Carved elephant tusk depicting Buddha life stories is an intricately carved complete single tusk now exhibited at the Decorative Arts gallery,

National Museum, New Delhi The National Museum in New Delhi, also known as the National Museum of India, is one of the largest museums in India. Established in 1949, it holds a variety of articles ranging from pre-historic era to modern works of art. It functions under t ...

, India. This tusk was donated to the Museum. This tusk, which is nearly five foot long, illustrates forty three events in the life of the Buddha and is thought to have been made by early 20th century craftsmen from the Delhi region.

Description

The use of the complete ivory tusks for carving was popular in 18th and 19th century India, particularly in the Delhi region apart from Burma. Similar whole tusk carvings are also found in the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

Congo Congo or The Congo may refer to either of two countries that border the Congo River in central Africa: * Democratic Republic of the Congo, the larger country to the southeast, capital Kinshasa, formerly known as Zaire, sometimes referred to a ...

and Benin but made from the tusks of African elephants. The art of ivory carving in India is very ancient with references found in Kalidasa's Meghadūta. The earliest ivory carving from the Indian region is comb dating to the 2nd century CE found at

Taxila Taxila or Takshashila (; sa, तक्षशिला; pi, ; , ; , ) is a city in Punjab, Pakistan. Located in the Taxila Tehsil of Rawalpindi District, it lies approximately northwest of the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area and ...

. Ivory carving flourished in Assam and Mysore where elephants were available and the art of ivory carving had royal patronage. Ivory was an object of trade between kingdoms and they found their way into areas where the art of carving had patronage. This ivory tusk illustrates important life events of Buddha in 43 circular roundel, first 25 referring to the story of Buddha's birth to his enlightenment followed by 18 depicting his life events from enlightenment to ''Mahaparinirvana''. Similar scenes have been presented in sculptures and paintings many a times but this ivory tusk shows few new scenes of Buddha's life such as Siddharatha's fight for a bird, his move against animal sacrifice and realization of death. As the thickness of the tusk reduces upwards, one can see at the tip three well-known postures depicting ''Bhumisparsha mudra'', ''Abhayamudra'' and ''Dharmachakrapravatan mudra'' besides the roundels. There is also an intricately carved floral creeper banding around the roundels enhancing its beauty.

Scenes

The story runs from bottom to top and is arranged clockwise.

Pre Enlightenment Life Events of Buddha

File:Depiction of Palaces and architecture, probably Kapilavastu Roundel 1 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Depiction of

Kapilavastu Kapilavastu may refer to: *Kapilavastu (ancient city), ancient city, the capital of Shakya *Taulihawa, Nepal, or Kapilavastu, municipality in Province No. 5, Nepal *Kapilvastu District Kapilvastu district ( ne, कपिलवस्तु ज� ...

, where prince Siddharatha lived The first roundel shows mountains, flora-fauna and architecture which gives the impression of a town probably Kapilavastu. File:Suddhodna seated on a throne Roundel 2 ivory tusk.jpg, Seated figure of

King Suddhodana King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...

The father of Siddhartha, King Suddhodana of Kapilavastu has been shown seated on his throne. File:Maya Devi dreaming white elephant in her dream Roundel 4 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Dream of Queen Mayadevi The mother of Siddhartha, Queen Mayadevi is having a dream of an elephant which symbolizes the saintly soul's appearance in her womb. File:Maya Devi visiting her parents Roundel 5 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Mayadevi visiting her parents File:Maya Devi with her son Siddhartha Roundel 6 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Mayadevi with her son Siddharatha This scene depicts the birth of Siddhartha, Prince of Kapilavastu in a different manner from other literary and sculptural narrations. Here Queen Mayadevi is shown seated with a baby in her lap surrounded by ''cauri''-bearer and friends. File:Suddhodhana and Maya Devi welcome the sage Asita Roundel 7 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Sage Asita visiting King Suddhodana File:Maya Devi on her death bed with Suddhodhana Roundel 8 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Mayadevi's death scene File:Prince Siddhartha in a garden Roundel 9 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Prince Siddhartha in a garden File:Siddhartha and Devadutta with a wounded bird Roundel 10 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha and Devadutta with a wounded bird File:Siddhartha cures the wounded bird Roundel 11 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha tends and cures the bird File:Prince Siddhartha as an archer Roundel 12 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha as an archer in the Swamvara of Princess Yasodhara File:Yashodhara garlands Siddhartha Roundel 13 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Yasodhara garlanding Siddhartha File:Roundel 14 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Siddhartha meets an old man File:Roundel 15 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Siddhartha sees a corpse File:Siddhatha sees a meditating ascetic Roundel 16 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha sees a meditating ascetic File:Roundel 17 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Siddhartha leaves his sleeping wife and sons File:Siddhartha and his attendant Chandaka leave Palace Roundel 18 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha with his assistant Chandaka leaving the Palace File:Siddhartha cutting his hair Roundel 19 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha cuts his hair and removes his jewellery and royal costume File:Siddhartha receiving alms Roundel 20 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha receives bhiksha from a woman File:Siddhartha in meditation Roundel 21 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Siddhartha in Meditation File:Five ascetics visit meditating Siddhartha Roundel 22 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Five saintly persons visit Siddhartha while he meditates File:Buddha seated under a tree in abhaya mudra Roundel 3 ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha seated under a tree in ''Abhayamudra'' File:Sujata offers Kheer to Siddhartha Roundel 23 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Sujata offering kheer to Buddha File:Mara tries to disturb and divert Buddha Roundel 24 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Māra tries to disturb and divert Buddha: Māra, the powerful demon arrives with the aim of preventing the Bodhisattva from attaining his goal. Māra attempts to terrify the Bodhisattva with his powerful army, and to seduce him with his daughters, but he is unable to divert the Bodhisattva from his goal. Māra gives up, defeated. File:Roundel 25 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Budhha in Abhaya mudra

Post Enlightenment Life Events of Buddha

File:Buddha visiting his five old friends Roundel 26 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha visits his five old friends, who became the first disciples: Post his enlightenment, Buddha decided to first teach

Dharma Dharma (; sa, धर्म, dharma, ; pi, dhamma, italic=yes) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. Although there is no direct single-word translation for '' ...

to his five friends who were his companions during his ascetic practices at

Bodh Gaya Bodh Gaya is a religious site and place of pilgrimage associated with the Mahabodhi Temple Complex in Gaya district in the Indian state of Bihar. It is famous as it is the place where Gautama Buddha is said to have attained Enlightenment ( pi, ...

. His five friends were

Kondanna Kondanna may refer to * Kondanna Buddha, one of the 29 Buddhas of Theravāda Buddhism. * Kaundinya Kaundinya (Sanskrit कौण्डिन्य), also known as ''Ājñātakauṇḍinya'', Pali: ''Añña Koṇḍañña''),who was one of the f ...

, Bhaddiya, Vappa, Mahanama and Assaji. Buddha went to Sarnath to meet them. For the first time he taught the

Four Noble Truths In Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths (Sanskrit: ; pi, cattāri ariyasaccāni; "The four Arya satyas") are "the truths of the Noble Ones", the truths or realities for the "spiritually worthy ones". Eightfold Path. File:Buddha conquers Kasyapa Roundel 27 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha conquers the Agni-Pujaka Jatadhari Kasyapa File:Buddha addresses the masses Roundel 28 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha addressing the masses File:Buddha walks with a shepherd holding a lamb Roundel 29 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha walking with a shepherd, holding a lamb File:Bimbisar welcoming Buddha Roundel 30 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Magadh King welcoming Buddha: Buddha found patronage in emperor Bimbisara, Bimbisāra. The emperor accepted Buddhism as his personal faith and allowed the establishment of many Buddhist ''Vihara, vihāras''. This eventually led to the renaming of the entire region as Bihar, Bihār.India by

Stanley Wolpert Stanley Wolpert (December 23, 1927 – February 19, 2019) was an American historian, Indologist, and author on the political and intellectual history of modern India and PakistanDr. Stanley Wolpert's UCLA Faculty homepage and wrote fiction and ...

(Page 32) File:Sariputra and Maudgalyayana become disciples of Buddha Roundel 31 buddha ivory tusk.jpg,

Śāriputra Śāriputra ( sa, शारिपुत्र; Tibetan: ཤཱ་རིའི་བུ་, Pali: ''Sāriputta'', lit. "the son of Śāri", born Upatiṣya, Pali: ''Upatissa'') was one of the top disciples of the Buddha. He is considered the fir ...

and Maudgalyayana become the followers of Buddha File:Buddha helping the grieved mother to come out from her child’s death Roundel 32 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha helping the grieved mother to come out from her child's birth File:Suddhodhana welcomes Buddha at Kapilavastu Roundel 33 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Suddhodhana welcoming Buddha at Kapilavastu File:Buddha with Yasodhara and Rahul Roundel 34 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha with Yasodhara and her son, Rahul File:Buddha blesses Rahul Roundel 35 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha blesses Rāhula: On advise of Yashodhara, Rāhula asked Buddha for his "inheritance". The Buddha called the venerable Sariputta and asked him to ordain Rāhula who became the first Sāmanera (novice monk). After Rāhula's ordination the Buddha taught him the importance of telling the truth. Buddha placed truth as the highest of all virtues. Rāhula subsequently became an

arhant In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...

. File:Roundel 36 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Amrapali, famous courtesan, greeting Buddha: Buddha while visiting Vaishali stayed at Amrapalli's mango grove. She invited Buddha for a meal which he accepted. She later donated the mangrove to his order. She accepted the Buddhist way, and remained an active supporter of the Buddhist order. File:Ladies from the Kapilavastu Palace watch Buddha preaching Roundel 37 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Ladies from the palace watch Buddha preaching File:Nanda before Buddha Roundel 38 buddha ivory tusk.jpg,

Nanda Nanda may refer to: Indian history and religion * Nanda Empire, ruled by the Nanda dynasty, an Indian royal dynasty ruling Magadha in the 4th century BCE ** Mahapadma Nanda, first Emperor of the Nanda Empire ** Dhana Nanda (died c. 321 BCE), last ...

before Buddha File:Roundel 39 buddha ivory tusk.JPG, Buddha stops Nanda, who tried to escape from the Sangha File:A mad elephant rushes towards Buddha Roundel 40 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, A mad elephant rushes towards Buddha File:Buddha tames the mad elephant Roundel 41 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha tames the mad elephant File:Buddha teaching Roundel 42 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Buddha speaks to a large gathering File:Mahaparinirvana of Buddha Roundel 43 buddha ivory tusk.jpg, Mahaparinirvana of Buddha

Buddha and Mudras

File:Buddha, First Mudra, on ivory tusk, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg, Buddha in Dhyana mudra File:Buddha, second mudra, on ivory tusk, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg, Buddha in Abhayamudra File:Buddha,Third Mudra,on ivory tusk, National Museum, New Delhi.jpg, Buddha in Bhumisparsha mudra

References