- Title
- Buddha Shakyamuni Sheltered by the Serpent King Muchalinda
- Date Made
- circa 300-350
- Medium
- White limestone
- Dimensions
- 16 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 6 in. (41.91 x 44.45 x 15.24 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.71.54
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This image represents the occasion when the Buddha, after his enlightenment at Bodhgaya, sat meditating beneath a tree. A fierce storm arose that threatened to interrupt the Buddha’s serenity, and the serpent-king Muchalinda spread his hood over the Buddha for seven days to protect him. Here, the Buddha is shown enthroned upon the coils of the snake’s body, while the polycephalic hood forms a canopy. In the panel on the right, the personified serpent-king approaches the Buddha with his hands held in the gesture of adoration (anjali mudra). He is identified by his cobra-hood nimbus with a snake emanating from his left shoulder.
At Goli village and the principal sites of Nagajunakonda and Amaravati there were Buddhist monastic communities that commissioned large stupas (funerary and reliquary monuments) adorned with exquisitely carved reliefs. This sculpture can be identified as being from the Goli village stupa because of the distinctive treatment of the Buddha’s robe wherein the drapery is arranged so as to produce an extra flap over the left shoulder which appears almost like an epaulet. The treatment of the Buddha’s robes in early Andhra sculptures also suggests Western stylistic influence through contact with the nearby Roman trading ports.
