Sculpting is essentially a form of artwork in which any material such as rock, wood, metal or plaster is sculpted in a three dimensional form .The sculptors work with a lot dedication to bring out the spirit in the end product of their work. Buddhism, commonly referred to as inner knowledge is essentially the purification and elevation of life akin to the sculpting of the heart. This paper will look at Buddhist sculptures and compare them with Egyptian and western sculptures
Discussion
Buddhist sculpture commenced with the carving of an imagery of Buddha. During the times of Buddha, King Udayana of the Kausumbi Kingdom made use of sandalwood to make five feet tall sculpture of Buddha. This is development ushered in the development of the Buddhist sculpture. There are large quantities of sculpture that have been discovered and which date back to the reign of King Asoka of the Maurayn Dynasty of India who had been the ruler after Sakyamuni Buddha’s Nirvana (Luczanits, p.87). Notably, King Asoka had a sentimental attachment to the Dharma that he ruled his dynasty in accordance to it. He therefore several stupas everywhere the Buddha taught the Dharma. Additionally, he built several temple stone columns that were inscribed edicts and also caves. King Asoka made a remarkable contribution in terms of substantiating the Suntras as well as in the study of the Buddhism history.
King Kaniska of the Kusana Kingdom also had a very fervent devotion to the Dharma. He also constructed pagodas and temples, sculpted large images and statutes within Ghandara region. As a result of the exposure to the art and culture of the Greek, his sculptures exhibited a lot of influence. The Ghandara style that emerged was a blend of Greek and Indian sculptural techniques. During the same period, the Mantura style was able to emerge in the southern areas of India. Despite that the latter was heavily influenced by the former, it was more powerful and steady. In the 4th century, the Gupta Empire marked the golden age of Indian art. The Ajanta Cave’s art was remarkable the most outstanding and impressive piece of art. The attack of the Barbarians led to a clash of foreign cultures causing the Indian art to reach maturity.
Before the introduction of Buddhism in China, China had an accomplished sculptural art. Upon the introduction of Buddhism and its subsequent integration into the Chinese culture, the Chinese sculpture and art became increasingly enriched and beautiful. Wood carvings, clay and stonework were heavily used as the prevalent mediums of art. In the late phases of the Han Dynasty, there was a temple that had a Buddha statute made of bronze. During the era of the East Jin, the main works of the sculptors focused on the Buddha images (Friothingham &Marquand, p.8)
Arguably, Egypt was the first civilisation to come up with an artistic style that was very recognizable. The style was quite peculiar considering that head, legs and the feet of the human sculptors were shown in profile while the eyes, arms, shoulders and the torso were shown from the front. This style was highly employed in sculptors as well as in paintings. Egyptian sculptors produced a broad variety of small works made of clay, ivory and bone even before the formal sculpture times emerged. Ivory and bone were highly used to make female figures. The most outstanding aspect of the Egyptian statuary lies in the fact that they were mainly intended to be placed in temples and tombs. The face had to face ahead while the body from the front view had to be rigid and vertical. The quality of the statutes was not of much significance as long as it was inscribed by the name of the dead. Basically, in the Ancient Egyptian Empire, all wall sculptures tended to be in the bas relief form while during the new empire, the outline and sunken relief were the dominant forms (Friothingham &Marquand, p.18).
In most of the sculptures that represented the gods, there was a lot of symbolism that was employed. When the sculptures were depicted in the human form, they were mainly depicted by emblems but often represented in form of composite creatures having animal heads on the human body. For instance, Anubis had the head of a jackal; Horus had a hawk head, Serek a crocodile among others. Notably, most of the principal figures such as the Gods and the kings were shown to be larger than men. The dead were made to be more larger than the living one of the most surprising pieces of Egyptian art relate to date back to 3000B.C.At the Cyclades highlands, there are a number of carved marble figures especially those of women designed in such a manner that are flat lying. These sculptors are mainly found in graves and presumably they suggest death.
Western sculpture is mainly epitomised by the Greek. They used a number of materials for their sculptures ranging from marble, stone and limestone which were abundant in the country. Clay was also used to a small degree due to it brittleness. The sculptures were of significant importance as they were used to tell stories about heroes, Gods, culture events and mythical creatures. Like their Egyptian counterparts, the Greek also used sculptors to show tribute to their deceased loved ones. The deceased person was sculpted in a relaxed pose. In addition, the successful and the rich would at times commission their own statutes for the temples as a show of reverence to the gods (Tarbell,p.4)
Arguably, there is a marked similarity in the Egyptian, Greek (western) and the Buddhist sculptures. Notably, all of them tended to have some form of orientation to the deity. In addition, there was a remarked use of the sculptures as a means of immortalising the dead. This was especially prevalent among the Egyptians and the Greek sculptures. There is however marked differences in the manner in which most of the carvings were made and the materials that were used. For instance, in Egypt, Ivory and bones were mainly used for carvings pertaining to women. On the other hand countries like Greece, China and India did not have such a specification. In addition, in the Egyptian empire, the figures of gods and those of the other prominent personalities were portrayed to be very large compared to those of the ordinary people. In the Buddhist sculptures, the main and popular figure was the Buddha and as such each king wanted to make their own sculptures. On the other hand, the Egyptian and Greek sculptures, despite also having a firm orientation to the deity, they also came to represent the heroes of the day among other cultural events and activities (Hurll, p.27) notwithstanding these differences, all the empires had a marked impact on the development of art in the subsequent years.
Sample of sculptures
Seated statues of the pharaoh
The Egyptian sphinx
Jocho-Buddha
Detailed sculpture carved from stone
