Buddha Shakyamuni – Replica of the Mahabodhi temple statue
  See it in the Museum
India and Nepal
Orientation 3
Display 3

ABS 232

 Code: ABS 232

  Country: India (north-east)

  Style: Late Pala Style

  Date: 1050 - 1150

  Dimensions in cm WxHxD: 13.3 x 18 x 7.6

  Materials: Brass; inlaid with silver and copper

Buddha Shakyamuni – Replica of the Mahabodhi temple statue

The Buddha is seated legs crossed in meditation on a throne, his religious garment leaving his right shoulder uncovered. With his right extended hand, he touches the ground before him while his left rests on his lap in contemplation. This posture refers to the episode of his victory over Mara, god of Death and illusion when, by touching the ground he took the Earth as a witness of his spiritual realisation.

He is endowed with all the distinctive marks and signs of a “Great being:” short curly hair, a cranial protuberance (ushnisha), a curl of hair between the eyebrows (urna), elongated earlobes, and three marks on the throat, and so on.

This metal statue is a copy of the stone sculpture of the Mahabodhi temple in Bodhgaya, India (see ABR 038). It displays all the characteristics of the Pala art: short neck and chin, with a high forehead. The elaborated cushion on which the Buddha sits evokes the grass mat that allegedly covered the throne (vajrasana) where he reached Buddhahood.