Chad-danta Jataka, from Sikri, Lahore, Central Museum

Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham

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Chad-danta Jataka, from Sikri, Lahore, Central Museum

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Collections	Arthur Llewellyn Basham
Title:	Chad-danta Jataka, from Sikri, Lahore, Central Museum
Author(s):	Photographer: Arthur Llewellyn Basham
Keywords:	Gandhara Sculpture;Reliefs;stone sculpture;mounted transparency set
Series/Report no.:	Basham Collection
Description:	A most warm and vital episode in the Jatakas (incarnations) of Buddha concerns the devotion and respect he earned from his followers and his former servants at the time the young prince made his decision to renounce the world and seek Enlightenment, The scene depicts the incarnation of Buddha as the King of the Elephants, As in his other incarnations, this one evolved to teach Buddha the secrets of existence, and at the close of the episode Buddha is shot by the hunter Sonuttara, Buddha must repeatedly die and be born again to uncover the knowledge he seeks, thus at the climax of each Jataka he suffers a new death and gains a new truth, Comparing this fragment with that in slide 13, there is a profound difference in treatment noticeable, The present example is flatter, its detailing less distinct and its figures conceived more as plants than curved surfaces, It may have constituted a part of a larger sculptural system, perhaps it was a smaller panel beneath a larger, more important scene, and for these purposes was rendered more two-dimensionaly, In any case, it looks like a step backward rather than a step forward in the development of spatial relationships in Indian art,
URI:	http://hdl.handle.net/1885/163333
Other Identifiers:	ANUA 682-565

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File	Description	Size	Format	Image
ANUA_682_0565.tif		15.14 MB	TIFF

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