Art Institute of Chicago

Buddha Shakyamuni Meditating in the Indrashala Cave [top] and Buddha Dipankara [bottom]

Pakistan

Date

2nd/3rd century

Medium

Schist

Culture

Gandhara

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The upper register of this narrative frieze depicts the historical Buddha Shakyamuni serenely seated in meditation in the Indrashala cave. When Indra, the king of the gods, visits him there, the Buddha delivers a sermon that converts him to Buddhism, while acolytes fold their hands in veneration. The lower panel portrays the story of Sumati from the Dipankara jataka , a tale of one of the Buddha’s former lives. Sumati, a wealthy Brahmin turned renunciant, lies face down spreading his matted hair out across a puddle so that the Buddha Dipankara would not have to soil his feet. Dipankara subsequently prophesies Sumati’s rebirth as the future Buddha Shakyamuni.

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