Early Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives successfully expounds Buddhist…

Question

Early Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives successfully expounds Buddhist ideals. Elucidate.

Ghissu Editorial · Accepted Answer

Early stupa art at Bharhut and Sanchi borrowed folk yakshis, animals, auspicious signs and popular tales, but used them to teach Buddhist ideals to lay devotees. The Buddha appears only through symbols such as the Bodhi tree and wheel, while Jatakas like Vessantara teach generosity and compassion.

**Introduction**

The railings of Bharhut (c. 2nd century BCE) and the gateways of Sanchi (c. 1st century BCE) borrowed village tree-spirits, animals and folk tales, yet bent every motif to teaching the dhamma to lay devotees.

**Folk Motifs and Narratives on the Early Stupas**

1. **Yakshas and yakshis**: Bharhut's labelled Chulakoka Devata and Sanchi's salabhanjika bracket figures bring popular fertility and guardian deities onto Buddhist monuments.
2. **Nature and auspicious signs**: Elephants, peacocks, lotus scrolls and the overflowing vase (purnaghata) draw on folk ideas of abundance.
3. **Jataka tales**: Popular stories such as the Ruru deer Jataka at Bharhut and the Vessantara Jataka at Sanchi are carved as the Buddha's former lives.

**How the Art Expounds Buddhist Ideals**

SKETCH: comparison | Symbol to event in the Buddha's life
a: Folk symbol
b: Buddhist meaning
- Lotus, white elephant :: Birth
- Riderless horse :: Great Departure
- Bodhi tree, empty seat :: Enlightenment
- Wheel with deer :: First Sermon
- Stupa :: Mahaparinirvana

1. **Aniconism as doctrine**: The Buddha is never shown in human form; footprints or an empty throne signal one who has passed beyond form and rebirth.
2. **Jatakas as moral lessons**: Vessantara teaches dana and the Chhaddanta and Ruru tales teach karuna, turning folk stories into lessons in the perfections.
3. **Narrative for lay pedagogy**: Continuous narration, as Vidya Dehejia shows, puts several episodes in one frame, read while circling the stupa in pradakshina.
4. **Folk gods as followers**: Yakshas and nagas appear as guardians and worshippers, absorbing popular cults into the Sangha, while donor inscriptions such as that of Vidisha's ivory carvers show a broad lay following.

**Conclusion**

Early stupa art spoke the people's visual language while carrying the Buddha's message, turning folk imagery into a vehicle for compassion and renunciation, a lasting synthesis of popular and philosophical culture.

Early Buddhist Stupa-art, while depicting folk motifs and narratives successfully expounds Buddhist ideals. Elucidate.

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