Last Sunday, I got to see a terrific exhibit on early Buddhist art at the New York Metropolitan Museum. Called “Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India 200 BCE-400 CE”, the artworks show, among other things, how pre-Buddhist nature deities and imagery were absorbed by the new religion. In this sculpture — part of a railing pillar that was part of a “stupa” or Buddhist burial mound from Bharhut — you see the many serpent heads belonging to the snake king Mucalinda crowding over a square, representing an empty throne.
The story that goes with the sculpture is that the Buddha, having recently become enlightened, was in such deep meditation that he wasn’t aware of rising floodwaters that threatened to engulf him. Stepping in to protect the Buddha came the snake king, who used his many heads and body as shelter. Below the throne are footprints with wheels on them. All of this is highly symbolic — snakes were super important in religious traditions preceding Buddhism. Also, the empty throne may represent the wealth and power that Siddartha Gautama relinquished on his spiritual journey. The footprints symbolize his presence, with the wheels inside indicating Buddhist dharma, or teachings.
You can see an inscription scrawled above the carvings, which says in Prakrit in Brahmi script that a woman named Tisa had donated the pillar. The fact that this Tisa had the capacity to control her wealth by giving some of it away counters the usual narrative of women being highly controlled by a strict male guardian.
Sources: Date of Railing pillar with naga Mucalinda protecting the buddhapada, Shunga ca 150-100 BCE, NYC Metropolitain Museum of Art object from Allahabad Muesum, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
