Essay name: Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
Author:
Purabi Gangopadhyay
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This work aims to systematically present the development and expansion of Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhist iconography from India to other countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan. This study includes a historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahmanical gods into the Mahayana-Vajrayana phase.
Chapter 4: Japanese Buddhist Iconography (a Comparative Study)
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External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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the temple. Seated image of Staka or Sakyamuni is made of
bronze and the height of the image is 86.5 c.m., whereas its
accessory figures, the two Bodhisattvas are a bit higher and
the height of each of them is 90.9 c.m. The great sculptor
T艒ri constructed these images in 623 A.D. The image of Yaku峁
Nyorai was constructed in 607 A.D. and it is seated cross-
legged in Padm膩sana attitude. From the stylistic point of
view there are similarities between these two sculptures of
艢膩kyamuni and Bhai峁jyaguru,
The subjects chosen by the sculptors of the Nara
period belong mainly to three categories. In the first category
there are the images of Nyorai or Buddha figures. In some
of the Nara sculptures the style of the Gupta period of India
is very prominent. The images of the early Nara period bear
resembles with almost all the features of the Gupta period
images.
The figure of Yakushi Nyorai or Buddha Bhai 峁jyaguru
illustrated here (Pl.XI, Fig. 1 ) belongs to the early Heian
period. The figure is coloured. It is made of wood. The
lotus pod on which the figure stands is also made of wood and
is chiselled from a single block of wood.
The height of the figure is 164.8 c.m. and it has a
bulky appearance. It exhibits abaya-mudr膩 in his right hand.
He holds a medicine pot in the left hand. This medicine pot
