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February / March 2007
Buddhist History
A Dharma King Takes Shape: The origins of Buddhist Art
 The stupa at Sarnath, North India, surrounded by the ruins of a monastic complex. This is the site where the Buddha gave his first teachings.
Photo courtesy of Nick Dawson. Sara Blumenthal: What is the earliest Buddhist image that is known to exist? Gautama Vajracharya: The symbolic representation of a Buddhist idea began to appear in the third century B.C.E. during the time of the Mauryan Imperial Emperor Ashoka [273-232 B.C.E], but we do not see images of the Buddha or a Bodhisattva in human form at that time. Most of the Ashokan pillars that we find contain symbolic animals such as lions, elephants, stallions, and bulls. Buddha Shakyamuni’s life story contains many references to different animals. For example, according to legend, when Queen Mayadevi conceived the future Buddha Shakyamuni, a cloud elephant descended from heaven and entered her body. We can therefore understand why Ashokan pillars bear a sculpture of an elephant on the top of the pillar to represent the Buddha. At the same time, Buddha Shakyamuni’s early name was Siddhartha Gautama. Gautama means “the excellent bull.” This may be the reason that other Ashokan pillars bear the depiction of a bull. The other reason for animal representations of the Buddha is that many of the different animals that became symbolic of the Buddha were also associated with the monsoon culture of India. Buddhists and Hindus alike incorporated many animal images from this culture into their religion as art. And then we also see Buddha Shakyamuni represented in these early times by a tree and his throne, by a chakra or wheel or by a lotus flower, sometimes by a footprint, and sometimes with a trident-like symbol, representing the three Jewels. SB: Some of the early sculptures from North India seem to embody a Greco-Roman influence. How did Greco-Roman culture influence Buddhist art? GV: What happened is a long history. The Greeks came to India in the fourth century B.C.E. when Alexander the Great invaded most of Persia as well as the northwest part of India. Alexander and his army stayed in that part of India only two years, but many other Greeks who came with Alexander continued to stay there, and Alexander’s generals continued controlling that part of India. After the Alexander invasion, the Maurya empire emerged in India [321-184 B.C.E.]. The very first Mauryan emperor was Chandragupta Maurya, and it was his grandson, Ashoka, who famously became Buddhist…. This article is an excerpt of the full article printed in Mandala
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