have been generally rejected. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw sought to resolve the problem by pointing out that "the literal translation of the term Bodhisattva, 'He whose essence (or object) is perfect knowledge,' by no means restricts this denomination to creatures before the Enlightenment," and found Pali authority for applying it to "Buddhas, Pratyekabuddhas and disciples of Buddhas."60 Yet this does not solve the problems of the images's dress and attitude.

    Given these puzzling problems, we may turn back to the period when the first images of this type probably originated, the last centuries preceding our era when several religions and cults are known to have flourished at Mathura. The yaksa cult was perhaps the first to make use of monumental images, and a number of impressively large standing images have been found within twenty-five kilometers of Mathura at the villages of Parkham,

    59 Dutt, p. 240. 60 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, p. I79.

    I 3

  • Nagla Jhinga, Baroda and Noh (Bharatpur Dt., Rajasthan).61 All have been generally thought to be products of the second century B.C. and all show corpulent figures adorned with heavy earrings and necklaces; but their faces and hands, together with any attributes they carried, have been lost. A very similar figure, except for its seven-fold cobra-hood, has been identified by Joshi as a Naga, one of the deities associated with water,62 but indistinct traces of the attribute held in the left hand suggests that this may be a plough or digging stick, which would indicate that it represents Balarama who, together with his younger brother Vasudeva-Krisna, were among the five heroes (panchavzras) of the Vrishni clan.63 The unmistakable, better preserved image from Junsuti, complete with plough, club and cobra-hoods which project from the top of the rectangular backslab, shows a different physique, with broad hips but surprisingly slender waist.64 The discovery at Mora of a slab inscribed during the reign of Mahaksatrapa Rajula (father of Sodasa) and referring to a shrine with images of the panchavTras led to the discovery of two life-sized statues.65 Although these have lost their heads and arms and lower legs, the carving of their lavish ornaments and torsos bring them closer to the style of the Katra stele, although their protruberant bellies still resemble those of the yaksas. Finally, a word may be said about two terracotta heads found at Sonkh,66 which cast some light on Upagupta's reference to "clay images of the gods." One comes from the pre-Maurya or Early Maurya level of the mound and the other, found near the apsidal temple, is datable to the early Kushana period. The older, depicting a moustachioed male, is somewhat summarily modelled but carefully detailed, but the other, which is hollow, is quite as accomplished as any contemporary stone image.

    If, therefore, there is evidence that the people of Mathura were accustomed to seeing images, the Buddhists of this region had precedents for their first images; it does not follow, however, that these necessarily represented the person of the Buddha Sakyamuni. Despite the traditions that have come down to us regarding marvellous images of the Buddha produced even during his lifetime, there were excellent reasons why his followers for centuries eschewed the depiction of the Blessed One. Unlike the gods, he was no longer present in any visible or even imaginable form but had broken the fetters of the cycle of births and entered the state of Nirvana, which is totally inconceivable to men and gods. During his last life he had inhabited a physical body (Rupakaya), which had been reverently cremated by pious laymen and its ashes dispersed; the living body he left on earth was

    61 Mathura Mus., C 5, C 23, 72. 5. Sharma, pp. 13 I-32; Vasudeva S. Agrawala, A Catalogue of the Brahmanical Images in Mathura Art (U.P. Historical Society, Lucknow, 195 I), pp. 75-78.

    62 Mathura Mus., 17. I 303. N.P. Joshi, Mathura Sculptures (Archaeological Museum, Mathura, n.d.), p. 79, fig. i. While this corpulent figure differs markedly from the later Kushana images of nagas, it may be noted that it corresponds to that of the seated naga king depicted on the crossbeam found at Sonkh referred to in note I9.

    63 For the early cult of the Vrishni pancavzras, see Doris Srinavasan, "Early Krishna Icons: The Case at Mathura," Kaladarsana: American Studies in the Art of India, ed. Joanna G. Williams (E.J. Brill, Leiden, I98I), p. I29.

    64 Lucknow State Mus., G.z 5. Agrawala, Short Guide-Book.. .Lucknow, p. 41, fig. i; Sharma, fig. 2. 65 Mathura Mus., E 21, E 22. Vasudeva S. Agrawala, Mathura Museum Catalogue. Part III. Jaina Tirthankaras and other

    Miscellaneous Figures (U.P. Historical Society, Lucknow, 1952), pp. 48-49; John M. Rosenfield, The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans (University of California Press, Berkeley and Los Angeles, I967), pp. I 5 I-5 2, fig. 5 I.

    66 Hartel, pp. 86, 96, Figs. 22, 41.

    32

  • the corpus of his teachings (Dharmakdyd), which had been gathered and preserved by his disciples.67 If the story of Upagupta and Mara attests to the stubbornly human yearning to see the sacred being (which persists in India in the practice of darsan),68 it equally shows that only the Lord of Illusion himself could hope to represent the tupakaya.

    But what else could these images be except representations of the Buddha? A possible clue may be found in Har Dayal's discussion of the meaning of the term Bodhisattva.69 Its first part, Bodhi-, offers no problem, signifying as it does full Enlightenment or supreme knowledge, but its second part, -sattva, has been variously translated. Dayal lists no less than seven interpretations for it, concluding that it is related to the Vedic satvan, which signified a warrior or hero, and should therefore be interpreted as signifying a "heroic being, spiritual warrior." This so closely corresponds to the expressive values embodied in the seated Bodhisattva images that it suggests a possible explanation for their original significance and for the historic process by which the inhibition against the representation of the person of the Buddha was overcome.

    It is my suggestion that the first Bodhisattva images were intended as anthropomorphic symbols of the Three Refuges (Trisarana) which Buddhists still invoke with the ancient formula:

    I take refuge in the Buddha; I take refuge in the Dharma; I take refuge in the Samgha.70

    This simple statement of faith, often referred to as the Three Jewels (Triratna), is said to have been prescribed by the Buddha himself when the disciple Mahanaman sought admission to the Order.71 Dutt, however, observes that it is inconsistent with the Buddha's teaching, very shortly before his death, that after his Nirvana the only refuge (sarana) for his followers would be the Dharma he had taught, and must therefore reflect an early manifestation of the practice of bhakti, the cult of devotion to the Buddha as Lord.72 But since the recitation of the Trisarana is enjoined and practiced by Buddhists of every school, it must date back to a very early period.

    With the passage of time, however, it must have become increasingly difficult for devotees to remember that such images were only symbols. Their stability and vigor may

    67 Strong, pp. 105-109. 68 Diana D. Eck, Daran, Seeing the Divine Image in India (Anima Books, Chambersburg, PA, 198I). 69 Dayal, pp. 4-9. 70 Dr. Soper has kindly reminded me of a passage in the Sarvastivadin Vinaya, translated into Chinese in 404 A. D., which

    seems very apposite: the Elder Anathapindada, seeking permission to erect and adorn stupas, says, "Lord of the World, since it is not permitted to make a likeness of the Buddha's body, I pray that the Buddha will grant that I make likenesses of his attendant Bodhisattvas" (Alexander Coburn Soper, "Early Buddhist Attitudes Toward the Art of Painting," The Art Bulletin, XXXII [195o], I48).

    This suggests that the Sarvastivadin tradition retained a meniory of a period when (anthropomorphic?) symbols were flanked and attended by bejewelled figures that later generations identified as Bodhisattvas (in the Mahayana use), just as they interpreted the symbols of Trisarana as depictions of the person of the Buddha.

    71 Etienne Lamotte, Histoire du Bouddhisme indien des origines a I'ere Saka, Bibliotheque du Museon, vol. 43 (Louvain, 195 8), pp. 74-76.

    72 Dutt, pp. 200-202.

    I33

  • well have been understood as expressive of the qualities practiced through countless lives by that being who ultimately achieved Enlightenment beneath the Bodhi-tree at Uruvela, and gradually they came to be understood as depictions of him.73 This is almost certainly true of the Katra stele because of the presence of the Wisdom Tree, and probably of the similar fragmentary stele dedicated by Namda as well (Figs. 10, 9). But even in these it is possible that the seated images were "correctly" understood as symbols even though worshippers interpreted them as representations of the Buddha.

    Similarly, it is difficult to be entirely sure whether the seated figures in the depictions of episodes of the Buddha's life, as on the railing-post and gate-bar discussed, were intended as representations or symbols. Elsewhere the Buddha's presence is invariably symbolized, as by the throne, Wheel or Tree, and Mathura artists may have adapted the seated Bodhisattva to signify that even the gods take refuge in the Trisarana. Some support for this interpretation comes from a probably slightly later representation of the Indrasaila Cave episode (Fig. I4).74 Here the figure seated within the cave is much smaller than either Indra or his attendant and, moreover, is partially obscured by the mouth of the cave. One can scarcely doubt that had it been intended to depict the person of the Buddha himself the seated figure would have been given a scale and compositional prominence commen- surate with his importance, but in this case it looks very much as though the artist was thinking of a relatively small image of the "seated Bodhisattva" type.

    The relief depicting Sakyamuni conversing with an unidentified king, on the other hand, clearly shows that the seated Bodhisattva type had become so fully identified with the historical Buddha that the sculptor envisions such a figure standing, his upper garment loosened and hanging about him in the customary mode (Fig. 15). This contrasts signifi- cantly with the standing Bodhisattvas dedicated by Bala and his pupil, the nun Bud- dhamitra, which represent a different adaptation of the seated Bodhisattva type. But the treatment of the lower portions of the standing Bodhisattva images are formally derived from another early type represented by the splendidly bejewelled figure from Ganeshra (Figs. I 6, I7).75

    This is a monumental but headless image whose stance, gestures and drapery clearly anticipate those of the Bala Bodhisattvas (Figs. 13). 3). The dress of this figure resembles that of the figures the Ka Tfigures T of the lat his garments are extravagantly long. His uttariya hangs down to the calf and its free end is disposed in a lavish loop that falls over the left arm, while one of the pleated ends of his transparent paridhana loops down to the knee and is gathered up and grasped by the left hand. The great swag formed by

    73 It may be remembered that early Christians also eschewed the representation of their Lord, and it was not until the fourth century (when Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire) artists began to represent him, modelling their images after the symbolic figures of Orpheus and the Good Shepherd.

    74 Indian Mus., Calcutta, M 7. Vogel, "Sculpture de M.", pp. 59, 122, P1. LIII-b. 75 Lucknow State Mus., B izb. Smith, p. 43, PI. LXXXVII; Agrawala, Short Guide, p. 15, P1. 7. Ganeshra, which lies

    a few miles west of the city, appears to have been an important early Buddhist center. The three mounds outside the village have not been archaeologically investigated but fragmentary carvings and inscriptions datable to the Kushan and Ksatrapa periods have been found here, and inscribed bricks show that some kind of a building was built here as early as the beginning of the last century B.C. (Liiders-Janert, pp. I 56-60).

    I34

  • the upper garment resembles that of the Bala-type samghatis, and its folds or pleats are similarly carved as close-set ridges incised with fine grooves. His jewelry, which is of unprecedented splendor, consists of cuff-like bracelets, a long necklace composed of pearl strands connected by flat metallic (?) placques and tied at the back, a torque encircling the neck, and a magnificent girdle. This appears to be made up of long fibers (or possibly very fine pleated muslin) bound at intervals with rings, and it is tied in a temporary square knot, its longer end terminating in a knot and the other finished off with an ornament resembling a compound flower from which dangle strings of seed pearls. Even the cushion-like mass of stone that reinforces and supports the raised hand and arm is adorned with bands of miniature pearls and leaves, like that of the Katra stele (Fig. i).

    Stylistically the anatomy of this figure is clearly earlier than that of the dated images. The awkward position of the right hand and arm, which are virtually identical with that seen in Amohini's tablet (Fig. 2), reveals the tendency toward flatness characteristic of the earliest Indian reliefs and suggests that it may possibly have been adapted from such a work. The torso, however, is very close to that of the Bala dedications except for the sloping shoulders and slightly misplaced nipples, and the sculptor has shown how the flesh of the hips is constricted by the girdle and the swelling shape of the thighs. Its identity remains a puzzle for it lacks the obesity characterizing the monumental yaksas. It has been generally referred to as a Bodhisattva because its splendid dress and adornments resemble those of Gandharan Bodhisattvas, but these belong to the Mahayana branch of Buddhism, which did not develop until the Kushana period. If, then, it is unclear whether this represents an otherwise lost type of Bodhisattva or a yaksa or belonged to some other cult, it or very similar images were adapted for later Buddhist images, not only for those dedicated by Bala but also for those representing Maitreya, the Buddha to come.

    The earliest unmistakable example of the Maitreya type is an uninscribed figure now in the National Museum in New Delhi (Fig. 8).76 It bears no inscription and its head and arms are missing, but its stance, costume and jewelry are so very similar to a smaller one found at Ramnagar and explicitly identified by inscription as Maitreya that there can be little doubt that it also depicts the Future Buddha.77 A thick necklace of twisted strands of pearls encircles the throat and a longer one, made up of chains and pearls fastened by a metallic placque, falls over the chest where it turns to form a V-shape. The paridhana is tied with a simple kayabandha and is so sheer that it reveals the genitals, its uneven pleats falling down to the ground in a conical mass, while the uttariya (whose ends are broken off) falls from the left shoulder as a narrow roll of pleats and is brought around the right leg to be held in place by the now-broken left hand. The right hand was presumably raised in abhaya-mudra while the other probably held a water vessel (kamandalu) of the type traditionally carried by Brahmans, the usual attribute of Maitreya in Kushana art.78 The broken head probably resembled that of the Maitreya carved on a railing-post found at

    76 Mathura Mus., A 40, now on loan to the National Museum, New Delhi. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 56; Rosenfield, pp. 23 1-32, fig. 54.

    77 Mitra, "Three Kushan Sculptures," pp. 63-64, Pl. I. 78 Rosenfield, pp. 229-33.

    I3 5

  • Jamalpur,79 which shows much the same smooth cap-like hair as the Sarnath figure dedicated by the Trepitaka Bala, except that the latter undoubtedly wore a snail-shaped top-knot while the crown of the former's head is smooth. The fact that the Jamalpur figure is also provided with a sunshade or parasol, like that of Bala's Bodhisattvas, suggests that a similar structure may possibly have sheltered the broken Maitreya, although this must remain in the realm of speculation. The tiny broken figures kneeling on either side of the base probably represent two of the gods of the Tusita heaven where Maitreya now dwells.

    Like the earlier one from Ganeshra, this image had no halo, while both the Ramnagar and Jamalpur Maitreyas display very large aureoles with inverted scallops forming star-like points, precisely like those of the Katra stele and Bala's two dedications. This suggests that it was probably commissioned by an adherent of the Sarvastivadin school, for it is a tenet of this sect that Maitreya is still a layman (prthag'ana) because he has not yet cast off the bonds (samyojana) that hold him fast to the cycle of rebirths.80 It is well known that the Sarvastivadin school, whose name (literally, "all exists") refers to its doctrine that the past, present and future are all real, was deeply concerned with questions regarding the successive stages of the Bodhisattva career and therefore with the nature of Maitreya, who according to the tradition accepted by Buddhists of every school is only awaiting the time for his last birth.81 It is also possible that the Sarvastivadins of Mathura were willing to accept images of the future Buddha at a time when they still avoided the representation of Sakyamuni himself.

    Given the strong similarities between these Maitreya images and the one found at Ganeshra, it seems possible to suggest that the older one may have also depicted the Future Buddha, even though it lacks the identifying attribute of the water-bottle. What is unmistakable is the artistic relationship between the headless Maitreya and the early standing Bodhisattvas, for their stances, proportions and surface modelling are se close that it seems certain they were produced in the same atelier and probably even by the same sculptor.

    A broken image unearthed in Mathura City is more unusual, both for its style and subject (Fig. I9).82 Its inscription identifies it as an image of Kasyapa Buddha, the last of the Buddhas preceding Sakyamuni, but its proportions, stance and costume are much closer to those of a yaksa than any of the early Bodhisattva-Buddha types. It is close to the monumental image of Manibhadra found at Pawaya,83 at least to judge from the surviving portions. It stands easily with the weight resting on the right leg and the left knee slightly flexed, the left hand hanging down to grasp the folds of the pleated uttariya,

    image except that it is diagonally bound and both ends terminate in what appear to be

    79 Lucknow State Mus., B83. Coomaraswamy, History, pp. 63, 233, P1. XXI-79. 80 Andre Bareau, Les Sectes bouddhiques du Petit Vehicule, Publications de l'Ecole franSais d'Extreme-Orient, t. XXXVIII

    (Saigon, 195 5), P. 144. 81 Lamotte, pp. 666-67, 693-94. 82 Mathura Mus., oo.2739. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva Images," pp. 75-76; idem., Studies, pp. 15 2-54 (reprinted

    fromJUPHS, X, Pt. II [Dec. 1937], PP. 35-8). 83 Gwalior Mus. Coomaraswamy, History, p. 34, P1. XVIII-63.

    I36

  • beaded tassels,84 and the pleats of the uttariya are very close to those over the arm of the Katra Bodhisattva. This, together with the general fluency of the modelling, suggests that it was executed early during the Kushana era, probably in the first years of Kanishka's reign.

    The belief in previous Buddhas was well established by the third century B.C., for Asoka's Nigali Sagar edict says that the emperor visited and subsequently enlarged the stupa of the Buddha preceding Konakamana (the Buddha preceding Kasyapa), and the sculptures of the Bharhut stupa railing depict the Bodhi trees of five of the six Buddhas preceding Sakyamuni (Fig. 5).85 It seems there may have been a cult of the former Buddhas by the first century, for a number of dedicatory inscriptions from Mathura include the phrase "for the worship of all Buddhas". Two of these (L.97b and L.97d) are attributed to the Ksatrapa period and allude to the Samitiya and Mahasanghika schools; another (L.79b), found in the same place and at the same time as the Kasyapa image and dated in the year I6 of the Kanishka era, also refers to the Mahasanghikas; while a fourth (L.77a) undoubtedly pre-dates Kanishka and is dated in the year 270 of an unknown era.86 It seems reasonable to surmise that the image of Kasyapa Buddha was made for an establishment belonging to the Mahasanghikas, but in the absence of other depictions of former Buddhas its resemblance to the older yaksha types remains puzzling. However its dissimilarity to the seated Bodhisattva images tends to confirm our contention that these were not originally understood as representations of Sakyamuni.

    Two images found at the village of Anyor, some eighteen kilometers west of Mathura, are significant because they represent both the older and a new type of seated image. One is a partially preserved stele of the familiar type. The treatment of its folds indicate it is to be dated no earlier than the fourth decade of the Kanishka era, but its significance is that its inscription (L. I 3) explicitly refers to it as a Buddha image (Budhaprati,8 even though it is visually indistinguishable from earlier ones identified by inscription as Bodhisattvas. The other is a well-preserved if crude example of a new type bearing a striking, albeit superficial, resemblance to the usual Gandharan type of Buddha image (Fig. 20).88 The characteristic feature of these images is that they are fully enveloped by their mantles or overrobes so that only the head, necks and hands (and, in the case of standing figures, lower legs and feet) are exposed. Hence they may be referred to as samghati images.

    The inscription (L. I 2a) of the Anyor samghati image is dated in the year 5 I and makes reference to the Mahasamghika sect. It also seems to refer to the image as a Bodhisattva, although the loss of several letters makes this less than absolutely certain.89 The face

    84 The girdle is even closer to those of the famous Patna yaksas (Coomaraswamy, History, P1. XVIII-67 and Rowland, fig. 25). It may be noted that these, which had been generally attributed to the Maurya period, have recently been re-attributed to the period "about the beginning of the Christian era" (Niharanjan Ray, Maurya and Post Maurya Art [Indian Council of Historical Research, I975,], pp. 37-38).

    85 Coomaraswamy, Sculpture de Bharhut, pp. 65-66, Pls. XXII-XXIII. 86 Liiders-Janert, pp. II5-I6, izi, 162-64. 87 Mathura Mus., A 2. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 48-49, P1. 8; Bachhofer, P1. 83-I; Liiders-Janert, p. I71. 88 Mathura Mus., 65. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 63; van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I80-8I, 188-97, fig. 39. 89 Luders-Janert, pp. 170-71.

    I37

  • resembles that of the Jamalpur Maitreya, with strongly marked eyeballs and smiling lips, but the hair is incised with short lines as if it had been cut in layers even though traces remain of a topknot or chignon. Its general proportions are heavy, with very sloping shoulders, but the folded legs are relatively thin and seem inadequate as a support for the upper portions. The folds of the samghati are treated as incised lines, much like those of the loosely draped garments worn by the standing images from Govindnagar and Lakh- nau, and their wide spacing seems to indicate they depict a more substantial kind of fabric, even though this is somewhat inconsistent with the clear indication of swelling breasts. Close observation shows that the sculptor has carefully indicated how the garment was worn. It appears to have been at least as wide as the wearer's height and twice as long, for the overthrow is long enough to be brought forward and grasped by the left hand and its lower portion envelops both knees and leaves enough to pass up over the right arm before falling over the lap. The excess of both front and back edges is gathered together and grasped by the left hand, the ends falling vertically over the left leg.90 But these descriptive elements are obscured and even camouflaged by the symmetry of the positions of the hands, the folds descending from the shoulders in a series of U-shapes, and the curiously similar shapes formed by the edge passing over the right wrist and the folds falling from the left hand. The crude carvings on the pedestal or throne are even more symmetrical, showing two lions presented enface, two worshippers, one of whom seems to wear a monastic robe, and a meditating Buddha whose heavy body is swathed in a samghati whose folds are depicted by a series of unvarying arcs.

    Among images of this type, van Lohuizen-de Leeuw has identified two which, because of their stylistic similarities to the Katra stele and Bala dedications, undoubtedly predate the Anyor one. One is a standing figure, very well-preserved except for the lower legs, feet and base (Fig. 2i).91 Its halo and right hand, which is raised shoulder-high and supported by a decoratively-carved cushion of stone, resemble those of the Katra image, and the volumes of the body and legs are revealed through the robe, much as in images of the standing Bodhisattva type. As in the Anyor figure, the mantle falls over the right arm to describe a deep U-shape marked by incised folds, its left edge is grasped and held shoulder-high by the left hand, and vertical folds fall from the hand. The treatment of the hair, however, whose concave hairline echoes the upturned arcs of the smiling mouth and lines of the neck, and whose topknot has been reduced to a small conical mass, argues for a date several decades after the beginning of the Kanishka era. The other is an uninscribed stele found at the Jamalpur mounds, which seems to be based on the familiar Bodhisattva triad type.92 Unlike those it is enframed and the attendants turn inward, their outer feet and knees projecting as far as the plane defined by the front of the throne although their inner sides are overlapped by the elbows and knees of the central figure. As in the standing image, the Buddha's hand is raised shoulder-high, but the folds of the samghati are more

    90 Compare with Griswold, Fig. z-a, c, d. 91 Mathura Mus., oo.A.4. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., p. 49, P1. XV-a; Bachhofer, P1. 86-I; van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I87-87, fig. 36.

    92 Lucknow State Mus., BI4. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, pp. I84-88, fig. 33.

    I38

  • deeply gouged. Moreover, while many of the fold-lines of the standing Buddha's robe swing down but stop short just above their lower point, thus preserving the even distribution of lines over the surface, in this relief the incomplete U-shapes are confined to the area of the mantle covering the Buddha's upper torso, while the hanging folds fall in an undulating or serpentine mass that flares out as it touches the throne. The squatting lions supporting the throne are notably clumsier than those of the I(atra stele, with massive heads and straight necks that rise at right angles from their haunches, like those of the Palkhera stele of the year 39 (Fig. 12).

    Two other seated images can be identified as representing earlier experiments with the samighati type. One is a statuette depicting a figure seated under a pipala tree and escorted by a single attendant (Fig. 22).93 The trunk and foliage and hanging garlands of the tree, like the back of the major figure and his attendant, are carved in low relief and the trunk of the tree is not directly behind the seated figure but set off to one side to balance the attendant. The upper part of the tree, part of the standing figure, and the Buddha's lower left arm and face have been lost, but the resemblance to the earlier seated Bodhisattva type is striking. The shapes of the legs and body, with its broad shoulders and deep navel, are fully revealed, the right hand is raised shoulder-high, and the pleats of the undergarment fan out over the throne. The presence of the robe is indicated only by the edge that curves up to the left hand, the fish-tail shape formed by its hanging folds, and a system of incised horizontal and vertical lines that apparently depict the kind of monastic garment (pdm- sukula) stitched together from castaway rags.94 The lions supporting its throne and the bulging form of the left upper arm suggest this is not very much earlier than the stele of the year 39 from the village of Palikhera (Fig. i2).

    Palikhera is also the source of the earliest dated samghati image yet identified, a broken one whose inscription (L.2IC) says it was dedicated in the year 8 by Simhaka (Fig. 23).95 The deeply indented navel of the broken torso resembles that of the Katra Bodhisattva and its incised folds are also very much like those over the shoulder of that figure (Fig. IO). The positions of the broken arms and hands can be reconstructed because the hand that grasped the hanging folds must have been held waist-high and the curving shape that rises behind the right knee must represent the edge of the robe, while the area between it and the body shows how the elbow was broken off. The drapery concealing the feet shows an effort to depict a relatively substantial textile - perhaps thick cotton or raw silk or even possibly wool-and its U-shaped folds are carved as undulating ridges, each marked by a pair of shallowly incised lines, as if the sculptor had adapted the convention used for the overrobes of Bala's Bodhisattvas (Fig. 13). The zigzag folds hanging down over the lap are simplified versions of the delicate ones that fall between the legs of the headless

    93 Mathura Mus., 5 I4. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva," p. 68; Annual Bibliography of Indian Archaeology, IX (Leiden, 1934), P. I4, PI. IV-a.

    94 An earlier depiction of such patchwork robes appears on the reverse of a pre-Kushana Mathura tympanum in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts (Vogel, "Sculpture de M.", P1. LV). Such robes were to become a spectacular feature of monastic dress in China and Japan, where contrasting colors and textures were often used for the squares and the bands separating them.

    95 Mathura Mus., 664. Agrawala, "Buddha and Bodhisattva," p. 68; Luders-Janert, pp. I67-68.

    I39

  • Maitreya (Fig. 18), and their double or mirror-image form seems to be intended to show they are the edges of the front and back of the garment. The base, which shows bhiksus worshipping the Dharmachakra or Wheel of the Law, appears to be a crude copy of an older work. Rampant winged lions support the outer corners of the throne, but their legs and wings are clumsy compared with earlier ones (Figs. 8, 9), and their sway-backed bodies and thick-tasseled tails resemble those of the Katra stele. The curious hook-shaped objects carried by two of the worshippers defy identification unless, perhaps, they represent lengths of cloth which are being waved as an act of adoration.96

    Both these early samghati images resemble Bodhisattvas of the classical type both in their modelling and proportions, but they may be based on different kinds of models. The figure robed in a garment made up of stitched-together rags seems to be conceived in essentially linear terms, as if adapted from a painting or drawing, while the broken one was clearly envisioned in sculptural terms, as is seen in the treatment of the swag over the lap. Like all the other Buddhist images here discussed, they display the "no fear" mudra, but the positions of their left hands alter their expressive characters. Instead of pressing downward and thereby suggesting heroic energy and resolution, they are fully occupied with holding together the edges of their robes, which would otherwise tend to fall off their left shoulders. As a result the emphasis shifts to the gesture of abhaya-mudra, to such a degree that the sculptor of the pamsukula image balanced his composition by moving the trunk of the tree to one side and introducing a single attendant to the right of the Buddha's upraised hand.

    It has been generally assumed that these Mathura images depicting the Buddha swathed in his monastic robe betray the influence of Gandhara, where most Buddha images wear heavily draped robes reminiscent of Roman togas. Yet it requires no such foreign influence to explain the invention of the samghati type, for all Buddhists must have been accustomed to seeing the bhiksus begging their daily food, as they still do in parts of Southeast Asia, their shoulders modestly covered by their overrobes in according with the regulations laid down by the Vinaya.97 Once people began to identify the older Bodhisattva images as representations of Sakyamuni, it must only have been a matter of time before a demand developed for new types which showed him clad in the Three Garments that distinguished Buddhist monks from layfolk and those of other sects, a demand that was satisfied, as has been shown, both by the seated samghati images and by those of the type dedicated by Bala only five years before that of the Pallkhera statue of the year 8.

    A puzzling problem is the apparent loss of artistic quality in later images of this type. While later images of the seated Bodhisattva and standing types lose relatively little of their refinement of proportions and surface, later images of the samghati type tend to be clumsy and crudely carved. Moreover, the earlier ones retain the graceful asymmetry of the mature Bodhisattva images, while the later ones are rigidly symmetrical both in the positions of

    96 For comparable example of worshippers waving cloths, see the Bharhut relief of the worship of Sakyamuni's Bodhi-tree (Coomaraswamy, History, P1. XII-4I). 97 Under certain circumstances bhiksus are required to adjust the overrobes to bare their right arms and it is also permissable at times to fold them into a narrow strip or to doff them entirely (Griswold, p. 88).

    140

  • their hands and the shapes formed by their drapery. One hesitates to attribute this to a general stylistic change, for same images of the period, such as the great Naga from Chhargaon dated in the year 40,98 are as fine as any Bodhisattva and show even more compositional freedom. It may be possible that after Kanishka's death, in the year 23 of his era, Buddhism suffered from a loss of official and popular patronage that was reflected in the quality of Buddhist images produced under his successor, the emperor Huvishka. The development of iconographic types, however, generally tends to reinforce and clarify their expressive values, as observed in the pre-Kanishka Bodhisattvas. It seems therefore more probable that the changes observed in the sahmaghati images have at least as much to do with their meaning as with the skills of the sculptors who carved them.

    It is perhaps significant and certainly appropriate that the earliest known example of the samghati type was found at Palikhera, which is known to have been the site of a vihara belonging to the Mahasanghika school.99 According to its own tradition this school separated from Buddha's other followers at the time of the First Council, which tooli place immediately following the Parinirvana, although alternative traditions said it separated some I 3 7 or I 60 years later.100 Whatever the reliability of these several traditions, it appears the Mahasanghikas were always more open to the spiritual needs of lay members of the community than were the Theravadins (the school represented by the Pali canon), who were primarily concerned with the ordained members of the community, the theras and their disciples.101 Few Mahasanghika texts survive, but the school seems to have early developed strongly docetic views of the nature of the Buddha. While the Sarvastivadins, who belonged to the Theravadin or Hinayana branch of Buddhism, held that the historical Buddha had been truly born and aged and died, the Mahasanghikas held that he was a completely pure being who only appeared to have been born and lived and died like other living beings.102 Thus in the Mahivastu it is said:

    The conduct of the Exalted One is transcendental, his root of virtue is transcendental. The Seer's walking, standing, sitting and lying down are transcendental. The Sugata's body, which brings about the destruction of the fetters of existence, is also transcendental ... It is true that Buddhas eat food, but hunger never distresses them. It is in order to provide men with the opportunity to give alms that in this respect they conform to the world. It is true that they drink, but thirst never torments them-this is a wondrous attribute of the great seers. Their drinking is mere conformity with the world. They put on robes, and yet a Conqueror would also be covered without them and have the same appearance as devas. This wearing of robes is mere conformity with the world. They keep their dark and glossy hair close cropped, although no razor ever cuts it. This is mere conformity with the world.103

    We suggest that the development of the samghati images reflect a search for forms expressive of the Buddha's true nature as a transcendental or supramundane (lokottara)

    98 Mathura Mus., c I3. Vogel, Cat. A.M.M., pp. 88-89. 99 A large stone bowl (Mathura Mus., oo.662) found at this village bears an inscription (L. I43d) saying that it was given

    "for the acceptance of the (Maha)samghlyas (Mahasanghikas).. ." (Liiders-Janert, p. I65). 100 Lamotte, pp. 3I2-I6. 101 Dutt, I44-47. 102 Lamotte, pp. 690-92. 103 Mahavastu, tr. by J. J. Jones (Sacred Books of the Buddhists, vol. XVI, London I949), I, I32-33.

    I4I

  • being who seems to be a man of "mere conformity with the world." The dated image from