Amaravati Art in the Context of Andhra Archaeology
by Sreyashi Ray chowdhuri | 2018 | 90,477 words
This page relates ‘Conversion of the Bhaddhavaggiya Youths’ of the study on Amaravati Art in the Context of Andhra Archaeology, including museum exhibitions of the major archeological antiquities. These pages show how the Buddhist establishment of Amaravati (Andhra Pradesh) survived from 4th century BCE to 14th century CE. It includes references and translations of episodes of Buddha’s life drawn from the Avadanas and Jatakas which are illustrated in Amaravati art.
Conversion of the Bhaddhavaggiya Youths
[Full title: Depiction of scenes from the life of Buddha: Conversion of the Bhaddhavaggiya Youths]
Story:-
The story is given in the Mahāvagga of the Vīṇāya Piṭaka.[1]
After three months of seclusion during the rains (vassā) Buddha returned to Uruvilvā. On the way he found thirty wealthy young men who had been sporting with their wives in a grove. One of them had no wife and for him they had taken a courtesan. But while they were not noticing she stole his garments and ran away. When they went searching for her, they saw Buddha seated under a tree. They asked Buddha whether he had seen her. Buddha asked them whether it was more profitable to seek oneself rather than others. The princes understood the significance of the Master’s words and confessed that it was better to seek oneself. Buddha then delivered a discourse and converted the thirty princes[2].
Depiction:-
A crossbar in the Madras Government Museum shows an empty throne and feet under the Bodhi tree adored by thirty nobel looking turbaned youths identified as the Bhaddavaggiya. Some figures are depicted waving chowries and others either approaching or moving away with hands joined in adoration. Other figures are seated and some reverently kneeling.[3]
Footnotes and references:
[1]:
Davids T.W Rhys and Oldenberg Hermann, 1974, Op.cit, pp 110-112.
[2]:
Sivaramamurti C, Op.cit, pp 182-183
[3]:
Ibid, pl XXIX, fig 4