THE RADIANT BUDDHA
The History of the Radiant Buddha
Standing figure of the Buddha Sakyamuni (click image for larger version)
This majestic image displays the ushnisha or cranial protuberance, a lakshana representing transcendental wisdom but originally probably developed out of the jewelled turbans of royal figures. Other visible auspicious signs include the presence of hair curls, each turning to the right, webbed hands and feet.
More subtle lakshanas are the broad shoulder blades and back of a Buddha and a golden body, fortuitously reproduced here by the warm tones of the bronze itself. In accordance with other post Gupta images the figure does not display the urna or point between the eyes, an auspicious sign symbolic of supernatural powers and insights.
The Buddha stands with his hand raised affirming his role as a protector of devotees in the gesture of benevolent reassurance (abhaya-mudra). The Buddha's distended earlobes remind the viewer of his royal origins since heavy earrings once worn by him as a prince have pulled down each ear.
Standing Buddha on a temple altar in Ladakh, bronze, Kashmir, 11th century (click image for larger version)
This recent photograph (right), shows an 11th century bronze Buddha from Kashmir standing on the altar of a temple in Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir State) located on the western edge of the Tibetan plateau. In the past Tibetan monasteries housed many Indian devotional images and manuscripts and even today Indian bronzes may be seen in an upper chapel of the Potala, formerly the Winter Palace of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. Like the image shown the Radiant Buddha was in all probability preserved for many centuries in a Tibetan monastery. That it was worshipped in Tibet is revealed by tell tale traces of coloured pigments in the Buddha's hair curls, a form of decoration only used in Tibet.
In all probability this highly portable sculpture was taken to Tibet by an Indian Buddhist monk who had made the journey there or by a Tibetan translator returning from receiving teachings in north east India. During the six centuries following the introduction of Buddhism into Tibet in the 7th century a succession of Buddhist monks travelled to the Himalayas -where Buddhism had firmly taken root - often carrying with them religious manuscripts and devotional images. Some came to teach, others were in search of permanent refuge from an increasingly hostile environment in eastern India. During these centuries many Tibetans also braved the perils of travel to India to seek instruction from eminent Buddhist teachers and themselves returned with religious images and books.
In the 1960s a number of Buddha images appeared in Europe, displaced from their adopted home of Tibet by the upheavals following the Chinese occupation of the country in 1950. Such early images of the Buddha are exceedingly rare, and those in western collections would appear to share a similar provenance. The examples in Indian museums typically display a surface patination associated with buried metal objects and some are known to have been recovered from excavations of monastic sites. The Radiant Buddha, in common with those preserved in Tibet, show no signs of burial; rather, it has the soft wear that comes from centuries of devotional use.
Where the Radiant Buddha Was Made & How it was Worshipped
Images on a Tibetan altar, Shalu monastery, Southern Tibet (click image for larger version)
The altar shown here is in a present day Tibetan monastery. Such altars remain crowded with Buddhist images which are actively worshipped by pilgrims and local people. They help us to imagine how Buddha images were worshipped in ancient India.
Tibetan monasteries also continue other ancient Indian devotional practices such as the offering of water, light, incense and foodstuffs to deities or Buddhas. As in India at the time during which the Radiant Buddha was made monasteries were formerly the most significant patrons of religious art in Tibet. They were supplied with paintings and metal images by craftsmen living close by.
The artist responsible for the Radiant Buddha image most probably worked in a workshop attached to one of the great monasteries (maha-vihara) of Bihar, eastern India. The Buddhist monasteries of this region were the leading centres of Buddhist practice and became famous throughout the Buddhist world in the second half of the first millennium as centres of learning and theological debate. They were also major patrons of Buddhist art and the production of Buddha images was an essential activity.
Contemporary observer's descriptions of the devotional practices in Buddhist monasteries provided by Chinese pilgrims record the spectacular scale of the most important Buddha images. They also describe the manner in which smaller, portable metal images like the Radiant Buddha, were carried in procession in rituals similar in purpose to those performed today in large Hindu temples. As the image moved among them believers were able to see the deity, share the blessing of a moment of contact, and be reaffirmed in their faith.
How the Bronze Buddha was Made
The Lost Wax Casting Process
Diagram of lost wax casting over a core (click image for larger version)
Print from X-radiograph image of the Buddha, showing the chaplets (metal pins) that held the core (click image for larger version)
The figure was cast by the lost-wax process in a copper alloy with a high tin content and traces of lead. In the first stage of this process a complete image of the Buddha was modelled in wax over a clay core, then covered in clay and left to dry.
On the day of casting the clay mould was heated, dissolving the wax image within and allowing the wax to be poured off. Meanwhile the metal alloy was prepared in a crucible. Then, with great care, the molten metal was poured into the moulded cavity, which followed in every detail the impression of the original wax image. Once cooled, the clay 'shell' was broken away to reveal the form of the Buddha.
The casting channels into which metal could be poured and gases escape - would then have been sawn off and the surface of the image filed and polished to remove any casting blemishes. The image was then ready for presentation to the donor who would ask for it to be blessed in a ceremony performed by a monk.
View the Lost Wax Bronze Casting Video: 5 mins