Gandhara Lintel Frieze

Gandhara Lintel Frieze

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This Lintel Frieze shows The Buddha after his death. The Buddha is surrounded by six others. These people surrounding him are most likely some of his disciples. While a person would guess that the disciples should be mourning after the death of Siddhartha, the disciples are actually more emotionally neutral than sad. This is because the disciples realize that Siddhartha is enlightened and it is not a bad thing that he is passing from this earth. Siddhartha was enlightened years before his death. It is said that he was only staying on earth for the time being to show others the path to enlightenment. Part of this Lintel Frieze is very notably worn down. This is not because the piece has been used as a toy, but is because it has been rubbed for years during worship. This piece of art depicts Siddhartha laying down on a comfortable blanket. While this idea of the Buddha being comfortable might seem to clash with the origins of the religion, the Lintel Frieze depicts the Buddha having a "fragment of relief". I suppose Siddhartha deserves his fragment of relief after starting his own religion and gaining thousands of followers.
Notice the thick foliage of Sal trees hanging above Siddhartha. The Sal trees represent a place of home. In Buddhist tradition, it is said that Queen Māyā of Sakya gave birth to Gautama Buddha under a sal tree in a garden in Lumbini, while grasping its branch. It is also said that four pairs of sal trees growing around the Buddha's bed suddenly turned white when he died. This Lintel frieze is currently being held at the Brooklyn Museum in the Asian Art section.

Will Rathjen

The user who uploaded this photo was Kaldari. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

Buddhism: REL 222, Arts of Asia: ART 276

Dec. 9th-Dec. 10th, 2015

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Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 Generic license.

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Stone carving

English

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