Early Buddhist Art
Artist: unknown
Title: Great Stupa at Sanchi (Stupa I), north gateway (torana),
west pillar, east face
Material: Stone
Site: Sanchi, India
Current Location: Sanchi, India
Period/Date: Sunga period (ca. 25 C.E.)
Iconography/Iconology: This panel shows devotees doing puja
in front of a platform that is under a tree. The devotees include two monkeys
making an offering. The trees include an Ashoka tree (right), a wish-granting
tree (kalpavrksa--center), and a Bodhi tree (left). Unfortunately,
this scene has been traditionally identified as the Gift of the Monkey to
Sakyamuni Buddha, which took place in a mango grove at Vaisali. However,
since there are two distinctly different monkeys, a number of other figures,
and no mango trees, it seems unlikely that this identification is meaningful.
Stylistic Comments: The arrangement of the composition into
three bands, with the monkeys and female devotees in the foreground, the
male devotees and the platform in the middle ground, and the three trees
in the background, is, again, characteristic of the "compressed"
space used in Satavahana sculpture.
