Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems PDF

The Smithsonian Institution Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems Author(s): Vidya Dehejia Source: Ars Orientalis, Vol. 21 (1991), pp. 45-66 Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan Stable URL: https://www.jstor...

The Smithsonian Institution Aniconism and the Multivalence of Emblems Author(s): Vidya Dehejia Source: Ars Orientalis, Vol. 21 (1991), pp. 45-66 Published by: Freer Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian Institution and Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/4629413 Accessed: 14-01-2019 11:59 UTC JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at https://about.jstor.org/terms The Smithsonian Institution is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ars Orientalis This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms ANICONISM AND THE MULTIVALENCE OF EMBLEMS* BYVIDYA DEHEJIA represent ALTHOUGH IT IS AXIOMATIC AMONG LITERARYCRrTICS THAT A sacred spots, or firthas, and the devotions work may contain multiple layers of meaning, many performed there. Thus, the bodhi tree may be intend- historians of art, particularly of early Buddhist art, ed to represent Bodh Gaya, site of the enlightenment; seem curiously reluctant to accept a comparable the wheel-crowned pillar may represent Sarnath, site conflation of meanings. Yet if Asvaghosa, writing his of the first sermon; and the stuspa may represent one Buddhacharita around A.D. 100, could make habitual of the sacred relic mounds built at a variety of sites. In use of words in two or more meanings,' and if their third aspect, these same emblems of tree, pillar, Aryasura could constantly use ilesa or double enten- and stiupa are to be viewed as attributes of the faith; dre in his fourth-centuryJatakamWla,2 parallel skills thus the tree is intended to recall the divine wisdom were undoubtedly known to the artist producing of the Buddha, while the pillar suggests his sacred visual narratives in the media of stone and paint. This doctrine. essay advocates the need to recognize, accept, and The exact interpretation of the emblems depends even admire the multiplicity of meanings apparent in on their visual context. In one panel, the tree shelter- early Buddhist sculpture and painting, in which the ing a seat may be an emblem that portrays the pres- artist reminded the viewer of the manifold religious ence of the Buddha himself; the sacredpipaltree may interpretations that may be suggested by any single indicate the enlightenment of the Buddha, while a emblem. Scholars have insisted too much upon sin- mango tree may indicate his presence at Sravasti. In gular and exclusive explanations of early Buddhist another panel, the tree with a seat beneath it may reliefs, from the totally aniconic interpretation of the stand for a hallowed pilgrimage site; the sacred pipal early 1900s3 to the somewhat restrictive site-oriented tree may indicate Bodh Gaya, site of the enlighten- interpretation of this last decade.4 ment. In yet other panels, the pipal tree is intended to There are two critical and complementary prereq- recall the essence of the enlightenment-the su- uisites for the accurate interpretation of early Bud- preme wisdom of the Buddha. Clearly, not every dhist art. The first is an awareness of the multiple depiction of symbols should be read as an aniconic meanings conveyed by the major Buddhist emblems portrayal of the Buddha, but it is equally invalid to of the tree, the pillar, and the stu2pa. The emblem is a deny the existence of an aniconic phase and to main- picture that represents something different from tain that scenes with symbols should be interpreted itself. The tree, pillar, and stiipa may in fact be inter- either as sacred firthas or as pageantry reenactments preted in three distinct and equally valid ways in of events from the life of the Buddha. different contexts and in varying visual compositions. The second crucial prerequisite for interpreting In their first aspect, emblems may be read as aniconic the emblems is to acknowledge their multilayered presentations of the Buddha. The term "aniconic" significance. The nonfigural emblem, in narrative carries the dictionary meaning of "symbolizing with- presentations, makes simultaneous reference both to out aiming at resemblance," and "aniconism" is de- the presence of the Buddha and to the truths that his fined as "worship or veneration of an object that life manifested. Equally, a relief may be read both as represents a god without being an image of him."5 an event in the life of the Buddha and as the holy site This essay will show that a variety of emblems, includ-at which that event occurred. It must be emphasized ing footprints, a seat or throne, a parasol, and a pillar that the artists working at the early Buddhist sites of radiance, were frequently used, singly or in combi-frequently seem to have intended a conflation of nation, to represent the person of the Buddha in a meanings. When the primary intention was to depict narrative art that was primarily concerned with the an event from the Buddha's biography, the artist biography of the Buddha. To deny the validity of this often included a reference to the site as a firtha. For concern of the ancient artists, devotees, monks, and instance, the Bharhut scenes of the Buddha's enlight- nuns' is to misread the overall message of the monu- enment on the Prasenajit pillar, considered below, ments. In their second aspect, the emblems of the include a shrine around the bodhi tree that was not tree, pillar, and stiipa, seen in relief sculptures, may built until two centuries after the historical moment of the enlightenment. While the prime intention of *Editor's note:The Ars Orientalis Editorial Board has invited Susan this panel was to depict the historical event, the Huntington of Ohio State University to respond to this article. artist's portrayal of the shrine also suggests the holy Her rejoinder will appear in volume 22. site. In fact, as explained below, parallel instances of This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms  46 VIDYk DEHEJIA *;~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~....... __~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -~~~~~~~~~1. FG.Vsit o ngPaea#ofKsltoS7nButtoHor teBdh,hrut :~~~Cuts mrcnIsitt fIda tde AI) such depictions exist in non-Buddhist contexts too. It the Buddha, also serves to remind the viewer of the is probable that neither the artist nor the early Indian Buddha whose wisdom it exemplifies. Through its worshipper at Bharhut found anything incongruous capacity for multiple reference, the emblem suggests in such conflations. Panels with the reverse emphasis the simultaneity of events that occur at separate also occur: When a wheel is portrayed to suggest times. primarily the site of the first sermon, it is also surely Significantly, a double layer of meaning appears to intended to remind the viewer of the Buddha who inform the greater number of narrative reliefs at preached that sermon at the site. In a similar manner, Bharhut, Sanchi, and other early Buddhist sites. One the attribute and the aniconic portrayal are con- such instance of multilayered meaning may be seen flated: a wheel, intended to indicate the wisdom of on the Prasenajitpillar at Bharhut, in a panel that uses This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms  ANICONISM AND THE MULTIVALENCE OF EMBLEMS 47 the synoptic mode7 to depict the visit of King Prasena- "baby" from the "bath water." Certainly, the oversim- jit to the shrine he built in honor of the Buddha (fig. plistic assumption of a HTnayana phase which pro- 1). It is important to understand that the panel does duced aniconic art, followed by a Mahayana phase not depict Sarnath, the site of the first sermon.8 To which introduced the anthropomorphic icon, must the lower right is a barrel-roofed gateway from which be abandoned. The basic split of early Buddhism into emerge horse and riders who represent the monarch the Sarvastivadin (Hinayana) and the Mahasamghika and his entourage; they are repeated to the lower left (from which all Mahayana schools probably devel- as they ride on towards the shrine. On the roof of the oped) occurred prior to the time of Aioka, and the gateway is the inscribed identifying label "King Pasenaji two systems coexisted from an early date. Evidence of of Kosala," which may not be ignored; it suggests the such coexistence at around the turn of the Christian actual historical event in which the monarch visited era is provided by the inscriptions of Rajuvala (ca. A.D. the Buddha at Prasenajit's capital of gravasti and 1-15) and godasa (ca. A.D. 10-25). Their Kharosthi listened to his sermon. A large barrel-vaulted shrine record on the Mathura lion capital refers to the housing a garlanded wheel surmounted by a garland- dedication of a Sarvastivadin stiupa and monastery for ed parasol occupies the larger part of the panel; the the monks of the four directions and to the gift of a two flanking figures probably represent the circum- vihara to the Sarvastivadins as dhammadana; it con- ambulating monarch rather than two separate wor- cludes with a mention of achirya Budhi, "who had shippers. The circumambulation of the shrine build- knowledge to teach the foremost Mahasamghikas the ing itself is suggested by the placement, on either truth."10 side, of figures riding horses and elephants. The In addition, it is today accepted that Hinayana shrine roof carries the words "Bhagavato dhammacha- schools were actively involved in the worship of the ko," or 'Wheel of doctrine of the Holy One,"9 suggest- Buddha image; in fact, it has been demonstrated that ing that the intention is to portray the wheel as an some of the earliest images were Hinayana dedica- object of worship in the shrine erected by King Pra- tions.11 One such is the ten-foot-tall gravasti image senajit and to recall the sermon given there rather of the Buddha, which, together with its monumen- than to indicate the actual presence of the Buddha. tal umbrella and shaft, was dedicated in the year 3 However, the conflation of meanings is inevitable of Kanishka by the monk Bala, who was well versed and surely intentional. The shrine was built by King in the Tripitakas. The image was set up in the hall Prasenajit at the spotwhere the Buddha had preached known as Kosambakuti "for possession of the to him; undoubtedly, the artist intended that the Sarvastivadin Teachers." Hinayana and Mahayana relief should also recall that event. As a nonfigural schools12 coexisted for centuries, and both were int emblem, the wheel emphasizes the Law and also ested in images; it would be quite incorrect to associ- refers to the Buddha as the Giver of that Law. Most ate the one with aniconism and the other with the early Buddhist visual narratives contain this double anthropomorphic icon. The differences between layer of meaning. As soon as we accept the validity of them lay in other and more complex realms. such a system, with its accent on the fluidity of mean- The pageantry theory proposed as an alternative to ings, and cease to insist upon a single explanation to aniconism is riddled with complications; in particu- be applied in every instance, aniconism ceases to be lar, there is little evidence, if any, that Buddhism had such a vexed problem. a tradition akin to that of the Christian passion plays, It may be advisable first to correct certain miscon- in which events from a sacred biographywere staged.'3 ceptions that have arisen around the problem of The suggestion that the great departure of the Bud- aniconism so that we may clearly distinguish the dha (fig. 2), portrayed on the central architrave %7~~~Z FIG. 2. The Great DePaTture, Sanchi. Courtesy Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms  48 VIDYkDEHEJIA (inner face) of the east gateway at Sanchi, depicts not Bharhut are all to be found sculpted upon the cross- the actual event in the life of the Buddha but a later bars of the railing."8 reenactment14 poses major problems both for the The interpretation of the emblem, with its inherent interpretation of the visual material and for the per- fluidity of meanings, will be considered under its ception of early Buddhist devotions at a sacred site. In three valid categories-first as an aniconic presenta- visual terms, if aniconism did not exist, what could tion of the Buddha, next as a sacred site, and finally possibly have led the artist to avoid portraying upon as an attribute. Relief panels from Bharhut, Sanchi, the horse the human actor who played the part of the Amaravati, and the Gandharan region will illustrate Buddha? Why would he have resorted to the extraor- the discussion, although this brief analysis makes no dinary device of portraying a parasol hovering at an attempt to present a chronological development. appropriate height above empty space over the The necessary independent treatment of each site horse? Equally problematic is the effect of the pag- will be found in my book-length study of Buddhist eantry interpretation on the concept of the expres- visual narratives. sion of Buddhist religious sentiment. It does a disser- vice to the notion of the religious devotion of the many hundreds of monks, nuns, and lay worshippers The Aniconic Presence who contributed towards the decoration of the Sanchi stupa (no less than 631 donative records) to suggest A number of panels at Bharhut, some with inscrip- that they would build the immense stone structure tions of vital importance, provide incontrovertible and then decorate it merely with pictures of a pag- evidence that the artist is depicting not the site of a eant! Surely it was unnecessary to depict the enact- great event but rather incidents from the sacred ment of an event when the artist could easily circum- biography in which the Buddha is portrayed in ani- vent that middle step and depict the event itself. conic form. One such is the story of the Serpent King The whole purpose of going to a stiipa was indeed Erapata, told through the mode of synoptic narrative to experience the presence of the Buddha through in three distinct episodes on the central panel of the proximitywith his enshrined relic. The inscription on outer face of the Prasenajit pillar (fig. 3). To the rear the Bajaur relic casket, dated in the reign of the Indo- of the panel, Erapata emerges from the waters of a Greek King Menander (ca. 140-110 B.C.), speaks of river in purely reptilian form with his daughter upon the bodily relics of gakyamuni as praina-samada, orhis hood; beside them, also half submerged, is the "endowed with life."'5 Recent study of the inscription young brahmin who provides the answer to Erapata's at the main stuipa at Nagarjunakonda suggests that question. The second scene, in the right foreground, both monks and lay worshippers considered the es- depicts Erapata in human form with a snake hood sence of the Buddha, perhaps even his living pres- above his head, accompanied by his two queens as ence, to be actually contained within the relic.16 they emerge from the waters to go in search of the However, the presence of the relic does not thereby Buddha. The identifying label "Erapato Nagaraja" is preclude the need for stories from the life; in fact, inscribed directly below the serpent king, along the reliving the historic life through viewing narrative vertical pillar of the band of railing that encloses the sculptures recounting those events would enrich the scene. Of crucial importance to the interpretation of experience of going to a stiupa. Equally, it is not valid aniconism is the final episode, which occupies the left to assume that the prevailing religion during this third of the panel: Erapata, with hands joined in early period emphasized the perfection of virtues adoration, kneels in front of a seat beneath a garland- narrated in thejatakas, thereby obviating the need for ed tree. To ensure that the viewer is aware of the life scenes. The proposition that the early art of India significance of the seat and garlanded tree as the was not primarily concerned with the biography of emblematic presence of the Buddha, the words "Era- the Buddhal7 is difficult to sustain. On the contrary,palo Nagar7aja Bhagavato Vadate," or "Serpent King scenes from the Buddha biography took pride of Erapata adores the Holy One," are inscribed intru- place in the decorative scheme of the first extensively sively into the visual field, just behind the kneeling decorated stiipa at Bharhut. Life scenes were carved figure. It seems difficult to read this inscribed piece primarily on the prominent entrance pillars of the of visual narrative as anything other than an instance Bharhut railing, where they would be readily seen by of the aniconic depiction of the Buddha. those who visited the site. Not a single biographical A second panel that provides undeniable evidence scene exists on the smaller spaces created by the of aniconism is the visit of King Ajatashatru to the meandering lotus stem along the Bharhut coping, Buddha (fig. 4), narrated in aset of four scenes on the several feet above eye level, where only]jataka tales are lowest panel of face one of the Ajatashatru pillar. To placed. The half dozen or so portrayals of tithas at the lower left, the monarch and his queens ride upon This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms  ANICONISM AND THE MULTIVALENCE OF EMBLEMS 49 I , I ,, 1,,1 d 'S ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~d FIG. 3. Sto of Seopent King Erapata, Bharhut. Courtesy ASI. I' Of'l'' '-X' lXS { _ 4. z... ,, w... r -....C A _ l._w.B1-ss|4oS..t;sZjeiz1ss| dance," engraving it sideways along the fourth and fifth bands of the railing (from the left) that served as a lower border for the scene. The three panels on this face of the Prasenajit panel thus represent simulta-.'Y_;si"_,|'I.i24a_:_.iIgw:_-_k _I1t|_.1,_g,5_Z; =DI.g,I,,.9ias- neous events; they pertain to the enlightenment of the Buddha, as proclaimed by the inscription in the topmost panel, in which the Buddha's presence is _esq4a,,, ie,s.__w;iz:muiY.K,2 ' V).''.".' #:A._M__s_ indicated by aniconic emblems. Read thus, the pres- P.: _ _ _ _ n F _ | _> ence of the gods of the four directions and of the heavenly apsaras becomes meaningful. A Bharhut medallion that uses the monoscenic i#*_ S: ,0,4!S l IILSI _ _ GiE3l_ yo............................................................. iE *sefz4Nce _ _ _ _ a ,j, , mode to tell the tale of Mucalinda naga, who shel- XX.., _ _.W,. tered the Buddha from a torrential rain storm in the {R 2 s' g;se'..a ,. = ;.'1 * !_'] sixth week24 after his enlightenment, provides fur- > ;"S_ ""--'. E 's.; *S v se,,f 4 '5 ther evidence of aniconism (fig. 6). The Buddha's _iM-. *- _v- _M1. ggJ ;w biography recounts that, oblivious to everything _s:. ; S:f'' _ zD-::' *_.Rte - _ around him, the Buddha sat in deep contemplation n :. _ '^_ under a tree, while Mucalinda coiled himself to form r ' 'u'-s -'4U*.-___ _s a seat for the Buddha, with his multiheaded hood wkw".. W{ XR "W7 serving as a parasol above the Buddha's head. Mu- _w_. ii 11 r. -. _s t S1 _. n - 12.s_ calinda, portrayed in purely reptilian form beneath a.. _.xw}:_.... tree, occupies the larger part of the medallion as he FIC. 6. Svpent Mucalinda She the envelops the Buddha, represented by a seat and a pair Buddha, Bhffirhut. CourtesyAIIS. This content downloaded from 155.69.24.171 on Mon, 14 Jan 2019 11:59:43 UTC All use subject to https://about.jstor.org/terms  52 VIDY4 DEHEJIA r :.j;'. W W s vrvAL >,,,, wiv - _ r- i e~~~~~IG.?ig. iThe=.^ Enl_ gLgh.,.*e., }Gadhr. ' * >' t iCou.E