Grey schist relief panel of figures venerating
a
stupa
From Buner / Swat, ancient Gandhara (north-west
Pakistan), late 1st-2nd century AD
This relief from Gandhara allows a fascinating
insight into the nature of early Buddhist worship. The procession
of figures are performing the rite of
pradakshina, or the
circumambulation of a
stupa
in a clockwise direction. All the figures wear typically heavy
pleated Gandharan drapery. They are led by a figure carrying a
lamp. Since his head is not shaved and he wears ornaments, he is
probably not a monk. It has been suggested that he might be the
donor of the relief, in which case the woman following him with her
hands clasped together and her head covered may be his wife. On the
other side of the stupa,
following the procession are two monks with tonsured heads and
hands held together, worshipping the
stupa. Various
bodhisattva
or haloed deities holding lotuses look on from the
back.
The cult of the
relics of the Buddha in a
stupa was evidently a
fundamental part of early Buddhism. The Buddha had indicated in his
lifetime that his cremated remains should be interred in a
stupa. Recent studies
have shown that they were venerated as the living presence of the
Buddha after his physical departure from this world
(mahaparinirvana).
The
lighting of a lamp, walking round the structure, decorating it with
garlands and holding one's hands together in
anjalimudra (the gesture
of worship) remain an integral part of Indian worship to the
present day.
W. Zwalf, A catalogue of the Gandhara sc, 2 vols. (London, The British Museum Press, 1996)