From Bodhisattva to Buddha: the Beginning of Iconic Representation in Buddhist Art. Artibus Asiae...

From Bodhisattva to Buddha: The Beginning of Iconic Representation in Buddhist ArtAuthor(s): Ju-Hyung RhiSource: Artibus Asiae, Vol. 54, No. 3/4 (1994), pp. 207-225Published by: Artibus Asiae PublishersStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3250056Accessed: 31/03/2009 20:42

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JU-HYUNG RHI JU-HYUNG RHI JU-HYUNG RHI

FROM BODHISATTVA TO BUDDHA: THE BEGINNING OF ICONIC REPRESENTATION IN BUDDHIST ART

W hy are the earliest extant Buddhist icons from Mathura inscribed "Bodhisattva"?' The

inscriptions of "Bodhisattva" on what appear to be Buddha images from early Kushan Mathura have puzzled art historians and Buddhologists. For example, an inscription on a famous

image from the Katra mounds in Mathura (fig. I) reads:

Budharakhitasa matare Amohaasiye Bodhisaco patithapito saha matapitihi sake vihare savasatvana[m] hitasukhaye

(By Amohaasi [Amoghadasi], the mother of Budharakhita [Buddharaksita], the Bodhisattva was set up together with her parents in her own vihara for the welfare and happiness of all sentient beings.)2

A convenient answer to this question has been that the two terms Bodhisattva and Buddha had been used without much distinction in that early period so that they were even interchangeable.3 However, two questions remain. Why did the terms "Buddha" or "Bhagavan Sakyamuni" begin to replace "Bodhisattva" several decades later, and why was the Gandharan type of Buddha image (with both shoulders covered)4 adopted in Mathura around the same time instead of the earlier type (with the right shoulder bare) usually inscribed "Bodhisattva" (cf. figs. 2, 3)?s The problem becomes more intriguing, when we consider another question, why did images similar to the first Mathura ones appear in the Swat region, north of the Peshawar valley, more or less simultaneously during the pre- Kaniska years (fig. 4)?6 I believe that all these phenomena were closely interrelated. The transition from the early Mathura type to the Gandharan type in Mathura, which has been usually understood in stylistic terms, manifests a significant shift in iconographic meaning, which paralleled the transition from "Bodhisattva" to "Buddha" and its equivalent terms in inscriptions. This paper

In inscriptions, the word was written in various forms, and the most common one was "Bodhisatva." In this study it will be standardized as "Bodhisattva."

2 Reading and translation by Heinrich Liiders, in his Mathura Inscriptions (Gottingen, I961), 30-31, no. I; italics are mine. 3 See for example Johanna E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, The "Scythian" Period (Leiden, I949), 177-79; Gregory Schopen, "The

Inscription on the Kushan Image of Amitabha and the Character of the Early Mahayana in India," Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 10-2 (1987): 118.

4 I consider the Buddha type with both shoulders covered (wearing a sainghati) to have originated in Gandhara, and thus call it the Gandharan type in this paper.

5 This coincidence was noticed by Joanna Williams in her unpublished paper "Buddha and Image in Kushan Mathura" presented at the annual meeting of the Association of Asian Studies in 1978 and by Herbert Hartel in "The Concept of the Kapardin Buddha Type of Mathura," in South Asian Archaeology 1983, edited by Janine Schotsmans and Maurizio Taddei (Naples, 1985), 658-62. Hartel says, "It is possible... to conclude from the inscription that the designation Bodhisattva is used only for the original Kapardin relief type with companions and the standing Kapardin figure from Mathura. The appellation changes at the very moment when this type disappears" (662). Hirtel does not further pursue the question of this coincidence between the artistic type and the designation in inscriptions, but regards the Kapardin images as representation of the Buddha. These Swat images were first noted by Johanna E. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw in her "New Evidence with Regard to the Origin of the Buddha Image," in South Asian Archaeology 1979, edited by Herbert Hartel (Berlin, 1981), 377-400.

























207 207 207

argues that the earliest Mathura type (hereafter the Kapardin type,7 for convenience following the

conventional usage) and a similar type from the Swat region were created as distinctive iconographic

types for the Bodhisattva, Gautama before Enlightenment.8 In order to prove this thesis, we will first examine the conventional idea that the terms Buddha

and Bodhisattva were used without much distinction in the early period. This idea was most

eloquently stated by the late Johanna van Lohuizen-de Leeuw. In The "Scythian" Period, she argues:

In our opinion, the most probable solution is that the meaning of the word Bodhisattva has

altered, that is to say, in the long run the word acquired a more limited sense than was originally the case. The literal translation of the word Bodhisattva, "He whose essence (or object) is perfect knowledge," by no means restricts this denomination to creatures before the Enlightenment. In itself there would be grammatically speaking no objection to apply the designation of Bodhi- sattva to a creature after the Bodhi as well.... As appears from an inscription on a Buddha image discovered at Bodh-Gaya of the year 64 of the Gupta era, in which this image is designated as a

Bodhisattva, we can assume that the narrowing of the meaning of Bodhisattva did not begin to be

customary until the 4th century A.D.9

To anyone who is familiar with Buddhist scriptures at all, however, van Lohuizen-de Leeuw's

suggestion is out of the question. To the best of my knowledge, there is no single biographical

description of the life of the Buddha in the early Buddhist canon which confuses these two terms: for

example, in the Mahavastu, the Lalitavistara, the Pali Niddnakath and in a number of othe r bio-

graphies of the Buddha preserved in Chinese translations from the earliest period, the term

Bodhisattva is invariably used for Gautama up to the point of Enlightenment and the terms Buddha,

Tathagata or Bhagavan replace Bodhisattva from that point on.I0 This usage is also consistently observed in the Agamas and the Nikdyas, where the same rule also applied to other mdnusi Buddhas of

7 This term was coined by van Lohuizen-de Leeuw after the kaparda (shell) form of the hair knot distinctive in this type of images (The "Scythian" Period, I80). Therefore, theoretically it should be restricted to the images with this particular configuration of hair;

but in this paper it will be used in a wider sense to designate images of the early Mathura type with the right shoulder bare

regardless of the form of hair. 8 Lucian Schermann presented long ago an idea that the Mathura images inscribed "Bodhisattva" represent Gautama after his

Renunciation and before the Enlightenment ("Die altersten Buddhadarstellungen der Miinchener Museums fiiur V6olkerkunde,"

Miinchenerjahrbuch der Bildenden Kunst 6 [1929]: I51, as quoted in The "Scythian" Period, 178), but this was rejected by van Lohuizen-

de Leeuw. However, Arthur L. Basham was of a similar opinion as Schermann ("The Evolution of the Concept of the Bodhisattva,"

in The Bodhisattva Doctrine in Buddhism, edited by Leslie S. Kawamura [Waterloo, Ontario, 1981], 30-3I). Recently Martha Carter,

in an interesting discussion on the evolution of the Buddha image in Gandhara, expresses a similar opinion as the theory that will

be examined in this paper ("A Gandharan Bronze Buddha Statuette: Its Place in the Evolution of the Buddha Image in Gandhara,"

MAarg 39-4 [1988]: 21-38). 9 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, The "Scythian" Period, 178-79. IO Mahavastu, Emile Senart's edition (Paris, i882-97) 2: 284-86, 344-48 (John J. Jones' translation [i949-56] 2: 266-69, 344-48);

Lalitavistara, Parashuram L. Vaidya's edition in Buddhist Sanskrit Texts I (1958): 293-94 (Edouard Foucaux's French translation in

Annales du Musee Guimet i6 [18841: 293-94); Niddnakatha, Viggo Fausboll's edition in The Jataka Together with its Comnaentary

(London, 1877-96), I: 72-77 (Thomas W. Rhys Davids' translation, Buddhist Birth Stories [2d ed., London, I9251, 190-200). The

texts in Chinese translation include Xiuxing benqijing (trans. by Kang Mengxiang in I97, T. I84), Taizi ruiying benqijing (trans. by Zhi Qian in 223-53, T. I85), Puyaojing (another recension of Lalitavistara, an earlier version than the extant Sanskrit version; trans.

by Dharmaraksa in 308, T. i86), Fangguazng dazhuangyanjing (Lalitavistara; trans. by Divakara in 683, T. 187), Pusa benqijing (trans.

by Nie Daozhen in 280-312, T. i88), Guoqu xianzaiyinguojing (trans. by Gunabhadra in 444-53, T. 189), Fobenxing jijing (trans. by

Jnanagupta in 59I-92, T. 190), Fosuoxing zan (Buddhacarita; trans. by Baoyun in 424-53, T. 192) and Fobenxing jing (trans. by

Baoyun in 424-53, T. I93). Also consult Paul Demieville, "Bosatsu" (Bodhisattva), Hobogirin 3 (Tokyo, 1930): 136-42; Basham,

"The Evolution of the Concept of the Bodhisattva."







































































zo8 zo8 zo8

the past and the future." Such consistency in the textual tradition makes it unthinkable that the

interchange or confusion between these two terms was present among the ancient Buddhists.'2 Even

though one might argue that the textual tradition and the common usage were separate, it is hard to

imagine that inscriptions contradicted the remarkable consistency in texts.'3 It is not clearly known when the word bodhisattva began to be used by the Buddhists. Some

scholars believe that it already existed during Asoka's time, and others suggest that it appeared

during the first century B.C.'4 In any case, it seems certain that the meaning and the usage of the

word were fully established by the first and second centuries A.D., around which time the images with the inscription "Bodhisattva" appeared in Mathura. There seems no doubt that the word

Bodhisattva in early Mathura inscriptions meant Gautama before Enlightenment.'5

II Numerous examples are found in the Agamas and the Nikayas. Here just one example is cited for reference from the Samyutta- nikaya (5:263): "Pubbe va me bhikkhave sambodhaya anabhisambuddhassa bodhisattasseva sato etad ahosi" (The Exalted One said:

'Formerly, when I was unenlightened, but just a Bodhisattva, this occurred to me...' [trans. by Mrs. Rhys Davids in The Book of the

Kindred Sayings (I917) 5: 235]). I2 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw (The "Scythian" Period, 179) cites as evidence for her opinion a passage from the Theragatha (no. 534), which

reads: ".. .Buddhassa mata pana Mayanama ya bodhisattam parihariya kucchina..." (.. .the Buddha's mother was called Maya, who

having cherished the Bodhisattva with her womb, ...) (trans. Kenneth R. Norman, The Elders' Verses I [I969]: 54). However, it is

doubtful that in this passage the words Bodhisatta (Bodhisattva) and Buddha are used with no distinction. Here the two words are

used in different contexts. Maya can be called the "mother of the Buddha" regardless of time, because this describes the general status of Maya in the narrative; on the other hand, the word Bodhisatta is used within a particular narrative situation conditioned

by time. In the textual tradition, the term Bodhisattva was never used for Gautama after Enlightenment, even though the terms Buddha or Bhagavan were occasionally used for Gautama before the Enlightenment in a retrospective sense.

'3 Gregory Schopen cites a bi-scriptual inscription from Mathura, which he thinks includes both the words Bodhisattva and Buddha, as evidence from outside the textual tradition for his idea that the two words were interchangeable ("The Inscription on the Kushan Image," i18). This inscription, carved on the pedestal of a broken image, is composed of four lines, of which the first three lines are inscribed in Brahmi and the last line in Kharosthi. The Brahmi part records the fact that an image of the Bodhisattva was dedicated at a vihara in Mathura in the forty-sixth (six is not certain) year of the Kaniska era, and it causes no difficulty. The

problem is the last line in Kharosthi. Braja Dulal Chattopadhyaya, who first deciphered this inscription, read this line, "Makarapratima mahada(m) danayakasa Ehada" ("On a Bi-scriptual epigraph of the Kusana Period from Mathura,"Journal of the Ancient Indian History 13 [1980-82]): 277-84); "mahada(m) danayakasa Ehada" was understood as the title and name of the donor, but the meaning of "Makarapratima"(literally, "the image of nakara") was not clear. Bishwa Nath Mukherjee, correcting Chattopadhyaya's reading, read instead, "B(u)dhasapratima" (the image of the Buddha), and argued that the image was identified

differently in the Brahmi and the Kharosthi parts ("A Note on a Bi-scriptual Epigraph of the Kushana Period from Mathura," ibid., 285-86). However, this is not a decisive proof for Schopen's idea. First, we cannot accept Mukherjee's reading without

question. In the published photograph (Indian Archaeology 1972-73: pl. sob), the first aksara does not seem necessarily "B(u)," and the third aksara, supposedly "sa," looks different from another aksara which is more clearly readable as "sa" in the same line. Even

though I admit Mukherjee's authority on paleography, I wonder in this case whether his reading was absolutely right and whether the word Buddha is indeed present in the inscription. Second, even if the inscription does refer to Bodhisattva and Buddha in the Brahmi part and the Kharosthi respectively, it does not necessarily mean that the two words were interchangeable as Schopen supposes. Mukherjee himself implies that difference in meaning between Buddha and Bodhisattva was known in Mathura; but he

suggests that the image was inscribed "Buddha" in the Kharosthi part especially for the donor who probably came from Gandhara and took the injunction against making a Buddha image less seriously.

I4 Basham cites its earliest occurrences in the Majjhizma-nikdya and the Kathavatthu of the Abhidhamma Pitaka, the latter being ascribed by him to Asoka's time ("The Evolution," 21 and n. 6). But such an early date for these texts is questionable. The Japanese scholar Hikata Ryusho, citing the fact that at Bharhut stepa incarnations of Gautama in his previous lives are referred to as

Bhagavan, not Bodhisattva, suggests that it had not originated by that time ("Bosatsu shiso no kigen to tenkai" [The origin and the development of the Bodhisattva doctrine], in Bukkyo no konpon shinri [Fundamental teachings of Buddhism], edited by Miyamoto Shoson [Tokyo, 1957], 219-24). But this simply may mean that the word was not used yet for the period of Gautama's

previous lives. 15 We also rule out the possibility that the word Bodhisattva was used for designating a person (in this case, Gautama), that is, even

compassing the post-Enlightenment period. Buddhahood is the final state Gautama attained; therefore the word can be, and

frequently is, used to designate Gautama even for the period prior to the Enlightenment, i.e. the period when he was a bodhisattva, in a retrospective way. But the stage of bodhisattva, even though it is prerequisite for attaining Buddhahood, is still incomplete in terms of spiritual ascension in Buddhism; obviously the word Bodhisattva is not an adequate designation for one who has already























































209 209 209

The Japanese scholar Takata Osamu, who wrote a monumental work on the origin of the Buddha

image, thinks that the designation Bodhisattva in Mathura inscriptions, clearly differentiated from

Buddha, meant Gautama prior to the Enlightenment; but he believes that such designation was

deliberately inscribed on the images that actually represented the Buddha, because the making of the Buddha image was not yet allowed.6 Whether any interdiction against making a Buddha image existed in early Buddhism or in what form it did so have been controversial subjects of scholarly debate, particularly in recent years.I7 If such an interdiction did exist in Mathura and the Buddhists there, in compliance with the interdiction, merely had to be content with making images of the

Bodhisattva, I would think that the images were created as actual representations of the Bodhisattva, not just the Bodhisattva in name. As far as the identity of an image was publicly declared as

Bodhisattva in the inscription, there would have been no point in making it in the representation of

the Buddha.'8 Furthermore, as recently demonstrated by Gregory Schopen through epigraphical evidence, learned Buddhist monks and nuns were deeply involved in the making and the dedication

of many images of the Kapardin type from Mathura.'9 For example, we may remember the famous

Sarvastivada monk Bala, a tripitaka, who dedicated Bodhisattva images at Sarnath and Sravasti (fig.

5).20 It seems unlikely that such monastics, who appear to have had profound knowledge in Buddhist

scriptures and an important place in the Buddhist community, would have relied on a mere verbal

subterfuge in order to justify the dedication of such images, if this was prohibited by custom or

official interdiction. Thus, it is unrealistic to suggest that the name and the identity of the images differed. The images inscribed "Bodhisattva" of the Kapardin type represented the Bodhisattva, not

only in name but also in reality. Now moving a step forward, the supposition that the Kapardin type was created as an iconic

representation of the Bodhisattva or Gautama before Enlightenment is supported, first of all, by the

fact that the majority of the images in this type are inscribed "Bodhisattva." To the best of my

knowledge, among the extant images of the Kapardin type there are eighteen examples that are

identifiable in their inscriptions (see Table: A-i, 2, 4, 8, 9, Io, II, 14, i6, i8, B-i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9). Ten

of them are inscribed with dates, which range from the second to the thirty-ninth year of the Kaniska

era,2' and they are all referred to as Bodhisattva in the inscriptions (Table: A-i, 2, 4, 8, 9, Io, II, 14, i6,

i8). Among the remaining eight, six are inscribed Bodhisattva (Table: B-i, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6); they include

three or four examples stylistically datable to the pre-Kaniska years (B-i, 3, 6, 2? 4?). The last two

attained Buddhahood. We would not call an image of the Buddha, "an image of the Bodhisattva after he became a Buddha," while we may call an image of the Bodhisattva, "an image of the Buddha before Enlightenment (or when he was a Bodhisattva)." We can

easily presume that the same convention applied to the ancient period. As far as distinction between Bodhisattva and Buddha was

clearly known, there is little possibility in ordinary circumstances that the images inscribed "Bodhisattva" represented a being other than the Bodhisattva. Takata Osamu, Butsuzo no kigen (The origin of the Buddha image) (Tokyo, I967), 400-12.

17 See for example, Susan Huntington, The Art of Ancient India, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (New York and Tokyo, I985), 70-73, 97-100, II3-15, 119-23; idem., "Early Buddhist Art and the Theory of Aniconism," Art Journal 49-4 (1990): 40I-08; Vidya Dehejia, "Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems," Ars Orientalis 21 (1992): 45-66.

I8 Basham expresses the same opinion ("The Evolution," 30). 'I Schopen, "On Monks, Nuns and 'Vulgar' Practices: the Introduction of the Image Cult into Indian Buddhism," Artibus Asiae 49-

I/2 (1988-89): 158-65. 20 See below Table: A-2, B-5. 21 I think that the beginning of the Kaniska era probably falls between Rosenfield's date (A.D. 110-I5, from The Dynastic Arts of the

Kushans [Berkeley, I967], 253-58) and Ghirshmann's (A.D. 143/4, from "Le probleme de la chronologie des Koushans," Cahiers d'histoire mondiale 3 [19571: 689-722). But because of controversy surrounding the date of this era, in this paper I generally avoid

converting the years from the Kaniska era into the Common Era.





























































210 210 210

examples are inscribed "Buddha" and "Bhagavan Buddha Sakyamuni" respectively, but they can be

easily regarded as exceptions (B-8, 9). Stylistically, one (B-9) is datable to around the middle of the

Kaniska era or slightly later at the earliest, and the other (B-8; fig. 6) may be slightly earlier. Two

standing images, dedicated in the forty-fifth and the fifty-first years of the Kaniska era respectively, are both inscribed "Bhagavan Sakyamuni"; they could have been in the Kapardin type, even though we cannot confirm this because the parts below the ankles are broken away (Table: A-I9, 22). From this evidence, we can conclude that the images of the Kapardin type were consistently inscribed

"Bodhisattva" until the middle of the Kaniska era, when "Buddha" or equivalent designations

appeared in inscriptions. This fact strongly suggests that the Kapardin type was created to represent the Bodhisattva.22

Table: Bodhisattva/Buddha images from Kushan Mathura23

I: Kapardin type II: the later Mathura type with both shoulders covered

(=Gandharan type) x: originally missing ?: unknown

A: Images with the Inscriptions of Date

NO. YEAR24 TYPE NAME REFERENCE

I 2 I Bodhisattva Chandra,25 no. 85 2 3 I Bodhisattva Vogel,26 pl. 28; LL27 925, 926

3 4 I (?) Bodhisattva Hirtel,28 656 4 4 I Bodhisattva Pal,29 9 and fig. 9

5 5 I ? Sharma (I984),3? I8Iff and fig. 89 6 6(?) ? I (?) Bodhisattva Sharma (I975),3I 15

22 Hartel remarks, "the designation 'Bodhisattva' remains unaltered through the years 2 to 39 of the Kaniska era" ("The Concept," 659).

23 Similar tables are in Takata, 308-09 (table 9) and Hartel, 656-57; both of them were consulted. Note, however, that Takata's table lists only images with inscribed dates, and Hartel's only images of the Kapardin type with inscribed dates.

24 Note that I follow here the theory of omitted hundred proposed by van Lohuizen-de Leeuw in The "Scythian" Period (cf. Joanna Williams, "The Case of Omitted Hundreds: Stylistic Development in Mathura Sculpture of the Kusana Period," in Mathura: the Cultural Heritage, edited by Doris Srinivasan [New Delhi, 1989], 325-31). When the theory is applied, there is a three-digit number in parentheses next to the inscribed year.

25 Pramod Chandra, Stone Sculptures in the Allahabad Museum (Poona, I970). 6 ean Ph. Vogel, "Epigraphical Discoveries at Sarnath," Epigraphia Indica 8 (I905-o6).

27 The number of an inscription listed in Liders, A List of Brahni Inscriptions fromz the Earliest 'Tizes to about A.D. 400 with the

Exception of Those of Asoka, Appendix to Epigraphia Indica Io (I912). 28

Hrtel, "The Concept." 29 Pratapaditya Pal, "A Pre-Kushan Buddha Image from Mathura," Mdrg 39-4 (I988): -20. 30 Ramesh Chandra Sharma, Buddhist Art of Mathura (New Delhi, I984). 3I G. Sharma, "The Saka-Kushans in the Central Ganga Valley (Mainly Review of New Data from Kausambi)," in Central Asia in the

Kushan Period, edited by Bobodzhan G. Gafurov, et al. (Moscow, 1974-75), 2: 15-41.













































211 211 211

7 8 (or io8?) II Bodhisattva(?)32 Myer,33 fig. 23; LM34 I28

8 I6 or Io I Bodhisattva LM I57

9 17 I Bodhisattva Sharma (1984), fig. 90; LM

10 20 I Bodhisattva Rosenfield,35 fig. 31; LM 7:









I I50

3

I I50

3

I I50

3 Bodhisattva Bodhisattva Bodhisattva Sharma (1984), fig. 9I; LM I36 Sharma (1984), fig. 9I; LM I36 Sharma (1984), fig. 9I; LM I36

12 28 I ? LM 28

13 31 I ? LM I03

14 3I I Bodhisattva Czuma,36 227, no. 9

15 32 I x Sharma (1984), I89-9o and fig. 78 I6 33 I Bodhisattva LM 24

12 28 I ? LM 28

13 31 I ? LM I03



12 28 I ? LM 28

13 31 I ? LM I03



Bodhisattva

Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bodhisattva/Buddha (?)

Bodhisattva


Bodhisattva


Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bodhisattva(?)39 Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bodhisattva(?)39 Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bodhisattva(?)39

Takata,37 pl. 60; LL I421 Sharma (I984), fig. IOI; LM z26

LM i8o


LM i8o


LM i8o

Indian Archaeology 1972-73, pl. 5ob38 Indian Archaeology 1972-73, pl. 5ob38 Indian Archaeology 1972-73, pl. 5ob38 LL 51 Sharma (I984), fig. IIo; LM 29

Sharma (1984), fig. 109; LM 134

LL 51 Sharma (I984), fig. IIo; LM 29

Sharma (1984), fig. 109; LM 134

LL 51 Sharma (I984), fig. IIo; LM 29

Sharma (1984), fig. 109; LM 134

24 24 24 53 53 53

25 64 or 67 25 64 or 67 25 64 or 67

2 2 2 2 2 2

Sakyamuni(?) Sakyamuni(?) Sakyamuni(?)

Bajpai,40 I36-37 Sircar (I953-54)41



Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bhagavan Sakyamuni Bhagavan Sakyamuni 2 2 2

x x x

Bhagavan Pitamaha

Samvaksambuddha Bhagavan Pitamaha

Samvaksambuddha Bhagavan Pitamaha

Samvaksambuddha

Biihler,42 212, no. 42 Sharma (1984), 278 and fig. 128

Sharma (I984), 278 and fig. I29





Sharma (I984), fig. 127

Agrawala,43 76-78


Agrawala,43 76-78


Agrawala,43 76-78 LM 8 LM 8 LM 8

32 32 32 6 (=II6) 6 (=II6) 6 (=II6)

33 22 (= 122) 33 22 (= 122) 33 22 (= 122)

2 2 2

II II II

Bhagavan Advitiyapurusa



Buddha Buddha Buddha

Sircar (I948)44

Sharma (1984), fig. I26; LM 74

Sircar (I948)44


Sircar (I948)44


34 34 34 36 (=136) 36 (=136) 36 (=136) II II II x x x Sharma (1984), fig. 131 Sharma (1984), fig. 131 Sharma (1984), fig. 131

32 See below n. 73. 33 Prudence Myer, "Bodhisattvas and Buddhas: Early Buddhist Images from Mathura," Artibus Asiae 47, no. 2 (I986): 107-42. 34 The number of an inscription listed in Liiders, Mathura Inscriptions. 3 The Dynastic Arts of the Kushans. 36 Stanislaw Czuma, Kushan Sculpture: Images from India (Cleveland, I985). 37 Butsuzo no kigen. 38 See above n. I3. 39 See below n. 47. 40 Siksha (April 1955). 41 Dines Chandra Sircar, "Mathura Image Inscription ofVasudeva," Epigraphia Indica 30 (I953-54): I81-84. 42 Georg Biihler, "Further Jaina Inscriptions from Mathura," Epigraphia Indica 2 (I894): 195-212. 43 Vasudev S. Agrawala, "Catalogue of the Mathura Museum: Buddha and Bodhisattva Images," Jornal of the United Provinces

Historical Society 21 (948): 42-98. 44 Dines Chandra Sircar, "A Stone Inscription in the Patna Museum,"Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Letters) 14 (1948): II7-20.





212 212 212

II II II 23 23 23 I I I

I7 I7 I7 35 35 35 I8 I8 I8

I I I

39 39 39 I I I

45 45 45

46 46 46

I9 I9 I9

20 20 20

21

22

21

22

21

22

23 23 23

50

5I

50

5I

50

5I (?)

7I(?) (?)

7I(?) (?)

7I(?)

SI SI SI II II II

26 74 26 74 26 74

27 27 27

28

29

28

29

28

29

30 30 30

3I 3I 3I

2 2 2

II II II II II II II II II I I I

83 83 83

83 83 83 83 83 83

92 92 92

14 (=14) 14 (=14) 14 (=14)

I I I I I I

I I I

I I I

I - I - I -

I . I I . I I . I

I - '' , I I - '' , I I - '' , I

- -.1 - -1 - -.1 - -1 - -.1 - -1

I I I I I I

.1 .1 .1

- - - - - -

B: Images of Unknown Dates B: Images of Unknown Dates B: Images of Unknown Dates

NO. TYPE NAME REFERENCE NO. TYPE NAME REFERENCE NO. TYPE NAME REFERENCE

i I Bodhisattva Sharma (I984), fig. 78; LM 2

2 I Bodhisattva Sharma (1984), fig. 87; Vogel, I80

3 I Bodhisattva Myer, fig. I; LM i

4 I Bodhisattva Sharma (1984), fig. 88

5 I Bodhisattva Sharma (I984), fig. I30; LL 918, 919

6 I Bodhisattva Sharma (1984), fig. 86; LM Io6

7 I (?) Bodhisattva Sharma (I974-75), 5







7 I (?) Bodhisattva Sharma (I974-75), 5







7 I (?) Bodhisattva Sharma (I974-75), 5 8 I Buddha Takata, pl. 65; LM I35

9 I Bhagavan Buddha Sharma (1984), fig. 99

Sakyamuni Io II Bhagavan Sakyamuni Waldschmidt,45 pl. 36c

Second, the images of the Gandharan type with both shoulders covered began to appear commonly in Mathura around the middle of the first century of the Kaniska era (fig. 3), and this type dominated among representations of Sakyamuni Buddha from this time onward through the Gupta period (fig. 7), while the Kapardin type became almost obsolete as icons. This is a remarkable

phenomenon because prior to this time the Kapardin type had been well established in Buddhist art

of this region, even though the reason for it has seldom been questioned. It is obvious that the

Buddhists in Mathura regarded the Gandharan type as more suitable for their icons. But why? The

only possible answer to this question seems that they considered the Kapardin type inappropriate for

the representation of Gautama Buddha, because it had been invented and was being used as a type

representing Gautama Bodhisattva.46

Icons of the Gandharan type made after the middle of the first century of the Kaniska era during the Kushan period are generally smaller in scale and much debased in quality, compared with icons

of the earlier Kapardin type, probably as a reflection of the degeneration of the social or economic

situation in the region following the decline of the Kushan empire. The inscriptions on such icons

tended to become shorter and lack the names of the represented deities. Therefore, it is not easy to

recognize the identity of the images. But the two identifiable examples are inscribed "Buddha" and

"Bhagavan Sakyamuni" respectively (Table: A-33, B-io; fig. 8). The former is datable according to the

inscription to the twenty-second year, which is interpreted as the I22nd year of the Kaniska era when

the theory of omitted hundred is applied; the latter is stylistically datable to the early second century of the Kaniska era.47

45 Ernst Waldschmidt, "Die Entwicklungsgeschichte des Buddhabildes in Indien," Ostasiatische Zeitschrift, n.f. 6 (1930): 265-77. 46 If the carving of the inscription Bodhisattva had been a mere subterfuge, it would have been sufficient to replace simply on an

image of the same Kapardin type the designation "Bodhisattva" by "Buddha," and there would have been no need to abandon their own iconographic type.

47 A seated image from Anyor dated in the fifty-first year of the Kaniska era (A-23) has an inscription, in which Liiders barely read ".. . Bo ... [t] . a." This reading is not entirely reliable because this part is so badly worn. But if this inscription did include the word Bodhisattva, this can be attributed to Buddhists in Mathura having been accustomed to not making the image of the Buddha, still

being shy of inscribing the name Buddha on the image of the new type.

8 I Buddha Takata, pl. 65; LM I35






















8 I Buddha Takata, pl. 65; LM I35






















213 213 213

Third, it is questionable that the figure represented in the Kapardin type is iconographically identifiable as the Buddha. Figures of the Kapardin type wear very thin cloth that reveals most of the

body, and underneath it only a dhoti covers the lower part of the body. Japanese scholars have raised

questions citing the passage in the Sarvdstivdda-vinaya that the samnghdt should not be worn directly on the body.48 Doubts have also been raised whether the Buddha or monastics would have worn such

diaphanous cloth. Alexander B. Griswold points out that a parallel for the dress scheme of the

Kapardin type is not found in the modern Theravada practice and that the inflection of the dress is unusual for the samghati.49 An alternative explanation has been presented that the dress represents

uttardsamga instead of samghdte.50 But it seems improbable that if the dress for the first Buddha

images of Mathura was designed on the basis of monastic garments, as is the case of Gandharan

Buddhas, such an awkward form would be chosen lacking the samghdt, which is supposedly the most

basic and the most important part in the monastic dress. I find it hard to regard the dress of the

Kapardin type as a monastic robe and to attribute the difference in dress scheme between the

Kapardin type and the Gandharan type to climate or custom as has often been suggested previously. Our previous conception of this type of dress as a monastic garment has been based, in fact, on the

assumption that the figures of this type represent the Buddha in any case. However, if we see that it

has nothing to do with the monastic dress, the problem becomes more comprehensible. The dress of

the Kapardin type is more likely a shawl made of thin fabric, which was an important part of male

dress in ancient India.5' This type of shawl was often draped on the body folded together in the form

of a narrow strip as we see for example in an image in the Lucknow State Museum (fig. 9) or an image

of Maitreya Bodhisattva from Ahicchatra (fig. o). In the Kapardin type, it was worn in a broader

form covering most of the body except for the right shoulder. The way the shawl was worn in the

images of the Kapardin type is essentially no different from that worn by another Maitreya Bodhisattva from Mathura or those worn by some conventional Bodhisattva figures from Gandhara

(fig. I).52

In what form, then, was the Bodhisattva Gautama represented? I believe that it is most likely the

Bodhisattva after Renunciation that was represented. Compared with contemporary Mathura images we noted above, such as the Maitreya from Ahicchatra, another Maitreya in the Mathura Museum or

an image in the Lucknow State Museum, the most obvious difference in the figure of the Kapardin

type is that it does not wear any jewelry; the person is removed from the ordinary, secular world. We

48 T. 1435: 4I9b; Takata, 371-72. It is worthwhile to note here that there are extant several Kapardin images dedicated in connection with this school.

49 Alexander Griswold, "Prolegomena to the Study of the Buddha's Dress in Chinese Sculpture," Artibus Asiae 36-2 (1963-64): II1-I2.

50 Yamamoto Chikyo, Matora kobijutsu (The art of ancient Mathura), 47 (quoted in Takata, 372). 51 We have to bear in mind that the possibility for confusion in our conception between a monastic garment and a secular shawl may

be inevitable, because the monastic dress of the ancient Buddhists must have developed from the secular costume of the time, and

it would be a misconception that the former had a totally different system from the latter.

52 For the Maitreya from Mathura (Mathura Museum inv. no. A68), see Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report, 1909-I9I0: 68

and pl. 24b. - The bare right shoulder in the Kapardin type may remind one of certain Buddha images from the Andhra region (cf. Susan Huntington, The Art of Ancient India, fig. 9.25). But there is a marked difference in that in the latter the body is not visible

through the garment. Among Buddha images made in Mathura and Sarnath during the Gupta period, there are a few examples that disclose the bodies underneath the garments (see for example, Joanna Williams, The Art of Gupta India [Princeton, 1982], pls.

85, 97). However, they are removed from the period when the icon of the Buddha was first created, at least by three hundred years, and the original conception that the image of the Buddha wears a monastic garment must have been forgotten or ignored.

Through gradual process of deification that started around the beginning of the Common Era, the Buddha came to be regarded as a

god, like a Hindu god, and its iconography was no longer bound by its original conception, images being remarkably transformed

except for basic details.




















(fig. I).52




































(fig. I).52

















214 214 214

Fig. i "Bodhisattva." (Table: B-i) From Katra. Mathura Museum. After Takata, Butsuzo no kigen, pl. 63. Fig. i "Bodhisattva." (Table: B-i) From Katra. Mathura Museum. After Takata, Butsuzo no kigen, pl. 63. Fig. i "Bodhisattva." (Table: B-i) From Katra. Mathura Museum. After Takata, Butsuzo no kigen, pl. 63.

Fig. 2 Buddha. From Takht-i-Bahi (Gandhara). Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin.

The author wishes to thank the following museums and publishers for permission to

publish the objects in their collections or the photographs in their publications in this article: Government Museum, Mathura; State Museum, Lucknow; National Museum, New Delhi; Indian Museum, Culcutta; Sarnath Museum, New Delhi; Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh; Lahore Museum; Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin; Iwanami shoten, Tokyo; Agam Kala Prakashan, Delhi.







1- 1- 1-

Fig. 3 Buddha. From Mathura. Mathura Museum. After Takata, pl. 67. Fig. 3 Buddha. From Mathura. Mathura Museum. After Takata, pl. 67. Fig. 3 Buddha. From Mathura. Mathura Museum. After Takata, pl. 67.

Fig. 4 Bodhisattva u'ith two uorshippers. Provenance unknown (probably from Swat). Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin. Fig. 4 Bodhisattva u'ith two uorshippers. Provenance unknown (probably from Swat). Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin. Fig. 4 Bodhisattva u'ith two uorshippers. Provenance unknown (probably from Swat). Museum fur Indische Kunst, Berlin.

Fig. 5 "Bodhisattva." (A-2) K.E. 3. From Sarnath. Sarnath Museum. After Takata, pl. 59. Fig. 5 "Bodhisattva." (A-2) K.E. 3. From Sarnath. Sarnath Museum. After Takata, pl. 59. Fig. 5 "Bodhisattva." (A-2) K.E. 3. From Sarnath. Sarnath Museum. After Takata, pl. 59.

Fig. 7 Buddha. Gupta period (434/5 A.D.). From

Govindnagar. Mathura Museum. Fig. 7 Buddha. Gupta period (434/5 A.D.). From

Govindnagar. Mathura Museum. Fig. 7 Buddha. Gupta period (434/5 A.D.). From

Govindnagar. Mathura Museum.

Fig. 6 "Buddha." (B-8) From Anyor. Mathura Museum. Fig. 6 "Buddha." (B-8) From Anyor. Mathura Museum. Fig. 6 "Buddha." (B-8) From Anyor. Mathura Museum.

Fig. 8 "Buddha." (A-33) K.E. 122. From Mathura. Mathura Museum. After R. C. Sharma, Buddhist Art of Mathura, fig. I26.



Fig. 9 Prince Siddhartha (?). From Ganesra. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 62. Fig. 9 Prince Siddhartha (?). From Ganesra. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 62. Fig. 9 Prince Siddhartha (?). From Ganesra. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 62.

Fig. Io Maitreya Bodhisattva. From Ahicchatra. National Museum, New Delhi.



Fig. ii Maitreya Bodhisattva. From Gandhara. Government Museum and Art Gallery, Chandigarh. Courtesy Ameri- can Institute of Indian Art.



Fig. 12 Bodhisattva. Ist-2nd century A.D. Butkara I, great stupa (in situ). After Faccenna, Butkara I, pl. 2ob. Fig. 12 Bodhisattva. Ist-2nd century A.D. Butkara I, great stupa (in situ). After Faccenna, Butkara I, pl. 2ob. Fig. 12 Bodhisattva. Ist-2nd century A.D. Butkara I, great stupa (in situ). After Faccenna, Butkara I, pl. 2ob.

Fig. 13 Farewellfrom the beloved horse. From Gandhara. Lahore Museum. After Harald Ingholt, Gandharan Art in Pakistan (I957), fig. 49.

(I957), fig. 49.


(I957), fig. 49.


(I957), fig. 49.

Fig. I4 Visit of Indra (detail). From Mathura. Mathura Museum. Fig. I4 Visit of Indra (detail). From Mathura. Mathura Museum. Fig. I4 Visit of Indra (detail). From Mathura. Mathura Museum.

Fig. 15 Offering of the Four Heavenly Fig. i6 "Bodhisattva." Gupta period (384/5 A.D.).

Kings. From Isapur. Mathura Museum. From Bodhgaya. Indian Museum, Calcutta. Fig. 15 Offering of the Four Heavenly Fig. i6 "Bodhisattva." Gupta period (384/5 A.D.).

Kings. From Isapur. Mathura Museum. From Bodhgaya. Indian Museum, Calcutta. Fig. 15 Offering of the Four Heavenly Fig. i6 "Bodhisattva." Gupta period (384/5 A.D.).

Kings. From Isapur. Mathura Museum. From Bodhgaya. Indian Museum, Calcutta.

Fig. 17 Door lintel. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 70. Fig. 17 Door lintel. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 70. Fig. 17 Door lintel. Lucknow State Museum. After Takata, pl. 70.

are reminded of Gautama, who, having renounced the worldly life, took off his turban and princely attire.

The period of Bodhisattva after Renunciation is the highest point in his practice with the attainment of Buddhahood just ahead. It is quite possible, as scholars have suggested, that the word

Bodhisattva, "one whose essence is bodhi" or "one who seeks bodhi," was originally confined to this

period and was gradually extended to the period before Renunciation and then to the period of the previous lives.53 With the rise of the Bodhisattva ideal, the previous lives became important as

exemplary of this practice, and the word was often used in close connection with the period of the

previous lives as well as the period between Renunciation and Enlightenment. In two of the earliest texts of the Buddha's life in the Chinese translations, Xiuxing benqijing and Taizi ruiyingbenqijing, translated during the late second and the early third centuries A.D. respectively, the term Bodhi- sattva is used up to the point he was in the Tusita Heaven and for the period from the moment of Renunciation to Enlightenment, while the term "crown prince" (taizi, rajaputra?) is used in between the two periods.54 If a particular form was chosen for representation of the Bodhisattva, it seems most

plausible that the appearance of the period after Renunciation was selected.55 Various symbolic features, such as those of mahdpurusa, cakravartin or yaksa, as some scholars have suggested, may have been incorporated additionally in the configuration of the Kapardin type, but it was basically a

representation of the Bodhisattva after Renunciation.56 Let us turn now to a group of stone reliefs from the Swat valley which has been brought to our

attention by van Lohuizen-de Leeuw (figs. 4, I2).57 The scene on these reliefs is composed of three

figures: the central figure, probably Gautama, seated in meditating pose on a pedestal under a bodhi tree, worshipped by two standing figures in anijali, who are identifiable as Brahma and Indra. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw has pointed out striking similarities in style and form between these images and the seated images of the Kapardin type from Mathura (cf. fig. ig ), even though she did not consider the meaning of this type.58 Indeed, similarity in the composition is remarkable, although the poses of the central and the flanking figures are somewhat different. The central figure is dressed in a somewhat different way, even more clearly wearing a shawl rather than a monastic garment. The

53 A.G. Kariyawasan, "Bodhisattva," Encyclopaedia of Buddhism 3-2 (I972): 224-25. 54 T. I84: 461-72; T. I85: 472-78. I am grateful to the late Professor Alexander Soper for pointing out this in a personal

communication. 55 An alternative has been provided by Giovanni Verardi, who recently presented an idea on the iconographic meaning of the

Kapardin figures, focusing on the Friar Bala image from Sarnath dated K.E. 3 (fig. 5) ("Avatarana: a Note on the Bodhisattva Image Dated in the Third Year of Kaniska in the Sarnath Museum," East and West 35-I/3 [1985]: 67-IOI). Verardi argues that the chattra and the supporting pillar of the image symbolize heaven and the intermediate world between heaven and earth respectively and that the Bodhisattva is in the act of descending from heaven. However, such features as a chattra and a pillar do not appear in all standing images of the Kapardin type; also, his idea cannot explain the seated images. At the same time, most of the textual accounts Verardi uses in his discussion, for example from the Mahdvastu and the Dasabhumika-sutra, are probably later than the Kapardin Bodhisattvas. Furthermore, we wonder whether such specialized philosophical ideas in the textual tradition were incorporated in those cult images as Verardi visualizes.

56 For the opinion that the Kapardin figures iconographically belong to the Mahapurusa-Cakravartin type, see, Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The Origin of the Buddha Image," Art Bulletin 9 (1927): 315; Hartel, 677-78. A critical problem with this opinion is that it does not explain why the Buddhists in Mathura abandoned the Kapardin type, which was based on "timeless form" in the words of Hartel.

57 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, "New Evidence." 58 Cf. van Lohuizen-de Leeuw's remark: "Without exception these representations show the Master dressed in exactly the same way as

the Kapardin Buddha from Mathura, i.e. the material covers only the left shoulder. In fact, quite a large number of these Buddhas have an almost completely bare chest, not customary in the classical Kapardin type of Mathura in which part of the chest is covered by the robe" ("New Evidence," 384).

































219 219 219

shawl is gathered here in a narrow form, thus most of the upper body is bared with only the left shoulder covered. This is a more common way for ordinary men or devas dressed in princely attire to wear a shawl when they appear in narrative representations of the ancient period. The central figure in the Swat reliefs is indistinguishable from such figures except that it lacks a turban and jewelry. The appearance of the central figure is essentially identical to that of the Bodhisattva in the scene of the Farewell from his beloved horse at the time of Renunciation depicted in later narrative reliefs from Gandhara (fig. 13).59 There seems no doubt that this figural type represented the Bodhisattva Gautama after Renunciation also.6?

The Swat reliefs have generally been regarded as the oldest extant examples among iconic

representations of Gautama made in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, since van Lohuizen-de Leeuw first presented such an idea. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw dates the reliefs to the

period between the late first century B.C. to the early first century A.D. on the basis of style and an initial report by Domenico Faccenna on the excavations of Butkara I.61 Both grounds are questionable, and we cannot be sure that all of the Swat reliefs were made at the very beginning of the period that Faccenna calls GSt. 3.62 Therefore, it would be safer to say tentatively that they are dated to the

first or second century A.D. This is approximately the same time when the images of the Kapardin

type were produced in Mathura. While the exact chronological relationship is not clear, it appears that Bodhisattva images of the two different types were made simultaneously in two regions during the first and second centuries A.D., probably as the first iconic representation of Gautama.63

The fact that there was a period in which Gautama was represented only in the form of the

Bodhisattva, not the Buddha, is attested in several passages in the Vinayas. We will note, first, a

passage from the Sarvastivdda-vinaya, which has been discussed by many scholars in this connection:

The householder Anathapindada said, "Bhagavan, since it is not permitted to make an image of the Buddha's body, I pray that the Buddha will grant that I make an image of the attendant

59 Also see Kurita Isao, Ganddra bijutsu (Gandharan art) (Tokyo, I988-90) I: figs. 157, I62, I68. Note in addition that fig. 177 in this

book shows a relief which includes Gautama dressed in an identical way as the Kapardin Bodhisattva.

60 Martha Carter also thinks that the central figure in the Swat reliefs represents the Bodhisattva Gautama, but she believes that the

Bodhisattva type was used there in the scene depicting Brahma and Indra's entreaty for the Buddha to preach the dharma, which is

indeed an incident that occurred after Enlightenment ("A Gandharan Bronze Buddha Statuette," 29). In Gandharan

representations of the Buddha's life, the scene of the seated Buddha flanked by Brahma and Indra in anjali is usually identified as

the "Entreaty to preach" as we see for example in a relief on the famous stupa from Sikri. However, we may question that all such

scenes were illustrations of the theme or that such fixed iconography was established for the theme already by the time the Swat

reliefs were made. It seems to me that many of such scenes represented a simple scene of worship rather than a fixed iconographical

type for the "Entreaty to preach." 6I Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, "New Evidence," 385-90; Domenico Faccenna, "Excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission

(IsMEO) in Pakistan: Some Problems of Gandharan Art and Architecture," Central Asia in the Kushan Period, 2: I26-79, especially

I6I, I73-74. 62 Archaeological evidence from Butkara I simply indicates, according to a detailed excavation report published in I980-82, that the

period GSt. 3, to which the Swat reliefs supposedly pertained, started around the end of the first century B.C. or the beginning of

the first century A.D. and lasted until the third century (Faccenna, Butkara I (Swat, Pakistan) 1956-62, IsMEO Reports and

Memoirs 3, pt. I [Rome, 19801: 47-75, particularly 57). It is also worth noting that the original floor of GSt. 3 was dated on the

basis of a single coin of Azes II found in a relic casket discovered there. For the coin, see Robert Gobl, A Catalogue of Coins from Butkara I, IsMEO Reports and Memoirs 4 (1976): I5 (inv. no. 5229).

63 Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw rules out the possibility that these two types were invented in Swat and Mathura independently, and

asserts that the Bodhisattva type was imported to Swat from Mathura ("New Evidence," 390-94).

























































220 220 220

Bodhisattva [pusashixiang]. Is that acceptable?" The Buddha answered, "You may make an image of the Bodhisattva."64

This passage could be interpreted as an attempt to justify the making of Bodhisattva images while

the making of Buddha images was prohibited, but there is a small puzzle in the reading "image of

the attendant Bodhisattva," not "image of Bodhisattva." Lin Li-kouang has suggested that the

Chinese character shi meaning "attendant" (with the radical "human") in this passage was probably a

scribal error for a similar character also pronounced shi meaning "time" (with the radical "sun").

Thus, according to Lin, the related phrase should be read as the "image of the time when [the Buddha was] a Bodhisattva," not as the "image of the attendant Bodhisattva."65 Lin's suggestion is

quite plausible, because the phrase "when the Buddha was a Bodhisattva" ([Fowei] pusashi) is

commonly found in Buddhist scriptures.66 It is interesting that among the Bodhisattva images of the Kapardin type there are many examples

connected to the Sarvastivada. The monk Bala, who dedicated Bodhisattva images at Sarnath and

Sravasti (Table: A-2, B-5), was a member of the Sarvastivada. The nun Buddhamitra, who dedicated

images at Kausambi three times (A-i, 6, B-7) and participated in the monk Bala's dedication at

Sarnath, seems to have been a disciple of Bala and affiliated to the Sarvastivada also. There are two

more images of which the connection with the Sarvastivada is confirmed (A-I7, B-i). Another piece of evidence is found in the Mahdsamghika-vinaya, which has been discussed by

Martha Carter:

Where there is a relic, one speaks of a stupa; where there is none, of a caitya. The caityas that mark the places where the Buddha was born, where he attained the enlightenment, where he turned the wheel of the law, and where he entered the nirvana, or where there is a Bodhisattva image, the caves of pratyekabuddhas, or the footprints of the Buddha, may have Buddha-flower canopies and

offering paraphernalia.67

This passage speaks of the Bodhisattva image, but not the Buddha image, and probably describes

the situation in which the Bodhisattva image was worshipped together with non-iconic symbols while the Buddha type had not been established yet in iconic representation in Buddhist art. Among extant images of the Kapardin type, there is one example dedicated "for the acceptance of the

Mahasamghikas" (A-8).

Besides, an image dedicated in the seventeenth year of the Kaniska era was for the acceptance of

the Dharmaguptakas (Table: A-8). All together there are nine images in the Kapardin type of which

64 T. 1435: 352a, 35a. This translation is based on one made by Alexander Soper, "Early Buddhist Attitudes toward the Art of

Painting," Art Bulletin 32-2 (I950): I40a, with some changes, including italics. Cf. Takata, 410-II; Carter, 26. 65 Lin Li-kouang, L'aide-memoire de la vraie loi (Saddharma-smrtyupasthdna-szutra) (Paris, 1949), 97 and n. 2. I am grateful to Dr. Hubert

Durt for bringing Lin's suggestion to my attention. John Huntington interprets this passage as referring to a brief prohibition in the Sarvastivada of making Buddha images during thethird and second centuries B.C. ("The Origin of the Buddha Image: Early Image Traditions and the Concept of Buddhadarsanapunya," in the Studies in Buddhist Art of South Asia, edited by Abodh K. Narain

[New Delhi, I985], 27). However, there is no ground for dating this passage so early. Prudence R. Myer interprets the Sarvdstivada-

vinaya passage as "a memory of a period when [aniconic?] symbols were flanked and attended by bejewelled figures that later

generations identified as Bodhisattvas [in the Mahayana use]" ("Bodhisattvas and Buddhas," I33, n. 70; words in brackets are my insertion). However, it should be pointed out that the word "attendant" was probably not present in the original. Also, at this

stage of the Sarvastivada textual tradition the term Bodhisattva was most probably not used in the Mahayana sense. 6Numerous examples are found in the Taisho canon. Here are cited just a few examples at random for reference: T. 5: i65b; T. I452:

434b, c. 67 Soper, I48b, based on T. I425: 498b. Cf. Carter, 26.















Martha Carter:






























Martha Carter:
















22I 22I 22I

the sectarian connection can be identified, and the names of three schools appear in dedications of the

Kapardin Bodhisattvas. The three schools happened to be the ones that were active in this area, and we are not sure how widely the dedication of such images was in practice in the Buddhist samngha.68 But I suppose that a regional factor had more bearing on this practice than a sectarian one.

We have noted above that there are a few examples inscribed "Buddha" or "Bhagavan Sakyamuni" within the Kapardin type of Mathura (B-8, 9; fig. 6) and we regarded them as deviations that

appeared around the middle of the first century of the Kaniska era. There are also two cases in which the Kapardin type is used in narrative representations of episodes after the Enlightenment: the "Visit of Indra (Indrasailaguhd)" (fig. 14) and the "Offering of bowls by the Four Heavenly Kings" (fig. 15). Because these incidents are invariably referred to in the texts of the Buddha's life as having taken

place after Enlightenment, these examples, which would be dated to the early years of the Kaniska

era, present a puzzle and have been regarded by some scholars as evidence for the idea that the

Kapardin type actually represents the Buddha Gautama.

First, the problem of the relief representing the "Offering of bowls by the Four Heavenly Kings" may be understood the following way. During several weeks after he achieved Enlightenment, the Buddha moved around to different places in Bodhgaya and relished the profound meaning of the dharma practicing meditation and cainkrama. At the end of this period, two merchants offered food, and, following this, the Four Heavenly Kings presented the bowls.69 Therefore, one would expect that the Buddha was still wearing the clothes he had put on when he had been a Bodhisattva, and the

using of the Bodhisattva type in the post-Enlightenment scene could have been justified. Second, regarding the episode of the Indrasailaguhd, it is not clearly stated in the relevant textual sources when it took place in the Buddha's life. But the fact that Gautama is invariably referred to as Buddha or Bhagavan in those sources suggests that it was an incident after Enlightenment.70 It is not easy to

explain how the Bodhisattva type could have been used in the representation of this theme. But we know that the Indrasailaguhd was a favorite theme from the Buddha's life for the Buddhists in

Mathura, where representation of the Buddha's life enjoyed considerably less popularity than in

Gandhara; and this theme seems to have had some special meaning, which is unknown to us. It is

possible that while there was a strong desire to illustrate the theme, someone may have chosen to borrow the available iconic type of the Bodhisattva for a scene of the Indrasailaguhd rather than

relying on an aniconic method. In any case, these exceptions exist probably because the making of the images of this type as

"Bodhisattva" had been in practice at least for several decades or even a century before the beginning of the Kaniska era and the first half century of the Kaniska era was already a transitional period.7' During this period, there was a growing desire to represent the Buddha at the popular level. Some donors used the Bodhisattva type, i.e. the Kapardin type, in narrative scenes representing the

68 Etienne Lamotte, History of Indian Buddhism, trans. by Sara Webb-Boin (Louvain-la-neuve, 1988), 523-29. 69 Mahavagga, in Oldenberg, ed., Vinaya Pitaka (London, 1879-83), I: 4; Taizi ruiyingbenqijing, T. I85: 497b; Puyaojing, T. i86: 526c-

527a; Mahavastu, Senart's edition, 3: 304. 70

Dtgha-nikdya, no. 21 ("Sakkapaniha"); Changahanjing (Dirgha-agama), T. I, no. 14 ("Shidi huanwenjing"); Dishisuowenjing, T. I5; Taizi ruiyingbenqijing, T. I85: 479c-480b.

71 We doubt that the extant images of the Kapardin type from Mathura include the earliest examples ever made in this type. A seated

image from the Katra mound, which is dated to the pre-Kaniska years during the Kushan period, already shows a fully established form in organization of iconographic components and delineation of individual details, and seems to presuppose a considerable

span of development before this time. Cf. Myer, 113 (that regards the Katra Bodhisattva as "the classical statement of the

[Kapardin] type").






















[Kapardin] type").






















[Kapardin] type").

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incidents after the Enlightenment. Some even inscribed their images of the Bodhisattva type "Buddha" or "Bhagavan Buddha Sakyamuni."72 It is interesting to note that those who dared inscribe "Buddha" or its equivalents on the Bodhisattva type were all lay people.73 However, such occasional expedients could not develop as a tradition and remained exceptional, since the Kapardin type essentially represented the Bodhisattva. Through this period of transitional experimentation and deviation, the Gandharan type representing the Buddha was gradually accepted in the Buddhist

community in Mathura and dominated the later development of Buddhist art in this region (fig. 7). The Bodhisattva type and its iconographic meaning was, however, not forgotten in later periods.

A good example is the image from Bodhgaya inscribed "Bodhisattva" in the sixty-fourth year, probably of the Gupta era (fig. i6), which was presented by van Lohuizen-de Leeuw as evidence for her idea that "the narrowing of the meaning of Bodhisattva did not begin to be customary until the 4th century A.D."74 Despite a problem presented by the inscription "Bodhisattva," this figure has often been called an image of the Buddha. Now we are able to understand why this figure wears a different type of dress from Buddha images of the period and why it was inscribed thus.

In late Kushan art, the figures of the Bodhisattva type occasionally appear, especially on door lintels. For example, on a broken lintel in the Lucknow State Museum (fig. 17, marked c) such a

figure appears second from the left in the third row. The padmasana figures represented in the same row have been usually interpreted as the Seven Buddhas of the Past and Maitreya Bodhisattva.75

However, that supposition seems to be out of the question. The images on the left end of each row - a turban in a niche in the first row, Buddha in Indra's cave in the second, and a Buddha of the Gandharan type in the third - form the central vertical axis of the lintel. Thus, there were originally only seven, not eight, figures in this tier, excepting two minor figures on each end. Furthermore, among the four extant images, two are princely in appearance; according to the previous supposition there should have been only one such figure, Maitreya Bodhisattva. I interpret the first figure from the right, who wears a turban without a medallion and holds a water vessel, as the Bodhisattva (to be born as Gautama) in the Tusita Heaven (fig. 17, a); the second figure, who wears a turban with a medallion and is in dhyanamudrd, as the prince Siddhartha in meditation under the Jambu tree (fig. 17, b); the third figure of the Kapardin type as the Bodhisattva in practice before the Enlightenment (fig. 17, c); and finally the fourth one, the Buddha of the Gandharan type as Sakyamuni after the

72 This probably reflects a thought that the "Bodhisattva" was after all the "Buddha before the Enlightenment," as the present-day art historians and Buddhologists use the word Buddha for the entire period of Gautama's last life without distinction. Cf. above n. 15.

73 We also witness the reverse phenomenon in an image of the Gandharan type from Palikhera dated year 8. This image may be dated on the basis of style to the first century of the Kaniska era rather than the second century (cf. Myer, I39). In the inscription of this image, Liiders barely read the aksara "bo" and assumed that the word had been originally "Bodhisattva" (Mathura Inscriptions, no. 128). This image shows that while as early as the eighth year of the Kaniska era an attempt in the Gandharan type was made in Mathura, the image was inscribed "Bodhisattva"; the Buddhists in this region was not willing to accept representations of the Buddha yet. We see here that in the Mathura Buddhist community there were probably ambivalent attitudes in representing the Buddha in iconic form during the first half century of the Kaniska era. There is another possible example from Anyor (K.E. SI) (see above n. 47).

74 Liiders, "A List of Brahmi Inscriptions," no. 949. 75 See for example Doris Srinivasan, "Depiction of the Buddha's Genealogy in a Kushan Relief and Related Sculpture," Indian

Museum Bulletin 1988: 63.





















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Enlightenment (fig. 17, d). We do not know about the missing half, but I assume that the

composition was generally symmetrical.76 My discussion in this paper has so far focused on two centuries, one century before and one after

the beginning of the Kaniska era. Now the question arises, how the Bodhisattva types of Mathura and of Swat would be placed in a larger context.77 I believe that they were the first established types in iconic representations in Buddhist art, even though the extant examples may not have been the first of their kind and not the first of such attempts in iconic representation. The absence of the iconic

representation prior to this time may be attributed to: first, the focus of the worship was on

non-iconic symbols and it was not customary to make and worship images; second, when there arose

a more vigorous need in iconic representation, it took considerable time before the Buddhist

community found an acceptable form. As a cautious, preliminary step in this attempt, figural types representing Gautama as being at the stage prior to Enlightenment, rather than as the fully Enlightened One, were invented and established, and soon afterwards another kind, i.e. the

Gandharan type, was created and admitted as a satisfactory form for representation of the Buddha.

The creation of the Bodhisattva types in Mathura and Swat represents the initial phase of this

development.

76 I am able to cite more examples to which this theory can be applied. For example, among the finds from Govindnagar of 1976, there are three stelae, in almost identical shape and size, which seem to have composed a set in a certain form (see R.C. Sharma, "New Buddhist Sculptures from Mathura," Lalit Kala 19 [1979]: 22 and figs. 6-8). On each stele is carved a figure in a niche: one

wears a turban and holds a water vessel (ibid., fig. 6), another one is in the Kapardin type (ibid., fig. 7), and the third one is a

Buddha of the Gandharan type (ibid., fig. 8). I identify these images as the Bodhisattva in the Tusita Heaven, the Bodhisattva

before Enlightenment, and the Buddha after Enlightenment, respectively. 77 Geographically, the Kapardin type seems to have been generally known in north India. Whether the making of images of the

Bodhisattva type as found in the Swat region was also in practice in the Peshawar valley, the proper Gandharan region, is a

question. So far we do not seem to have any clear evidence that this was the case. But in Taxila, outside the Peshawar valley, a

Kharosthi inscription on a silver scroll found inside a small building (chapel GO) at Dharmarajika in Taxila, records the dedication

of the Buddha's relics at the place called bodhisattvagaha (Bodhisattva chapel) in year I36 (possibly of the Azes era), which could be

placed in the first half of the second century A.D. (John H. Marshall, Taxila [1951] I: 256-57). This building may have housed an

image of the Bodhisattva originally. Basham also noted this inscription in a different context ("The Evolution," 29).










development.




















development.











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GLOSSARY GLOSSARY GLOSSARY

Dishi suowenjing V FTfrtg. Fangguang dazhuangyanjing ;Fj5tg: Foben xingjijing {~fpv* $ru Foben xing/ing f4TZ-T, Fosuo xingzan {JFfifT foweipusashi -f ~- ~f Guoqu xianzaiyingguojing ~ @.2:[f f Hikata Ryusho --,i~/f Pusa benqijing r:3e5 _

pusashixiang R{qF{


pusashixiang R{qF{


pusashixiang R{qF{

Puyaojing *BMW shi (attendant) f shi (time) B Shidi huanyinwenjing ~jB r. taizi t:F Taizi ruiyingbenqijing 5t=f -?i~p, Takata Osamu .ife Xiuxing benqijing f{l 7fi ~{ Yamamoto Chikyo l;zj -



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From Bodhisattva to Buddha: the Beginning of Iconic Representation in Buddhist Art. Artibus Asiae...

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