Paitava: Life of the Buddha - Miracle at Sravasti

AFGHANISTAN, Parwan, Bagram

According to the Maharatnakuta Sutra, the Buddha was challenged to display his miraculous powers by rival religious teachers in Sravasti. He is described on that occasion as causing flames to leap from his shoulders while “entering the earth as if stepping into water, and stepping on water as if walking on earth.”
The Buddha is borne upward upon on a double stream of water. He wears a monastic robe that covers both shoulders, from which leap the miraculous flames. The left hand secures the fold of the garment about the arm, while the right hand is raised in the abhaya (fearlessness) mudra and has a Dharma wheel on the palm. The flame-patterned nimbus includes the flying figures of Sakra to the upper right and Brahma on the left, each carrying a parasol. Seated Buddhas at shoulder level form the wings of a decorative frame that includes insets of female nature deities below them, carried on the back of hybrid flying beasts. Panels of geometric and floral patterns border the main Buddha and an arabesque of floral patterns is carved across the base of the pedestal. Two small devotees paying homage are kneeling on either side of the pedestal.