Buddhist art of South Asia

A faith of perpetual evolution and regeneration, Buddhism originated on the Indian sub-continent, where Siddhartha Gautama (the historical Buddha) lived and taught. Born into the princely family of a small kingdom on the borders of Nepal and India, Prince Siddartha (563-483 BCE) was deeply moved by the suffering he encountered after he left the confines of the palace. He abandoned his birthright of privilege and pleasure in order to seek true knowledge and happiness. Following his period of contemplation under the Bodhi tree, he achieved Enlightenment, became the Buddha and preached his belief that the way to salvation was to renounce desire and that life of attachment which corrodes the spirit; this would then lead to the achievement of that ultimate objective of freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death, nirvana. The life of the historical Buddha can thus be summarised by four great events: his Birth, Enlightenment, his First Sermon and his attainment of Nirvana (mahaparinirvana).

Buddhism spread throughout India in the early centuries BCE, however the flowering of Buddhist art came later, especially during the Kushan dynasty (mid 1st - early 5th centuries), at which time the anthropomorphic image of the Buddha became popular. The Kushans sponsored the production of two distinct styles of Buddha image: the Mathuran style of Central India, where artisans produced full-bodied and robust images of the Buddha using the distinctive local spotted-red sandstone; and the Gandharan style which flourished in the far north of present-day Pakistan and is reminiscent of the classical Greek tradition. The Gandharan region was also where Mahayana Buddhism reputedly originated, and thus is also where the earliest images of bodhisattvas are found. Gandhara, located on the silk route at an important crossroad between East and West, was influential in the transmission of Buddhism into China, and from there into Japan and Korea.

INDIA Uttar or Madhya Pradesh
Tara and Avalokiteshvara
10th century
sandstone tara 178 cm, avalokiteshvara 220 cm
Purchased 2003
28.2003, 29.2003
  
These monumental figures depict the bodhisattvas Avalokiteshvara, the embodiment of compassion, and Tara, born from Avalokiteshvara's compassionate tears. The image of Tara reflects the Indian feminine ideal, with a sensuous hourglass body with full breast, tapering arms and a soft belly. Avalokiteshvara stands in the flexed tribhanga or triple-bend posture. He wears a short patterned dhoti and ornaments typical of a bodhisattva. Both these deities would have shown the gesture of charity or generosity (varada mudra) with their right hands.

PAKISTAN (Gandhara), Swat Valley
Kushan period (50-c500 CE)
Seated pensive Bodhisattva
3rd century
grey schist, 77 cm
Purchased 1997
7.1997
 
Images of bodhisattvas can often be distinguished from images of a Buddha by their princely clothes and jewellery. This bodhisattva from the ancient region of Gandhara is seated with his right hand raised to his face, giving him a pensive or thoughtful appearance. In his left hand he holds a casket, possibly a reliquary  that contains the remains of the Buddha.

INDIA Uttar Pradesh, Mathura
Kushan period (50–c500 CE)
Torso of a Buddha 1st–2nd centuries
mottled redsandstone, 47 cm
Gift of Alex Biancardi 1998
114.1998
 
This torso was produced in the Kushan winter capital of Mathura. Unlike the Kushan images from Gandhara, the artists at Mathura produced an image of the Buddha more typical of the Indian aesthetic. This figure can be identified as a Buddha by the transparent robes, gathered and worn over the left shoulder. The lower garment is decorated with a pattern of flowers, while the modelling of the body gives the figure a naturalistic quality.