Of the many moments in the life of the historical Buddha told in the canonical biographies, two were especially favored for stupa decoration: the Great Departure and the Temptation. Both narratives are depicted on this drum panel from Nagarjunakonda. Each epitomizes the negation of desire, represented below by Prince Siddhartha’s renunciation of privilege to become an ascetic seeker of knowledge—the beginning of his spiritual journey—and above, by his resistance of the temptations offered by Mara, the force of darkness.
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Dimensions:H. 56 3/4 in. (144.2 cm); W. 36 1/4 in. (92.1 cm); D. 6 in. (15.2 cm)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Fletcher Fund, 1928
Object Number:28.105
[ C. T. Loo & Co. , New York and Paris, from August 1926 until 1928; sold to MMA]
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Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. "Buddhists Reliefs from Nagajunakonda and Amaravati." Rūpam, no. 38–39 (April–July 1929). pp. 70–71.
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Lippe, Aschwin. "The Religions of Asia." Apollo Magazine. Vol. 82, no. 43 (September 1965), pp. 220–29, figs. 12–13.
Hallade, Madeleine. Gandharan Art of North India and the Greco-Buddhist Tradition in India, Persia, and Central Asia. Translated by Translated from French by Diana Imber. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1968, p. 122, pl. 92.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983, p. 247, fig. 18.
Pal, Pratapaditya. Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art. Exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984, p. 92, cat. no. 36.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed., New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994, p. 99, fig. 18.
Elizabeth Rosen Stone. The Buddhist Art of Nagarjunakonda. vol. 25, Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1994, fig. 114.
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