Pamela Gutman
Department of Art History and Theory, The University of Sydney
Abstract
This
paper seeks to examine the nature of power and religion in the early
urban centres of Arakan, Dhanyawadi and Vesali, in the light of the
Anandacandra inscription, the early coins and the sculptural remains.
It
queries why later chronicles distort this evidence, and discusses the
fifth century Mahamuni sculptures in the context of Mahayana Buddhism at
the time and evidence for the bhagavata cult of Vasudeva, concluding
that the cultures of the early cities adopted those Indic elements which
resonated with the role of the tribal chief in his transformation to a
king ruling with the authority and support of lndian deities.
====================================================
The
role of the king in ancient Arakan was not dissimilar to the function
(or what should be the function) of the government today. He was
expected to uphold the religion and to protect the land and the people,
ensuring their fertility and prosperity.
While
the peoples who inhabited Arakan at the beginning of the first
millennium had no doubt long been in contact with their neighbours in
India and to the east through trade and other relationships, the first
five centuries of the Common Era saw the development of urban centres
which adapted certain Indian cultural traits to suit their environment.
In this the ruler sought to assure his people of his right to protect
them and to ensure the continuation of the prosperity and fertility of
the land through his links with the cosmic forces which controlled the
progression of the seasons and the coming of the rains.
In
this paper I examine the evidence for the Indic religions practiced in
the first known urban centres in Arakan and attempt to relate those
religions to the functions of kingship. Later accounts of the history of
the early centres, often compiled by Theravadin monks, tend to obscure
the obviously Mahayanist and Hindu practices followed from around the
fifth century C.E. In doing this it is necessary to look at what was
happening in Arakan in the context of concurrent developments in India
(including the area now called Bangladesh), Sri Lanka and in the rest of
Southeast Asia. Our key sources are the famous inscription of
Anandacandra dating to the first half of the eighth century, the
earliest local account of the history of the rulers and the religion,
and the coinage and the sculptural and architectural remains we find
today, much of which is preserved in the Mahamuni and Mrauk-U Museums.
Many
Arakanese, even today, accept the accounts of their history in
chronicles written many hundreds of years after the events they record.
Some of these have borrowed fiom the pali traditions brought fiom Sri
Lanka. These traditions have often been incorporated into the local
histories or razawin in order to legitimize the power of the
ruler at the same time as conveying a perceived religious truth. Jacques
Leider in a forthcoming paper states that the local histories reflect
the adaptation and localization of Buddhist teaching, thought and
practice.1 Given his masterly accormt of later
Arakanese historiography in that paper, I will not attempt to discuss
the subject here, but will instead draw from the earliest complete
account of the history of the royal dharma and its function,
the protection of the religion and the people, the Anandacandra
inscription of c. 729 C.E. on the west face of the Shittaung pillar
inscription.
The Anandacandra Inscription1
Fig 1 Anandacandra inscription
While the first three lines of the inscription are largely illegible, the word Bodhisattva has been read in 1.1, and the word trilocana
in 1.2 should refer to Siva in a stanza to Hindu deities. The
inscription then enumerates several dynasties ruling before that of
Anandacandra's line. An examination of the relevant sections of the
inscription gives us a picture of how the king sought to legitimize his
rule through tracing the royal lineage, and also of the nature of the
religions patronized by the elite in the eighth century. It should be
recognized that the royal lineage rarely depends on ancestry, rather, it
portends to relate the history of the royal dharma or law through which the state was maintained and its prosperity guaranteed.
Fig. 2 Wicks 1992 p. 87
Verses
4-9 refer to six kings with Sanskritic names, each of whom ruled for
120 years, suggesting a Puranic tradition which did not survive in the
later chronicles. This is followed by a list of rulers with more
realistic reign lengths (verses 10-18), distinguished by a preponderance
of non-Sanskritic proper names, suggesting a semi-historical tradition.
The first of these is Candrodaya, whom Johnston was inclined to equate
with Candrasuriya of the Chronicles1. He is followed by
the Annaveta kings, whose name indicates an indigenous form of
leadership, who ruled for five years, a king whose name is lost who
reigned for the unlikely period of 77 years, and then five rulers, one a
queen, whose names are mostly not Indian. The lengths of the reigns of
the ancestral monarchs is said to have been 1,060 years, although given
the information in the inscription it is not possible to see how this is
reached. However it is also recorded that the succeeding dynasty
reigned for 230 years, completed, as we shall see, in 600 C.E. Taking
1,060 years to be correct, it appears that the first reign was
calculated to begin in c. 690 B.C., coinciding with the first year of
the Einzana era said to have been initiated by Gautama Buddha's
grandfather in 691 B.C1. This era, still known in
Burma, could have been chosen to illustrate the contemporaneity of the
royal ancestors with those of the Buddha, a tendency often seen in the
localization of events in the Buddhist tradition in later chronicles.
The
following section, verses 19-32, deal with the Candra dynasty, whose
names can be verified by coins issued by the 4" to the 13" kings and by
votive inscriptions. The inscription states that the 16 kings of the
dynasty ruled for 230 years, although only 13 are named. A coin issued
by a Suriyacandra, paleographically datable to about the beginning of
the seventh century may give us another name1. Various
chronicles mention that the Candra dynasty of Vesali reigned for 230
years, fiom 788 until 1018 AD. None of the names of the kings mentioned
in the chronicles are found in the Anandacandra inscription, and
Johnston suggested that it would seem that the chronicle lists have
ultimately derived fiom an authentic list which has survived in a form
corrupted beyond recognition. It is possible that when a later tradition
sought to localize the Sasanavamsa story of the Buddha Gautama
arriving to convert the country to the time of a legendary Candrasuriya
who was probably the semi-historical progenitor Candrodaya of the
Anandacandra inscription. The length of the Dhannavati dynasty of the
chronicles therefore was artificially extended to include all the kings
reigning until the foundation of the Vesali dynasty of the chronicles
which is said to have started in 788 AD.
It
is apparent, however, from the inscriptions, coins and architectural
and sculptural remains found at Vesali that the city was occupied by at
least the sixth century. Similar evidence indicates that Dhanyawadi
continued to be occupied in the seventh century and probably much later.
In Mrauk-U there is evidence of occupation from at least the seventh
century, and an inscription on the reverse of an image of Surya,
stylistically and paleographically datable to the early sixth century
mentions kings not listed in the Anandacandra inscription or in the
various later chronicles1. The linear progression of the urban centres imposed on the history by Anandacandra's prasasti and by the later chronicles must now be reconsidered as archaeological evidence accumulates.
The pre-Indic tradition and early urbanization
Fig 3 Early urban sites of Arakan image: Bob Hudson
The
earliest urban site we know of in Arakan is Dhanyawadi situated 96 km.
upriver from Sittwe. Like other early urban centres in Southeast Asia it
may, in the pre-urban period, have been a trading centre for the
exchange of forest and sea products. Before further work is done we can
only speculate on the nature of the religion on to which Buddhism and
Hinduism were imposed. By looking at the archaeological record of
pre-urban sites and at anthropological parallels in Burma and in India
today, we can assume that the people venerated local spirits connected
with the earth: villages, rivers, hills and so on, and that a form of
ancestor worship was practiced. Usually scholars see the transition fiom
local spirit and ancestor cults to the great Indic religions as
coinciding with the development of an urban society, with the ruling
elite the key sponsors1.
In
the later Buddhist tradition one of these local earth spirits was
transformed into the earth spirit Vasundhara who famously wrung water
from her hair to drown the army of Mara, the personification of evil, at
the time of the Buddha Sakyamuni's Enlightenment. A tradition recorded
in a late chronicle, Do We's Maha Razawin, is that as part of
the coronation ritual the Arakanese king deposited coins struck by him
and by his predecessor into the Vasundhara hole within the Mahamuni
temple enclosure. The Sappadanaprakarana (Sawasthanaprakarana)
the History of the Mahamuni referred to by Forchhammer, also refers to
this hole in the account of the nine miracles which took place when the
Mahamuni image was installed, namely that the Vasundhara hole dug in the
image’s presence could not be filled with the holy water poured into it
by its votaries. Both these accounts contain memories of a cult
relating to an earth spirit connected with the prosperity of the land
absorbed into local Buddhist practice. Neither mention an image
connected to the cult. It is interesting that a Buddha image recently
discovered at Urittaung and stylistically datable to around the seventh
century has an unusual standing Vasundhara at its base, probably the
earliest in mainland Southeast Asia. The story of Vasundhara's role in
the Enlightenment of the Buddha is not mentioned in the Pali Canon, and
appears in Southeast Asia long before Sinhalese Theravada Buddhism
became dominant in Southeast Asia, becoming popular because the story
resonated with the pre-Buddhist earth spirit beliefs1.
Fig 2 Vasundhara at Urittaung
Fig 3 Vasundhara at Shittaung
Symbolism of Power on the early coins
The
coins issued by the early kings illustrate the influence of Indian
symbolism in the early urban context. The earliest coins from Arakan are
usually assumed to have been issued by Devacandra (ca. 454-76). These
have a conch, often surrounded by vegetation or flames on the obverse
and a srivatsa on the reverse.
Fig 4 coins Wicks 1992 3.5
The
coin type appears to have changed during Devacandra's reign, and he and
the following kings, Yajnacandra to Dhrticandra (ca. 476-600) have a
bull and the name of the ruler on the obverse, and again the srivarsa on
the reverse
Fig 3 Wicks 1992 3.6
No
coins were issued by the next five kings who ruled before the founding
of Anandacandra's dynastic line by Dharmavijaya, whose name "Victory of
Dharma" suggests the reemergence of state support for Buddhism in ca.
665 C.E. This dynasty and other kings following it in Arakan, Bengal and
Assam continued to use the bull and srivatsa motifs on their coins.
Fig. 6 Gutman 1978 pp.223
The
early coins of Arakan have many similarities with coins from sites in
Burma proper, notably the "Pyu" and "Mon" sites, and further east, from
Dvaravati and pre-Angkorean sites of Funan. Ail the Arakan examples, and
most of the others from mainland Southeast Asia use the srivatsa on the obverse. I have discussed this in detail elsewhere1, but will mention its significance briefly again here. The srivatsa
is the symbol of the abode of Sri, the ancient earth goddess, promoter
of fertility and prosperity. The form was widespread in india from the
last centuries BC, where it was one of a range of auspicious symbols
primarily associated with prosperity. As the king came to be seen as the
abode of Sri, the srivatsa was principally associated with
royalty, and was used to indicate both the divine nature of kings and
the royal nature of the gods in Hindu, Buddhist and Jain iconographies.
In the earliest coins of mainland Southeast Asia the srivatsa is
usually depicted over a water symbol. In Arakan this is a number of
vertical lines suggesting a (lotus) stem, which in later coins becomes a
row of dots. The idea of fertility (and hence prosperity) is
accentuated by foliage sprouting from the top and sides of the srivatsa symbol. The apex of the svivatsa
is usually surmounted by the symbols of the sun and moon. This
juxtaposition of motifs is never found in India but illustrates the
concept of kingship as it existed by the fifth century. In earlier
society the chief was concerned with assuring social stability and
reproduction and soil fertility through the propitation of the tribe's
common ancestor, who could mediate with the territorial and celestial
spirits. The advent of urbanization precipitated the need to guarantee
the support of a wider population, probably of diverse origin. The
answer was found in the magic power attained through Indian kingship and
religion. Perhaps even more than his Indian counterpart, who controlled
a more developed and diverse economy, the king as ruler of an agrarian
economy had to be seen to regulate the forces of nature in order to
assure the fertility and prosperity of the country. Texts such as the
fifth century Suvarnabhasottamasutra which gained popularity in
India and China, may well have been used as models of kingship. Notably
the chapter on “Instruction concerning divine kings" has1
The
law-abiding king fills the triple world with his fame, and the lords of
the gods in the dwelling of the thiry-tfiree will rejoice “In
Jambudvipa the law-abiding king is thus our son. He establishes people
in good action.... Asterisms and likewrse moon and son move properly. In
due time the winds blow. In due time the god sends rain. The god
provides plenty in the realm...
The
symbols on the obverse of the coins represent the issuing ruler. As
mentioned before the earliest, ascribed to Devacandra (ca. 454-76C.E.)
have a conch or sankha surrounded by foliage or flames. The
conch belongs to an ancient group of water symbols connected with the
goddess Sri and which later became incorporated into the iconography of
Kubera, the god of wealth and of Vishnu. On the Arakan coins the conch
may indicate the wealth bestowed by Sri, who, as we have seen, resided
in a deserving king. It might also be read as indicating Devacandra's
Vaisnavite affiliations. The recumbent bull appears on all the coins of
kings from Devacandra's secoad issue onwards. Although it often appears
on Greek, Roman and pre-Hindu and Hindu Indian coinage, it is otherwise
unknown in Southeast Asia, although it is the most common motif on
intaglio found at Pyu sites and also at Vesali1. While
the bull is usually described as the vehicle of the god Siva, in Indian
iconography this can only be traced to the fourth century. The bull in
pre- Indianised society could be seen as a symbol of wealth and
therefore power, although the Anandacandra inscription tells us that the
earliest dynasty of Candra kings sprung from the lineage of Isa, a name
of Siva. Saivite remains found in Arakan to date, however, are few1.
Thus
the king, seen as the source of his realm's prosperity, emphasized this
function on the reverse of every coin as a constant reminder to his
people. His guarantee of the value of the coin was likewise illustrated
by the dynastic insignia on the obverse, a device which perhaps also
emphasized his lineage. Having established coinage as a major medium of
exchange, he was able to centralize and thereby dominate the economy of
the state.
The earliest Mahamuni sculptures: a Mahayanist tradition
It
is sometimes assumed that Dvencandra of the Anandacandra inscription is
the counterpart of Candrasuriya, the founder of the Candra line in the
chronicles. The inscription describes him as a conqueror of kings and as
the builder ofa city surrounded by walls and a moat His date, it is
estimated1, lies within the fourth century C.E., and
his dynasty lasted until the beginning of the seventh century. The early
sculptures and inscriptions found at the Mahamuni shrine and associated
sites, as well as at the Selagiri hill nearby, can be stylistically
dated between the fifth and seventh centuries. This may indicate that
the site remained inhabited as well as being a pilgrimage destination
after the centre of power moved to the later city of`Vesali, which the
chronicles see as a successor city, or that both cities were occupied
simultaneously for a period. It is interesting to note that the Mahamuni
shrine is situated NE of the palace site, a direction associated with
the sun and the dead ancestors in Sri Lankan and certain other Southeast
Asian traditions1.
The
most important sculptures are those still found at the Mahamuni, most
dating to around the fifth or sixth centuries. I have reached this date
through a stylistic analysis of the sculptures and also through a thin
shred of epigraphical evidence1. These sculptures are
regarded in the chronicles and still today as having a protective
function.They represent a system of Mahayana Buddhism unique in the
extent of its remains to India and to the rest of Southeast Asia. The
key images are of Bodhisattvas and guardians of the directions and their
attendants. Nagas and Naginis also played a role.
Fig. 7 Gutman (1976) Vol 2, Bodhisattvas at Mahamllni
The
bodhisattvas, which can be stylistically connected with Gupta art, are
distinguished by their royal ornaments: the wing-like projections
decorated with rows of coils behind the shoulders illustrating the
blazing glory which emanates from the body of a bodhisattva, their
ornate kirita-makutas or headdresses and by the elliptical
prahhavalis or nimbuses behind their heads. They sit in lilasana, left
leg folded under, right knee raised with the foot drawn back to the
centre and pointing to the outer side. It is interesting to note that
this position is the one in which guardians continue to sit in the art
of Arakan, of Burma proper and in other parts of Southeast Asia for a
millennium or more. Each bodhisattva once carried an attribute in one
hand, with the other hand resting on the knee. Unfortunately at the
Mahamuni the attributes which would identify them have usually been
destroyed, probably by Theravadins after the Mahayana ceased to be
practiced. It would appear that these images represent a bodhisattva mandala, similar in nature to the circle of the eight great bodhisattvas which appear in Indian art in the fifth or sixth centuries1. We can hypothesize their function at Mahamuni through an examination of Buddhist sutras no longer extant in India but translated fiom into Chinese from the third century C.E.
In
early Mahayana literature eight bodhisattvas are regarded as providers
and protectors. One of the oldest texts in which they are named is the Bussetsu-hachi-kichijo-jin-kyo (Taisho
427), first translated into Chinese by the Yueh Chih monk, Chi Ch'ien
in the third century C.E. In this brief sutra the eight Buddhas and the
eight Buddha-lands protected by the Four Deva Kings are described. In
the concluding passages, eight bodhisattvas appear and vow to aid all
beings on the path to Buddhahood, saying that they will support the
needy in times of illness, and at the moment of death will rush to meet
the departing devotee1. Granoff has noted that the cult
of the eight bodhisattvas, whose identity changed over time and place,
was closely associated with securing mundane benefits for the faithful
through the recitation of their names.
Fig 8 Huntington PI.12.37
Fig. 8
shows an early depiction in Cave 12 at Ellora, usually dated to the
seventh century. Here the bodhisattvas sit in an identical position to
those at the Mahamuni, and each carries an identifling attribute such as
a lotus, a sword on a lotus, a vajra on a lotus, a book on a
lotus and so on. The central Buddha is identified with Sakyamuni, the
main object of worship at the Ellora and Ajanta caves1
Fig. 9 Gutman 2001 Pl. 6,
The
power of the eight bodhisattvas was not within their identity as one or
other bodhisattva but is more related to conceptions of directional and
astrological symbolism. The bodhisattvas were closely related to the
Four Deva Kings or guardians of the directions, the Sanskrit lokapalas
who participate equally in the protection of the worshipper. Five
images representing the Deva kings and members of their retinue survive
at the Mahamuni.
Fig 10 Gutman 2001 pl 21, 1976 pl xlv b,e
While resembling the Bodhisattva images in their asanas,
ornaments, and crowns they are smaller in size indicating their
inferior role in the hierarchy. They each carry a sword in one hand, the
other being held at waist level, palm facing outward. Like the
bodhisattva figures radiance emanates from behind their shoulders, here
depicted as winged projections.
By
the fifth century the four guardians of the directions who guard the
four quarters of the earth were also seen to protect the kingdom as
illustrated by the 'Sutras of National Safety". Recitation of the
Suvarnabhasottamasutra1 was believed to bring immediate
aid from the four guardians, who will arrive on earth accompanied by
countless hosts of demons and can thus protect a country against
national perils such as famine, invasion, plague, revolutions and so on.
The Guardians also became part of a neatly worked out law-enforcement
apparatus, headed by Indra in his heaven. In the Sutra on the Four Celestial Monarchs1
the four are Indra's adjutants, dividing up the world between them and
making inspections on Buddhist fast days to examine the conduct of all
living creatures from the king to the humblest insect. Those reported to
Indra and his gods as righteous reaped rewards such as the appointment
of guardian spirits to watch over their welfare.
Another
related group comprises smaller-scale figures with high back-slabs.
Their ornaments are similar to those of the guardians of the directions
but they lack a crown and have a flag flying over the head. One has the
remains of an inscription behind giving the name "Yaksa-senapati Panada"
in Gupta script of the late fifth century. Ponada was one of the 28
Yaksa generals led by Kuvera or Vaisravana, guardian of the north.
Fig.11 Gutman 1976 II PI. XLVIa
Also
represented at the Mahamuni are nagas and nagis, crowned figures with
serpent hoods These male and female demi-gods absorbed into Buddhism
from earlier times lived in the bowels of the earth and were associated
with underground wealth.
Fig. 12 Gutman 2001 pl,20
It
would appear that the Candra killgs were seen as the mediators between
the people and the celestial and territorial forces governing the
prosperity of the land and maintaining the social order, Indra's
counterparts on earth. The Suvarnabhasottamasutra, for
instance, states that the king was blessed by the thirty-three divine
kings (Indra and the thirty-two gods presiding on Mount Meru, the
earth's axis) hence becoming a divine son of the gods, magically created
to rule on earth. The textual basis for the transformation of the role
of the tribal chief into a divinely-ordained king is found in accounts
of Brahmanical abhiseka ceremonies, notably the aindramahabhiseka,
the Indra consecration of the king described in the Aihreya Brahmana
(VIII.9ff). During this ceremony the king enters into a contract with
his people, pledging to maintain the rajadharma in order to assure the continuance of the cosmic and moral order and thus the prosperity ofthe land.
There
is little or no evidence of Mahayana Buddhism in the rest of Southeast
Asia in the fifth century, although we know that fiom as early as the
third century certain kings of Sri Lanka regarded themselves as
bodhisattvas1 and supported the Mahayana. They
continued to do so until at least the ninth century. One early Sri
Lankan king, Kasyapa I, styled himself an embodiment of Kuvera, the
guardian of the north, in an effort to gain the support of the populace1
The style of the few images of Mahayana deities remaining in Sri Lanka
is usually connected to the art of South India rather than the North, as
is the case at Dhanyawadi.
The
Anandacandra inscription does not allude to the religious beliefs of
the Candra kings between the fourth and seventh centuries, nor to their
successor Ilings. However, the kings who ruled from ca.639 A.D.
(interestingly, the first year of the Culasakaraj era) obviously
followed the Mahayana, although they did not neglect other religions.
Anandracandra calls himseIf upasaka, a Buddhist lay worshipper, and records the commission of inter alia gold and silver caityas containing the relies of the Buddha, Bodllisattvas, Cunda and others1.
No images of Cunda, in Northern Buddhism considered an emanation of the
Adibuddha Vajrasattva or Tathagatha Vairocana, have been found in
Arakan, two eighth century bronzes showing north indian influence have
been discovered in Sri Lanka1 That a Mahayana
tradition, or a Theravadin lineage venerating Avalokitesvara and other
bodhisattvas, existed until the eighth century is seen by a number of
representations of Bodhisattvas1.
There
are, of course, a number of Buddha images discovered at both Dhanyawadi
and Vesali which cannot be attributed to any particular Buddhist
tradition. As Peter Skilling has stated1, the vital difference between the Mahayana and the Sravakayana (the eighteen Vinaya nikaya
or schools) is not one of doctrine but aim. What defines Mahayana is
its orientation: out of compassion for sentient beings, a bodhisattva
aims for ultimate awakening. The cults of relics, stupas and Buddha images are shared by all schools and most movements.
Vishnu
Anandacandra
tells us in his inscription (vv. 54-56, 60) that he built four
monasteries for Brahmans and provided them with fields and servants,
musical instruments and musicians. Two were named after him: the
Anandamadhava where the Somatirtha brahmans, possibly from India,
resided and another called Anandesvara.Moreover, he restored deva
(i.e. non-Buddtrist) temples and holy places built by former kings. No
Hindu god is mentioned by name in this context, however the sculptural
remains suggest that Vaisnavism predominated. At Vesali there are more
Vaisnavite remains than Buddhist, although an important, possibly
earlier image comes from Dhanyawadi.
Fig. 13 Vishnu from Dhanyawadi
As in other parts of Southeast Asia, Vishnu appears to have played an important role in kingship. Recent research1
in Cambodia, Vietnam, South Sumatra and West Java shows that a related
group of mitred Visnu images dating from the early fifth to early
seventh centuries were introduced through a merchant network, several
centuries after the development of trade relations between India and
Southeast Asia. Like the Dhanyawadi Vishnu and others found at Vesali1,their
iconography identifies them as Vasudeva, hero deity of the Bhagavata
cult espoused by the Gupta emperors whose power the Southeast Asian
rulers wished to emulate. Vaisnavltes believe iri an absolute and
universal god. Like Buddhists they are inclined to proselytize. The
universaIist doctrine of bhakti which they were promoting at
the time of the early "Indianisation" of Southeast Asia allowed
salvation for all, not only those belonging to high castes, and in
introducing forms of devotion accessible to all, particularly
non-Brahmans, they were a force for integration and assimilation.
Vishnu's
attributes reflect his sovereignty: the discus is a weapon in battle,
the conch is used for signaling in battle and the mace is emblematic of
rulership, all of which declare his sovereignty over all life he has
created. He is the apotheosis of the Great Hero1.
In
early Vaisnavism Vishnu was considered to enter all kings, and by
identifying himself with Vishnu the king would be able to coIrquer the
three worlds. All cakravavtins, or paramount sovereigns were
regarded as bearing a portion of Vishnu's personality. That the king
should be seen as representing Vishnu was also understandable given that
the ruler's key function was to guarantee the furtherance of vegetation
and thus the fertility of the land. It was the king's duty to make rain
and to cause the crops to thrive, and the same functions are attributed
to Vishnu who is always concerned with generation and fertility1.The
belief that Vishnu entered the body of the king came to be emplzasized
from Gupta times in India' and under the Pallavas at the time of
Narasimhavarman the association with Vishnu became quite apparent as the
kings associated their ceremonies and rituals with those of the deity
in the temple.
An
important Vishnu image was recently found at Dhanyawadi in a ruined
shrine on Chinmadaung hill east of the Mahamuni shrine, just inside the
city wall. The image, 046m high and made of a grayish sandstone, stands
erect, Like most of the Mahamuni images, it has an unornamented oval prabhavali
or halo rising above the shoulders. Vishnu is four-armed. A spherical
object is held in his upper right hand while the lower rests on a cakra
or wheel atop a square pillar on a three-tiered base. His upper left
hand holds a conch and the lower is placed on a gada or mace. He wears a
two-tiered kirita-makulta topped with a knob and princely
ornaments: a three-stranded necklace with a medallion in fiont, upper
arm-hands and belts around the waist and hips. A brahmanical thread
falls over the left shoulder and around the right thigh. A scarf drawn
over the hips is draped again at mid-thigh level, knotted at each side
with the loops and ends falling gracefully down, and a lower garment,
not visible at the front, falls to above the ankles. It is interesting
to note that the Vishnu images at Vesali are identically adorned, and
that the Bodhisattva images from the now-destroyed stupa on
Selagiri hill opposite Kyauktaw are remarkably similar. While
iconographically the image is closely related to the early Visnus in
Southeast Asia mentioned above, elements of the costume and ornaments
recall Andhra art of the third century1 while the depiction and arrangement of the ayudhyas closely resembles Gupta period examples from north and northeast India1.
In
conclusion, Arakan was the Southeast Asian polity nearest to India, and
it was among the first to display the characteristics of the earliest
Southeast Asian urban centres in terms of city planning and, possibly,
state organization. Bob Hudson will show in his paper how the planning
of Dhanyawadi and Wethali had more in common with the Pyu centres of
Burma proper, and it has been shown that their culture shared many
characteristics with those further west, Dvaravati and Funan1 than
with any known Indian models. Arakan's earliest urban culture was
grounded in that of its original inhabitants -possibly the Sak (Thet)
and Chin-related peoples who, like others throughout the region revered
local spirits such as an earth spirit which was transformed into
Vasundhara by the sixth or seventh century. From at least the time of
the bronze age the peoples of Arakan had been acquainted with the
cultures of India and other parts of Southeast Asia through trade, and
around the beginning of the Common Era were appropriating symbols of
power and prosperity.
Thus
the symbolism behind the "lndianized" art of the early cities
reinforces pre-Indic traditions connecting the people to the soil, the
need to preserve water and to guarantee its annual reappearance. The
kings of Dhanyawadi and Vesali appropriated those elements of lndian
culture which would enhance their power in the eyes of their people.
They sought to gain the support of the people through guaranteeing their
protection and their prosperity. They welcomed Buddhist monks and
Brahmans from India and Sri Lanka and adapted their teachings to suit
local conditions. The cultural elite developed a refined aesthetic and
unique art forms. Anandracandra and his predecessors, like their
counterparts elsewhere in Southeast Asia was open to Indian concepts
which would enhance their hold on power,choosing those which would serve
them best.
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This paper was submitted at "Arakan History Conference", Bangkok 23.11 - 25.11.2005, organised by the Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand.
(Draft only. Please don't quote)
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