Buddhist art in India

1. Buddhism
and
Buddhist Art in India

2. Buddhism/Buddhist Art
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Life of the Buddha
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Siddhartha Gautama
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Shakya
Shakyamuni
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Lumbini
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Kapilavastu
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Monastic order
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Ashoka

3. From Prince to Buddha
His early life recorded in the Lalitavistara
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Conception
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Miraculous birth at Lumbini Garden
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On occasion his life parallels the life of Jesus
Immaculate conception, e.g.
Came out of his mother Mayadevi’s right flank
Born in 563 BCE
Died in 483 BCE

4. Mayadevi’s Dream
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A white elephant enters Mayadevi’s womb
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Seen as a sign of divine intervention
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Seen as past Buddha descending from the Tushita Heaven
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A few days later, Mayadevi becomes pregnant
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Customary of the time, Mayadevi goes to visit her parents
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But on her way, she goes into labor
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Delivers the baby in the Lumbini Garden

12. Siddhartha
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Father Suddhodana
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King of Kapilavastu
Republic (oligarchy)
Northern Gangetic region—non-Vedic belt
Brahmanic orthodoxy vs. Shakyan heterodoxy
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Discussion: What’s Michael Carrithers’ take on it?

13. Astrologer’s Prediction
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Visitation by astrologer Atisa
 Visitation by magi ?
Atisa’s prediction
 Siddhartha will be a great king or a redeemer

14. Siddhartha
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Naming the child
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Siddhartha Gautama (Gotama)—Family name
Shakya (Clan name)—Shakyamuni
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Buddha is a title given only after enlightenment
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Early years
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Suddhodana builds three palaces for his son
Creates a utopia filled with only happiness & pleasure
Absence of pain, suffering, old age, sickness, disease
Siddhartha grows up in a deliberately controlled or programmed
environment

15. Siddhartha
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Siddhartha is being groomed for taking over his
father’s throne
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He excels in everything
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Siddhartha’s nemesis—cousin Devadutta plots to get
him killed many times
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Archery, warfare
Sports
Reading and writing
Judas?
Siddhartha gets married
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With Yosodhara, a young and beautiful woman
(a distant cousin)

16. Siddhartha
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Siddhartha is not happy
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His heart is empty
He hasn’t seen his own kingdom
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He’s been held within the confines of his palace as a prisoner
He begs his father to see his kingdom
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His father agrees, but sends his army in advance
to stage a picture perfect scene
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Chhana—his companion

17. Teaching
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Middle Path
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Music teacher admonishing a student
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The middle path lies between the two
opposites
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In Bodhgaya, he sat under a Bodhi tree to
meditate
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He sat there for 40 days and 40 nights until
he attained enlightenment

18. Mara’s Attack (darkness, ignorance, evil, devil)
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On the last day Mara comes to tempt Siddhartha
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Is Mara the same as Satan who attempts
to tempt Jesus?
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Mara uses everything in his arsenal to foil Siddhartha’s
concentration
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Mara’s five daughters
 1) Desire, 2) Ego, 3) Pride, 4) Greed, and 5) Fear

19. Siddhartha
Four sights
An old man
 A sick man
 A corpse
 An ascetic
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Film

20. Buddha’s teaching
Four Noble Truths
1.
2.
3.
4.
Life is Dukkha
There is a cause of Dukkha
There is a way to stop it
By following the 8-fold path
The Eight-fold Paths
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Right intention
Right speech
Right action
Right livelihood
Right view
Right effort
Right mindfulness
Right concentration

21. Buddha’s teaching
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“Don’t take my word for it. Try it yourself.”
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“Be a light onto yourself.”
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His famous aphorism, “Look within, thou art the
Buddha.” All this served the lower the resistance
that so often attends the arrival of a new and
unfamiliar faith. (Prateka Buddha)
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Very practical man. He offered no promises of
heaven, just release from the clutches of
transmigration of life (samsara).

22. Buddha
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What does the word “Buddha” mean?
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The word 'Buddha' means 'awakened one'. He was, by
his own insistence, a man, and he lived and died like
everyone else.
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Any teacher, the Buddha said, can only point the way.
The rest is up to you. Both the teaching and student
exceed the teacher.
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As Morpheus in the movie Matrix said, “I can only
show you the door, you have to walk through it.”

23. Man of the common people
Buddha gave his sermons in Prakrit, or Pali
A language spoken by the masses
 He avoided using Sanskrit, the language of the
Brahmins, or the elite class of society
Why? Discussion
 Jesus, too, taught in Aramaic, the language the
general masses spoke.
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Was Buddha a reformer?
He recognized the existence of an infinite number of
past and future Buddhas
In light of this, can we call him the founder of
Buddhism?

24. Siddhartha's Departure
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Siddhartha leaves his palace at midnight
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Discussion-How Siddhartha views the world?
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Samsara (phenomenal world) is seen as a place of
Dukkha (suffering)
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In search of freedom from Samsara
He believes in Karma and transmigration of life
(birth & rebirth)
He was 29 when he left his palace

25. Understanding life
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What’s the turning point in his life?
The Four Sights
He could live with oldness and sickness
 But he couldn’t accept death
 He thought death was cruel, b/c rebirth is
inevitable after death
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Hindu concept of life as a cycle that revolves
w/o stopping
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The only way to break the cycle is through
Nirvana

26. Nelumbo nucifera

30. Pipal leaf
Pipal tree, or the Bodhi tree (ficus religiosa)

31. Indus figurine, c. 2,000 BCE
Buddha
Roman boy in a toga, c. 1st.c. CE

34. Siddhartha’s Birth Marks
Born with 32 auspicious physical signs (lakshanas):
1.
Urna (dot between eyebrows)
2.
Ushanisha (cranial bump)
3.
Srivatsa (diamond shaped birth mark in chest)
4.
Long arms
5.
Long ears
6.
Long and webbed fingers
7.
Three rings around the neck
8.
Smooth skin
9.
Long and perfectly arched eyebrows
10.
Curly hair
11.
Full lips
12.
Eyelids in the shape of a lotus bud
13.
No physical blemishes, and so on…..

35. Buddha’s heads showing urna and ushanisa

38. Iconometry of Buddha

40. The wheel of Samsara (phenomenal world)
Keeps moving w/o stopping
Beings caught in Samsara aren’t free
Nirvana is the answer
Samsara is the field of:
Desire
Desire leads to attachment
Since there is no end to desire,
human beings are fettered to
Samsara forever.
The field of Nirvana
lies outside of Samsara

41. The eight-spoked wheel (chakra—Dharmacakra). The eight spokes represent the Noble Eightfold Path of Buddhism.

43. Mahaparinirvana

44. Anionic
Representation
of the Buddha

47. Chorten

48. Stupa iconography

49. Early Buddhist sites
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Lomas Risi cave
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Bhaja
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Bharhut
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Sanchi
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Amaravati
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Karla caves in Karli
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Mathura
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Ajanta caves

50. 
King Ashoka (Maurya)
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King Kaniska (Kushan)
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Middle Path
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Theravada—also Hinayana—(Sri Lanka—former
Ceylon, Thailand—former Siam, Myanmar—former
Burma)
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Mahayana (Nepal, Tibet, China, South East Asia and
Japan)

51. 
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Chaitya
Vihara
Yaksha
Yakshi
Chakra
Mudra
Abhaya
Dhyana
Varada
Dharmachakra pravartana
Vyakhyana
Prana
Mithuna (amorous couple, often in embrace or in sexual
position)
Mara
Greco-Roman style (Gandhara)

65. Yakshi from Sanchi, 1st century CE

73. Highly polished columns

75. Bharhut stupa, 1st century B.C.E

78. Bharhut
Mithuna couple, 1st century B.C.E.

79. Bharhut

80. Bharhut

81. A Greek Warrior

82. Karli

83. Mithuana couple from Karli cave, 2nd. century CE

84. Stupa with Buddha’s relic
Vaisali, Bihar

88. Jataka tale
Kapi Jataka
Bharhut stupa
1st BCE

90. Rock cut cave architecture, Lomas Risi, 3rd. BCE

93. Bhaja rock cut caves

95. Bhaja

96. Bhaja Caves are a group of 221 rock-cut
caves dating back to 200 BCE located at
Karli in Maharashtra. The location of Bhaja
caves is not far from location of Karla Caves
and these are stylistically similar to the Karla
Caves. These caves are on a major trade
route of the past that ran from the Arabian
Sea eastward into the Deccan region, the
division between North India and South
India.
The Bhaja caves share the same set of
architectural designs as Karla caves. Visually
most impressive monument is large shrine chaityagriha - with open, horseshoe-arched
entrance part. The chaitrya has unique reliefs
of Indian mythology. Other caves have a
nave and aisle, with an apse containing a
solid stupa and the aisle circling round the
apse, providing the circumambulation path.
Notable part of monument is a group of 14
stupas, five inside and nine outside an
irregular excavation. One of the caves has
some fine sculptures.
Near the last cave is a waterfall which,
during the monsoon season, has water that
falls into a small pool at the bottom.

97. Bhaja cave, 2nd-1st century BCE

98. Bhaja cave, entrance to the inner rooms, 2 nd-1st century BCE

99. Indra riding an elephant, door relief
From Bhaja cave, 2nd. Century BCE

100. Bhaja

101. Questions
Which is the earliest rock cave?
Lomas Risi
Bhaja
Karla
None of the above
Symbolism of the cave
Provides not only shelter from the
elements of nature, but also
psychological safety, because……..?
Enclosed and deep recesses of the rock
is similar to the mother’s womb—warm,
comfortable and safe.
Womb stands for fertility—creation of
life.
Interior of Bhaja Chaitya, 1st century BCE

102. Chaitya Hall, Bhaja cave, 1st century BCE

103. Bhaja, living quarters

104. Bhaja

106. Main facade of the Bhaja caves. Horse-shoe shaped façade.

107. Pillars
Rafters
Beams

108. Karla/Karle/Karli

109. Karle Chaitya Hall, a Buddhist cathedral with a nave and two aisles, 2 nd century CE

111. Karle cave

113. Buddha flanked by Bodhisattvas. 5th century CE

114. Karle
2nd cent. CE

115. Amarous couple (Mithuna) from Karle cave

117. The caves were historically associated with the
Mahāsāṃghika sect of Buddhism, which had great
popularity in this region of India, as well as wealthy
patronage.
The caves house a Buddhist monastery dating back
to the 2nd century BCE.
The caves at Karla are believed to be some of
thousands of similar caves excavated in the Sahyadri
Hills in the early 1st millennium CE.

119. Questions
Which is the earliest rock-cut cave?
a. Karle
b. Bhaja
c. Lomas Risi
d. None of the above
Symbolism of the cave
Provides not only shelter from the
elements of nature, but also
psychological safety, because……..?
Enclosed and deep recesses of the rock
is similar to the mother’s womb—warm,
comfortable and safe.
Womb stands for fertility—creation of life.
Amaravati stupa, 2nd century CE

120. Parkham Yaksha
2nd century BCE
Shakyamuni, presented to the
shrine at Sarnath by Friar
Bala, 2nd century CE
The Katra Buddha, Buddha
seated on a lion throne, C.
A.D. 130, Sikri sandstone,
H. 27.75 in.

140. LACMA

145. Ajanta cave, 5th century CE

150. Buddha teaching, Ajanta

151. Gandhara=Gandharan
Natural
Realistic
Greco-Roman
Yogic body
Idealized form

153. Buddha with two Bodhisattvas
Buddha Triad
Grey Schist
Dated 182 CE
Gandhara

155. Maitreya Buddha, Gandhara, 2nd century CE

157. Gandhara Maitreya

159. Bodhisattva Maitreya, Gandhara
3nd century CE

160. The End