The Seated Buddha from Gandhara is an early surviving statue of the
Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),*
*
*
was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...
discovered at the site of
Jamal Garhi in ancient
Gandhara
Gandhara () was an ancient Indo-Aryan people, Indo-Aryan civilization in present-day northwest Pakistan and northeast Afghanistan. The core of the region of Gandhara was the Peshawar valley, Peshawar (Pushkalawati) and Swat valleys extending ...
in modern-day
Pakistan
Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...
, that dates to the 2nd or 3rd century AD during the
Kushan Empire
The Kushan Empire (– CE) was a Syncretism, syncretic empire formed by the Yuezhi in the Bactrian territories in the early 1st century. It spread to encompass much of what is now Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, India, Pakistan, Tajikistan and Uzbe ...
. Statues of the "enlightened one" were not made until the 1st century CE. Before that, Buddha were generally represented by
aniconic symbols.
Like other Gandharan,
Greco-Buddhist art
The Greco-Buddhist art or Gandhara art is the artistic manifestation of Greco-Buddhism, a cultural syncretism between Ancient Greek art and Buddhism. It had mainly evolved in the ancient region of Gandhara, located in the northwestern fringe of t ...
, and
Kushan art
Kushan art, the art of the Kushan Empire in northern India, flourished between the 1st and the 4th century CE. It blended the traditions of the Greco-Buddhist art of Gandhara, influenced by Hellenistic artistic canons, and the more Indian Mathura ...
, the statue shows influence from
Ancient Greek art
Ancient Greek art stands out among that of other ancient cultures for its development of naturalistic but idealized depictions of the human body, in which largely nude male figures were generally the focus of innovation. The rate of stylistic d ...
depicting Buddhist themes. The sculpture is now in room 22 of the
British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
, catalogued as 1895, 1026.1.
[Seated Buddha from Gandhara](_blank)
, British Museum
The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
Highlights, accessed July 2010
Description
The statue was carved in
schist
Schist ( ) is a medium-grained metamorphic rock generally derived from fine-grained sedimentary rock, like shale. It shows pronounced ''schistosity'' (named for the rock). This means that the rock is composed of mineral grains easily seen with a l ...
, allowing very fine detail. The pose illustrates Buddha's first sermon on "setting in motion the Wheel of Law" at the deer park at
Sarnath
Sarnath (also known as Deer Park, ''Sarangnath'', ''Isipatana Deer Park'', ''Rishipattana'', ''Migadaya'', or ''Mrigadava'')Gabe Hiemstra, "Buddha Chronicle 24: Kassapa Buddhavaṃsa". ''Wisdom Library'', 14 September 2019. is a town nort ...
near
Varanasi
Varanasi (, also Benares, Banaras ) or Kashi, is a city on the Ganges river in northern India that has a central place in the traditions of pilgrimage, death, and mourning in the Hindu world.*
*
*
* The city has a syncretic tradition of I ...
in
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...
. The statue was made in the 2nd or 3rd century and although Buddha lived in the 6th and 5th centuries before Christ, this is still a quite early statue. Statues of the "enlightened one" were not made until the 1st century AD. For the first four hundred years after his death Buddha was represented by symbols alone such as his footprint.
[Seated Buddha](_blank)
History of the World in 100 Objects, BBC, accessed July 2010
This statue was used as the inspiration of a
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
programme in the series called ''
A History of the World in 100 Objects'' in May 2010. The programme discussed the change that allowed Buddha to be represented by a statue instead of as previously by symbols alone.
The figure of the Buddha is shown on a cushion on a throne or platform. On the front of the throne there are much smaller figures of a ''
bodhisattva
In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a person who has attained, or is striving towards, '' bodhi'' ('awakening', 'enlightenment') or Buddhahood. Often, the term specifically refers to a person who forgoes or delays personal nirvana or ''bodhi'' in ...
'' with a
turban
A turban (from Persian language, Persian دولبند, ''dolband''; via Middle French ''turbant'') is a type of headwear based on cloth winding. Featuring many variations, it is worn as customary headwear by people of various cultures. Commun ...
and
halo
HALO, halo, halos or haloes may refer to:
Most common meanings
* Halo (optical phenomenon)
* Halo (religious iconography), a ring of light around the image of a head
* ''Halo'' (franchise), a sci-fi video game series (2001–2021)
Arts and en ...
, flanked by kneeling figures of a male and female probably representing
donor portraits of a couple who paid for the statue.
Similar statues
There is a similar statue carved from black schist at
Yale University Art Gallery Another comparable statue was sold by
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...
in September 2009 for $218,500. That statue dated from the same time and place and was 26 inches high. These Buddhas are widely considered to be the rarest of all Buddhist sculptures and despite
iconoclasm
Iconoclasm ()From . ''Iconoclasm'' may also be considered as a back-formation from ''iconoclast'' (Greek: εἰκοκλάστης). The corresponding Greek word for iconoclasm is εἰκονοκλασία, ''eikonoklasia''. is the social belie ...
, they can be found in the museums of France, Germany, Japan, Korea, China, India, and Afghanistan as well as those still remaining in Pakistan.
Gandhara Civilization
Heritage.gov.pk, accessed July 2010
Gallery
File:Buda de Gandhāra, British Museum.jpg, A different Gandharan figure in the British Museum (1880.217)
File:Seated Buddha, British Museum.jpg, Another view of the seated Buddha in the British Museum
File:Gandhara Buddha Berlin Museum.jpg, Seated Buddha, Gandhara, Berlin Museum.
See also
* Standing Buddha
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buddha, Gandhara
Asian sculptures in the British Museum
Stone Buddha statues
Pakistani art
Buddha statues in India
Indian Buddhist sculpture
Gandhara art
Kushan art