- Museum number
- 1880.196
- Title
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Object: Hymn of the nāga Kālika.
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Object: The Presentation of the Bowls.
- Description
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Part of an upright with two scenes, the incomplete lower scene shows the Hymn of the nāga Kālika; for the upper scene see below under BM 1880.196. The Bodhisattva, who is taller than the other figures and leans forward in three-quarter view, wears the monastic robe over both shoulders with two undergarments showing, his left hand apparently covered in the robe at shoulder level and his lowered right in abhaya beside the joined hands of Kālika. Kālika and his consort Suvarṇaprabhāsā are almost in profile, both with hands joined. Kālika wears a crested turban, an uttarīya and paridhāna, with one thick robe end swinging forward and a five-headed serpent rising above his head. Suvarṇaprabhāsā has a wreath headdress, a garment from her left shoulder, a paridhāna round it and a scarf, and above her head a broken, probably single-headed serpent indicates her nature. Behind Kālika's arms rise two lotuses on separate stalks and below him, incomplete, is the blown-petal ornament on the side of the nāgas' pool from which the flowers may be supposed to rise. Beside the Bodhisattva, Vajrapāṇi, in three-quarter view from the back and naked to the waist, holds the vajra in his left hand. Two damaged, probably male figures stand beside Vajrapāṇi, and above him, barely half-length, turbaned deities are observing. On both sides the lost shafts of the pilasters probably also once had worshipping amorini, as in the upper scene, and above the Corinthian capitals is a bracket capital with one voluted bracket arm only. Separating the scenes horizontally is a cavetto enriched with a pattern of acanthus leaves with a drooping lobe in the middle and flanking lobes with points meeting those of adjacent leaves.
The upper scene depicts the Buddha sitting in abhaya on a plain, rectangular strewn seat, the over-robe covering both shoulders, and securing the robe with his left hand in his lap above a spreading fall of drapery. His hair is drawn back into the he Buddha sits in abhaya on a plain, rectangular strewn seat, the overrobe covering both shoulders, and secures the robe with his left hand in his lap above a spreading fall of drapery. His hair is drawn back into the uṣṇīṣa and on either side of his head hangs a branch with foliage. On both sides are two figures of the guardians of the cardinal points (mahārāja or lokapāla) in varieties of three-quarter view, each wearing a chignon, uttarīya and paridhāna; on the Buddha's left each holds a large bowl, on his right the nearer figure clearly has the remains of one but the other, while showing no damage to the hands, only joins them. Beside the Buddha's shoulders and flanking the pendent branches are the heads of observing deities. On both sides the framing pilasters have a worshipping amorino on the shaft and a Corinthian capital in distinct upper and lower parts supporting a bracket capital with one voluted bracket arm only and sawtooth enrichment; below are the usual base mouldings. The cavetto cornice is enriched as on the lower register.
- Production date
- 2ndC-3rdC
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 7.70 centimetres
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Height: 14 centimetres (upper scene)
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Height: 27.30 centimetres
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Width: 28.20 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Zwalf 1996:
The encounter with the nāgarāja Kālika occurred on the way to the bodhi tree, when the splendour from the Bodhisattva's body illumined Kālika's palace and Kālika spoke verses foretelling the inevitability of the Enlightenment; Kālika's wife, Suvarṇaprabhāsā, along with serpent maidens, showered the Bodhisattva with flowers, jewels and so on, and also spoke verses of praise. In the Pāli tradition the nāgarāja Kāla hears the Bodhisattva throw a bowl into the Nerañjarā and, as it strikes the bowls of previous Buddhas, praises him and predicts the Enlightenment. The present subject and the Submission of Apalāla can be represented with a similar iconography (see 214, Lahore 1057) when the nāga couple appear in an enclosed pool or spring, but the Apalāla subject is usually distinguished by a second Vajrapāṇi in a posture of assault or menace against the nāgas and the Buddha may appropriately be accompanied by monks; for the Kālika subject fenced enclosures seem usual, while Apalāla can appear on rocks, in water and so on. For the two iconographies see Foucher, 1905-51: 1, 544ff, and further under BM 1947.1016.1. On an incomplete upright, Rome MNAOR 430/7 (Taddei, 1970: fig. 66), where the upper scene has the same subject as the present upright (see 189), the lower scene, which may show the Measuring of the Buddha, presents a generally similar compositional scheme as here, although a number of details differ.
After the seven weeks' meditation and fasting that followed the Enlightenment, a large caravan belonging to two merchants called Trapuṣa and Bhallika was suddenly stopped in its tracks when it approached the neighbourhood of the tree under which the Buddha was. When they had seen him, the two merchants offered food, the four mahārājas each brought a stone bowl and the Buddha caused the bowls to become one, leaving only lines below the rim to show that there had been more bowls. After the merchants had made the profession of faith in himself and the Doctrine and in the future Order, the Buddha gave them cuttings from his hair and nails as relics.
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- 1.Grey schist, broken and chipped.
2.Top flat and rough with cramp mortise from front to back at each side.
3.Both sides carved, bottom irregularly broken.
4.Back with smooth rebates at each side, an incised 'J' and painted '11987', and a central projection, having rough sides and horizontal chisel grooves.
- Associated events
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Associated Event: Hymn of the Naga Kalika
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Associated Event: Presentation of the Bowls
- Acquisition notes
- Given in 1876 by Mrs Mary Eustace Smith to the former India Museum. For the donor see the India Museum Slip Book, nos 11751 -12000, in the offices of the present Indian and South-east Asian Section of the Victoria and Albert Museum.
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1880.196