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No.15: head of bronze buddha in abhayamudra from the Ananda Ok-kyaung
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| GOTAMA BUDDHA: MUDRA |
| The significance of the
bhumisparsamudra image, often surrounded or backed by a painted scene of the
`Attack and Defeat of Mara', the evil one, has been made mention of. This
scene, to a Pagan follower of the Theravada, was perhaps the most important
image of the buddha Gotama, representing their lord at the moment of his
enlightenment. In certain temples, particularly in the Early Period, the main
buddha is depicted standing in abhayamudra (Fearless) or vitarka (Elucidating)
or sometimes in a combination of these. A number of the standing mudra are not
easily identifiable and appear to be indigenous variations of Indian originals,
the most notable examples of which are the Ananda standing images that appear
to project some form of compassion gesture. Such standing images were
particularly favoured by Kyanzittha, who enshrined them in three of his
temples. In the Middle and Late Periods colossal standing images as the
principal image of a shrine, in any medium, become extinct.
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| Iconic mudra, that is,
the gesture used in images, that, by their place in a temple were the objects
of people's offerings and supplications, were, with the exception of the
standing ones favoured by Kyanzittha, normally Earth Touching ones. Other
mudra, such as dharinacakrapravita (Turning of the Wheel of the Law) take their
place in subsidiary reliefs or mural paintings, as part of a didactically
intended narrative, for example, the dharmacakramudra is always employed to
signify the Buddha's first sermon in the Deer Park at Sarnath. Occasionally the
dharmacakramudra was applied to a colossal image, as at the Mye
bon-tha-hpaya-hla, but in such cases remained part of the hodawin or 'Life of
the Buddha', at Mye-bon-tha in a reduced narrative of four massive scenes about
the four sides of the temple's squarely planned, central core, or lei-myet-hna.
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| Another mudra that is a
significant aspect of Gotama's iconography, yet never used as the main icon of
a temple, is the dhyanamudra. In the Naga-yon ambulatory dhyana reliefs
alternate with bhumisparsa reliefs as part of a clear, textuallyderived
symbolnarrative. As has been mentioned above, a number of monoliths, apparently
dating from the reign of Anawrahta, have been found about Pagan in this mudra.
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| Finally, there is the
pralambanasana posture, that is sometimes described as `Seated in the European
Manner'. This type also was well known to the Pyu and Mon, and was commonly
stamped onto votive tahIets. The earliest pralambanasana portrayal in stone, at
Pagan, is to be seen in the relief series in the Nagayon hall, and another
version may be found in the That-byin-nyu ground level ambulatory (north east
section). Its greatest manifestation was at Kyasin temple where two nirodha
Buddhas, each in pralambanasana, flank the Buddha in a portrayal of the
`Miracle at Savatthi'a scene also found at temple No.218 and the Myinkaba
Kubyauk-ngL
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| There are many
iconographic curiosities at Pagan, some of which are comparable with similar
Pyu finds, for example the bhumisparsa buddha with his left hand touching the
earth. In the Ananda there are several reliefs in which one hand touches the
earth, or is folded across the lap, whilst the other is placed, palm inwards,
across the chest in a gesture indicative of karuna, compassion. Also of
interest are a number of smaller finds in which both hands are raised in a
double Moore.
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| BUDDHA AND BEDOUIN |
| The stylistic and
iconographic origins of the image of the Buddha or buddhas have been discussed
in detail above; what is of further interest is the diffusion of these diverse
influences at Pagan and the formation of a distinct Pagan style and type of
Buddha-a cross of indigenous tradition and the latest of contemporary
North-East Indian developments-and the gradual and corresponding expansion of
the Buddha legend, or bodawin as it is called in modern Burmese, as portrayed
in sculpture and in wall painting, in response to incoming Pali texts from
Ceylon. It has been noted that there was no single Pagan style in sculpture,
but rather, three styles that chronologically correspond to the three styles
discernible in Pagan's architecture. The process through which the Pagan buddha
image, and the portrayal of the associated story, grew through the interaction
of the indigenous and alien require some degree of analysis.
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| Pyu monoliths and reliefs
,of the Buddha abound, however. no find. from this time, in monolithic forth,
depicting the great events of his life have as yet been discovered. The Pyu
did, though, have a tradition of portraying the chief events of the ,Buddha's
life in the medium of the votive tablets. Many of the Pyu type have been found
at Pagan. indicating the source for the legend may have again been indigenous,
rather than a direct import. What the Pagan sculptor was to achieve was a
removal of these scenes, froth their miniaturised portrayal on votive tablets,
to become isolated relief scenes in themselves as part of ambi tious and. in
Burma, unprecedented sculptural pro grammes.
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| The Pagan votive tablet
differs from the Pyu type in that there are eight scenes (atthatthana) instead
of nine; in Pyu tablets an additional scene was included, which depicts the
Buddha, seated, holding an almsbowl, beneath the central Earth Touching
Buddha." Such tablets encapsulated the essential elements of the Buddha story,
in an easily portable form. Often these were stamped by hand, and on the
reverse side were signed by the reigning monarch, to be carried to the remotest
outposts of the empire, not only revealing the geographical limits-to which
loyal attempts at propagating the religion extended, but also demarcating, for
the historian, the actual limits of the empire itself. Alternatively, tablets
were enshrined within a stupa or temple; their presence then being symbolic
rather than proselytisive. It was recently revealed that Anawrahta had actually
bonded tablets between the bricks of his Shwe-hsan-daw to form a spiritual
defence field throughout the fabric of his dedication.
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| Numerous tablets of the
Pyu type, and often in scribed in the Pyu script, have been uncovered at Pagan,
and not always depicting the Buddha. Mettaya, Lokantha and other Pyu cult
deities have been found here in votive tablet form and were to be absorbed into
the religious life of Pagan as duarapala, or door guardians to the Theravada
sancttiaries.
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| Replacing the Pyu votive
tablet type was the Pala Eight Scene one. Pyu buddhas, -as found in this medium
of terracotta, are broad in physique, with rounded heads, whilst the Pala
versions have pinched bodies and sharpened facial features, which become
commonplace during the reign of Anawrahta. In addition to terracotta finds, a
number of small. carvings, named andagu in Burmese, most likely steatite, have
been found; these finely carved works have often been claimed as being direct
imports from Bengal, however, none of this geological type have as yet been
found in Bengal.
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****Strat Pic********
The Pyu Votive Tablet: Nine Scenes
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Nalagiri Elephant
Deer Park at Sarnath dhaonacakramudra
Parileyyaka Monkey ptalumbanasana
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parinibbana
THE BUDDHA
bhumispanamudra
jata's Offering
Pagan Votive Tablets: Eight Scenes
parinibbana
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Nalagiri Elephant
Deer Park
at Sarnath
Nativity
Descent from Tavatimsa
Twin Miracles dharmacakrantudra
Nativity
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THE BUDDHA bhumisparsamudra
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Descent from Tavatimsa
Deer Park
at Sarnath
Parileyyaka Monkey
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Crouchant Animals or Mara's Daughters
******End Pic****
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The Pala versions tend to be carved from a jet black steatite, whilst the
Burmese andagy versions are hewed from a stone that is paler in colour and not
found in Bengal From these intricate, though slight, estampages in clay the
atthatthana, or Eight Scenes, were to be transferred to the more viewable
mediums of stone sculpture and wall painting, as_ part of didactically
conceived iconographic programmes at a time when Pagan monarchs were actively
purifying and propagating the Theravada faith. Involved in this religious
movement were the Ceylonese who provided the necessary texts that were quickly
disseminated through artistic portrayal in readily digestible mediums such as
stone, wood and paint, at a time when illiteracy was widespread and temple
construction proved quicker and less costly than transcription.
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| The earliest datable
temples at Pagan (from the mid 11th century) do not date from the foundation of
the city (c.850). Various portable images, bronze or terra cotta, of Gotama or
other 'deities', often inscribed in the script of the Pyu, and in some cases
identical to Finds from the Sri Ksetra area. thin predate the great era of
temple building to the century and a half, of tile city's pre-imperial
existence. The fatter n of sculpture in architecture' is traced in some detail
in the descrip tions of the monuments that follow in Part Tw o. I-sere. the
general trends will he outlined and tile evolution of the Buddha, image and
story, will be briefly traced.
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| The Nat-Maung-kyaung is
said to he Pagan's oldest surviving temple and is dedicated to Vishnu. Arranged
about the exterior, perhaps once enclosed by a leanto corridor, are a set of
stone reliefs, their condition now much worn, depicting tile manifestations of
Vishu. These seem Gupta in style, stocky figures, plastic, yet never fluid;
monumental, yet never overbearing. In the temple's interior are brick and
stucco figures of Vishnu, again poor in condition, yet enabling a glimpse of
the fine stylisation of the deities apparel and the smooth plasticity of their
form. Is this the work of the indigenous Guptan-derived Pyu tradition or the
work of immigrant artists? The temple itself was the place of wdrship for the
Indian community who traded and guided kings through the complex web of court
life. 'File actual temple's architecture and the style of these reliefs is more
akin to the indigenous Pyu tradition than prevalent Indian developments.
Indeed, it may he said that by the early 11th century, when this temple may be
said to have heen built, such a style was well out of fashion in contemporary
India and, thus, found here, was a sun ival from Pyu days. The Vaisnaivites.
court Brahmins and traders who built the temple must have employed local men.
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| Two Buddhist temples at
Pagan, said to date from the time of Anawrahta, provide a clue as to the
sources for contemporary sculpture: the Nan-hpaya and the min. In these
temples, contemporary by the style of their workmanship. stone carving emerges
at Pagan with so perfected a finish and sumptuous effect that some scholars
have been led to conjecture that this was the work of immigrant sculptors.
Indeed, Luce illustrates some Bengali door jambs that are not dissimilar to the
Kyaukku ones. How ever; as U Bo Kay emphasises, the Brahma reliefs in the
Nanhpaya are, in physiognomy. Mongoloid rather than Aryan, to him an indigenous
portrayal of the human, or supra-human, form.Whatever the origins of this fine
carving; dating to the middle part of the 11th century, it remains notable that
there is a great discrepancy between the style of this essentially decorative
and ornamental work, virtuoso in its design, and the contemporary manner of
portraying buddha images, which is far cruder in execution, as may be seen on
the bodawin reliefs within the Kyaukku itself. Thus, it may be surmised that
there were two ateliers working alongside each other at Early Pagan, the one
dedicated to architectural ornament, whose legacy of motif and form was
inherited by the stucco worker, and the other attempting to portray the
principal events of their lord's life. Curiously, at this stage, there seems to
have been little connection between the two studios.
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| So at Kyauk-ku with
neither technical nor stylistic recourse ,to the stone work on the front, and
then about two decades later in the Naga-yon, pr ogrammes, in the medium of
stone carved in relief form that portrayed the chief events of the life of the
Buddha were attempted. These reliefs represent, stylistically and
iconographically, an indigenous development that clearly reveals the increasing
mastery of the Pagan artisan over the medium of stone that was curiously
unaffected by the fine architectural stone work of the Nan-hpaya and
Kyauk-ku-ohn-min The surviving scenes at Kyauk-ku are outlined in this
monument's description that follows in Chapter Four According to Forchammer's
report of 1890 there were once fragments of a number of other reliefs, perhaps
shattered by an earthquake, scattered across the cave's floor.Itwould thus be
mistaken to suggest that there was a progressive expansion in the quantity of
scenes to be depicted from Kyauk-ku to the Naga-yon. What is notable is the
increasing adeptness of the sculptor's hand after the Kyauk-ku reliefs, seen
firstly in the Naga-yon, and then in the Pa-hto-tha-mya, leading ultimately to
the Ananda reliefs, dating to around 1107. With the construction of the Ananda,
under the supervision of Kyanzittha, local knowledge of the Buddha story and
its sculptural possibilities had considerably expanded: in the cuter ambulatory
a total of eighty scenes were executed, in a style directly derived from that
of the Naga-yon and evolved to an aesthetic perfection.'' Thus, in the Early
Period, a natural progression in the Pagan sculptor's technical ability is
evident in the successive construction of three major temples.
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| Compared with
contemporary Indian works the Kyauk-ku reliefs are crude, almost parochial
parodies, they even lack the visual impact of Pynt sculpture. However, here are
the architectural backgrounds (tage) found on votive tablets, and no doubt
mirroringcontemporary trends in wood. In the Naga-yon hall, the, carver's hand
is surer of itself, no doubt in the interveningperiod he had practised much
with wood.
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