Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
by Purabi Gangopadhyay | 2016 | 47,446 words
This essay represents a a comparative study of Buddhist iconography in and outside India, focusing on regions such as China, Korea, and Japan. The study is divided into four chapters, covering: 1. The emergence of Buddhism in India and its spread to other countries; 2. A historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahm...
Seated Buddha (from China)
The seated Buddha figure from China, owned by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York is a beautiful piece of sculpture. It was made during the Chinese T'ang dynasty (8th Century). The height of the figure is 20 cm. posture. attitude. In this fugure the Buddha is represented in sitting The image is seated on a round pedestal in padmasana Dressed like that of an ascetic, this Buddha exhibits the Dharmacakra pravartana mudra (called 'Tenporin' in Japan) with his both hands. His eyes are half closed as if he is in meditation. The body is beautifully proportioned and the arrangement of the drapery is also done very skilfully. The elongated ears and the hair arrangements are the reminders to the characteristics of the Gupta Age of Indian Art. The Buddha image hailing from Saranath in the posture of delivering the first sermon is depicted in the same manner fer. En as we notice in this Chinese statue. The wet-clothing pattern of the robe of
� 66. the hands are beautifully carved. The arrangements of the fingers for forming the mudra appear to be highly realistic. The brightness of the whole body has added an extra attraction to the image obviously to the delight of the worshippers. (cf. Pl. I, Fig. 3 of the present work). It is one of the good examples of the accomplished technique of wax-casting method of the T'ang dynasty. A lotus pod and the image were cast together. The Japanese sculpture of the Heian period followed this style of adding lotus pod in making their Buddhist statues.