An Exceptional Group of Painted Buddha Figures at Ajanṭā

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THE JOURNAL

OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OFBUDDHIST STUDIES

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFA . K. Narain

University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA

EDITORSHeinz Bechert Leon Hurvitz

Universitdt Gottingen, FRG UBC , Vancouve r, CanadaLewis Lancaster A lexander W. MacDonald

University of California, Berkeley, USA Universite de Paris X, Nanterre, FranceB. f. Stavisky A lex Wayman

WN IIR, Moscow, USSR Columbia University, New York, USA

ASSOCIATE EDITORStephan Beyer

University of Wisconsin, Ma dison, USA

Volume 4 1981 Number I


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C O N T E N T S

I . A R T I C L E SThe Co nce pts of Truth and M eaning in the B uddh is t

S c r i p t u r e s , by Jose I. Cabezon 7Chang ing the Fema le Body : Wise Women and the Bodh i -

sa t tva Career in Some Mah aratnakvtasutras, by NancySchuster 24

liodhi an d Amhattaphala. From ear ly Buddhism to ear lyM a h a y a n a , h Karel Werner 70

II . S H O R T P A P E R SA Stud y on the M adhy am ika M ethod of Refuta tion a nd I ts

Inf luence on Buddhis t Logic , by Shohei Ichimura 87An E xcept iona l G ro u p of Pa in ted B ud dh a Figures a t Ajanta,

fry Anand Krishna 96R un e E. A. Jo ha ns so n's Analysis of Citta: A Crit ic ism, by

Arvind Sharma 101

I I I . B O O K R E V I E W S A N D N O T I C E SCross Cur ren t s in Ea r ly Buddh i sm, fry S. N. Dube 108B ud dh a ' s L ion s T he Lives of the E igh ty -Four S iddhas , by

James B. Robinson 1 1 1


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T a n g le s a n d W e b s , by Padmasiri de Silva 11 3Buddhis t and Freud ian Psychology , by Padmasiri de Silva 114B u d d h i s t -C h r i s t i a n E mp a th y , by Joseph J. Spae 115The Re l ig ions o f T ibe t , by Guiseppe Tucci 119

I V . N O T E S A N D N E W SA R ep or t on the 3 rd Co nferen ce of the IABS 123B ud dh ism and Music 127Presiden tia l Add ress at the 2nd IAB S Con ference a t Nalanda

hyP.Prndhan 12 8

contributors 143


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An Except ional Group of Painted BuddhaFigures at Ajantaby A nand Krishna

A b o ut tw entyfive yea rs back I got inte res ted in classification of A jantaPaint ing and t r ied to evolve i ts chronology. At that s tage i t wasgen era l ly assu m ed tha t mos t o f the "Mahay ana gr ou p" of pa in t ingsbelonged to one s ingle c lass . '

Th is paper does no t a t tempt to f ix the chronology of the "Mahayana g ro u p " of pa in t ings , which is an in te res t ing prob lem in itself.T h e pr es en t au th or feel s tha t th is g r ou p spa nn ed a wider per iod oft ime: f rom ca. 450 A.D. to ca . 550 A.D. or 500 A.D. Moreover , acloser examinat ion would reveal several dis t inct ions in s tyles , possiblydue to d i f fe ren t c ross -cur ren ts a t work or even d i s t inc t ateliers ofpa in t e r s showing the i r i nd iv idua l hand l ing o f t he s t anda rd Gup ta -V aka taka t rad i t ion s . T h e o th er d i s tinc t type is the Wes te rn Cha luk -ya n-in f lue nce d s tyle , which is l imited to ju s t a few ex am ples . T h e SibiJataka panel and the unident i f ied court scene (mistaken by ear lyw ri ter s as th e "Pe rs ian Em bassy," see foot no te 1) in the Cave N o. 1are the la tes t in the ser ies and show "Medieval" t rends.

In a basically Hinayana cave (No. 10) Mahayanistic traits includea se r ies o f s tan d in g f igures o f the B ud dh a in pa in ted pane ls . Th ey a reun ifo rm ly in the Gup ta-V ak ata ka s tyle of the f if th cen tury , exce pt forone group of pane ls tha t shows heavy Gandhara in f luence .

A l tho ug h Sasan ian-P ers ian in f luenc e as a para lle l ins tance inAja nta Pa int in g is kno wn in the "Em bassy" scene or a cei ling panelin Cav e N o. 1 pop ula r ly know n as "Kh usarav a nd Shi r in (? ), " Gan -dh ara - in f lue nc ed pa in t in g is unk now n in Ajan ta , excep t in the pane lsunde r d i s cus s ion .

Yavanas o r Yonas, had a foot ing on the western coast of India .T hi s is ev ide nt f rom a ( la ter) refer enc e to Yavanaraja T us ha sp ha as ago ve rn or in the Sau rash t ra reg ion un de r Asoka. Th is nam e ind ica tes9 6


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his Pers ian or ig in , a l thou gh he is ca lled "Yavana Raja ." Th e dua lYona-Kamboja in the Asokan inscr ip t ions s tands for the nor th-westernre gi on or i ts two tr ibes, an d possibly for an easte rn P ersian strainunder heavy H e l l en ic in f luence . Thus , t hese w ere know n as Yona a n dn o t Pdrasika. I t is for th ese t r ibes as well as the G ree k co m m un ity, tha tAsoka ordered a Greek vers ion of h is edic ts in Aramaic and Greek.Later on th is communi ty must have cont r ibuted to the r i se of the Gand h a ra school of scu lptu re in tha t region . I t is no won der tha t Yonase t t le rs on the Western Indian coas t brought these ar t - forms to the i rnew ho m es . Wha t surpr ises is tha t the Yona influence is so scanty inthe ear ly Western Indian carvingsexcept in borrowing of a fewm otifs h e re a n d th er e. H ow ev er, this inf luence is po or in i ts s tylist iccon ten t in the m a in cu r ren t o f the Wes te rn Ind ian scu lp tu re .

We know f rom inscr ip t ions tha t the Yonas pat ronized the scooping of caves in Western India, even as early as in the "HInayanaPe r io d." I t is no w on de r tha t simi lar do nat io ns were repea ted in the"Mahayana Per iod" a t Ajanta . Yet the present group of panels i s thesol i ta ry known ins tance in the rea lm of pa in t ing . I f there were o thersin tha t group, they are los t . S ince a few panels f rom the extant grouphave comple te ly d isappeared, there poss ib ly could have been more ofthis type.

In te r raco t ta figures of the four th cen tury f rom We stern India ,G a n d h a ra inf luence is qu i te well kno w n; the Mir Pu r Khas panels andt h e D e v n i m o r i2 seated Buddha f igures (datable ca. 375 A.D.) , e tc . , areap t exam ples . There fo re , t he pa in ted s t and ing B uddha pane l s a tA janta cave No. 10 are to be accepted in the same run. Th ey rep resent a s l ight ly la ter s tage , ca . 450 A.D. , when the s tandard Gupta-V aka tak a sty le was a l ready se t. T h u s , the Ga ndh ara- inf luen ced pain t ing d id not leave any mark on the s tandard "Mahayana Per iod"A jan ta pa in t ing and the re fo re our G andhara - type pane l s ca r ry on lyan historical s ignif icance.

At least three panels in this s tyle have been published by G.Y a z d a n i ; 3 he has accepted these as t rue Gandhara-s ty le pa in t ings .4However, this at t r ibut ion cannot be accepted, in view of the s tyl is t iccontents of these panels . Our above sugges t ionviz . , a WesternIn di an exte ns io n of the Ga nd ha ra id iom, is subs tant ia ted by thes ty l i s t ic changes . The key evidence to suppor t the sugges ted da te ofca . 450 A.D. i s provided by the kneel ing f igure of the devotee inYa zdan i ' s p la te X X X V II b . T his is depic ted in the t ru e G upta-V aka-taka s ty le of the middle of the f i f th century . Moreover , the t rea tments9 7


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ca nn o t be accep ted as be long ing to the s tand ard G an dh ara s ty le ,wh ich h ad alre ad y decline d in its ho m ela nd . It is quite possible thatthe local Western Indian painters were imitat ing the proto-types setbe fo re th em as m od els. In ou r F IG. 1 we find almost a straigh tf igure , wi th no at tempt to show bhangimd, which is otherw ise a chara cter is t ic of the Gupta-Vakataka s ty le (FIG. 2) .

The face is heavy yet ovaloid, which corresponds to the Devni-m o r l t y p e A .5 Fleshy treatment is more evident in this group; i t is notso emphas ized in the Gupta-Vakataka s ty le . The samghdtiis treated inthe t radi t ional schematic manner , wi th ser ies of t r ip le crescents represent ing th ick fo lds , progress ively th inning out in the second and topridges , as in cer ta in la ter Gandhara s tone sculptures . The end of thesamghdtifa collected by the left hand and falls straight to the side (theabsence of the sensi t ive z ig-zag fo ld of the Gupta-Vakataka order isn o t e d ) , in vertical parallel lines. The samghdti as a whole gives the

FIG. I FIG. 298


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that here, Central Asian features are more evident: the eyes are slitand the cheek bone more pronounced. The end of the ear-lobe isconventionalized with a degree of ornamental depiction and isthicker.Exceptional as these figures at Ajanta are, they did not leave anyimpression on the local style.

N O T E S1. As an e x c e p t io n , a cour t scene in the Cave No. 1 was cons idered seventh

c e n t u r y . It was suggested that this par ticular panel showed an historical scene: thePers ian Embassy at Pulkesin II's Cour t . This sugges t ion , however , has been given up.2. R. N. Mehta calls this as Western Ind ian Art of Kshatrapa s tyle; see in

Excavations at Devnimori, B a r o d a , 1966, p a g e 182; for Ga n d h a r a ty p e Bu d d h a f ig u r e s :ibid, pp. 1 4 2 - 1 4 3 , pi. XL A etc.; for sugges ted da te of ca. 375 A.D.: ibid. pp. 2 8 - 2 9 .

3. G. Yazdani , Ajanta, p a r t III (Plate) , Oxford, 1964, plates XXX b, andX X X V I I a. The th i rd pane l on the side facet is barely visible (plate XXXVI a).

4. G. Yazdani , Ajanta, Vol. Ill (Text) , Oxford , 1964, pages 38 and 39.'->. R. N. Me h ta , op. cit.. p a g e s 1 4 2 - 1 4 3 , p la te XI. A etc.

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An Exceptional Group of Painted Buddha Figures at Ajanṭā

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