CENTER FOR ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY

Subject: Pillar in the porchway (mandapa) of the Buddhapad temple

Subject: Buddhapad, a representation of Buddha's footprints in the porchway (mandapa) of the temple.

Subject: The Diamond Throne (Vajrasana). This demarcates the site of the Buddha's enlightenment. A stone slab that probably dates to the time of Ashoka (3rd cent BCE) sits on a brick base. The top surface of the slab is decorated with repeated pairs of geese pecking at the base of acanthus, a motif identical to that on the abacus of several pillar capitals dating to Ashoka's' time. The brick base used to have stucco niches with kneeling pot-bellied figures supporting an entablature. The throne is now covered with a saffron cloth and shielded with a newly made canopy.

Subject: Signage to mark Rajayatana Tree. The Buddha's seventh and final week at Bodh Gaya was said to have been spent under a tree known as the Rajayatana Tree. He sat there in contemplation until two travelling merchants, Tapussa and Bhallika offered him rice cakes and honey.

Subject: Signage marking the site of Ajapala Nigrodha tree. This is the spot where Brahmadeva exhorted Buddha, when he had first acquired enlightenment, to turn the wheel of the excellent law.

Subject: Signage marking the site of Ajapala Nigrodha tree. This is the spot where Brahmadeva exhorted Buddha, when he had first acquired enlightenment, to turn the wheel of the excellent law.

Subject: Mural showing Buddha's conversion of the killer Angulimala

Subject: Lion capital. The capital shows four addorsed lions mounted on a round abacus. On the abacus are four animals-a bull, a lion, an elephant, and a galloping horse–separated from one another by a wheel, a reference to the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of the Law. A large stone wheel’s rim is supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. The wheels are also a symbol of the ideal universal monarch, the chakravartin used by Ashoka, who sought to project himself as a chakravartin.

Subject: Lion capital. The capital shows four addorsed lions mounted on a round abacus. On the abacus are four animals-a bull, a lion, an elephant, and a galloping horse–separated from one another by a wheel, a reference to the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of the Law. A large stone wheel’s rim is supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. The wheels are also a symbol of the ideal universal monarch, the chakravartin used by Ashoka, who sought to project himself as a chakravartin.

Subject: Lion capital. The capital shows four addorsed lions mounted on a round abacus. On the abacus are four animals-a bull, a lion, an elephant, and a galloping horse–separated from one another by a wheel, a reference to the Buddha’s turning of the Wheel of the Law. A large stone wheel’s rim is supported on the backs of the four addorsed lions. The wheels are also a symbol of the ideal universal monarch, the chakravartin used by Ashoka, who sought to project himself as a chakravartin.

Subject: Coping Stone with Railing Pillars. The pillars are adorned with a stupa at the top and a faceted pillar supporting a triratna (the tri-pronged motif symbolizing the Buddha, dharma, and the sangha) that in turn supports a wheel.

Subject: Coping Stone with Railing Pillars, detail. The pillars are adorned with a stupa at the top and a faceted pillar supporting a triratna (the tri-pronged motif symbolizing the Buddha, dharma, and the sangha) that in turn supports a wheel.

Subject: Relief probably depicting the Ramagrama Stupa. This is a portion of a door lintel and was found east of the Main Shrine. Generally, the stupa depicted on the left of the lintel is assumed to be the one at Ramagrama, in Nepal. Wild elephants provided flowers for the Ramagrama stupa, and when Ashoka sought to open this stupa — one of the eight original stupas containing the Buddha’s remains, which he intended to divide among 84,000 stupas — he was persuaded not to do so even though he opened the other seven original stupas. The stupa at Ramagrama was guarded by a naga, a serpent divinity, who assumed the form of a Brahmin and persuaded Ashoka not to open it. The elephant to the left of the stupa bearing flowers and the serpent encircling it are probably an allusion to the Ramagrama stupa.

Subject: Buddha, standing under umbrella, detail upper portion

Subject: Buddha, standing under umbrella, detail upper portion

Subject: Buddha, standing under umbrella, detail upper portion

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life, from left to right and top to bottom: (a) Nativity (b) Enlightenment (c) Offering of honey by the Monkey at Vaishali (d) Submission of the Elephant Nalagiri at Rajgir (e) Descent from Trayastrimsa Heaven accompanied by Brahma and Indra at Sankasya (f) Great Miracle at Shravasti (g) First Sermon (h) Parinirvana. The relief was found in three pieces: one found by Markham Kittoe in an unspecified location, two found on the eastern approach to the Main Shrine.

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life, from left to right and top to bottom: (a) Nativity (b) Enlightenment (c) Offering of honey by the Monkey at Vaishali (d) Submission of the Elephant Nalagiri at Rajgir (e) Descent from Trayastrimsa Heaven accompanied by Brahma and Indra at Sankasya (f) Great Miracle at Shravasti (g) First Sermon (h) Parinirvana. The relief was found in three pieces: one found by Markham Kittoe in an unspecified location, two found on the eastern approach to the Main Shrine.

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life, detail showing scenes (top panel) - First Sermon (left) and Parinirvana (right).

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life (bottom panel), detail showing Nativity (left) and Enlightenment (right)

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life, detail showing Offering of honey by the Monkey at Vaishali

Subject: Slab sculptured with eight principal scenes from Buddha's life, detail showing Great Miracle at Shravasti

Subject: Life Scenes of Buddha, detail showing Nativity and Enlightenment (bottom to top).