Varendra Research Museum: Pala Buddha

Before the arrival of Islam in South Asia, no artist signed their work. Inscriptions on objects are rare and identify only the patron or donor. It is only by a careful analysis of unique details and extraordinary technical skills that we can identify an unnamed artist, studio, or regional style.

By his elegant but restrained style, his balance of exquisite detail and broad areas of open space, and his extraordinary ability to capture the emotions of his subjects, we can identify the nameless sculptor of this Buddhist sculpture as one of the greatest artists of the Pala dynasty.

This sculpture of a buddha and his attendants was carved a 1000 years ago during the Pala dynasty and may have been a royal commission. This Buddha wears the unadorned robe of a monk who has renounced the material world.

The smooth, highly polished surface of his unadorned robe makes this Buddha stand out from all of the details that surround him. The hand gestures called “mudras”, a “sign language” of actions and ideas, and symbolic objects, above his right and below his left hand, now missing, would enable us to easily identify this buddha. It is very likely that they were broken off when the sculpture was toppled by a major earthquake.

His long earlobes remind us that he was once a prince who has given up his crown, his massive gold earrings, and jewels to pursue the path of enlightenment.

His broad face, high cheekbones, and perfectly arched eye-brows do not conform with standard representations of the face of a buddha. He is not meditating but looking directly at us. The sculptor has given a high polish to the pupil of these piercing eyes that seem to see not only what is but what could be.

His radiant smile welcomes us into the Eastern Paradise of Vajrayana Buddhism as taught in the great universities of Bangladesh during the Pala period. It is quite possible that the sculptor used as his model a young monk he loved and admired.

On the Buddha’s right side, Padmapani, who has dedicated his countless reincarnations to the relief of human suffering, holds in his right hand a pearl of wisdom to guide us to salvation. For this Bodhisattva, once a great teacher and scholar, his jewels and elegant clothes symbolize wisdom, not material wealth.

His smiling face radiates with love and compassion. Perhaps in creating him, the artist has been inspired by a favorite teacher. His smiling face radiates with love and compassion. Perhaps in creating him, the artist has been inspired by a favorite teacher. A boy escapes from the mouth of a sea serpent. Warriors riding mythological beasts engage in a battle where the light will triumph over darkness.

Amongst the first converts to Buddhism, and the subject of the earliest monumental stone sculptures in South Asia, this diminutive Yaksha, as depicted in the earliest stone chaitya halls of Buddhism, literally and figuratively supports the earth on which the Buddha walks.

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