More on the Buddha and the Naked Ascetics in Gandharan Art

Author(s): Pia Brancaccio

Source: East and West, Vol. 44, No. 2/4 (December 1994), pp. 447-452
Published by: Istituto Italiano per l'Africa e l'Oriente (IsIAO)
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 More on the Buddha and theNaked Ascetics
inGandharan Art

by Pia Brancaccio

In an article published in a previous issue of this Journal (EW, 41, 1991, pp. 121-31)
I considered a number of Gandharan bas-reliefs showing the Buddha performing the yamaka
pr?tih?rya
? theTwin Miracles' ? with a fat naked ascetic seated on a stool below a pavilion
to one side. By means of a cord round his waist this protagonist of a particularly interesting
episode rarely depicted by artists inGandh?ra is clearly being led by a figure of an upper caste.
My suggestion was that this was the meeting between the Tath?gata and the naked ascetic
P?tikaputta, as narrated in the Pdtika Suttanta of the Digha Nik?ya (III, XXV, 1 ff.).
To the series of reliefs considered I can now add another which seems to show the same
scene (*) (Fig. 1), although the naked ascetic who should rightly be depicted in the missing
right-hand side of the panel is not to be seen. In fact, thisGandharan bas-relief has both
the left and right sides broken off, conserving only the Buddha on a throne in the middle,
his feet resting on what look like tongues of flame although, given the unclear depiction, they
might possibly be flowing waters. The Tath?gata is shown performing one of his greatest
wonders, the yamaka-pr?tih?rya,a precise moment of which has been captured. He is surrounded
by worshippers while below, to his left, is a figurewith turban, jewels and dhoti looking in
a different direction and, apparently, pulling a cord. His bust twists round as ifwith the effort
of pulling on it and, although the key figure ismissing, I believe we have all the laksanas here
needed to identify the subject of the panel as another illustration of the story narrated in the
P?tika Suttanta.

(l) Dr Anna Maria Quagliotti of the IstitutoUniversitario Orientale, Naples kindly drew my
attention to this relief, which is now in the Allahabad Museum, No. 142, ht. 0.38 m. It is described,

although not reproduced, inPramod Chandra, Stone Sculpture in theAllahabad Museum. A Descriptive
Catalogue, Poona, n.d. (1971?), pp. 66-67, no. 100, where the author identifies it as theMiracle of Sr?vastl:
The Buddha, nimbate, stands on a stool, water issuing from his feet. The flames, sometimes shown

issuing from the shoulders, are not depicted. The head with its rather large and bulbous usnisa is covered
with heavy curls crossed by incisions. The robe (samgh?ti)covers both the shouldersand clings to some
of the rather squat body. The five subsidiary figures in attendance wear Kus?na turbans. The
portions
figureon the lower righthas the upper garment tied around thewaist over the dhoti. The top of the
stele is bordered with a simple saw-tooth design. Reference: J. Hackin, La sculpture Indienne et Tibetaine
au Musee Guimet, Paris 1931, p. 8, pi. XIF.

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 In a recent study on the yamaka-pr?tih?rya (2) Prof. Dieter Schlingloff had some
objections to make on my interpretation of these Gandharan reliefs, reasserting his opinion
that they simply portray theGreat Miracle of Sr?vasti (3). He argues that this 'by no means
unique or singular' group of reliefs showing themortification of the seated naked ascetic while
the Buddha performs one of his greatest wonders, depicts the final stage of theGreat Miracle
of Sr?vasti, when the 'heretics' are humiliated. He sees the naked ascetic seated in the pavilion
as the 'nigrantha P?rana, prototype of the six heretics', while the figure shown from behind
in the so-called Sikri panel is identified as the yaksar?ja P?ncika. Also in the other reliefs
considered the latter 'pulls the naked ascetic with a cord to get him up from his stool while
the ascetic clings desperately to themandapa pillar. The violent storm described by the texts
as sweeping the mandapa away is beyond the depictive powers of the artists of Gandh?ra.
In the firstof the newly published reliefs the companion of P?ncika flings at P?rana the pot
of sand which, as the texts tell us, he had tied round his neck to drown himself in a pond.
The third relief belonging to this group, unfortunately badly damaged, can be ascribed to the
moment when the storm brings the pavilion down, showing P?rana making off with the pot
of sand' (4). Schlingloff also points out that 'The identification of these reliefs as depictions
of the P?tikaputta episode in the P?tikasuttanta is therefore impossible since themiraculous
demonstration is represented in the Pali canon alone, while the literary sources of the Sanskrit
tradition ? the one authority for the Gandharan reliefs? and notably the Bh?rgavas?tra,
make no mention of themiracle' (5). The Bh?rgavas?tra survives in three fragments alone, in
Sanskrit, coming from Central Asia (6). There are many gaps in the text and it is quite
possible that the part of the narrative dealing with the Buddha's prodigious performance has
been lost. An account of the contest between theTath?gata and the naked ascetic P?tikaputta
is also given in the Chinese Dirgha-?gama (Ch'ang-a-han-ching, s?tra 15) (7), andWaldschmidt
himself tells us that the Chinese version includes 'the entire episode as set out in the Pali text.
However, there are some differences in the details. The text is in general richer and more
ornate, as attested by the number of miracles performed by the Buddha, with the aim of
defeating P?tikaputta. In Pali there are only eight, but the Chinese version has as many as
36' (op. cit., 1980, V, p. 111). Elsewhere Waldschmidt points out that, although fragmentary,

(2)D. Schlingloff,'Yamakapr?tiharyaund Buddhapindi inder alterbuddhistischen Kunst', Berliner

IndologischeStudien, 6, 1991, pp. 109-31.
(3) RecentlyDr Ju-hyung Rhi, too, inhis unpublishedPh.D. thesis {GandharanImagesof the lSr?vasti
Miracle': An Iconographic Reassessment, University of California, Berkeley 1991, pp. 66-69), identified
the much-discussed relief from Sikri as a portrayal of the miraculous Sr?vasti episode. My thanks go
to Prof. M. Taddei for giving me access to a copy of this important dissertation kindly sent to him by
Dr Rhi.

(4) Schlingloff, op. cit., Nachtrag, pp. 1-2.

(5) Schlingloff, ibid.

aus der Turfanfunden,
(6) E. Waldschmidt, Sanskrithandschriften Teil I,Wiesbaden 1965, pp. 23-25;
Teil V, Wiesbaden 1980, pp. 107-211, 216-19.
(7) F. Weller, 'Uber den Aufbau des P?tikasuttanta, IL Ubersetzung des Chinesischen Textes',
Asia Major, V, 1930, pp. 104-40.

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 the Sanskrit text displays a wealth of detail equal to that of the Chinese and Pali versions,
but that the course of events related in the Bh?rgavas?tra shows greater analogy with the Pali
sources. Considering the strikingaffinities to be found between the two versions of the episode,
it seems quite probable that the Bh?rgavas?tra also took account of the Buddha's miraculous
performance. In fact, the narrative in the fragments found at Turfan goes straight from the
story of the lion and the jackal, as recounted to P?tikaputta by J?liya, to the final stage of
the episode, leaving out the intervening part which is precisely where thewonders performed
by the Tath?gata would be related. Although missing from the patchy fragments of the
Bh?rgavas?tra that have come down to us, description of thewonders worked by the Buddha
might well have been included in the complete original Sanskrit version.
Moreover, although theGandharan reliefs are undeniably inspired for themost part by
episodes recounted in the Sanskrit sources, the possibility remains that the s?tra in the version
found at Turfan may have undergone some modifications from the original version which those
who created or conceived the reliefs in question drew upon. Among other things, given the
affinity displayed by certain s?tras in the Sanskrit and Pali canon (although the latter places
greater stress on the luminous aspect of the Tath?gata's miraculous deeds), it is in a number
of cases hard to deny any credibility to the hypothesis that a Pali version of the stories is
reflected in the Gandh?ra reliefs (8).
The identification suggested by Prof. Schlingloff also shows a number of weak points.
In the firstplace, there is as far as I can see no evidence that the figure pulling the ascetic
seated on a stoolwith a cord is in factP?ncika. To my knowledge, theyaksar?ja can be portrayed
in various ways ? as a prince, a beardless youth and, more often, a warrior with a spear,
possibly showing Central Asian features. The Gandharan artists appear to favour the latter
iconographic variant, never involving the figure in narrative episodes, and it therefore seems
tome highly unlikely that he should in this case appear as protagonist of the action alongside
the Buddha. Moreover, P?ncika plays a decidedly secondary role in theDivy?vad?na account,
where he appears at the end, unleashing a violent storm against the heretics and putting them
to flight but in no way comes into direct contact with the Buddha's rival ascetics. As the
Pr?tih?ryas?tra tells us, P?ncika appeared on the scene when: 'Cette reflexion lui vint ? l'esprit:
Voil? des imposteurs qui tourmenteront longtemps encore Bhagavat et PAssemblee des
Religieux. Plein de cette idee, il suscita un grand or age, accompagne de vent et de pluie qui
fitdisparaitre l'edifice destine aux Tirthiyas. Ceux-ci, atteints par le tonnerre et par la pluie,
se mirent ? fuir dans toutes les directions' (9). P?ncika's role has decidedly little influence
on the action in the story, and he could more appropriately be identified as the bearded figure

(8) It isworth recalling thatwhen depicting theGreat Miracle of Sr?vasti the artistsofGandh?ra
seem to favour themoment when theBuddha issues flames and waters, while themultiplication of the
images of the Tath?gata is less frequentlyportrayed. The latterwonder belongs to the same episode
but occupies a central position in the story as narrated by the Sanskrit sources, notably the Divy?vad?na.
Thus thedepictions do not always follow the Sanskrit versionwith absolute rigour. In thisconnection
see R.L. Brown, The Sr?vastiMiracle in theArt of India and Dv?ravati', AAA, XXXVII, 1984,
pp. 79-95.

(9) The passage from theDivy?vad?na is quoted fromE. Burnouf, Introductiona l'histoiredu
Buddhisme indien,2nd ed., Paris 1876, p. 165.

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appearing above the pavilion in all the reliefs examined. Although he shows the features of
Vajrap?ni, this figurewields a vajra which could qualify him as one who stirs the tempest (10).
Moreover, the story of the Great Miracle of Sr?vasti makes not the slightest mention
?
of seated naked ascetics who cannot or will not stand up on the contrary, they are very
quick to flee. I should also like to point out that the naked ascetic who committed suicide
on account of the mortification suffered during the Great Miracle of Sr?vasti, and whom
Prof. Schlingloff identifies with the fat naked figure seated below the pavilion, is not the
? one of the 'heretical' masters close to the
'nigrantha P?rana' but, rather, P?rana K?syapa
Ajivika doctrines (n).
In my 1991 article I also compared the bas-reliefs in question with a Gupta-period relief
from Sarnath now in the Indian Museum of Calcutta: I was then unaware that this relief had
already been published by Joanna Williams in an article she had written on the Sarnath
stelae (12). Here theAmerican scholar identifies the scene as theGreat Miracle of Sr?vasti,
taking the fat naked ascetic to be the P?rana K?syapa mentioned in the texts. Williams also
publishes various other reliefs showing a fatnaked ascetic beside theBuddha, who isperforming
the second part of the so-called Twin Miracle'. Four stelae are considered: two in the Sarnath
Museum, one in the Indian Museum, Calcutta and one in theAllahabad Museum (13). In the
case of the latter two stelae, moreover, the scene in the lower left-hand side showing the naked
ascetic seated on a stool with a companion holding him at waist-level from behind appears
to be repeated mirror-wise in the lower left-hand corner of the same relief. However, this
emphasis on the detail of the naked ascetic appears somewhat anomalous in the context of

(10)Although in the Pali version of the so-calledTwin Miracle' referredto in theDhammapada

commentary(E.W. Burlingame,BuddhistLegendsTranslatedfrom theOriginalPali Text of theDhammapada
Harvard Oriental Series, 28-30, London 1969, vol. 3, pp. 35 ff.) it is Sakka, or Indra,
Commentary,
who unleashes the storm.

(n) See A.L. Basham,History andDoctrines of theAjivikas, London 1951, pp. 80-90. Misapplication
of the appellation nigranthato religiousfigureswho took to nakedness althoughnot followersof theJain
doctrine is quite common in the Buddhist sources.
In the version of the episode included in theSsu-pen-l? (Dharmaguptaka-vinaya)cited by J.Rhi (op.
cit., pp. 225 ff.), in the place of P?rana appears the naked ascetic P?thikaputra,who commits suicide
trowinghimself into a pond with a large stone tied round his neck. Rhi sees this as a contaminatio:
it appears certain that whoever this version drew onthe P?thikaputra episode recounted in
compiled
the Dirgha-?gama and the Digha-nikdya to reconstruct the account of the Great Miracle; he also points
out that both the Ssu-pen-l? and the Dirgha-?gama have connections with the Dharmaguptaka school (Rhi,

op. cit., 1991, p. 234). Among other things,the formulaused in the challenge theheretics issue to the
Buddha as that given in the Pdtika-suttanta
is the same in the Digha-nikdya: in particular, the statement
about the between the contenders in the Pathika episode recurs in various versions
'half-way' meeting
of the Great Miracle apart from the previously mentioned source (in the Ken-pen-sbuo-i-ch'ieh-yu-pu

p'i-nai-yeh tsa-shih, or M?lasarv?stiv?da-vinaya, and in the prdtihdrya-s?tra of the Divydvaddna). All this
?
suggeststhat theepisode of thenaked ascetic P?thikaputra (P?tikaputta) undoubtedly associatedwith
? was
the Buddha's performanceof the yamaka-prdtihdrya fairlywell-known in the Buddhist world,
or at least in some of its schools.

(12) J.Williams, 'SarnathGupta Steles of theBuddha's Life', Ars Orientalis,X, 1975, pp. 171-92.
(13) Ibid., p. 172, fig. 3; p. 173, figs. 6, 7, 8.

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 theGreat Miracle. Finally, the twoN?gas Nanda and Upananda usually included in depictions
of theMiracle of Sr?vasti are absent from the two reliefs in the Sarnath Museum.
One possibility is that these two panels may have something to do with the bizarre story
of the naked ascetic P?tikaputta, although he is usually associated with portrayals of the second
part of the yamaka-pr?tih?rya when the Buddha multiplies himself on myriad lotus flowers.
A point that emerges clearly when seeking evidence in the literary sources is that the
luminous aspect of the wonders is given particular emphasis in accounts of the miraculous
events in the life of the Buddha in the Pali texts, while the Sanskrit texts pass over this
feature. Thus it is possible that these reliefs? removed from theGandh?ra reliefs in space
and time (14)? may also have referred to other variants of the story, possibly present in the
Sanskrit texts at the time.
The reliefs examined byWilliams include two that do not show the naked ascetics we
are concerned with but contain a number of interesting features (15). The main scenes on
these two stelae are practically framed by Buddhas, either standing or seated on lotus flowers.
Since the main scenes do not include the Great Miracle of Sr?vasti, the author suggests
? ? that these may in fact be further portrayals of the wonder.
despite certain misgivings
In fact, she points out that in these reliefs '[...] Buddhas are represented without one point
of origin on either side of other life scenes: for lack of a better explanation for their presence
on lotuses, however, the traditional identification of these as the Great Miracle seems
acceptable' (16). However, in the absence of certain essential features characterizing depiction
of the Great Miracle one cannot help wondering whether this type of portrayal might also
be connected with the story of P?tikaputta.

(14)The modes of depiction adopted inGupta-period stelae can also be seen in sculpturesof the
same connected with the P?la art tradition: see, e.g., S. Kramrisch, T?la and Sena Sculptures',
period
Rupam, Oct. 1929, fig. 11.

(15) Ibid., p. 173, fig. 9; p. 174, fig. 10.

(16) Ibid., p. 183.

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