Sarnath school of art

Topic: Early Indian Art and Architecture: Stupas, Rock-cut Caves, Temples · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 7 "The Gupta Era: An Age of Tireless Creativity"

Meaning

The Sarnath school of art is the style of Buddha sculpture made at Sarnath, near Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, during the Gupta age. Its images show a calm, smiling Buddha in a thin, plain robe that clings to the body and has almost no folds. The best-known example is the seated preaching Buddha in the Sarnath Museum. [3]

It matters because Sarnath's Buddhas are seen as the high point of Indian stone carving. The Gupta standards of beauty they set were copied by later sculptors for centuries.

Explanation

Background: why Sarnath, and why the Gupta age

• Sarnath is where the Buddha gave his first sermon. This made it a sacred place where Buddhist images were in steady demand.
• Gupta money paid for the art:
• Gupta rulers collected large revenue from land, trade and tribute.
• They spent a good part of it on temples, scholars and artists.

• With steady support, artists could work full time and train pupils, so the style became fixed and refined.

• Patronage covered more than one faith. The Gupta kings were parama-bhagavata (devout followers of Vishnu). They still supported Buddhist institutions such as Nalanda, so Buddhist art at Sarnath could flourish.

• The images are carved in the cream-coloured (buff) Chunar sandstone found near Varanasi.

The masterpiece: the seated preaching Buddha

• It is now in the Sarnath Museum. It is very well preserved and finely carved. [3]
• Hand pose: the Buddha sits in Dharmachakrapravartana mudra. This is the hand pose of "turning the wheel of the Law", the pose of the first teaching. [3]
• Pedestal (base): it shows the five monks (Pancha-vargiya bhikkhus), the Buddha's first listeners, with a wheel between them. [3]
• Face: calm, with a soft smile. The sculptor used it to show the joy of full spiritual achievement. [3]
• Halo: behind the head is a halo cut with fine flower patterns. [3]

Style marks of the Sarnath school

• Robe: thin and plain. It clings to the body and has almost no folds, so it looks see-through. Gandhara robes, by contrast, are heavy and deeply folded.
• Body: smooth and soft, not muscular.
• Eyes: half-shut, looking inward, which shows deep meditation.
• Mood: peaceful and spiritual. The aim was inner calm, not physical strength.
• Change from Mathura: earlier Mathura Buddhas, made in red sandstone, are heavier and more muscular. Sarnath turned this into a lighter, more graceful form.

Results and legacy

• Sarnath images became the model of the "ideal" Buddha for later Indian sculpture.
• With Ajanta painting and the Udayagiri carvings, Sarnath is a main reason historians call the Gupta period a "classical age". The term means a time whose art later ages treated as the standard.
• The Tathagata gallery of the Sarnath Museum shows Buddha images in different poses. The preaching Buddha is the best-known work of the Sarnath school. [3]

Time, place and evidence

• Period: the Gupta age. The preaching Buddha is usually dated to about the 5th century CE.
• Place: Sarnath, near Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. This is the site of the Buddha's first sermon.
• Patrons: the Gupta kings and the wealth they spent on art, along with Buddhist institutions.
• Material: buff Chunar sandstone.
• How we know:
• Archaeological finds: the sculptures were found when the site was dug.
• Site museum: the government ordered a museum at Sarnath in 1904 to keep the finds from the dig. The building was finished in 1910. [3]
• The sculptures themselves: their mudra, pedestal carvings and robe style are the main evidence for the school's features. [3]

Don't confuse with

• Gandhara school: Gandhara Buddhas wear heavy robes with deep folds. Sarnath robes are thin, plain and almost fold-less.
• Mathura school: Mathura Buddhas are earlier, made of red sandstone, and heavier and more muscular. Sarnath Buddhas are made of buff sandstone and are soft, slim and calm.
• Ashokan Lion Capital at Sarnath: this is a Mauryan pillar top, India's national emblem, and centuries older. It is not a Gupta work and not part of the "Sarnath school" of Buddha images.
• Udayagiri (MP) caves: these are also Gupta works, but they are Vishnu shrines cut into rock, famous for the Varaha panel (c. 400 CE). Sarnath is known for Buddhist stone sculpture. [2]

Prelims Hooks

• The seated preaching Buddha of Sarnath shows the Dharmachakrapravartana mudra. [3]
• Its pedestal carries the five monks (Pancha-vargiya bhikkhus) and a wheel. [3]
• The Sarnath site museum was ordered in 1904 and completed in 1910. [3]
• The Sarnath museum's Tathagata gallery houses the preaching Buddha. [3]
• A common trap is "transparent, fold-less robe" versus "heavy, folded robe": the first is Sarnath and the second is Gandhara.
• Order the Buddha styles by mood: Mathura (heavy, muscular, red sandstone) gave way to Sarnath (slim, calm, buff sandstone) in the Gupta age.

Mains Points

• The high point of Indian sculpture: Sarnath shows Indian art moving from physical strength (Mathura) to inner calm. The half-shut eyes, soft smile and clinging robe show an idea, spiritual peace, rather than just a body. This is why Gupta art became the "classical" standard. But the "classical age" label comes from elite art. It says little about how ordinary people lived.
• Patronage across faiths: Vaishnava Gupta kings created conditions in which Buddhist art at Sarnath flourished, and they funded Nalanda too. This is a ready example that a king's personal faith did not decide who got royal support.
• Indian taste over foreign influence: Sarnath developed an Indian ideal of the Buddha that was clearly different from the Greek-influenced folds of Gandhara. Its standards then shaped Buddhist and Hindu sculpture in later centuries.

Related concepts

• Gupta art
• Mudras
• Abhaya mudra
• Bhumisparsha mudra
• Dharmachakra mudra
• Dhyana mudra
• Varada mudra
• Vitarka mudra
• Anjali mudra
• Uttarabodhi mudra

Read more

• The Gupta apex: "the quest for beauty"