This beautiful depiction of a preaching Buddha was sculpted in Gandhara, a kingdom in northwestern Pakistan, around the 200s CE. After the Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment, he decided to teach others his path to spiritual freedom. The gesture that this Buddha makes refers to the Buddha’s first sermon and more generally to the Buddhist teachings, or “dharma”.
This is not a purely Indian sculpture, however. The Buddha’s wavy hair, his toned arm, and the folds of his cloak show influences of Greco-Roman sculptural conventions. Gandhara had been conquered by Alexander the Great in the 300s BCE, and continued to have trading ties with the Mediterranean through the time this particular sculpture was made.
Nenhum comentário:
Postar um comentário