Carrying Buddhism: the Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20Th J

carrying b uddhism

the CRolearrying of Metal IBuddhismcons in the Spread and DevelopmentRobert L. Brown of Buddhism 20th j. gonda lecture 2012

20th j. gonda lecture 2012 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

1 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

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PreferredIllustration citation: cover: Buddha. Robert CourtesyL. Brown the(2014). Los Angeles Carrying County Buddhism: Museum The of Role Art. of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism. Amsterdam, J. Gonda Fund Foundation of the KNAW.

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2 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

robert l. brown

Spread and Development of Buddhism Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the

3 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Phyllisacknowledgements Granoff and Koichi Shinohara have given me opportunities to try out my ideas at many of their scholarly gatherings and in their edited books over many years. Some of the themes in the lecture printed here were presented in these contexts. I wish to thank Phyllis and Koichi for this, and even more for the fun it has been.

I want to thank The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Gonda Foundation for the invitation to give the lecture and for sponsoring its publication. Many people were involved in the organization, but above all asI want well toas thankseveral Professor other good Marijke friends Klokke including for her Professors help and Ellenadvice. Raven, The eventHans Bakker,allowed and me Jonathanthe opportunity Silk. to meet again Marijke, an old and good friend,

4 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

contents acknowledgements 4 introduction 6 early metal images in india 7 metal images in gandhara and china 11 metal images in sri lanka and amaravati 14 links among metal images in asia 19 implications of metal icons on buddhist narratives 24 buddhism and the spread of metal icons 31 conclusion 33 bibliography of cited works 35 about the gonda lecture 2012 40

5 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Theintroduction sixth century in South and Southeast Asia appears to be a period of several

- iousmajor shifts cultural and andinnovative artistic creations changes. canThe rarelyperiod be needs dated to precisely. be bracketed Just a by loose the listingproceeding of a few fifth of and the changesthe following of which seventh I am thinkingcenturies includes as the dating in South of Asiathe var the of royal courts in North India, an increase in violence in Indian society, the ac- rapid increase in building Hindu temples, major changes in the organization becoming prominent, while in Southeast Asia we have the earliest Indian-re- ceptance of the Brahman caste as socially superior, and Mahayana Buddhism of art that followed, associated with communities of the language groups of lated icons occurring with Vishnu images at around 500 CE and the explosion yet unnoticed artistic change that occurred in the sixth-century but that had the Mon, Pyu, Khmer, and Cham. The essay published here presents an as of and cultural changes as well. a possiblyThe artistic major change impact, was not the only creation in terms of metal of art, icons. but also It is in often terms assumed of religious that metal icons of the Buddha and of other Buddhist deities were of widespread use and distribution in the earliest art of India. The reality, however, is very - aredifferent, very few as metal examples icons ofbecame metal ofBuddhist importance icons only in India.from the The fifth, history but more of metal sig imagerynificantly in from South the Asia sixth is andmore seventh, complicated centuries. when Before considering the sixth the century use of metalthere shifticons in in technologyGandhara, and in the by extensionsixth century in China. that comesYet evidence from Indiafrom Gandharaand coincides and withChina the demonstrates sudden burst a curiousin numbers story of of metal metal icons technology at this time, that notpoints only toward in India a but also in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. icons in India. We need to test to what extent the argument regarding the late The paper begins by proposing the fifth century CE date for the earliest metal previous art historical and Buddhological studies. The role of metal images in appearance of metal icons finds support, and what the argument implies for South India. These discussions provide several links among the art from South Gandhara and China is next explored, then metal images in Sri Lanka and in- gests how the development of metal icons might have affected the development ofAsia, Buddhist China, narratives,and Southeast and Asia.in conclusion Turning howfinally the to spread Buddhism, of metal the iconspaper could sug have altered some types of Buddhist practices.

6 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

The development of art and culture in sixth century South and Southeast Asia needs an extensive and detailed study to determine the nature and importance of the changes and how they can be described and explained. As scholars put together the evidence, the impact of metal icons will, I think, be one of the factors to consider.

early metal images in india few and their dating is controversial. Even the sixth century produced few met- alThe icons. earliest The metal lack of icons early from metal India icons date may to strikethe fifth scholars century, as but surprising, these are as very the scholarly literature has tended to assume that metal work was of importance a chapter in the book entitled The Great Tradition: Indian Bronze Masterpieces in Indian art from the earliest periods. For example, M.N. Deshpande writes in metal images of great beauty” (Deshpande 1988, p. 31). We will see, however, inthat the Amaravati discussion was below “where that therea flourishing were probably school noof metalbronze images sculpture produced created at Amaravati. I am not undertaking here to identify all the earliest metal icons from India. when the metal images are considered beside the enormous production of My point rather is to place their production beginning very late, particularly some eight centuries earlier than the metal icon production. Indeed, even the stone sculpture beginning from the Maurya Period (ca. third c. BCE), that is There are virtually no metal icons datable up until the Gupta Period (fourth- fifth century production of metal icons is slow until about the seventh century. fifth c. CE) in North India. Metal images of deities are almost entirely absent (a- thorough survey of early metal objects in South Asia is Agrawala 1977). The famous large metal images from Daimabad in Maharashtra are apparently ear ly, perhaps second millennium BCE, although they are surface finds and are haveunique, metal making icons dating of deities, difficult, and andthese in are any small regard and they but are a couple not icons of examples. of deities (Dhavalikar 1988). It is not until the Kushan period (first – third c. CE) that we

34).Two Onetiny isbronzes of an animal of apparently headed femaleHindu deitieswith a babywere standingexcavated beside at Sonkh a human near maleMathura (10.6 that cm date high) to and the aKushan second period of a male (Hartel with 1977, a spear pp. (9.3 90-91, cm high).Figs. 33 Hartel and

India”dates these (Hartel sculptures 1977, p. 90).around 100 CE on the basis of their style, and speaks of the sculpture of the couple as “the oldest Hindustic [sic] bronze so far found in

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to occur with any frequency, but are still very restrictive. The Jain metal sculp- It is in the Gupta period (fourth-sixth c. CE) that metal icons of deities begin a hoard are 18 metal sculptures, including both standing and seated images tures from Chausa are perhaps the earliest of these images. Found together as sculptures have varied with scholars, although perhaps the most likely date is of Tirthankaras (Fig. 1) (Gupta 1965, figs. XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI). Dates for these the fourth c CE, and thus date to the early Gupta period (Asher 1980, pp. 17-18). The Chausa sculptures are of varying quality, but it is to the Gupta period that scholars assign some of the finest metal icons produced in India, almost all of the images being Buddha figures (Fig. 2). It is with some surprise, therefore, when we realize that there are very few metal Gupta-period icons. M. C. Joshi counts a total of thirty-two extant Indian metal images dating to the fifth-sixth

Fig. 1. Jain Tirthankara: Rishabhan- Fig. 2. Buddha, India, Copper Alloy, atha, Chausa, India, Copper Alloy, Sixth Century, H: 39.4 cm., Los Ange- Fourth Century, H: 21 cms., Patna les County Museum of Art (M.70.17), Museum, (From Deshpande 1988, (Photograph courtesy LACMA). Figure 5).

8 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012 centuries (Joshi 2007). Of these there are twenty-seven Buddha images, four Jain images, and one Brahmanical image. There are no known metal images of production may in fact be too conservative. Frederick Asher writes that bodhisattvas. The use of a sixth century date for the efflorescence of metal icon

period or even during the century following the downfall of the Guptas. Such ateliers…there isdeveloped no indication during of the active eighth bronze-working century… (Asher ateliers 1980, during p. 59). the Gupta

In other words, Asher suggests metal images in India are being produced in any number only from the eighth century. metal icons datable before the sixth century that come from South India. The SouthTurning Indian our search attention for metal to South images India, is perhaps we find moreagain complicatedthat there are than few, that if any, for the North because of previous scholarship that has focused on what has been called “Amaravati” style Buddha images and their importance for the development of Buddhist art in Southeast Asia. A number of scholars, however, have

1954, Dohanian 1965, Schastok 1994, Brown 2011), and there is broad con- sensuswritten today about that the identificationthe earliest metal and iconsdating associated of Amaravati with style the imagesAmaravati (Barrett style would be sixth century, that is the same date as the earliest metal images from -

North India. What is recognized today is that the South Indian metal sculp sculptures.tures are complex Sara Schastok and vary has in argued style. They that theare attemptnot localized to date at theAmaravati metal icons and Nagarjunakonda, and they differ stylistically from the earlier stone Buddha due in part to colonial scholars desiring to set up the Satavahana-Iksvaku pe- to dates equivalent to the stone images at Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda was is a falling off of artistic accomplishment (Schastok 1994, pp. 36-40). That is, thatriod (second-fourththe colonial scholars c. CE) couldas the notpenultimate accept that artistic high period,quality aftermetal which sculptures there could date after the point in time (fourth c.) when they considered Indian art wasBefore in decline. turning (The to metalAmaravati icon productionstyle bronzes in willGandhara, be discussed I want furtherto pause below to note in whatrelationship the dating to bronze of the sculpture metal images from fromSri Lanka.) North and South India implies for Buddhist art and religion in Southeast Asia. The earliest Buddha images in Southeast Asia, whether stone or metal, date from around the sixth century. The earliest Southeast Asian Buddha icons thus appear at the same time as the proliferation of metal Buddha icons in India. That the Indian metal sculptures

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Fig. 3. Buddha, Sarnath, India, Stone, Fifth Century, H: Sarnath Museum, (Photograph courtesy AIIS).

were the source for the Southeast Asian sculptures appears likely, given the timing of their appearance, the unlikelihood of heavy stone sculptures being carried to Southeast Asia to be used for models, and the absence of Southeast argued that the stylistic source for much of the Southeast Asian Buddha im- ageryAsian sculptureswas the Sarnath reflecting Buddha Indian image styles type earlier that thanwas developedthe sixth century. at the endI have of in the mid-sixth century (a topic to which I will return below; also see Brown 2006,the fifth 2011). century If this (Fig. is 3), correct, and can then be preciselythe long-held dated theory in its appearance that Indian in artistic China relationships with Southeast Asian images came to Southeast Asia in sequential chronological waves, leaving behind characteristics that accumulated with successive iterations of the icon type, is incorrect. Rather, the Indian artistic relationships are basically those of the sixth century for Buddha images. Like- wise, whatever forms of Buddhism were carried along with these sixth century icons are also sixth century types of Buddhism, with a probable tangle of from a stepped history of changes due to the introduction of Indic Buddhism progressivelyHinayana, Mahayana, through and time Tantric in a sequential characteristics. chain. The sculptures do not result

10 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Wemetal can nowimages turn into Gandharagandhara to reviewand china the appearance of Buddhist metal icons. Gandhara, unlike India, demonstrates extensive production of a wide variety of - andmetal the objects classical starting traditions from supplies the first much century of the BCE content (see discussion of and explanation and illustra for tions in Errington and Cribb 1992). Gandhara’s orientation towards the West the interest in metal objects. The earliest Buddhist metal icons are about the first c. CE, much earlier than in India. The Bimaran gold relic casket of the first Indiac. CE, andwhile Southeast not an icon, Asia, displays Gandhara two becomes iconographically of peripheral complete importance relief images as it is of the Buddha (Errington and Cribb 1992, pp. 189-192). But for our focus on little impact on the Buddhist art of India and Southeast Asia. to TwoChina recent that articlesthe Gandharan by Donna Buddhist Strahan, icon however, types on will the travel, impact ultimately of metal Gand with- sixthharan century Buddha as images a period on of the radical early change metal in Buddha metal sculpture. images of We China will, suggestin fact, be a new interpretation of image production in China, and one that will focus on the able to connect the sixth-century changes in China with those in Southeast Asia- servationat the same scientists, time through and they the both recent make work their of observations another scholar, using Pieter two technical Meyers. proceduresStrahan and forMeyers producing are not metal art historians sculpture, or that religious is lost-wax studies casting scholars and but piece- con mold casting. Strahan demonstrates that the earliest metal Buddha images in that while the sculptures in Gandhara are made by lost-wax casting, those in China are modeled very specifically on Gandharan image types (Fig. 4); but

Fig. 4. Buddha, China, Bronze with amalgam gilding, dated 338 CE., H: 39.4 cm., Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, The Avery Brundage Collection, (Photograph courtesy Asian Art Museum, San Francisco).

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China are attempts to copy the Gandharan sculptures but by using piece-mold casting (Strahan 2010, 2012). The Chinese artists’ use of piece-mold casting millennium,was due to their and unfamiliarityturned to this with technology lost-wax when casting. confronted Chinese artistswith the had task used of piece-mold casting to produce elaborate bronze vessels and bells for over a casting Buddha images. The earliest Chinese Buddha images date to the late thethird lost-wax c. CE, with method. the earliest The two dated casting Buddha methods image tend being to 338produce CE. Until very Strahan’sdifferent stylisticstudy, scholars characteristics, considered with that for the example Chinese the Buddha lost-wax images method were creating cast using free - es more angular and heavy characteristics, and indeed these are found when flowing and individual characteristics while the piece-mold method produc differences in her two articles. comparingShe then acontinues Gandharan in imageher study with to one demonstrate from China. that Strahan in the elaborates late sixth-early these - tures using the lost-wax method, which by the mid-seventh century is used exclusively.seventh c. theThe Chinese source for switch this “dramatic casting methods change in and both begin style to and produce technology” sculp is, Strahan argues, due to the presence of “foreigners” in China, although she radicalcannot changepinpoint in whostyle specificallyof Buddha images was involved. that demonstrates My own work the introductionwould suggest of India as the most likely source. During the sixth century in China there was a - Gupta-stylistic characteristics. The Buddha’s robe changes in the second half of the sixth century from a Chinese robe “inspired by the robes of Confucian offi cials [to be] replaced by a close-fitting monk’s garment of thin, light material, lost-waxclearly influenced technique by is Indian adopted. dress” (Brown 2011, p. 343, quoting Su Bai). Thus, the Indian related Buddha images in China occur at the same moment that the focused in his research on comparing piece-mold with lost-wax casting, but in termsPieter of whichMeyers, casting the second method conservation was used for scientist the production I mentioned of the Dongsonabove, is met also- al objects (including drums, bells, and urns) made in northern Vietnam from technology.about the fifth His BCE argument to the second appears CE convincing, (Fig. 5) (Meyers but it 2011).is also controversialMeyers argues given that thatthe drums the dominant (categorized opinion Heger of scholars 1) and other today objects is that were the drums cast using were piece-mold cast using method used in northern Vietnam at this early period would be shared with the lost-wax. Meyers position, however, makes sense assuming the bronze casting casting method used in China. While lost-wax casting was used for some minor

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Fig. 5. Drum, Vietnam, Bronze, Third Century BCE – Second Century BCE., H: 50.8 cm., Norton Simon Museum, Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon, (Photograph courtesy Norton Simon Museum).

piece-moldattachments, technology and was used dominated around forthe Dongson first c. CE production. for creating It the appears amazing that Dian the three-dimensional figural scenes placed as tympanums on drums in Yunnan,

Dongson drums ceased being produced at some point before the fifth c. CE, areperhaps to create several Buddhist centuries and before, Hindu whichicons, allowednow using for exclusivelya break in bronzelost-wax casting tech- technology. When bronzes begin to be produced again in Southeast Asia they nology.With Meyersthe introduction writes that from India of Buddhism and other Indic religions into -

Southeast2011, p. 39). Asia in the fifth century came lost-wax casting of three-dimension al bronze figures. The first known bronzes date to the sixth century (Meyers

Of particular interest is that bronze drums began being produced at some drums,point after which the clearlyearlier (Hegershow a 1) formal drums relationship had stopped to being the earliermade, specificallydrums, were in madeBurma using and Indonesialost-wax casting. (Cooler Piece-mold 1995 & Bernet casting Kempers was not 1988), used for but the these drums later as with the earlier Heger 1 drums. We have then the sixth century as a point when

Southeast Asia as the means to produce Hindu and Buddhist icons, and became thelost-wax casting technology technology is beingintroduced used up (apparently until today. from India) in both China and

13 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

metal images in sri lanka and amaravati - - catingOne of the mostproblem intractable is identifying and debated and dating problems Sri inLankan characterizing sculpture. early The South rela- tionshipeast Asian between Buddhist Sri sculpture Lankan sculptureis defining and the Southrole of Indianart from sculpture Sri Lanka. is Compliunclear, making the ability to differentiate the two often impossible, and thus their

Rethinking the role of metal sculpture in the context of this much discussed topicrelationship may help in turnto clarify to the some sculpture of the ofevidence. Southeast Scholars Asia difficult for almost to determine. a century have maintained that Sri Lankan and/or South Indian (Amaravati) metal sculptures were imported to Southeast Asia, with dates as early as the second-third century CE. My argument is that the earliest Sri Lankan and Amaravati bronzes are fifth century (and that is debatable) with the sixth and seventh centuries sculpture”when bronze at Amaravati.sculptures beganThe image being Despande made in anyuses quantity. to represent the early metal Isculpture mentioned from above Amaravati Deshpande’s is a referencesculpture toother the “flourishing scholars have school also of used bronze to demonstrate early Amaravati metal images (Fig. 6) (see Sivaramamurti 1963, pp. 9, 69, fig. 1c). Deshpande gives the sculpture a third century date, as does

Fig. 6. Buddha, Amaravati, India, Bronze, ca. Eighth Century, H: 43.5 cm., Government Museum Madras (Photograph after Deshpande 1988, Fig. 11).

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Sivaramamurti, but neither scholar attempts to argue or justify the early dating (Ramachandranin the publications 1954, just cited,p. 59), but he simply says it stateswas one it as of a “Thefact. earliest and the most When the Figure 6 bronze was published by T. N. Ramachandran in 1954 stupas.” This is perhaps overstating the case, as it is one of only four images, the otherinteresting three bronzesof which that are werebadly acquired broken, andfrom one the is excavations only a head. of Ramachandran the Amaravati gives the Figure 6 Buddha a sixth century date (Ramachandran 1954, p. 63). He

Buddhadoesn’t date is today two consideredof the other toBuddha date to images, the seventh but refers century the broken(Huntington head to1985, the p.fifth-sixth 226). century by comparing it to the Sultanganj Buddha. The Sultanganj

Thus, Deshpande’s flourishing school of bronze sculpture amounts to four mostly damaged fragments. Ramachandran’s statement that Figure 6 is one of the “most interesting” bronzes presents a very distorted picture of the paltry

Fig. 7. Buddha, Buddhapad, India, Fig. 8. Buddha, Amaravati, India, Bronze, ca. Eighth Century, H: 31.7 Bronze, Seventh Century, H: 19 cm., British Museum (1905, 1218.2), cm., Government Museum Madras (Photograph courtesy British Muse- (Photograph after von Schroeder um). 1990, Pl. 43B).

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- and battered four bronze images from Amaravati. Furthermore, there is noth thating to they say were that probablythese metal brought images to werethe site made from at various Amaravati places in theand first at various place. They were just found there. Their few numbers and stylistic variety suggest Buddha images but is very close to an image from Buddhapad now in the Brit- times. Indeed, Deshpande’s Buddha is not in the style of the Amavarvati stone ish Museum (Fig. 7) which the museum dates to the eighth century, and which noris the to most have likely been dateproduced for Deshpande’s at Amaravati. image as well. Thus, there is no evidence forWhen any of Ulrich the four von bronzes Schroeder found published at Amaravati his toenormous date before compendium the sixth century of Sri Lankan Buddhist sculpture (von Schroeder 1990) he illustrated one of the four late Amaravati school” and dates it 600-650. His purpose in including it in his cataloguebronzes found is because at Amaravati it is in a (Fig.sculptural 8). He style labels (with the theimage swag as of“from cloth South of the India lower hem of the robe) that is found on images in Sri Lanka and scattered in many places in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia). He does not include any of the other three images found at Amaravati because (I assume) they are not in the “Amaravati style.” Schroeder speaks of the images he associates with this image type, a large group, as “Late Amaravati School,” which he dates sixth through eighth century. The label of “Late Amaravati School” is perhaps unfortunate. Von Schroeder

- avatisays inSchool his identification which was discovered of the Figure in India” 8 Buddha (von foundSchroeder at Amaravati 1990, p. 182).that “This This istorso an astoundingof a standing observation. Buddha is actually In all of the India only only known this bronze one broken of the Latemetal Amar icon in an Amaravati style has been found. In other words, the “Amaravati” metal sculptures exist not at Amaravati, nor even in India, but as loose and scattered finds in Southeast Asia. An Amaravati school of bronze sculpture doesn’t exist. Von Schroeder recognized this and wrote in his catalogue: existence of a casting tradition in the Late Amaravati Style in Andhra Pradesh In view of the discovery of certain bronze Buddhas in South-East Asia, the

onlyhas been the torso suggested. exists The(von conjecture Schroeder appears 1990, p. to 175). be highly abstract because of the meager archaeological evidence: a single bronze Buddha image of which Given this problem, the use of the term “Amaravati School” for a large group of metal Buddha images that have no connection to Amaravati seems unwise

16 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012 and misleading. These “Amaravati” style metal icons in Southeast Asia are of- known. ten called Srivijaya art, although where and even when they were made is not in part on the misdating by scholars of metal sculptures by comparing them The identification of metal sculpture in Southeast Asia as “Amaravati” is based to the early stone sculptures. The Buddha image at Amaravati first appears andin stone resumes reliefs with at thea few end stone of the sculptures second c. at CE, Amaravati with freestanding in a different stone style icons in the in eighth-ninththe early third centuries c. CE. The (Knox stone 1992, sculpture pp. 215-229 apparently and Barrettends in 1954). the third Stone century, Bud- into the fourth century. And newly excavated sites in Andhra Pradesh, such as Phanigiridha images (Skilling continue 2008), to be and made Kanganhalli at other Andhran in Karnataka sites,1 as(Dayalan at Nagarjunakonda and Nakani- shi 2011) have revealed new styles of stone Buddha image, suggesting that our views of the early stone Buddha images from South India may in themselves have to be rethought. Pierre Dupont wrote an important article in 1959 that clearly outlines the incorrect thinking with regard to the metal images referred to as Amaravati (Dupont 1959). Dupont uses six metal Buddha images found in several differ-

Java) to trace their relationships to sculptures from Sri Lanka and India. Some ofent the locations icons Dupont in Southeast feels areAsia imported (Vietnam, images, Thailand, while the othersCelebes are (Sulawesi), locally made and but reveal the Sri Lankan/Amaravati influence. Dupont feels that the large illustrateBuddha image which found stone in images the Celebes he is referring (Fig. 9), to,with and which he brings he begins into thehis discusarticle,- compares exactly to the stone images from Amaravati. He doesn’t date or even sion a reference to a Sinhalese sculpture for comparison but doesn’t reference nor illustrate it. He ends the discussion by saying that the Celebes sculpture is of comesIndian originfrom Amaravati (“l’origine orindienne”) from Sri and Lanka. dates The it to inability the second of Dupont or third to centuries. suggest Dupont’s analysis of the sculpture is confusing as it is not clear if the image- an origin” to mean “not Southeast Asian”?) is because he has no Amaravati or earlyone or Sri the Lankan other asmetal a source images for with the imported which to objectcompare (I take it. Indeed, his use that of the remains “Indi true up until today. There are no Amaravati metal images that I can identify,

Dayalan and Nakanishi 2011. The research focus thus far has been on the relief carv- 1 Aings and fairly their complete inscriptions bibliography rather than of publications the Buddha on images, Kanganhalli which isappear published later in date then the relief scuptures.

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Fig. 9. Buddha, Found in the Celebes, Indonesia, Bronze, Sixth-Seventh Century, H: 75 cm., National Museum, Jakarta, (Photograph after von Schroeder 1990, Pl. 42F). and the earliest Sri Lankan metal images date to the sixth-seventh centuries sixth-seventh centuries, and thus three or four centuries later than Dupont, theyat the continue earliest. to While refer to contemporary it as an Amaravati scholars sculpture. date the Jan CelebesFontein, sculpturefor example, to to the way in which the robe is worn, while he associates it with a seventh-cen- characterizes it as “one of the group of images in the Amaravati tradition,” due entry on the sculpture say if he feels it is a Sinhalese import or locally made. turyDupont Anuradhapura continues style in his (Fontein article to1990, describe p. 180). the Nevertheless, other metal sculptures he doesn’t found in his in Southeast Asia as Amaravati and/or Sri Lankan, sometimes saying an image might mix with north Indian stylistic elements. Nevertheless, he has no comparisons to make with any sculptures from Amaravati or with Sri Lankan images. Thus, as argued above, a school of sculpture is created without any sculpture as evidence.

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links among metal images in asia - gest themselves. The problem, as happens frequently when tracing relation- Links among Buddha images from South Asia, China, and Southeast Asia sug moments of connection. The relationship is implied through the visual comparisons,ships between and even styles shared of ancient geographical art, is the spacedifficulty and in historical pinning downinterchanges any specific can often be established, but exactly what carried the formal content and by whom is frequently not known. This inability of defining a clear moment of contact is the major weakness of notions of artistic influence. For example, if the Sarnath Gupta-period Buddha was so influential in both China and Southeast Asia in the sixth century, and if metal images were the main means of this spread, we might expect to find Indian imported sculptures smallin China stone and sculpture Southeast found Asia. at No Wiang imported Sa in Peninsularimages, however, Thailand have suggests been founda link (as far as I know) in China. In Southeast Asia only an intriguing but unusual - changewith Sarnath even moresculpture unlikely. (Fig. Of10). course, Problematizing one can argue the discussion that it was further artists is who the apparently small number of Gupta-period bronzes that would make the inter were moving, not objects, but Indian artists in China or Southeast Asia would produce Indian style objects, not Northern Wei or Dvaravati style sculptures. We are left with Chinese and Southeast Asian artists going to Sarnath, but that these artists would return to China, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam and all lost-waxproduce similarlytechnology modified for producing images metalis equally icons. unlikely. The technology appears in the One link among the art of South Asia, China, and Southeast Asia is the shared- es. But several other connections among the art from these areas of Asia point towardsixth century a South in AsianChina source and Southeast for developments. Asia, apparently from South Asian sourc For example, the stone sculpture from Wiang Sa (Fig. 10), located in Peninsu- lar Thailand, is often considered an import from India, and thus it might serve as a model for introducing the Sarnath Gupta-period image type to Southeast - digenous sculpture (Brown 1994). In this regard the Wiang Sa image is impor- tantAsia. to I have my argument. theorized Itthat is very a single close import in style could to some engender of the an Buddha entire images school offrom in Sarnath, as a comparison with an image in the Uttar Pradesh Archaeological body proportions. The left legs are tense, the left hips rounded and protruding, withMuseum the right(ASI) legs at Sarnath slightly demonstrates bent. The unusually (Fig. 3). long Both right figures arms have hang very beside similar the

19 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Fig. 10. Buddha, Wiang Sa, Surat Thani Province, Thailand, Stone, Fifth-Sixth Century, H: 7 cm, National Museum, Bangkok, (Photograph after Baptiste and Zephir 2009, Fig. 3, p. 53).

images are broken in a similar way; apparently they were raised holding an edgebody ofwith the the robe open (see hands Griswold large 1966, and theFig. fingers23 for a webbed. stone sculpture The left fromarms Sarnath of both showing this arrangement of the arms). However, the Wiang Sa sculpture may be a locally made copy of an Indian stone sculpture. The non-Indian characteristics of the sculpture include the - haps only about 21 cm. complete. I know of no such tiny stone images pro- ducedvery small at Sarnath. size of Inthe addition, object, justthe Buddha17 cm. high has ain very its brokenlow usnisa state, and but wide-open still per eyes, both unusual Gupta-period characteristics. A.B. Griswold considered it as “copied from a Sarnath model” (Griswold 1966, p. 62). If so, it is perhaps more valuable for my purposes as it shows a close copying of an Indian model, some- thing very rarely seen in the art of Southeast Asia. It would indicate a moment 2 of adaptation, and specifically of a Sarnath image.

2 Michel Jacq-Hergoualc’h proposes an image on a votive tablet discovered in Tham Khao Khanab Nam, Muang District, Krabi Province as stylistic similar to the Wiang Sa image (Jacq-Hergoualc’h 2002, p. 144), and thus to its Gupta Period relationships and 20 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Fig. 11. Buddha, Stupa no. 11, Fig. 12. Avalokitesvara, Nalanda U Thong, Thailand, Bronze, Eighth Site 11, Bihar, India, Bronze, Sev- Century, H: 24.5 cm., National Muse- enth-Eighth Century, H: 21.6 cm., um, U Thong, Suphanburi Province, Nalanda Mueum, (Photograph after (Photograph after Baptiste and Huntington 1984, Fig. 162). Zephir 2009, Fig. 132, p. 133).

Southeast Asia, and India. Dvaravati style metal Buddha images sometimes A second example of artistic exchange may suggest links between China, - anhave art halos only with appear flame in themotifs seventh (Fig. 11).century. While In flames the seventh decorating and eighth halos maycenturies seem natural when considering Asian art, in actuality flame motifs on halos in Indi flame motifs are usually small and nondescript, and occur almost exclusively include the Wiang Sa location. date. He points out that its find spot is on a likely trans-peninsular route that would

21 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Fig. 13. Jain Tirthankara, Kankali Tila, Mathura, India, Stone, Fifth Century, H: 134 cm., State Museum, Lucknow, (Pho- tograph after Okada, et al. 2007, Fig. 9). on metal images and rarely on stone sculptures (Fig. 12). On the other hand, theThe flaming early halos Indian become halos almostare predominantly standard on Buddhistvery simple icons in intheir China decoration. from the early fifth century (Rhie 2010, p. 39) - becameMost are extremely completely elaborately plain, or have decorated, only a scalloped reaching edge.an apex But of in creativitythe Gupta andpe riod (fourth-sixth c CE) halos for images of the Buddha and Jain Tirtankara- beauty in examples from Mathura (Fig. 13). The halo designs are predominant havely of jewelsumbrellas and overof plants their (vines heads and rather flowers). than halosThese (Jamkhedkar elaborate halos 1988, are Figure found 1).on stoneFew Gupta-period sculptures. Metal images icons have rarely been have published their halos from in the tact, rear, but whichsome images would reveal if they had lugs or other means to attach halos; but the occurrence of lugs would not of course tell us if the halos were decorated with flames. designsThe association and plant motifsof flames on withthe halos. halos Lightapparently produces indicated the growth light, and Iprosper assume- itythat of light living was things. what Lightwas indicated was implied in early through Indian the art sparkle by the and placement gleam ofof gems,jewel isand underlined the growth repeatedly that light in produces Buddhist by texts. the flowersFor example, and vines. here Theis a passage ability of from the Buddha to create light is among one of his most defining characteristics, which

22 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012 a narrative of the Buddha, the Lalitavistara (that probably dates around the fifth“Rays century of light CE), by describing the hundred the of light thousands associated escape with from the hisBuddha: body; they spread

the three lower realms….The light from the tuft of hair between his brows throughout the great fields of the Jinas [Buddhas], bringing peace to those in

eclipses the heavenly light of the sun and the moon, and outshines the maṇi Onestone, indication fire, and of lightning…(Bayslight being associated 1983, withp. 533).” the gems and plants of the early halos is the addition to some of the halos of pointed designs that radiate out from around the head of the Buddha or the Jain Tirthankara (Fig. 13), suggesting rays of light. The gems and plants are not images of light or symbols of light

- losbut fromare contiguous Gandhara within the things Northwest that produce area of lightSouth and Asia. benefit Gandharan from light. halos are largelyThe use plain of andflames without on halos decoration. becomes There more are, complicated however, somewhen possible we look examat ha- ples that have designs on their rims that might be interpreted as flames, but these are very few. The well-known Gandharan Buddha images with flaming shoulders can be considered as perhaps suggesting a connection with flaming onhalos. the Themandorla seated (Rhie Buddha 1999, with Fig. flaming 1.49). shoulders from Paitava in Afghanistan, forThe example, appearance has the and flaming date ofshoulders the Gandharan and what (or appears more precisely to be a rim the of Afghan flames- istan) flame motif in association with the Buddha leads inexorably to Chinese datesBuddha it toimages. the second The famous half of theHarvard second seated century, Buddha which with is about flames the rising same fromdate his back has recently been the focus of several detailed studies. Marilyn Rhie as the Afghanistan Paitava Buddha (Rhie 1999, p. 89). But by the early fifth- century the flame halo (or more properly the flame mandorla) is fully formed bothand found metal widely and stone in Chinese sculptures. art, with many of the images clearly dated by in scription to the late fourth and fifth centuries. The flame mandorla decorates-

As noted above, the flames on Indian Buddhist sculptures appear in the sev themselvesenth century are on often Pala styleworm-like, art. They but are create hesitant tiny spikesand sparse that stickat first, out separated from the by rows of tiny bead designs that space them far apart (Fig. 12). The flames halo. The flames occur predominantly, perhaps exclusively, on metal images. By the eighth-ninth centuries, however, tight rows of flames decorate the halos of

23 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

- both bronze and stone sculptures. The use of flames to decorate halos in South clearlyeast Asian are relatedart is an to enormous the Pala style topic images to investigate. of India. There The flamingis much halosless evidence of both Hindu and Buddhist sculpture are standard on Central Javanese sculpture, and they take point toward Indian models (Fig. 11). for the flaming haloes of Dvaravati style images; but again the undulating forms take extended research to sort out, but we can at least say at this point that its The apparently complicated development of the flame halo in Asian art will- earliest appearance is in the Buddhist art of China and that of Gandhara in Af ghanistan. In Gandharan art, however, it is extremely rare and confined in date, takewhile a inparticular China by form. the end It is of the the Indian fifth century form that it is is very used widespread. in the art of In Southeast India, on the other hand, flames decorating halos occur from the seventh century, and- toAsia, be placingseen. its appearance in the seventh and eighth centuries. Whether Chi nese art was in some way suggestive for the flaming halos in Indian art remains

implications of metal icons on buddhist narratives severalIf we trace centuries the general shows trajectory a tremendous of the decrease popularity in ofnumber visual andrepresentations variety. The popularityof the Buddha’s of the biography narrative traditionin India, beginswe find almost that it immediately begins strongly, with thebut earliafter- reducedest Buddhist both (indeed in number Indian) of scenes art in depicted the second as wellcentury as in BCE; narrative but it contentis fading to by a smallaround corpus the fourth by the century sixth and CE. seventh Except centuries.for some exceptions,The Jatakas the in particular narratives tend are to disappear almost completely. The history of visual Buddhist narratives in Indian art has been studied by a the topic, Discourse in Early Buddhist Art: Visual Narratives of India, nicely lays number of scholars. Vidya Dehejia’s very detailed and helpful recent book on She says that out their development. In a Chapter entitled “The Narrative Tradition Recedes,” The shift away from narrative concerns that becomes increasingly evident

thein post Buddha fifth centuryhad always artistic been productions enlightened seems and that to have over been myriads connected of eons with he evolving Buddhist theology. Mahayanist schools introduced the concept that

24 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

had been responsible for the spiritual attainment of multitudes of celestial bodhisattvas. With such a belief, details of the historic life of prince Siddhar- tha who became Gautama Buddha ceased to be of immediate relevance to

Theworshipers attribution (Dehejia of the decline 1997, ofp. the239). visual narratives to theological or doctrinal shifts in Buddhism is the standard explanation for the artistic changes (Leosh- ko 1993/94, p. 260). While I do not deny that such a theological shift away from the historic Buddha to the cosmic Buddhas was a factor, I want here to propose another set of changes that may have played a role. These changes, rather than doctrinal, are artistic in nature. The decline of the visual narrative tradition in India coincides in date (the is that these two phenomena may be linked. I will explore the possibility that thesixth early century) visual with narrative the rise tradition of the bronzewas associated production with of stupasicons. Myand suggestion the use of stone as the medium for the depiction of elaborate narrative scenes. As stupas began to be built primarily of brick and without stone fences, their decoration turned more to stucco and terracotta, media that did not work as well as stone as carriers of complicated narratives.3 icons may have moved devotional practices away from experiencing visual The emphasis on bronze sculpture as decline in visual narratives in India in the sixth century may, however, have in- volvednarratives, yet another and bronze artistic does medium, not work paint, well and for thedepicting possibility narrative that complicated scenes. The visual narratives continued in painted productions after the sixth century. The Buddhist artistic narrative tradition in stone is almost entirely associated with stupas. The stone narrative scenes occur on the fences and gates that surround the stupas, and on the body of the stupas themselves. The reliefs from from their context, but they also appear to have been directly related to stupas. ThereGhandaran are exceptions, sites are more including difficult the to vedika place reliefs because from they Bodhgaya have been that removed appear - into haveIndia surrounded is associated the with tree the shrine stupa, (although it may be just helpful how tois extremelylook at what problemat happens ical), and the porch reliefs of Vihara 19 at Bhaja. If the visual narrative tradition- to stupa building after ca. 500 CE. On the whole, the building of stupas, particu larly large stupas, falls off. Ajanta itself can be used to demonstrate this. Of the 21 caves built in the fifth century, only two are caitya halls, while the viharas nineteenth c.) brick temples in Bengal. Even here, however, the extensive images tend 3 Terracotta was used to produce spectacular narrative reliefs in later (sixteenth – to be in panels and bands. (See Michell 1983 and Ghosh 2005). 25 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012 have been turned into temples for the worship of the Buddha image. Even the stupa in Cave 26 is dominated by a Buddha image. Clearly, the stupa was not of relatedsuch importance sites in Orissa, at Ajanta. for example, but these are made of brick and are without stoneWe offences course or havegates stupas or any being relief builtcarving. after The the Dharmekh fifth century. stupa At Ratnagiriat Sarnath and as veneer of stone that does carry relief carving - but decorative and non-narrative. Butit stands at sites today like is Nalanda sixth or and perhaps Paharpur, seventh the centuryfocus of –the again monastic brick coveredestablishment with a was not a stupa but a new type of stepped brick structure, or perhaps more accurately, was a monument that included stupas but was not a single stupa as seen at the earlier sties. Indeed, many small so-called votive stupas were set up at such sites as Ratnagiri and Nalanda, stupas made of brick, stone, or both together, some of which have niches in which at times tiny stone carvings of some of the eight formulaic narrative scenes of the Buddha were placed. In - short,The stupasuse of asbrick carriers for Buddhist of depictions monastic of the structures Buddha’s biography dominates rarely construction exist af afterter the the fifth sixth century century in India,in India. except Nalanda for the can votive be used stupas to demonstrate types just mentioned. this. The building. As with brick architecture everywhere, the preferred material used forsite decorationappears to isbegin stucco. in theThis fifth is clearly century, shown and brickat Nalanda is the bymaterial the completely used for revealed during the excavation. As at Ratnagiri and Paharpur, stone at Nalanda stuccoed fifth level brick structures, dating to the seventh century,4 The that rock-cut were tradition of Buddhist architecture more or less ends at exactly this time, the is used sparingly and for specific areas only in the architecture. visual narratives rely on stone relief carving; without the use of stone, there are fewseventh narratives century, depicted. with the great Caves 10 and 12 at Ellora. The point is that the

Dehejia’s book chapter on the decline in ca. 500 AD follows a chapter on the wall paintings at Ajanta, suggesting, not inaccurately, that the last major display of Buddha narratives in India was the Ajanta paintings of the second half of the fifth century. What are we to make of the Ajanta murals? Art historians tend to argue that the Ajanta murals are not unique, but are the lucky preservation - argued4 Certainly, that the geographical use of brick area as the has primary much to building do with material these changes, in Pala-period as Buddhist India mon led, amonguments other became things, more to and the morereduced concentrated creation of in sculpture eastern India.in stone. Frederick See Asher M. Asher1998, haspp. 313-328.

26 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

what was a common practice of mural painting in early India, almost all ex- – due to the early abandonment of the caves shortly after they were made – of almost entirely devoted to narrative depictions, are not unique, it is possible amples of which have been destroyed. If, indeed, the Ajanta murals, which are thatThere the narrativeare remnants tradition of wall did paintingsnot so much in otherend with caves the that Ajanta indicate paintings, a long as- standingbegin there and in widespread a fluoresces tradition using a new of mural artistic painting. medium. The caves at Bagh show that the complicated and detailed mural style of Ajanta existed elsewhere at arethe todaytime. Thesealmost paintings entirely destroyed,date from aboutand we the have same only time the as copies those painted at Ajanta, by A.K.and compriseHaldar and equally other complicatedartists in the scenes 1920s ofof multiplewhat then figures. remained The Baghof the murals paintings.5

Monika Zin has recently identified a complex scene some 13 m. long, the includingremains of as which a Jataka. can6 Shestill points be seen out on that the the porch style between and date Caves of the IVBagh and paint V, as- the story of King Mandhatar, a story that appears in a wide variety of texts, reads from right to left, and basically follows the chronology of the story. The ings are essentially the same as those at Ajanta. The King Mandhatar narrative narrativesidentification in paint of an are extended not unique. narrative displaying a series of episodes using manyOtherwise, figures, bitsas with of wall the paintingspainting are of Ajanta, extant allowsfrom many us to other argue cave that sites,the Ajanta such as Kanheri, Pitalkora, Ellora, and so on.7 This material, however, tends not to be narratives, but icons of the Buddha and bodhisattvas, and as in the case of

Pitalkora, are paintings added in the fifth century or later to caves excavated hundreds of years earlier, in the first century BCE. Interestingly, there are also traces of wall paintings from this first period of cave construction (second BCE to second CE), strongly suggesting an ongoing tradition. For example, there are painted jatakas and scenes of worship in Ajanta Cave 10 dating to the second or first century BCE that are found under the later fifth century paintings. The Bagh Caves in Gwalior State 5 These2 (June 1972) paintings for reproductions were used to of illustrate some of anthe article paintings. on the Some paintings of these in paintings can , ed J. Marshall (Marshall 1927; reprint 1987). See Marg 25, no. still be seen in the Gwalior State Museum. - lished6 Zin’s by discussionDieter Schlingloff includes as an a foldout exhaustive section discussion in Schlinghoff of the textual 2003. sources for the King Mandhatar story. The complete mural in a detailed line drawing has been pub

7 For a bibliography of the evidence for early wall paintings see Schlinghoff 2000. 27 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

doIt not is difficult reveal anyto know tentative how extensivelydevelopment, the suggesting Buddha’s biography they were was part depicted of a fully in developedthe wall paintings stylistic in tradition. the Buddhist Likewise, caves. thatThe Ajantathey were and Baghcarried paintings, forward however, in now- lost murals, many perhaps in built structures of wood, can be argued on the basis thangka, and mural traditions of South Asia from the eleventh century on (Gray of what is seen as the mural painting style being influential in the manuscript, eleventh-century1981, pp. 27-29). In(re)occurrence other words, anof argumentthe Indian can painting be made tradition, that the becauseAjanta style the of painting continued during the five centuries between the cave murals and the Only a brief outline of the relationships between these two periods of paint- twoing isperiods given here,of paintings but it demonstratesshare styles, motifs, how theand argument principles would of organization. be made (for references arguing the continuity of the painting tradition see Kramrisch 1933, and Losty 1982). Similarities in styles and motifs can be broadly shown (while makingpp. 129-147; clear thatRay the1968; later Ghosh painting 1971; examples Pal and come Meech-Pekarik from a variety 1988, of geographinter alia;- ical areas as well as a variety of local styles).8 The telltale use of the farther eye, that is the unnatural forward extension of the far eye when presenting a

Indian manuscript painting as well as in the wall murals at Alchi. Likewise, theface practice in three-quarter of highlighting view, firstin a lightoccurs color, at Ajanta, often white, and is of then the usedcentral in areaseastern of body parts with a darkening toward the outer borders, in order to give a sense manuscript and mural traditions. There is a shared tendency to use color as a of weight and corporality to the figure, is used at Ajanta and in both the later or geometric depiction of rock formations and mountains, as well as the use solid field, without modulations. Certain motifs are shared, such as the cubical itself. Such a list of shared styles and motifs, which can be expanded, suggests a of the landscape as a staging area for figures rather than as an artistic focus in continuity of painting practices from Ajanta to the eleventh century. An essential characteristic of the Ajanta paintings, however, is lacking in the iconiclater material, or show thatbrief of scenes the narrative of the by-then quality standard itself. Most eight of scenesthe paintings of the Bud– on- manuscript pages and covers, on cloth paintings (patas), and on walls – are narrative tradition had died out in painting, as it had in stone, we must keep severaldha’s life points (Leoshko in mind. 1993-94, For one, pp. 251-76).the extant While evidence this appears is only the to suggest tiniest fractionthat the

Himalayan areas of the modern nation states of India, Tibet, and Nepal. 8 The geographical areas include eastern India and Kashmir, Bangladesh, and the

28 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012 of what must have been the original corpus of eleventh and twelfth century painting. The one painting type that we would most expect to be used for narrative scenes, that of wall painting, has no extant examples at all in India itself. What exist is, as at Alchi and Tabo, in a Tibetan milieu that shows a variety of ancient literary references to the occurrence of wall paintings in India. There is alsoinfluences, one manuscript including cover Central dated Asian. to ca. Nevertheless, 1100 from Nepal there thatis a showsrich tradition the narra of- tive of the Vessantara Jataka. As Jeremiah Losty points out, this lone example of a complicated Buddhist narrative argues that

as scaled-down versions of icons as wall paintings, it would follow that this If the divinities painted in the Pala and Nepalese Mss. are to be regarded transitions from one episode to the next it recalls the narrative technique cover is a version of a full-size fresco of this subject, and indeed with its fluid- ed in Pl. V). employed in large-scale wall paintings at Ajanta (Losty 1982, p. 35, illustrat It seems that the manuscript painter, working 600 years after the painters at

Ajanta, was connected to a shared narrative tradition of Buddhist painting. While the Ajanta paintings thus can be placed within an ongoing tradition, andarguing completeness that they are hitherto not unique seen productions, only in stone they relief do appearsculpture. to be The an questionamazing isfluorescence did the medium that depicts of paint the allow Buddha’s for the biography narrative at atradition new level to of continue complication after

Stone was used to produce icons from the beginning of Buddhist art, while Ajanta? - metal began being used for this purpose in the fifth-sixth centuries. As dis cussed above, there is very little bronze sculpture before the fifth and sixth centuries in India. What do exist are mostly small and inconsequential objects. whichThere arethere a feware fewKushan in any bronzes, regard) and are even probably during later the than Gupta the period Gupta bronzes period, are rare. Indeed, many of the so-called Gupta-period bronze Buddha icons (of - ingbeing narrative sixth and scenes. seventh It iscentury. interesting The medium in this regard of bronze that works Sheila well Weiner for making in her individual icons. What the medium of bronze does not work well for is depict image itself. She says “In time the narrative tradition seems to have been almost totallystudy of overwhelmed Ajanta directly by linksthe image” the loss (Weiner of the narrative 1977, p. 115).tradition The to rising the Buddha importance of the medium of bronze parallels the increasing focus on the image.

29 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

The two media of stone relief carving and paint are needed for depicting visual narratives. Both are essentially two-dimensional and allow the depiction of mul-

- erabletiple figures scholarly and focus the contextual on the development details necessary in later toIndian suggest art ofthe the precise eight Greatstory. The media of stucco and bronze do not work as well. There has been consid seventh century and are repeated frequently, often in groupings, from then on. It Miracles, scenes of the Buddha’s life that become standardized by around the to a narrative, but are themselves a visual shorthand that stresses the icon, not is difficult, however, to see these scenes as narratives. They can suggest or refer theWe story. may Dehejia return calls to the them question accurately of to“imagistic what extent narratives,” the waning and notes of the that visual they narrativeare relatively tradition rare in can Pala-period be explained sculpture by Buddhist (Dehejia 1997,doctrinal p. 215). changes. The increasing interest in Buddhas other than Sakyamuni Buddha, an aspect of what andwe callof his Mahayana biography Buddhism, in later Indian was specifically Buddhism. mentioned.The various Nevertheless, written versions one ofmay the question biography if there were wasnot, anyas far significant as I know, falling ignored. off Indeedof interest some in ofSakyamuni the most involved textual biographies, such as the Nidana Katha and the Lalitavistara, were being composed when the visual narrative tradition was waning, perhaps

While any detailed evaluation of the relevance of Sakyamuni Buddha in the in the fourth and fifth centuries. rethinking,early Mahayana which cannot for our be purposes undertaken includes here, argumentsa very brief that comment Hinayana is needed. groups withOur understanding Sanskrit texts were of Mahayana dominant Buddhism in India through is presently the Gupta undergoing period (ca.a radical sixth century). The appearance of what are considered cosmic Buddha images, spe- - ing this period, and indeed are rare throughout Indian Buddhism.9 cifically those organized directionally with identifying mudras, are rare dur Mahayana Buddhist monks up until their first appearance in inscriptions of the late fifth/

9 The earliest evidence for the existence of directional Buddha images appears to - beture the that fifth has century. Buddha Fa images Hsien, placedwho was in nichesin India on at the the four beginning sides. Theof the cart fifth is partcentury, of an mentionselaborate thefestival tradition for monks in Magadha and laypeople of building (Legge, a cart trans, with 1975, a five-storey p. 79). Also, bamboo four struc stone Buddha images were placed in the four directional entrances of Stupa 1 at Sanchi in inthe India,” fifth century in Figments (see andHuntington Fragments 1985, of Mahayana pp. 196-198). Buddhism See also in GregoryIndia: More Schopen, Collected “The PapersInscription, pp. 247-277.on the Kusan Image of Amitabha and the Character of Early Mahayana

30 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

- early sixth centuries appear to be marginalized and ridiculed groups, often highlyprojecting conservative an embattled practitioners front in which who want their a texts return are to diatribes the pure against Buddhism main of thestream past, monastic and as such groups. are criticalThe early of the Mahayana value of monksstandard are Buddhist not innovators ritual prac but- tices, including the worship of stupas, relics, and images. They rather advocate ascetic regimens, meditation, and recitation of texts, ritual practices that are is especially harsh on those monks who promote images and relics as means of producinginternal, individualized, donations from and lay text people. oriented. If this The thumbnail early Mahayana description sutra is literature more or focused on here, would suggest an interest in artistic representations of any kind,less correct, or in the there promotion is nothing of cosmic about theBuddha Mahayana worship. that, during the time we are

Thebuddhism appearance and of the metal spread icons hadof metalan impact icons on the Buddhism that developed

Buddhism to prosper outside of the monastic institutions that dominated Bud- after the fifth-sixth up until about the eighth century. The metal icons allowed Southeast Asia, metal images appear today spread across the landscape with- dhism at this time. In certain geographical areas, specifically in some places in of enormous numbers of Buddhist (and indeed Hindu) metal images in places out any indication of institutional or official placement. In fact, the occurrence by scholars or archaeologists as to for whom they were made or where they werelike Central placed. Java, Obviously Angkor, the and uses Mon-period and placement Thailand of thehave metal never images been explained need not be the same across such different cultural and religious divides, yet that we can say almost nothing about how these often very small images were used is century, and so we can at least look to that period to see what perhaps changed insurprising. terms of religiousOne thing practice we can orsay art is historicalthat they development.didn’t exist until about the sixth The sixth century thus appears as a period crucial to the initial creation of Buddhist metal icons in India and Southeast Asia, and for the initiation of a in Southeast Asia and the possible implications for how Buddhism spread in Southeastnew style Asia,in China. assuming I have the already icons mentionedbrought with the them appearance some processes of metal or icons be- liefs that affect Buddhist practice. I have some thoughts on possible Buddhist practices that the metal icons could affect

31 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

in around the sixth century had effects on Buddhist art, and assumedly on Bud- I have shown that the creation and proliferation of Buddhist icons in bronze metal icons could have impacted Buddhist practices, relying on the nature of dhist practices, in China, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. The proliferation of the objects. The metal images perhaps allowed Buddhism to move out of the theroyal royal and courtsmonastic and environments. to the monastic The centers. portability of the metal icons, their size, costs, and durability, put the objects into the hands of people not connected to of which we have hundreds of examples. As I said above, we have no idea how mostMetal of theicons metal could icons be made were inused, a variety where of they sizes, were including kept, and very why small they images, were valued. Perhaps the many metal images we have today (and the assumption is that this number is only a small part of the total as metal images were system- atically melted down for their valuable metal over the centuries) were given to the monasteries as gifts and simply stored. But the easy movement of the often by farmers, do not provide much evidence for their exclusive storage in monasteries.metal icons, and that most of the examples we have today are chance finds, eliteMetal or royal icons patron. are not At only the sameeasily time, carried, the metalbut allow icon forcan a be variety made ofincreasingly monetary values. A small bronze image, while expensive for many, would not demand an as silver or gold, or by adding insets of gems or using a gilding. expensiveBuddhism not can only move by increasing with texts its and size with but teachers, by making both it in of a costlywhich metal,involve such so- phisticated and learned people, and both of which are located mostly in elite and monastic environments. Art can also exist in the elite and monastic envi- ronment, but the metal icons could, and apparently did, move out of this envi- ronment. This is hardly surprising, as we merely have to look to the distribution of Buddha images in Thailand today to see that most images are in the hands of the common people, from the images in most Thai restaurants to images worn as amulets by Thai men (and today many women). How these literally thousands of images are regarded, how they are used, is not monitored by texts or by monks, but by popular and often idiosyncratic understandings. Is it possible that the use of metal icons in the sixth century created the opportunity for a popular Buddhism by placing images into the hands of non-monastic practitioners? Jason Neelis in his recent study on Early Buddhist Trans- mission and Trade Networks (Neelis 2011) demonstrates how a non-monastic popular Buddhism functioned in the upper Indus before official elite patronage

32 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

century. Neelis says that by the Palola Sahi dynasty of Gilgit formalized royal patronage in the seventh The enigmatic absence of a Buddhist institutional presence before this

of the upper Indus. Instead, this overview of Buddhist petroglyphs and inscriptionsperiod did not has mean demonstrated that Buddhists that traders,were missing itinerant from monks, the transit and local zone

elite patronage led to increased level of Buddhist literary and artistic productionpatrons began in Gilgit to localize (Neelis religious 2011, p. topologies 287) and narratives long before

The non-institutional Buddhism that Neelis is talking about expressed itself in terms of art created by apparently non-artists (the petroglyphs) and personal two Buddhisms, the institutional and the non-institutional, can exist together, andbrief art comments, can function akin easily, to graffiti, as it doesby visitors in the (theupper inscriptions Indus sites, he in mentions). both contexts, The whereas texts and monks tend primarily to the institutional context. The creation of metal Buddhist icons in the sixth and seventh centuries introduced in some areas (such as Southeast Asia) a new source for expressing Buddhist sentiments. The icons would be accessible to non-elites, easily moved - to new environments, able to localize Buddhism outside of the monastic institu iconstions, and thehonored sixth-seventh as treasured centuries objects. appear The enormous to form potent numbers relationships. of metal icons produced at this time argues that they were highly successful. Metal Buddhist

conclusion - Ourcussion discussion began with of metal the observationBuddhist icons that in very Asia few during metal the icons first millenniumwere produced has involved topics that tie together South Asia, Southeast Asia, and China. The dis was of importance in early Indian art is incorrect. The sixth-seventh century datein India for untilthe rapid about increase the sixth in century the production CE. The assumptionof metal icons that is metal true forimagery both - ages appear. Some 30 of them are known, although their dates are still guesses andNorth where and Souththey were India. made In North is not India known. the so-calledLikewise Guptain Andhra bronze in SouthBuddha India, im the earliest metal images are of the Buddha and date to the same sixth-seventh century period.

33 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

- east Asia were explored in several ways. The conservation studies demonstrat- The relationships among metal images in India, Gandhara, China, and South

India.ing the It switch is also from in the piece-mold sixth century casting that to the lost-wax Northern casting Qi Buddha of bronze sculptures images in China in the sixth century suggest a new influence coming apparently from to lost-wax casting technique is seen in Southeast Asia as well at the same sixth-centuryreveal radical changesdate in terms reflecting of the styles technology of Indian switching Buddha fromsculpture. piece-mold The change cast- relates to the introduction of Buddhist and Hindu icons from India. ingOther as seen possible with the linkages Dongson between drums, Asiana change traditions in technology having that to do Pieter with Meyers metal sculpture include the introduction of flame motifs on Buddha image halos. In- agerythis case, to Southeast the “influence” Asia ismay one be of from the Chinamost oftento South stated Asia. art historical facts in The importance of Amaravati bronze icons for the spread of Buddhist im importance in the creation of Southeast Asian sculpture, but that in fact there the scholarship. The paper argues that not only were Amaravati bronzes not of are no Amaravati bronzes at all. Rather, the so-called Amaravati bronzes are appearssculptures unlikely. found scatteredRelated to across these SoutheastSoutheast Asia, Asian objects icons arewe oftenmetal call images Srivijaya that beginsculptures, to be produced but we still in don’tSri Lanka know at theirabout sources; the same but time, any again role the of Indiansixth-sev art- remain to be fully understood. enth centuries, and in a similar style. These Srivijaya and Sri Lankan objects takes place in the sixth-seventh centuries may be tied to changes in the artistic materialsThe end used of the for visualdepicting narrative the stories. tradition There of was the a Buddha’s turn to the life use in of India brick that for building stupas in India at around this time. Previously, stone was often used, along with stone fences placed around the stupas. The visual narratives, often very complex, were usually carved on the fences, or sometimes also on the walls of the stupa itself. With the use of brick, the stupas decreased in number or terracotta images. The use of the narratives as decorations was reduced. and size, usually didn’t have fences, and were decorated primarily with stucco stucco as artistic media did not easily allow for complex narrative depictions. TheSimultaneously visual narrative the efflorescence tradition may of have the bronzecontinued, sculpture but in began.paint, whichBronze along and with stone are the two artistic media that best create complex narrative scenes. Finally, the question of how metal icons might have affected the spread and development of Buddhism in some areas of Asia was raised. The portability,

34 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

- small size, and low price of metal icons allowed them to be owned by individ uals and carried outside of the monastery context. My conjecture is that art intoconfined homes to andmonasteries villages, withoutwas usually the inpresence stone or or wood, participation often large of monks. in size, This and couldhighly have valued. been Metal a powerful icons allowed form of layBuddhism, people in as particular the textual to tradition carry Buddhism was also largely institution based, with access primarily by monks and religious special- ists, and inaccessible directly by lay people. Thus, the metal icons could have provided a unique and direct accessibility outside of the monastic context for laymen and laywomen. This could help to explain the enormous numbers and popularity of metal icons produced from the sixth century in parts of Asia.

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STRAHAN, Donna.

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39 Carrying Buddhism: The Role of Metal Icons in the Spread and Development of Buddhism 20th J. Gonda Lecture 2012

Theabout J. Gonda the gondaFund Foundation lecture of2012 the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences supports the scholarly study of Sanskrit, other Indian languages and literature, and Indian cultural history. The Fund is a legacy of Indologist Jan Gon- da, who was a member of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. Each year the Gonda Fund organises and publishes the Gonda Lecture. The Twentieth Gonda Lecture was held in 2012 by Robert L. Brown, Profes- - sor of Indian and Southeast Asian art at the University of California in Los An Buddhism.geles, and Curator of South and Southeast Asian art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, on the role of metal icons in the spread and development of