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Figure 37. Reliquary. Gandhara, 2nd or 3rd century a.d. Diam.
5.2 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gift of Samuel
Eilenberg, 1987 ( 1987.1 42. 45a,b)
Figure 38. Detail of a guardian figure on the base of the
incense burner in Figure 1
been flourishing for four hundred years on the re- spheres." Roth explained further that the two stanzas
mainder of the Indian subcontinent. the second cen- "convey message of the Buddha which is to
a universal
By
for the
of
tury B.C. a vocabulary representation episodes be carried by the two bells on top of the stupa when
in the life of the Buddha and other Buddhist themes blowing winds produce their sound: 'Make a beginning
of
was already established. On the railing Stupa 2 at of your efforts, set aside the follies of the world, devote
Sanchi, which dates to the second century B.C., the yourself to the teachings of the Buddha, because he
lotus is represented in its manifold variations.96 The who is going to dwell in the Discipline of the Buddha's
which
symbols represent the major episodes in the life Law, will effect an end to suffering, abandoning the
of the Buddha are illustrated as if they are coming out of cycle transmigration through rebirth!'"101
of
a lotus tree of life. The birth of the Buddha is repre- The burner also reminds us of a stupa. The lotus
sented the Hindu goddess Lakshmi on a lotus issuing bowl looks like an inverted dome of a stupa, as on a
by
forth from the branches of a lotus tree (Figure 34) ,97 stone reliquary in the shape of a stupa in the Metro-
The Enlightenment represented by the Bodhi tree politan Museum (Figure 35). The tray or dish to catch
is
under which the Buddha attained Enlightenment;98 embers is in the form of a standard umbrella on the
it
issues forth from a lotus tree of life. In a similar fash- shaft of a stupa. This form has numerous variations in
ion, the Sarnath built upon the spot Buddhist art and architecture.102 The burner stands
pillar, presumably
where the Buddha preached his first sermon,99 and on a square base, and four figures support the base,
the stupa, both a memorial mound and the symbol of thereby emphasizing its corners. Around stupas there
his Parinirvana, or final Enlightenment,100 come are often four pillars, again emphasizing the square. A
forth from a lotus. miniature bronze stupa in the Metropolitan Museum
The two bells on top of the burner are enigmatic. and its four columns also issue forth from foliage,
Bells are used in Indian religious contexts to remind while rearing animals are used to support the cor-
the deity that one has come to invoke his presence. ners of the platform (Figure 36). The top of the
However, Gustave Roth translated two important Bud- finial of the burner is capped by a lotus and looks
dhist passages intended to accompany and elucidate like one of the many small reliquary boxes we know
the earliest images of the Buddha. One reference from the Buddhist world, among them a stone example
states, "The two bells [represent] the two stanzas, this in the Metropolitan Museum (Figure 37) and a fine
noble jewel, that reach [all] beings belonging to their gold example in the British Museum, London.103
89