Art of South and Southeast Asia Answers

Gandhara Mathura Amaravati

Buddha is always shown as peaceful and wise, and yet with great strength and power. He always appears both human-like and divine. The Buddha almost always has stretched earloads. The Buddha’s hair and headpiece is always a top his head, in a bun style.

This sculpture is of the Buddha seated in the lotus position (padmasana) with his right hand raised in the abhaya mudra (gesture of fearlessness/protection) and his left hand resting on his knee. Smaller attendant figures stand beside him while celestial beings fly overhead, and narrative scenes appear at the base. The work belongs to the early Indian Buddhist school of thought (likely from the Mathura or Kushan-period Buddhist artistic tradition).

This sculpture is known as the Priest-King from the Indus Valley Civilization, discovered at Mohenjo-daro. It is carved from steatite and shows a bearded man wearing an embroidered garment with a trefoil pattern and a headband. Key facial features include slit eyes, a low forehead, thick lips, and a neatly trimmed beard. The figure is believed to represent a high-ranking individual, possibly a priest or ruler, and demonstrates the advanced artistic skills of the ancient Indus people.

The Gandhara school of thoutght combined Hellenistic, Persian, and Native styles. The earliest figures come from the Gandharan region. Gandhara flourished from the first century to the fifth. It was distinctly Greco-Roman in style, with the earliest figures had the head of Apollo with the body dressed in a Roman-style toga.