Later Buddhist Art
Artist: unknown
Title: Buddha, seated, displaying dharmacakramudra
Material: Chunar sandstone
Site: Sarnath, near Varanasi, India
Current Location: Sarnath Museum, India
Period/Date: Gupta (ca. 5th century C.E.)
Iconography/Iconology: A Buddha displaying dharmacakramudra and seated
on a throne over a wheel that is flanked by two deer is the standard Buddhist
image of the First Sermon and of the Buddhist teachings in general. This
figure is unusual, however, insofar as the Buddha's left hand uses the middle
finger of the left hand to point to the wheel made by the thumb and forefinger
formed by the right hand.
Stylistic Comments: Considered by many to be the epitomy of the Gupta
style, this image was undoubtedly one of the main images of the teachings
at Sarnath. That it survives in such excellent condition is truly fortunate.
It includes one of the few intact halos of the Gupta type.
