The Buddhist Art of Ancient Arakan ( XIII )

By U SAN THA AUNG

Different Indian Schools of Art

According to the Arakanese historical annals and the Selargiri tradition, Buddhism was introduced into Arakan during the life-time of the Buddha. The legend asserts that during the reign of king Candasuriya, the king of Dhanyawadi (Ancient Arakan) who was a contemporary of Buddha, Gotama Buddha visited Arakan with five hundred disciples. On the Selargiri mountain, which is opposite Kyauktaw town on the Kaladan river, Buddha held a prophetic discourse.

King Candasuriya went to Selargiri hill to meet the Blessed One. He invited the Blessed One to his capital which was about five miles to the east of the hill. The Blessed One stayed in the city for seven days. When Buddha made preparations to depart, the king requested the Buddha to leave an image of him. The Blessed One complied with the king’s request. With the consent of Buddha, Sakra and Visvakarman cast an exact replica of the Blessed One on the Visvakarman cast an exact replica of the north-east side of the inner palace of Dhanyawadi City. This image has been called Mahamuni since then. King Candasuriya erected the Mahamuni Shrine on the Sirigutta hill in commemoration of Buddha’s visit and the casting of his image. See Picture. Go

Apart from this tradition, we have found miniature stupas with Yedharma verses on them (Chapter V) and also many dedicatory stone inscriptions, dedicating the building of stupas and caitya, (Chapter VII and XI) all around the old cities of Dhanyawadi and Vesali. We can determine the dates of these inscriptions palaeogaphically and can state that the earliest ones were inscribed during the fourth and the fifth centuries A.D. We thus have solid evidence that Buddhism flourished in Arakan not later than the above mentioned period. In addition to these inscriptions we have found many Buddha images of various types of ruined ancient stupas and cetis. Miniature cetis, (Chapter XII) dedicatory bronze bells, (Chapter IX) copper plate land grant for the repair and maintenance of vihara built for Buddhist monks (Chapter VIII) and lamps used for worship of Buddha images (Chapter X) have also been found.

Indian Schools of Art

Independent Ancient Arakan which lay beyond the eastern frontier of Ancient India was naturally influenced by the Ancient Indian Schools of Art during the succeeding centuries. It will not be out of place, therefore to first survey here, very briefly, the different Ancient Indian Schools of Art before we survey the Buddhist Art of Ancient Arakan.

Scholars of Buddhist Art in Ancient India generally classify the Schools of Art as follows.

1) The Mauryan School of Art

The earliest school of art belongs to the Mauryan period in the eastern provinces of Northern India. Some examples of the specimens and on the inscribed pillars of Asoka in the northern district of but either their earlier date has not been confirmed or is still a matter of controversy.

2) The Gandhara School of Art

The next is the Gandhara School of Art which came into being in the second century B.C. It has left many specimens of its production scattered over the North western districts of ancient India (Afghanistan and western Punjab). The sculptures left are mainly Buddhisftic and portray scenes from the life of the Buddha and also those of his previous existences. Besides the Buddha images, there are images of Kubera, Jambhala, Maitreya, Indra, Hariti and unidentified Bodhisattva images. The most flourishing period of the Gandtra art was during the reigu of King Kaniska, the great Kushan Emperor.

3) The Mathura School of Art

The Mathura School followed closely. It can be either contemporaneous or somewhat later than the Gandhara School. The schools left numerous Buddha and Bodhisattva images along Tantric flavor are found in this school Not even the images of Avalokitesvara and Manjusri were found.

The Mathura sculptures included the following events of the life of Buddha. (1) Birth, (2) Illumination or Sambodhi, (3) First Sermon, (4) Visit of Indra to Buddha, (5) Buddha thinking of leaving his palace, (6) Buddha leaving his palace, (7) the change of garments, (8) Descent from Heaven of the thirty three gods, (9) The gift of the Jetavana, (10) The Taming of the elephant Nalargiri, (11) The presentation of alms bowls, and (12) Death or mahaparinirvana. Apart from these, many of the Jataka stories are also represented in this school. The Mathura school extended to the early Gupta period.

The bas relief's of Bharhut and Sanchi show the majority of human figures wearing a peculiar headdress. It appears that the Gandhara school influence this school during the first decades of the second century A.D. The important feature borrowed from the Gandhara School was the representation of the scenes of the life of the Buddha.


4. The Benares School of Art or the Magadha School of Art

The next is the Benares School. It may also be called the Magadha School. This school of art belongs to the early Gupta period. This school included the images found in Sarnath, Nalanda, Odantapuri, Gaya and other ancient sites in Bihar. The majority of the sculptures are Buddhist. A new form of bas-reliefs representing scenes from the life of Buddha are produced which are entirely different from the old bas-reliefs of Sanchi and Bharhut. They are in the form of steles.

5. The Eastern School of Bengal and Bihar

A new school of sculptures rose in the North Eastern Provinces of India in the later part of the mediaeval period. That is, from the middle of the eighth century A.D. to the end of the tenth. The period coincides with the rise of Palas and the new school is therefore also called the Pala School of Art. But we must note that this school of art should not be identified with Palas alone. Because, there is no epigraphic evidence to show that any part of the Eastern Bengal was included in the dominions actually ruled by the Pala kings. The ancient kingdoms of Eastern Bengal were Vanga or Harikela and Samatata. These places were firmly under the control of the Candra kings. So, we will generalize the name of this school as the Eastern School of Bengal and Bihar. The Artists in this school attenuate the limbs in accordance with the favourite descriptions of Indian poets: their aim being the reproduction of sublime beauty in figures.

In this school, artists developed new forms of representation of the important incidents of the life of Buddha. Two different styles of adaptation of the bas-reliefs can be noticed. The first consists of the representations of a single incident of Buddha’s life in the form of an image. In the second style an image of Buddha representing one particular incident of the Blessed One’s life surrounded by numerous other images representing the majority of the important incident.

The development of the second style can be explained as follows. Buddha on his death-bed, in answer to his well loved disciple Ananda’s question, mentioned four places which an honourable worshipper should visit with religious emotion. They are those of his Birth, his Enlightenment, hi First Sermon, and his Parinirvana. These four scenes were common to almost all the steles which show the scenes from the life of the Buddha. But the artists and the sculptors were not long content with these alone. In course of time the number of scenes increased. Finally the number and order of scenes tend to get fixed at eight scenes. Steles having more than eight have also been found.