A RARE AND IMPORTANT GRAY SCHIST FRAGMENT OF A FASTING BUDDHA, 1ST-2ND CENTURY, PUBLISHED IN KURITA’S GANDHARAN ART

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A RARE AND IMPORTANT GRAY SCHIST FRAGMENT OF A FASTING BUDDHA, 1ST-2ND CENTURY, PUBLISHED IN KURITA’S GANDHARAN ART Expert’s note The importance of the present fragment lies in its unusually ambitious union of iconic and narrative imagery. The emaciated Siddhartha once dominated the composition, while the relief below recounts Mara’s challenge and defeat. Together, the two registers compress the final stages of Siddhartha’s path toward Enlightenment: mastery over the demands of the body above is joined with triumph over worldly illusion below. Despite the loss of the head and upper torso, this meaning remains remarkably complete. Indeed, in its present state, the fragmented body acquires an unintended but powerful further resonance, contrasting the impermanence of physical form with the enduring promise of spiritual liberation. Its significance is further underscored by its publication in Isao Kurita’s Gandharan Art. The Japanese scholar and collector devoted decades to documenting Gandharan sculptures in museums and otherwise inaccessible private collections. First issued in two volumes in 1988 and 1990 and published in a revised and enlarged edition in 2003, Kurita’s monumental survey remains a standard visual reference in the field. The inclusion of the present fragment therefore establishes its longstanding scholarly importance and its place within the principal published corpus of Gandharan sculpture. Northern Pakistan, Swabi. Finely carved, the emaciated Buddha seated in dhyanasana upon a rectangular throne, the lower body clad in voluminous monastic robes falling in deeply carved, cascading folds across the crossed legs, partially shrouding the naturalistically carved feet. The throne is raised above a narrative frieze carved in high relief with the Attack of Mara, centered by Buddha seated in meditation beneath the Bodhi tree, steadfast amid the animated scene unfolding around him. To one side, Mara appears poised for assault, wearing armor, a paridhana, and a crested turban, his hand placed upon the hilt of a sword drawn from a rectangular scabbard suspended from the shoulder. He is restrained by a youthful attendant, presumably his son, who places one hand upon Mara’s shoulder, while a nude female figure stands nearby in a seductive pose. On the opposite side, Mara is shown again in defeat, turning away with both hands resting upon the sheathed sword, the empty scabbard and bent blade signaling his vanquishment. The successive episodes are enclosed within architectural pilasters, the varied poses and gestures lending the composition considerable movement and dramatic tension. Dimensions: Length 31.5 cm (excl. stand), 35.5 cm (incl. stand) Mounted on a modern stand. (2) After renouncing his princely existence in search of truth, Siddhartha went through a stage of profound austerity. For six years Siddhartha tried passionately to work out his own way of salvation visiting several religious masters of the time. Dissatisfied with their teachings, he practiced asceticism, submitting himself to such severe physical austerities that he came to look like a living skeleton. The sunken body attests to his effort and discipline to exceed human limitations in his quest for spiritual transcendence. Gandharan artists, beyond capturing the idealized physical beauty of the enlightened Buddha, were equally capable of dramatizing a subject. The goal was to express the noble spiritual state of the Bodhisattva seeking the meaning of life at the threshold between life and death. It is arguably the most graphic image of the physical privations and mental concentration endured by Siddhartha on his path towards Enlightenment, and is one of the quintessential Gandharan iconic types. Mara, a malignant spirit associated with the distractions and illusions of worldly existence, feared losing his power if Siddhartha attained supreme knowledge and led others to salvation. Immediately before the Enlightenment, beneath the Bodhi tree, he attempted to divert the bodhisattva through promises of sovereignty, worldly pleasures, and feminine charms. When these failed, Mara unleashed an army of warriors and demons. Siddhartha responded by touching the earth and calling upon the earth goddess as witness, compelling Mara and his host to retreat. The present panel depicts this crucial episode in two successive moments. On the right, Mara stands poised for assault, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword and surrounded by soldiers, while his son peers over his shoulder in an attempt to dissuade him from attacking Shakyamuni. On the left, Mara appears in defeat, with an empty sheath at his waist and the sword blade bent, signifying Siddhartha’s triumph over worldly illusion and sense-perception, and his liberation from the cycle of rebirth. Literature comparison: Compare a closely related figure of the fasting Buddha consisting of a similar fragment to the present lot and the corresponding head, included in the exhibition The Hearts and Forms They Wished to Convey: Buddhist Narrative Reliefs, Gilt-Bronze Buddhist Images, and Buddhist Paintings, in the Tokyo Reimei Art Room (formerly TOREK Museum of Art), 25 July-31 August 2022. Compare closely related fragments of an emaciated Buddha, excavated at Takht-i Bahi Plate XLV, 49 cm wide, and now in the Peshawar Museum. Compare a related gray schist relief panel depicting the same subject, dated 2nd-3rd century, 49.8 cm long, in the British Museum, registration number 1895,1018.2.

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