Page 23 - Met Museum Ghandara Incense Burner

Note that there is an extra
found in Swat Valley.109 Bodhgaya is a pipal (Ficus religiosa)
. Leaves that have
flap of cloth on the left shoulder of both the guardian fallen from this tree are sacred and are collected by
figures and the figures from Swat. As we have men- worshipers even today. The heads bear no relation-
tioned above, the wings and the bodies of the figures ship to those on the Hellenistic vessel with swags
on the burner were cast separately and joined in the already noted at Taxila.113 However, similar heads in
wax. By joining them the artist paid heed to three dif- the form of theatrical masks were found at Taren-
ferent forms: classical winged figures, Indian winged tum,114 and several small bronze disks with portrait
figures, and Indian princes. Placed on the four cor- heads were found in Gandhara.115 Two interesting
ners of the burner, these figures are naturally meant pairs of disks which presumably had some specific
to be considered directional. The whole creates the function are in the Metropolitan Museum (Figures
effect of a mandala, with a circular object on a square 39, 40) . On the lid of the burner the heads are paired
the
base. Significantly, winged beings do not appear in with pipal leaves. In a much earlier context at Bharhut
were an
later illustrations of burners. They apparently heads appear inside lotus medallions. As the lotus is a
experimental form which had died out. symbol of transcendent birth, the form may indicate
There certainly are many elements which appear that the figures have attained a transcendent state.116
Iranian in the burner. Historically, Buddhism was a Similarly, we can speculate that a head near a pipal
an
proselytizing religion, and its art was used to propagate leaf may signify enlightened mind.
the faith. Therefore, Gandharan Buddhist art should Perhaps the most difficult aspect of the burner to
include symbolism drawn from various contemporary interpret are the five hanging leaves of two different
cultures as well as from the past. Thus the Hindu deities types (see Figures 1, 8). Four of them are vine leaves
Indra and Brahma were incorporated into the pan- while the other is a type of Ficus, but not the pipal
1O
theon, but, of course, as subservient to the Buddha.1 leaf.117 Neither of the two types of leaves is commonly
The swastika and the moon on the lid of the incense used in Buddhist art to identify present and former
burner (see Figure 9) may be a reference to the sun Buddhas. The foliage illustrated in Gandharan narra-
the same as that in art from the
and moon gods, an Iranian concept which has its tive art is not always
roots in the ancient Near East. In India, swastikas were subcontinent, perhaps because different foliage grows
used as auspicious forms on pottery in Kushan and in the colder region. We have found no comparative
times.111 In later times
pre-Kushan they were used as material for the placement of heads on vine leaves but
sun symbols on the hands and feet of the Buddha. It is suggest that the leaves used on the burner symbolize
difficult to tell in what sense they are used here, but the more traditional leaves. We thus revert to the same
having Buddhist and Iranian implications simultane- distant comparison we have used above, the art of
ously is consistent with the Buddhist tradition. Bharhut. We can interpret heads emerging from the
The major motifs on the lid, the sun and moon plant being minds in a transcendent state. The fifth
as
with a
alternating pipal leaf and a head in a disk, can leaf, which is blank and of a different genus, repre-
1 1 8
be considered as vertical 12 Even though similar sents a higher state, that of Nirvana.
pairs.1
leaves appear in classical art, in India the pipal is Regardless complexity, this type
of its monumental
invariably sacred. The Bodhi tree under which the of incense burner did not endure in India. Most of the
Buddha Shakyamuni received his Enlightenment at decorative or symbolic details were not to appear

1 .
Figure 4 Figures paying
homage to an incense
burner, detail of the base
of a seated Buddha image.
Gandhara, 2nd or 3rd
century a.d. Gray schist.
Peshawar Museum (photo:
Isao Kurita, Gandara
bijutsu [Tokyo, 1988-90],
vol. 2, no. 205)
91