Early Buddhist Art
Artist: unknown
Title: Mahabodhi Temple, west side
Material: Stone & brick
Site: Bodh Gaya, India
Current Location: Bodh Gaya, India
Period/Date: Complex history
Iconography/Iconology: The pitha (seat) of the enlightenment
of Sakyamuni Buddha. The tree, seen in the center of the photograph, is
the bodhi tree under which Sakyamuni became enlightened. Actually, it is
a replanted cutting from a scion of the Annuradapura bodhi tree in Sri Lanka.
This tree was, itself, a cutting from the original bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya.
Although physically inacurate to be described as such, the temple is conceived
of as being a shrine under the east side of the tree. The temple conceptually
shelters the seat (vajrasana) on which Sakyamuni attained enlightenment.
Stylistic Comments: The temple, as photographed, is a British restoration
of a Burmese restoration of an earlier restoration of a Gupta temple. While
it probably reflects something of the character of the Gupta-period temple
it is impossible to make major stylistic judgements about the temple in
its present state.
