Symbols of the Buddha in Early Aniconic Art

1.1 What is aniconism?

Aniconism means showing a sacred person through symbols, not in human form. In early Buddhist art, the Buddha appears as a throne, a tree, a wheel or a footprint.

Scholars say the earliest phase of Buddhist art lasted until the 1st century CE. In the earliest art of India, the Buddha was not shown in human form.

1.2 Where do we see it?

The great early sites are Sanchi, Bharhut, Bodh Gaya and Amaravati. Ashoka’s Great Stupa at Sanchi began in the 3rd century BCE.

Most reliefs came later. Bharhut’s stone railing and its reliefs date from the 2nd century BCE. Its carved gateways came about the 1st century BCE. The Amaravati stupa dates from about the 2nd century BCE.

1.3 Why did artists avoid his image?

Scholars give several reasons. Huntington notes only one indirect ban on Buddha images in all Buddhist texts. It sits in the vinaya of the Sarvastivada school. The Kalingabodhi Jataka adds that a memorial shrine is improper, because it rests on imagination only.

The same text says a great Bodhi tree is fit for a shrine, whether the Buddha is alive or dead. Another idea is that it seemed wrong to show one who had reached nirvana.

Alfred Foucher added a different thought. He said the symbols began as small souvenirs that pilgrims carried home from the great sites. Each souvenir came to stand for the event at that place.

1.4 Do scholars all agree?

No. In 1990, Susan Huntington challenged the idea of aniconism. She argued that many scenes do not show the Buddha at all. They show worship at relics, or devotees re-enacting events at the sacred places.

On her view, an empty throne or a tree marks a sacred spot that devotees worshipped, not a stand-in for the Buddha. Other scholars have answered her. In 1991, Vidya Dehejia took up the debate in an article titled ‘Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems’. The debate is still open.

1.5 How did a viewer read a symbol-only panel?

Each symbol was tied to one event or place, so it worked like a label. A viewer who knew the symbols could read a whole story panel by panel.

Worshippers in a relief often bow or offer flowers towards the empty symbol. That shows the viewer where reverence belongs.

2.1 What does the empty seat (Vajrasana) mark?

The Vajrasana, or diamond throne, marks the spot at Bodh Gaya where the Buddha reached enlightenment. UNESCO says Ashoka installed it beside the Bodhi tree. The first temple at the site dates to the 3rd century BCE.

In art it often appears under a parasol or beneath the tree, as in the Bharhut relief above.

2.2 What does the Bodhi tree mark?

The Bodhi tree is the sacred fig at Bodh Gaya under which, by tradition, the Buddha reached enlightenment. It marks the site and the moment.

It also became an object of worship in its own right. The tree and the empty seat are therefore two separate symbols with the same place behind them.

2.3 What does the Wheel of Law (Dharmachakra) mark?

The Dharmachakra marks his First Sermon at the Deer Park in Sarnath. At Sanchi, the wheel appears several times as an object of worship.

The wheel is sometimes shown between two deer, which recall the Deer Park. The Lion Capital of Ashoka at Sarnath is a different case. Wheels are carved on the side of its abacus. Between the wheels are four animals: a bull, a lion, an elephant and a horse.

2.4 What does the stupa mark?

In this scheme, the stupa stands for the parinirvana, the death of the Buddha at the age of 80. It is shown as a dome-shaped mound.

The word for it, Mahaparinibbana, means the final passing. Do not mix it up with the empty seat. The seat is enlightenment, and the stupa is death.

2.5 What does the riderless horse mark?

The horse is Kanthaka, the favourite horse of Prince Siddhartha. He rode it to leave the palace and become an ascetic.

The event is the Great Departure, or Mahabhinishkramana. At Sanchi, the horse carries an empty saddle. At Amaravati, a servant holds an umbrella over the horse.

2.6 What do the footprints (Buddhapada) mark?

The Buddhapada stand for the Buddha’s presence and his travels. They appear on reliefs at Amaravati, beside other symbols of the Buddha.

Footprints are often marked with auspicious signs. Burmese examples carry 108. The Sri Pada, a footprint-shaped hollow on Adam’s Peak, is still venerated in Sri Lanka.

2.7 How do all six compare?

Hold one symbol to one event. The seat and the tree both point to Bodh Gaya. The wheel points to Sarnath. The stupa points to the death. The horse points to the departure. The footprints point to presence and travel.

3.1 When did the Buddha first appear in human form?

Human images of the Buddha begin to emerge from the 1st century CE in northern India. The Bimaran gold casket in the British Museum is an early example.

Two main centres are named: Gandhara and Mathura. For that comparison, see the lesson on the two schools.

3.2 What was Gandhara's role?

Gandhara was a major centre of Greco-Buddhist art. Many scholars link the first human Buddhas to contact with Greek traditions there. Alfred Foucher gave this theory its full form. Ananda Coomaraswamy argued instead for an Indian origin at Mathura.

The question is still debated.

3.3 What was Mathura's role?

Mathura was a centre of sculpture from the 2nd century BCE. Its Buddha images are related to earlier Yaksha figures, the nature deities of India.

Both schools flourished under the Kushans. Each seems to have shaped its own Buddha image about the 1st century CE. Scholars still debate whether the human Buddha arose mainly at Mathura or through Gandhara.

3.4 Did the human form simply replace the symbols?

No. The two phases overlapped for a long time. Some small figures may even appear in the supposedly symbol-only period.

A visitor to a later site could see an empty seat on one panel and a Buddha figure on the next.