A Discussion on the New Dimensions of Buddhist Art in India

Abstract

After the First Council of reciting and memorizing the Buddhist Canon in Fifth century B.C., the Bhikshus and Bhikshunis sustained and propagated the Buddhist scriptures by oral transmission for several centuries. In the meantime, because of the desire to earn merit and to have religious visual guidance, the traditional lay Buddhists made the Buddha's image and symbols which created the impetus for the development of Buddhist art. This development can be viewed as the inevitable process that was initiated by the Asoka's dedication of making pillars, which were based on the axis mundi ideals in earliest Indian literature of the Rig Veda and made by the Indo-Persian artists after the collapsing of Alexander the Great's Persian empire, for the Buddhist holy sites during the third century BC. In fact, initially at these holy places, the historical Sakyamuni Buddha was made and represented symbolically, such as by an empty throne, a stupa, a residence hall of worship, or a tree, with the most popular symbols continuing to be included even after the introduction of the Buddha in human form. Indeed, there was no tangible evidences survives today of any statues or portraits of the Buddha having been created in the course of his lifetime, or for approximately four hundred years after his demise, even though his doctrines and sangha were still flourished since his time. In general, initiated by Asoka's building of inscriptive pillars, monasteries, and others, Indian Buddhist arts go through five phases due to indigenous and foreign influences: stupa architecture and its decorative motif, Greco-Roman art of Gandhara, Indo-Kushan art of Mathura, cave architecture of Western India, and later Buddhist Art of Bengal, including Burma. These stylistic arts have given the great impacts on the religious and secular life of the people in those related areas for more than two millenniums and thus Buddhism had created a great current of art in India. Under this artistic trend, many valuable artworks created and gave rise to emerge a special social phenomenon. Thus, the paper focuses on the dimensions of influence and impact of Buddhist art in India.