{"id":134,"date":"2018-12-14T04:03:13","date_gmt":"2018-12-14T04:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/?page_id=134"},"modified":"2018-12-18T15:37:25","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T15:37:25","slug":"the-life-of-the-buddha-in-gandharan-art","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/the-life-of-the-buddha-in-gandharan-art\/","title":{"rendered":"The Life of the Buddha in Gandharan Art"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_164\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-164\" style=\"width: 347px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-164\" src=\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-15-at-11.47.54-AM-300x199.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"347\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-15-at-11.47.54-AM-300x199.png 300w, https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/503\/2018\/12\/Screen-Shot-2018-12-15-at-11.47.54-AM.png 576w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 347px) 100vw, 347px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-164\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vision of the Buddha in Paradise, Lahore Museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>One of the foremost essays featured is an overview of the Buddha\u2019s life in Gandharan art as a major theme within the exhibit, but also within the art period in general. With \u201ccountless episodes in small- to middle-format reliefs\u201d and \u201cthousands of examples [depicting] the life of Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our era, on earth, from cradle to grave\u201d it is not hard to understand why a firm understanding of the life of Buddha is essential to the critique of Gandharan art, especially as so many relief scenes have been parted from their context.<sup>1<\/sup>\u201cThe large number of episodes that have been transferred into images, as well as the composition, iconography, and style of reliefs\u201d is a topic to be explored in depth, however, not only as a trademark of Gandharan cultural, but as \u201csomething completely new in the Indian Buddhist tradition of art.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup>With their trademark chronological arrangement, pillar separations, and unique features, like false dormers, stupa emerge within this period as the main source of Buddhist life representation, in turn tying together the <em>Narratives and Architectural Contexts <\/em>and <em>Buddha and Bodhisattvas <\/em>sections of the physical exhibit in a more direct manner.<sup>2<\/sup>Additionally, the essay seeks to define the Buddha in overlapping instead of individual terms, utilizing the written format and the chronological nature of the essay to draw attention the Buddha\u2019s usual \u201cmeditative posture, sitting cross-legged; he seems to communicate with the observer of the image rather than with the figures surrounding him in the composition.\u201d<sup>1<\/sup>With common elements highlighted, such as the simplicity of backdrop and the motion of figures surrounding the Buddha, the viewer is more prepared to be an active viewer of Gandharan art and draw comparisons between relief images.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Ed. Proser, Adriana. <em>The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara.<\/em><\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara.\u201d Asia Society.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>One of the foremost essays featured is an overview of the Buddha\u2019s life in Gandharan art as a major theme within the exhibit, but also within the art period in general. With \u201ccountless episodes in small- to middle-format reliefs\u201d and \u201cthousands of examples [depicting] the life of Shakyamuni, the Buddha of our era, on earth, from cradle to grave\u201d it is not hard to understand why a firm understanding of the life of Buddha is essential to the critique of Gandharan art, especially as so many relief scenes have been parted from their context.1\u201cThe large number of episodes that have been transferred into images, as well as the composition, iconography, and style of reliefs\u201d is a topic to be explored in depth, however, not only as a trademark of Gandharan cultural, but as \u201csomething completely new in the Indian Buddhist tradition of art.\u201d1With their trademark chronological arrangement, pillar separations, and unique features, like false dormers, stupa emerge within this period as the main source of Buddhist life representation, in turn tying together the Narratives and Architectural Contexts and Buddha and Bodhisattvas sections of the physical exhibit in a more direct manner.2Additionally, the essay seeks to define the Buddha in overlapping instead of individual terms, utilizing the written format and the chronological nature of the essay to draw attention the Buddha\u2019s usual \u201cmeditative posture, sitting cross-legged; he seems to communicate with the observer of the image rather than with the figures surrounding him in the composition.\u201d1With common elements highlighted, such as the simplicity of backdrop and the motion of figures surrounding the Buddha, the viewer is more prepared to be an active viewer of Gandharan art and draw comparisons between relief images. &nbsp; Ed. Proser, Adriana. The Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara. \u201cThe Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Art of Gandhara.\u201d Asia Society. &nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1064,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"templates\/full-width.php","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-134","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1064"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221,"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134\/revisions\/221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/gandharanreliefsfinalproject\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}