Taxila: Sakyamuni’s Parinirvana and Maitreya Teaching in Tusita Heaven

PAKISTAN, Punjab, Taxila

The panel is divided in the middle by a square column with a meditating Buddha sitting on a lotus. Sakyamuni Buddha passes into parinirvana on the left, while on the right Maitreya, the future Buddha, is expounding the Dharma in Tusita Heaven. The figure on the central pillar links the two scenes as well as dividing them and symbolizes the continuity of the essential Buddhist teaching. This is often seen in sculptures in the Kushan domains, when those born too late to have contact with Sakyamuni aspired to be reborn during Maitreya’s dispensation. The pictorial balance provides a subtler expression of the continuity theme. The scene on the left is framed by twin sala trees, which are balanced on the right by the balconies filled by listening heavenly beings.
All the conventional elements are present in the scene of the Buddha’s passing. His body occupies the center on a bed surrounded by disciples and princely followers in attitudes of grief. The absent Mahakasyapa is to the right, receiving news of the death from a non-Buddhist beneath one of the trees. The other scene places an enthroned Maitreya at the center surrounded by disciples and devotees, all listening attentively to his teaching.