KI002 Dharmanandin – Mathurā – stone, seated Kapardin Buddha [draft]

This Buddha statue is currently part of the Kimbell Art Museum collection in Fort Worth, Texas (AP 1986.06). The exact provenance of the image is not recorded, but the use of red sandstone suggests it is from Mathurā. The image is a Kapardin Buddha type represented as sitting cross-legged on a lion throne, the left hand resting on the left leg and right hand raised in the vyāvr̥tta mudra, flanked by attendants, surrounded by a halo, and having a top-knot of hair (kapardin) covered in a cloth (uṣṇīṣa). The kapardin hair-bun and upper half of the halo is missing from this statue.

Content Summary

On the twenty-sixth day of the third rainy month in the forth year Kaniṣka I (=131 CE), the honorable Dharmanandin, a co-resident of the monk Bodhisena, established this Bodhisattva in his own sanctuary together with his parents, paternal aunt Bhadrā, and all beings.

Keywords

Benefit, Buddha, Donation, EraRulerDate

Previous Editions

• Fussman, Gérard. 1988. “Documents Épigraphiques Kouchans (V): Buddha and Bodhisattva dans l’Art de Matura: Deux Bodhisattvas Inscrits de l’An 4 et l’An 8.” Bulletin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient, 77: 5-26.

Other References

• Härtel, Herbert. 1995. “A Remarkable Inscribed Sculpture from Mathura.” In John Guy, ed., Indian Art and Connoisseurship: Essays in Honour of Douglas Barrett, pp. 32-43. Ahmedabad, India : Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts in association with Mapin Publishing.

Acknowledgements

Research on this edition and production of the digital edition was completed with in kind support of the Prakaś Foundation.