Representations of a Series of Large Buddha Figures in the Buddhist Caves of Kuča: Reflections on Their Origin and Meaning
One of the pictorial motifs recurring in the painted Buddhist caves in the area of Kuča on the Northern Silk Road is rows of large standing buddha figures occupying the entire height of the wall. According to its position in the cave and its size, this motif was of particular importance. As it has n...
| Published in: | Dynamics in the history of religions |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2022
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| In: |
Dynamics in the history of religions
Year: 2022, Volume: 12, Pages: 68-96 |
| Further subjects: | B
Altaische & Ostasiatische Sprachen
B Asia B Sprache und Linguistik B Allgemein B Asien-Studien B Art history B Religionswissenschaften B Uralische B Ostasiatische Geschichte B History |
| Online Access: |
Presumably Free Access Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | One of the pictorial motifs recurring in the painted Buddhist caves in the area of Kuča on the Northern Silk Road is rows of large standing buddha figures occupying the entire height of the wall. According to its position in the cave and its size, this motif was of particular importance. As it has not been satisfactorily analysed so far, this paper examines the manner in which it was developed and the reason for its development. The series of buddhas in Kuča’s painting are reminiscent, both compositionally and stylistically, of the sets of multiple large buddha sculptures that appeared in the art of Greater Gandhāra in the early 5th century and were most likely adopted from these locations. As in the sculptural art of Greater Gandhāra, the series of buddhas in the Kuča paintings are arranged to be passed during the ritual circumambulation. A unique feature of the large-scale buddha figures in series from Kuča is that they are often accompanied by a smaller figure offering a specific donation to the buddha, and thereby alluding to a certain Buddhist narrative. The accompanying figure thus serves as an iconographic element for the identification of the respective buddha. As far as can be discerned from their accompanying figure, the individual buddhas in a series are buddhas of the past. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: Dynamics in the history of religions
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/9789004508446_004 |