Fayaz Tepe: Sakyamuni Buddha Niche

UZBEKISTAN, Surkhandarya, Termez

Fayaz Tepe flourished when Termez was a major trading city of the Kushan Empire (circa 1st–3rd century). The sculpture is one of the best-preserved artifacts unearthed from the site and is admirably detailed.
The robed Buddha sits in meditation within an arched niche. His waved hair builds to a hemispherical usnisa. Radiating Bodhi tree branches carved in high relief surround his head. Two disciples standing on either side of the Buddha are wearing close-fitting monastic robes that leave the right shoulder bare as a sign of reverence when visiting a teacher. It may be surmised from their inclined heads, though their forearms are missing, that the hands were most likely once joined in anjali (reverence) mudra.
The sides of the arch are lined with purlin ends. The squared columns that support it approximate the Corinthian order, their capitals decorated with a double row of acanthus leaves.