The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

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THE EARLY CLASSIC PERIODS
every atom of space with a million million
sentient beings and devas, so the relief at
Bhaja is crowded with an infinite variety of
forms. Here again, as at Bharhut, is the simultaneous
action and simultaneous space of the
dream-image. The device of vertical projection
is employed at once to indicate recession in
space and to communicate the simultaneous
happening of all these events. We notice also
that not only the form of Indra, but all the
separate forms in the relief, are carved as though
emerging from the matter of the rock that
imprisons them, to indicate that eternal process
of becoming, that emergence of all living things
from the limitless space-matter or mdyd. Here,
as throughout the whole fabric of Early Classic
art in India, we have a syncretic combination of
philosophical and metaphysical tenets of Vedic
and Upanishadic origin, and a piquant and
powerful naturalism that marks the coalescence
of the Aryan and Dravidian heritage in
Buddhism and its art.
Another monument which should be mentioned
to complete our survey of Buddhist art
in the Sunga Period is the railing at the famous
Mahabodhi temple at Bodh Gaya. Originally
erected to enclose the area where the Buddha
walked after his Illumination, the ground-plan
of the railing is rectangular rather than round.
The carving consists in the decoration of uprights
and railing medallions and, presumably,
is
a Sunga dedication of the middle decades of
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the first century B.C. The medallions are filled
with a repertory of fantastic beasts of western
Asiatic origin, which, in the heraldic simplicity
of their presentation, are prophetic of later
I
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Sasanian motifs. 7
A typical relief from one of the uprights is a
representation of the sun-god Surya [38]. Here,
as at Bhaja, the Vedic deity is present in an
allegorical capacity, with reference to the
Buddha's solar character. 8 Surya is represented
in his chariot, drawn by four horses and
accompanied by the goddesses of dawn, who
38. Bodh Gaya, railing pillar with Surya