1. The evolution of Buddhist Art (Introduction)

The Buddha didn’t write down any of his teachings. Over the next few centuries, high-ranking monks, major disciples and enlightened Arhats, or Buddhist holy men, who headed the many groups of Buddhist followers all over India, held councils to preserve the teaching of the Buddha and to codify the rules of the Sangha. Buddhist art also the same way. It almost developed after the Buddha time.

From earliest of Buddhist art, the Buddha was never represented in human form but only through some of his symbols among them:

• The wheel of law; symbol of the four noble truths expressed by the Buddha.

• The Bodhi tree; the tree where the Buddha reached enlightenment it has some antecedent in fertility cults and representations of the tree of life.

• The Buddha footprint; to represent the impact of the teachings of the Buddha on the world.

• The empty throne.

• The lions; symbol of his royalty.

• The columns surmounted by a wheel, symbol of his teaching.

• The lotus; symbol of pure.

This reluctance towards anthropomorphic representations of the Buddha, and the sophisticated development of aniconic symbols to avoid it, seems to be connected to one of the Buddha’s sayings reported in the Dighamikaya that disfavored representations of himself after the extinction of his body. This tendency remained as late as due to Ashoka Empire of Maurya dynasty.

The earliest Buddhist monuments to have survived were erected by Ashoka, the great ruler of the Maurya dynasty (324-187 B.C.), which rose to power after the troops of Alexander the great had left India. Ashoka was converted to Buddhism^[1], and urged his subjects to be guided in their daily lives by its tolerant, humane and ethical teachings. The huge stone columns which he erected in many places throughout his great empire, which extended over almost the whole of India, proclaim these principles in their inscription. Some of them feature monumental figures of animals: bulls, ons, elephants and horses and stylized lotus ornaments, as well as a huge ‘wheel of the doctrine’, the wheel which the Buddha began to turn when he first preached in the deer park at Sarnath, and which symbolizes the preaching of truth. It was also symbolic of the sun, the cycle of birth and rebirth, and of sovereignty.

Ashoka is a first person who played a unique role in the development of Buddhist art in India and neighbor countries:

“He distributed the contents of the seven out of the eight Saririka stupas among innumerable stupas built by him. He also enlarged the stupa of the Manushi-Buddha Kanakamuni; his pillar recording the event was found by the side of Nigali-Sagar, 13 miles to the north-west of Lumbini....... the nuclear stupas within the later enlargements of stupa 1 of Sanchi and the stupa, known as Dharmarajika of Sarnath were the work of Ashoka.”^[2]

According some sources Ashoka erected about 84,000 stupas to containing relics of the Buddha, because 84,000 are the numbers that representing for the teachings of the Buddha. Beside that Ashoka also built many stone pillars in many places. These pillars were beautifully carved with details that are rich in Buddhist symbolism. At the top of the pillars are three lions, regal beasts which are believed to roar out the Buddha’s teachings throughout the world. Many rock edicts were excavated at many places in India also carved by Ashoka. Which give us some information about origin of Buddhism, not only created Buddhist art India, Ashoka also sent missionaries all over the empire^[3], erected pillars with lion capitals and bearing edicts promoting Buddhism, and stupas containing holy Buddhist relics at major Buddhist pilgrimage sites. Ashoka became the model for many Buddhist rulers in central and East Asia who united their empires under the Buddhist law. He was the first royal patron of Buddhist art. Based on this foundation, Buddhist art gradually developed to its age of gold, with famously schools such as:

Gandhara school: the current view is that Gandhara art flourished from 130 to 450 A.D.^[4] The most important centre of Gandhara art was the town of Taxila (Takshasila). In close proximity to this town, a great number of monasteries were built. They owed a great deal to the patronage extended by Kanishka and probably also to the donations of wealthy merchants.

Gandharan art and sculpture are combines Hellemistic or Graeco-roman artistic techniques and modelling with Indian Buddhist iconography to create a recognizably Indian hybrid.^[5] Probably using artists imported initially from west Asia.

By the end of the 1st century these aesthetic traditions had developed into a recognizable Gandhara style sculpture in stone, usually schist are considered to predate those made from stucco although both materials were used from an early date Gandharan artists were concerned with the naturalistic modelling and the rendering of garments and embellishment in realistic detail with the closely related school of Mathura school.

Gandhara occupied a large area of what today are North West India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, traversed by ancient roads linking India with China, Tibet and west Asia.^[6] The dominant characteristics of this school were Hellenistic and strongly related to Asian provinces of the Roman Empire. This area was the eastern most region of the ancient world influenced by classical aesthetics and the first to portray the Buddha in human form, until this time only symbolic iconography was used to symbolise the enlightened one.

We can see some styles of Gandharan art were indicated with Buddha and Bodhisattva statuese as:

“The rounded face in a contemplative mood with dowcast eyes his hair arranged in wavy curls and gathered in a domed topknot. Collected from what was formally North West India. An unusual feature of this head is the deeply recessed circular urna in the centre of the forhead which originally world have held a semi precious stone.”^[7]

Reality the Buddha and Bodhisattva head in Gandharan art were represents with the face is modelled with a meditive expression, arched eyebrows above heavy lidded eyes. Aquiline nose gently smilling bow shaped lips urna, elongated earlobes.

A hole in the top would have originally served as a holding place for further embellishment or jewels. with Buddha standing:

“The hands would have been in the so called Dharmacakra Mudra, the attitude of preaching, in which the right shoulder of the Buddha is usually left uncovered, the hellenistic influence is apparent in the treatment of the robes and hair, a majestic figure boldly proclaiming his teaching to both gods and humans. Behind the Buddhas head to his right can be seen the remains of a nimbus ring.”^[8]

With the Buddha seat were represents in Dhyanasana with his hands resting in his lap in Dhyana Mudra, wearing a finely pleated Sanghati covering both shoulders, the modelling on the drapery is particularly nice his face with peaceful expression, small bowshaped mouth, heavy-lidded almond shaped eyes the locks of hair are rendered by round depressions. Such as Gandhara features are highlighted with subtle touches of high aesthetic.

Gandhara art continued throughout most of the first millennium in Afghanistan at least until the end of the eighth century. The early reliance on stone gave way to the use of more easily manipulated stucco and terracotta, and the total production was enormous. The area had become a second holy land for Buddhists, visited by pilgrims from south and East Asia, enhanced by the belief that events from the Buddha’s former lives had occurred there. The monasteries and Buddhist centre hidden away in pockets of the Himalayas often survived some of the destruction visited upon the establishments in the plains, while the nearby trade routes carried Gandharan styles into the northern areas of Asia.^[9]

From the 2nd century A.D. onwards, simultaneously with Gandhara, there existed two other centres that were of the utmost significance both artistically and historically: Mathura and Amaravati. Both of were much more firmly rooted in Indian tradition than was the case with Gandhara^[10], which was at first at a lower cultural level than the central part of India.

Mathura was an important political, economic and religious centre already before the Kushan Empire came into being, which continued to maintain its position later during the Gupta period.^[11] Its golden age, which was of great consequence for Buddhist art, dates from the reign of Kanishka monasteries that were built at that time hardly any thing has survived-far less than at Gandhara. It is believed that the first Buddha images were carved at Mathura simultaneously if not earlier with Gandhara School. Mathura has produced Buddha images of various dimensions. the Kushana Buddha or Bodhisattva images of Mathura served as the prototypes of the more beautiful specimens of the Gupta period, the workshop of Mathura exported several Buddhist images to various other places, such as Sarnath and even as far as Ragir in Bihar state.

Aesthetically of Mathura images was described as:

“Seen endowed with magnificent grace: the delicate folds cling to the body as though the garment were of thin, transparent fabric, separate at the left shoulder and curve inward over the right side of the chest to return upwards in the direction of the right shoulder. On the lower part of the body and this treatment is not without importance the thighs are covered with symmetric folds.”^[12]

If as Gandhara, images of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas with European facial features, wavy hair and moustaches, and wearing togalike robes show the strong influence of Greco-roman artistic styles so Mathura, images are more Indian styles with wearing Indian clothing, rounder and often smiling facial features.

Though Buddha opposed the idea of idol worship, his cult image was established and became essential for acts of worship the Gandhara and Mathura school of sculpture impacted human form to Buddha, Bodhisattva’s images that was the base for development of Buddhist into its golden age during the Gupta period (4th-5th centuries A.D.) marks the bright period of Buddhist art in India. The main centers of Buddhist art during this period were Mathura, Sarnath and Nalanda in the north.^[13] The Buddhist images of Mathura and Sarnath are some of the best specimens of India Buddhist art, never equaled by any art creators of later period. The Gupta artists showed an equal ingenuity in the carving of metal images also. The art of Gupta considered as the pinnacle of Indian Buddhist art. Hellenistic elements are still clearly visible in the purity of the statuary and the folds of the clothing^[14], but are improved upon with every delicate rendering of the draping and a sort of radiance reinforced by the usage of pink sandstone. Artistic details tend to be less realistic, as seen in the symbolis shell-like curls used to render the hairstyle of the Buddha. When graceful stone figures of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas were carved in a truly Indian style, this style eventually travelled beyond India’s borders and influenced the Buddhist art of other regions. The murals painted in the caves of Ajanta, created in the fifth and sixth centuries, are some of the earliest and finest examples of a tradition of Buddhist cave paintings that spread throughout Asia.

So that, The Mathura school, according to J. PH. VOGEL,

“Like that of Gandhara, exhibits a combination of foreign and native elements; but its fundamental character is essentially Indian, and evolved as we saw, from the national sculture of central India. It lacks the naïve freshness of that older art, but excels it by greater skill in plastic portrayal. Western influence, which is so characteristic of Gandhara art, is here only secondary, and the foreign elements are less conspicuous, since they have been largely absorbed as the result of a growing tendency towards indianization.”^[15]

The third main centre of early Buddhist art, Amaravati, takes us for the first time to the south of India. In this area there existed, in part contemporaneous with the Kushan empire in the north, the late Andhra empire (25 B.C.–320 A.D.), which was ruled by the Shatavahana dynasty.

Buddhism had spread fairly quickly over the greater part of India, and had already penetrated the area of Amaravati by the 3rd century B.C. missionaries traveled to and from between the Andhra and Kushan empires. Indeed, from this time onwards from India. Its impact was particularly strong in Ceylon, but a little later also extended as far as Southeast Asia.

P.V. Bapat, had been mentions:

“The Amaravati, Nalanda and Nagalattinam Buddhist sculptures and bronzes bring us to a most interesting study, namely, to that of the culture of Southeast Asia, and of the extent to which Burma, Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Java and IndoChina derived their arts from India.”^[16]

Amaravati, which is 16 miles west of Guntur, is the most important Buddhist site in Andhra. The stupa at this place is the largest and most famous. The beautiful railings depict scenes from the Buddha’s life. The relief medallions, beautifully balanced in composition, are among the greatest works of art in India.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Jonhs, S. Strong, The Legend of King Ashoka, Vol 6, Delhi: 1989

[2]:

The Buddhist art in India, Ceylon & Java. Trans by, A.J. Barnouw, Delhi: 1977, p.23

[3]:

P. V. Bapat, 2500 Years of Buddhism, Delhi, India, 1997, p. 50

[4]:

Dietrich Seckel, The Art of Buddhism. trans by Ann. E. Keep, London: 1964, p.22.

[5]:

Ibid, p. 32.

[6]:

Dietrich Seckel, The Art of Buddhism. trans by Ann. E. Keep, London: 1964, p. 30

[7]:

Madeleine Hallade, The Gandhara style, Thames & Hudson: 1968, p.79.

[8]:

MadeleineHallade, The Gandhara style, London, Thames & Hudson: 1968, p.89.

[9]:

James Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, Delhi: 1998, p. 211

[10]:

H. Zimmer, The Art of Indian Asia Its Mythology and Transformations, Vol1, Delhi: 2001, p. 8

[11]:

Ibid.

[12]:

Annual report of the archaeological survey of India, 1922-23 pl xxxixa.

[13]:

Dietrich Seckel, The Art of Buddhism, trans by Ann. E. Keep, London: 1964, p. 41.

[14]:

H. Zimmer, The Art of Indian Asia Its Mythology and Transformations, Vol1, Delhi: 2001, p. 8.

[15]:

Buddhist Art in India, Ceylon & Java. Trans by A. J. Barnouw, Delhi: 1977, p. 36.

[16]:

P. V. Bapat, 2500 years of Buddhism, Delhi: 1997, p. 252.