4. Thailand Sculptures (a): Pure Indian

[Full title: Style and the Dating of Sculpture (2): South East Asia (b): Thailand (i): Pure Indian]

Brought from India Itself: Relying on evidence from Thailand, archaeologists have suggested that even prior to the third century A.D.^[1], Buddhism had begun to make its presence felt in the lower Central Plains. Bronson has noted that by the early first millennium cremation had replaced burial at several Plains sites, suggesting that Buddhist practices were replacing old indigenous ways.

Piles of bricks and brick fragments have been found at U Thong^[2], archaeological sites dated to the early centuries AD evidencing religious architecture rather than houses, which were build of light material. Two third century Amaravati-style terracotta reliefs found at U Thong and dated archaeologically to second to fourth century AD sites relate more specifically to evidence from the Andhra region. One of the reliefs depicts a kinnari while another portrays a row of Buddhist monks dressed in heavy, voluminous Roman-style robes like those found on Amaravati-style Buddha images.^[3]   A fragment of stucco sculpture in the Amaravati style, also from U Thong, shows the Buddha seated on the coils of a Naga. Although there is no evidence that these pieces were made locally, they suggest that Buddhism was becoming firmly implanted, at least in one of the Central Plains’ more prosperous communities. The U Thong reliefs, which appear to have been made for architectural embellishment, imply that there were now permanent Buddhist monasteries, where, as the naga image suggests, images of the Buddha were housed. If Buddhism was becoming well established, however, its art was yet to be accepted. Examples of Amaravati-style art in the central Plains are few and far between, and there appears to have been little interest in either the importation of art from India or in local reproduction.^[4]

While local rulers, well-to-do from their propitious trade route connections, could have provided necessities required by the Buddhist monks, it is possible that they had neither the means nor the interest in adding to or replicating the few unusual looking foreign works that were now occasionally reaching their communities from abroad.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

S.Van Beek, & L. Invernizzi Tettoni, The Arts of Thailand, Periplus: 1991, p. 54.

[2]:

Ibid, p. 58.

[3]:

Ibid.

[4]:

J. Dumarcay & M. Smithies, Cultural sites of Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia, Kuala Lumpur: 1995, p. 42.