Art of India and Southeast
Asia
The Buddha
• The Buddha (born as Prince Siddhartha Gautama)• Encountered first hand pain of old age, sickness,
and death• Renounced at 29. Search of knowledge through
meditation• Enlightened at 35. Meditating underneath the
Bodhi Tree• Preached 1st sermon at deer park in Sarnath and
formed monastic community (Sangha)
4 Noble Truths
1. Life is suffering (dukkha)
2. Cause of Suffering is desire (trishna)
3. One can overcome and extinguish desire
4. Conquer desire and end suffering, follow Eightfold Path: understanding of thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness and concentration
(Way of Good Living)
The Great Stupa (Sanchi, India) completed first century CE
Stupa- earthern mound containing relics of the Buddha. Function: walk around clockwise, belief circular movement brings the devotee into harmony with the cosmos
Circumambulation
NOT A GRAVEMARKER
Early relics: small bones, bits of hair. Buddha was cremated
(thought that Buddha is not gone)
3D mandalas, or sacred diagram of the universe
harmika/tornas/ chatras/ yasti/ veteca/
The Enlightenment from the west gateway of the Great Stupa (Sanchi, India), c. 50-25 BCE
The Great Departure, the east gateway of the Great Stupa
The Great Departure, the east gateway of the Great Stupa
Use of sensuous figures (yakshi) female nature deity
fertility & vegetation)
Interior of chaitya hall (Karli, India) c. 100
Section (left) and plan (right) of chaitya hall at Karli
Seated Buddha from Gandhara (Pakistan),
2nd to 3rd century, stone
a new image of the Buddha
Seated Buddha preaching the first
sermon, from Sarnath (India) fifth century CE
Halo and the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya/ Deer Park near Sarnath/ strong degree of
abstract idealism/ mudra/ dharma/ long-
lobed ears/ broad shoulders and thin waist/ image of a
yaksha
Differences in Styles
Gandhara Sarnath• Transparent drapery• Abstract Features:
– Elongated eyes– Attending figures– Tight hair curls– Elongated ear lobs
• Rings hold up neck• Decorated Halo (light creates growth)• Mudra: turning the wheel• Wheel of the law (bottom)• Deer: deer park at Sarnath
Left: Abhaya-mudra (granting protection to devotees and dispelling fear)
Right: Varada-mudra (denotes a deity’s charity, or power to grant a wish or fulfill a vow)
Left: Dhyana-mudra (denotes intense concentration during meditation)
Right: Dharmacakra-mudra, the “turning of the Wheel of the Law” (gesture of teaching)
Left: Vitarka-mudra (denotes exposition or argument, another form of teaching)
Right: Vajra-mudra (symbolizes the supreme widsom of Adi-Buddha (Vairocana), especially in
his Japanese manifestation as Dai Nichi; also symbolizes a mystical sexual union for Tantric
adepts)
Left: Bhumisparsha-mudra, or “touching the earth,” (most common in Thailand, a gesture
made at the point of Enlightenment)Right: Anjali-mudra (symbol of supplication or
adoration)
Vishnu Temple (Deogarh, India),
early sixth century
Hinduism/ Brahma/ Vishnu/ use of
Hindu temple as a residence for a god/ darsan/
purusha/ mandala/ more sculptural
than architectural/ sikhara
Vishnu Reclining on the Serpent
of Eternity (Deogarh), early
sixth century
Vastupurushamandala
32 padadevatas (divinities in the square borders)/ nakshatras/ Brahmasthana