Art of India and Southeast

Asia

The Great Stupa (Sanchi, India) completed first

century CE

Siddhartha Gautama/ Buddhism/ nirvana/ stupa/ path at the base of the dome/

symbols of the Buddha’s presence/ cosmic diagram of

the world mountain/ toranas

Use of sensuous figures (yakshi)

harmika/ yasti/chatras

Roman copy of the omphalos from

Delphi

The Enlightenment from the west gateway of the Great Stupa (Sanchi, India), c. 50-25 BCE

The Great Departure, the east gateway of the Great Stupa

The Great Departure, the east gateway of the Great Stupa

Interior of chaitya hall (Karli, India) c. 100

Section (left) and plan (right) of chaitya hall at Karli

Seated Buddha from Gandhara (Pakistan),

2nd to 3rd century, stone

a new image of the Buddha/ bhakti/

dukha and the Four Noble Truths/ bodhisattvas/

lakshanas/ ushnisha/ urna/ three bodies of Buddha/ asceticism/

Greco-Roman influence

The Four Great Miracles (Gandhara), 2nd century, schist

Seated Buddha preaching the first

sermon, from Sarnath (India) fifth century CE

Halo and the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya/  Deer Park near Sarnath/ strong degree of

abstract idealism found in the Gupta style/

mudra/ dharma/ long-lobed ears/ broad shoulders and thin waist/ image of a

yaksha

Left: Abhaya-mudra (granting protection to devotees and dispelling fear)

Right: Varada-mudra (denotes a deity’s charity, or power to grant a wish or fulfill a vow)

Left: Dhyana-mudra (denotes intense concentration during meditation)

Right: Dharmacakra-mudra, the “turning of the Wheel of the Law” (gesture of teaching)

Left: Vitarka-mudra (denotes exposition or argument, another form of teaching)

Right: Vajra-mudra (symbolizes the supreme widsom of Adi-Buddha (Vairocana), especially in

his Japanese manifestation as Dai Nichi; also symbolizes a mystical sexual union for Tantric

adepts)

Left: Bhumisparsha-mudra, or “touching the earth,” (most common in Thailand, a gesture

made at the point of Enlightenment)Right: Anjali-mudra (symbol of supplication or

adoration)

Shiva as Mahadeva in

rock-cut temple (Elephanta, India), sixth

century

Shiva as Mahadeva/

three colossal faces with three

different expressions

Garbha griha at Elephanta

garbha griha/ linga

Vishnu Temple (Deogarh, India),

early sixth century

Hinduism/ Brahma/ Vishnu/ use of

Hindu temple as a residence for a god/ darsan/

purusha/ mandala/ more sculptural

than architectural/ sikhara

Vishnu Reclining on the Serpent

of Eternity (Deogarh), early

sixth century

Vastupurushamandala

32 padadevatas (divinities in the square borders)/ nakshatras/ Brahmasthana