Many people know about Christian art, but Buddhist art as a whole, is not so well-known despite the fact that it is one of the six main religions of the world. Buddhist art came about around 500-300BCE and over time has spread all over Asia. Although Buddhism did not emerge till around 500 BCE, it took a couple of centuries for the art of this religion to develop. Buddhist art’s main theme is the Buddha and the life of the Buddha. However, there are also many different symbols and themes in Buddhist art, such as the Wheel, or the Bodhi tree. A lot of art also represent some of the bodhisattvas, which is an enlightened being/ existence.
The first forms of Buddhist art were found on pillars. A monarch named Ashoka, who ruled around 272 to 231 BCE, had helped spread Buddhism across India by the use of pillars. The pillars tended to portray pictures of the Buddha and keys aspects of his life, like his enlightenment, as well as earlier Indian beliefs. These pillars were quite Persian like and at first, had Indian subjects like cows, lions and elephants. These pillars seemed to be the first of Buddhist sculpture.
There were also ‘Stupas’, a mound in which relics were placed and a place where some Buddhists may have worshipped. Stupas played an important role in the development of Buddhist art too. Stupas could have lots of decoration and embellishments on; however, it is thought that the earlier Stupas were much more simplified. But there was still a lot of visual imagery on these earlier Stupas, and these images have helped us to learn how art has developed since then.
I find Buddhist art so interesting. I think it is because it evolved nearly 2500 years ago, and yet we know so much about it. It has managed to spread from country to country and it has developed so many variations. It is full of narratives and colour and although this blog is just a very brief overview of how it started off and developed, I hope that it sparks an interest in Buddhism. So why not learn more? There is so much more information out there.
oil onthe canvas 