Thursday 4 June 2009

Standing with the weight of the body on his left leg, and the right in slight bend at the knee


Standing with the weight of the body on his left leg, and the right in slight bend at the knee, the image wears diaphanous under and upper garments, the existence of which is marked only by falling edges and the thin fold around the neck. Its halo and forearms, along with their mudras or symbolic gestures are lost. The masterly chiselling of a proportionate balanced figure and a blissful countenance with inwardly looking drooping eyes makes the Buddha image spiritually richer than the Visnu images discussed above. It is however more probable of being carried down stream by the Ganga from Varanasi to north Bengal; to Biharoil in the Rajshahi district, its find spot, than being a product of a Bengal carver. From stylistic consideration it is unmistakably assignable to the closing years of the 5th or the early years of the 6th century AD.
Another comparable standing Buddha image of immense significance has recently been discovered almost in situ in the main eastern chapel of the Rupban Mura stupa at Mainamati-Devaparvata site, situated in the Comilla district of Bangladesh. (fig 5) The excellent preservation, colossal size (about 2.6 m high), and aesthetic attainment of the Buddha make it one of the greatest finds so far as Bengal art is concerned. The slightly moving stance with a raised right hand in abhaya mudra or gesture of protection, least variation in the plastic modelling of the body and a countenance enlivened towards the outer world with a faint smile and slightly open eyes of the colossus sculpture betray the characteristics of the 7th century post-Gupta style.
(05 of 16)

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