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Buddha (possibly Maitreya) Northeast Thailand, Pra Khon Chai Late 7th to early 8th century Bronze 13 3/* × 3½ × 3¼ in. (34.0 × 8.9 × 8.3 cm) Intended bequest of David T. Owsley PG.2007.53
Today most Thais follow Theravada Buddhism, a school of early Buddhism also practiced in Sri Lanka, but beginning in the sixth century, Mahayana Buddhism was also evident in Southeast Asia. Mahayana Buddhists believe all beings capable of enlightenment and incorporate the bodhisattva in their pantheon. A bodhisattva is an enlightened being, but instead of attaining nirvana, he stays in this world in order to aid all other sentient beings in their pursuit of enlightenment. Bodhisattvas are numerous, and each is identified by the attributes he carries or the emblem in his headdress. This figure must have held a detachable attribute in his left hand, but there seems to be the outline of the lower part of a stupa (reliquary) in his headdress,
which would identify him as Maitreya. In Buddhism, Maitreya is described as the Buddha of the future; hence he is depicted both as a bodhisattva (in this life) and as a buddha. In this image, the right hand is raised in the gesture of teaching (vitarka mudra), a mudra sometimes associated with Maitreya as the Buddha. Stylistically, this piece relates to a cache of buddhas and bodhisattvas found on the Korat plateau in northeast Thailand in 1964. Villagers from the town of Yai Yaem in Buriram province discovered a hoard of Buddhist bronzes beneath the foundation of a temple that was designated Prasat Hin Khao Plai Bat II.¹ The bronzes included both buddhas and bodhisattvas (rumored to be as many as two hundred, though only thirty-six are certain), ranging in size from 2 to 56 inches and dating to the seventh to ninth centuries. All were of a hightin copper alloy, like the metal that gives this bodhisattva a silvery surface. While this figure is not of that group, it is similar to numerous bronzes found in northeast Thailand on the Korat plateau. The noted scholar Emma Bunker relates this bodhisattva to the earliest seventhcentury group from that site, based on the fact that he is shown without a mustache.² Other features it has in common with those early bodhisattvas are a thin body, hair in bangs, and drapery with a tied cord around the waist, not unlike contemporary pre-Khmer figures. N.T.
1. Bunker 2002, 108. 2. Personal communication: Emma C. Bunker, 2007.
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TH E A RTS O F S O U THEA S T A S IA