Sarnath: Life of the Buddha

INDIA, Uttar Pradesh, Varanasi

As early as the Kushan period (circa 1st–3rd century), artworks were seen depicting the eight major episodes of the Buddha’s Life, although this approach did not become popular until the Gupta period (circa 320–550).
This plaque is divided in such a way that a seated Buddha appears in each panel, beginning from the bottom right. This meant that the order of the events portrayed is governed by the design rather than by their actual order in time. The bottom left panel depicts Prince Siddhartha’s birth opposite his defeat of Mara. The next two panels show the monkey offering the Buddha honey opposite the taming of the drunken elephant. The above two panels are of the Buddha’s return from Trayastrimsa Heaven and the miracle at Sravasti. The final two panels are of the Buddha’s first teaching at Sarnath paired with the Buddha passing into parinirvana.