Page:A Handbook of Indian Art.djvu/276

156 In the Ceylon Buddha the left shoulder is bare, whereas the Sarnath sculpture shows the robe giving the neck. Another type of the Buddha as the Ascetic and Teacher is shown in Pl. LIV,, a sculpture on the face of the rock outside Cave IX at Ajantā. Here the Buddha is seated on his throne, not as a Yogi, but in European fashion; a pose which indicated the Buddhist Messiah Maitreya, who is to be the world-teacher in a new dispensation. It is significant that Buddhism should look to the West for its coming saviour. Possibly the iconographic idea came from Gandhara. Maitreya is usually classed as a Bodhisattva, and sometimes wears the Bodhisattva's crown, but here the attendants on either side are crowned as Kings or Devas, the lesser divinities who are the servants of the Great Teacher. This noble sculpture is more vigorous in expression and masterful in technique than the Sarnath Buddha, and may be earlier in date.

The Buddha as Guru is also represented standing erect with the right hand raised in the gesture known as abhaya mudrā, dispelling fear. The splendid statue now in the Birmingham Museum (Pl. LV, ) is of this type. It was excavated from a ruined monastery at Sultanganj, in Bengal, and may be classed with the Anuradhapura Buddha as one of the greatest works of the early Gupta period, testifying to the great skill of North Indian metal founders at this time, for it is about 7½ feet high, of copper cast in sections, probably by the cire perdue process on a core held together by iron bands. It is probably of the same age as the famous iron pillar of Delhi, a royal standard of the traditional Vishnu type,