third of them women) made the monument’s construction possible.
Veneration of the Buddha was open to all, not just the monks, and
most of the dedications were by common laypeople, who hoped to
accrue merit for future rebirths with their gifts.
The reliefs on the four toranas at Sanchi depict the story of the
Buddha’s life and those of his past lives (jatakas). In Buddhist belief,
everyone has had innumerable past lives, including Siddhartha. During
Siddhartha’s former lives, as recorded in the jatakas, he accumulated
sufficient merit to achieve enlightenment and become the Buddha. In
the life stories recounted in the Great Stupa reliefs, however, the Bud-
dha never appears in human form. Instead, the artists used symbols—
for example, footprints, a parasol, or an empty seat—to indicate the
Buddha’s presence. Some scholars regard these symbols as markers of
where the Buddha once was, enabling others to follow in his footsteps.
Also carved on the east torana is a scantily clad, sensuous
woman called a yakshi (FIG. 6-8). These goddesses, worshiped
throughout India, personify fertility and vegetation. The Sanchi yak-
shi reaches up to hold on to a mango tree branch while pressing her
left foot against the trunk, an action that has brought the tree to
flower. Buddhists later adopted this pose, with its rich associations of
procreation and abundance, for representing the Buddha’s mother,
Maya, giving birth (FIG. 6-11a). Thus, the Buddhists adopted pan-
Indian symbolism, such as the woman under the tree, and the sensu-
ality of the Indus sculptural tradition (FIG. 6-4) when creating their
own Buddhist iconography.KARLEThe chaitya hall (FIGS. 6-1and 6-9) carved out of the
living rock at Karle in imitation of earlier wooden structures is the
best early example of a Buddhist stupa hall. Datable around 100 CE,
the Karle hall has a pillared ambulatory (walking path) that allows
worshipers to circumambulate the stupa placed at the back of the
sacred cave. The hall also has excellent acoustics for devotional
chanting. It is nearly 45 feet high and 125 feet long and surpasses in
size even the rock-cut chamber (FIG. 3-23) of the temple of the
Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II. Elaborate capitals atop the rock-cut
pillars depict men and women riding on elephants. Outside,
amorous couples (mithunas) flank the entrance. Like the yakshis at
Sanchi, these auspicious figures symbolize the creative life force.GANDHARA The first anthropomorphic representations of the
Buddha probably appeared in the first century CE. Scholars still de-
bate what brought about this momentous shift in Buddhist iconog-
raphy, but one factor may have been the changing perception of the
Buddha himself. Originally revered as an enlightened mortal, the
Buddha increasingly became regarded as a divinity. Consequently,
the Buddha’s followers desired images of him to worship.
Many of the early portrayals of the Buddha in human form
come from the Gandhara region. A second-century CEstatue (FIG.
6-10) carved in gray schist, the local stone, shows the Buddha, with
ushnisha and urna, dressed in a monk’s robe, seated in a cross-legged
yogic posture similar to that of the ancient figure on the Indus seal in
FIG. 6-5.The Buddha’s hands overlap, palms upward, in the dhyana
mudra, the gesture of meditation (see “Buddhism,” page 161). This
statue (and Gandharan sculpture in general) owes much to Greco-
Roman art, both in the treatment of body forms, such as the sharp,
arching brows and continuous profile of forehead and nose (FIG.
5-41), and in the draping of the togalike garment (FIG. 10-71).
One of the earliest pictorial narrative cycles in which the Buddha
appears in human form also comes from Gandhara. The schist frieze
(FIG. 6-11) depicts, in chronological order from left to right, the6-8Yakshi, detail of the east torana, Great Stupa, Sanchi, India,
mid-first century bceto early first century ce.Sandstone, 5high.
Yakshis personify fertility and vegetation. The Sanchi yakshis are
scantily clad women who make mango trees flower. The yakshis’ pose
was later used to represent Queen Maya giving birth to the Buddha.6-9Plan (top) and section (bottom) of the chaitya hall (FIG. 6-1),
Karle, India, ca. 50 ce.
Chaitya halls in Buddhist monasteries house stupas. The form of the
rock-cut cave at Karle imitates earlier wooden halls. The massive interior
(45 feet tall, 125 feet long) has excellent acoustics for devotional chanting.0 1020 30 4050 feet
0 105 1 5 metersAmbulatory
Stupa164 Chapter 6 SOUTH AND SOUTHEAST ASIA BEFORE 12001 ft.6-8AEast
torana, Great
Stupa, Sanchi,
ca. 50 BCEto
50 CE.
6-10AStanding
Buddha,
Gandhara,
second to
third century CE.