.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The fragment illustrated on the right of this image shows the Greek Herakles as Vajrapani. He is clearly visible and stands out of the scene, besides the Buddha Sakyamuni.
He is depicted wearing a loincloth, his raised arm holding an unidentified object – likely a fly whisk - and the facetted vajra in his left hand. In Gandharan and Mathuran imagery, Vajrapani’s most noticeable feature is a lion skin tied around the neck as can be seen on the British Museum fragment OA 1970,0718.1. Katsumi Tanabe writes that the vajra, which somehow recalls Zeus’ thunderbolt, first belonged to the powerful Vedic god Indra and that its form might have originated in Indian culture (Tanabe, Katsumi. Why Is the Buddha Śākyamuni Accompanied by Hercules/Vajrapāṇi? Farewell to Yakṣa-Theory, East and West, vol. 55, no. 1/4, 2005, pp. 366).
Tanabe argues that Herakles’s journey during his twelve great deeds appropriately mirrored the journey of the Buddha. It appears that Herakles was consciously chosen during the Gandharan period as a guide, escort and guard to the historical Buddha (ibid 2005, pp. 376-8). The iconography of Herakles-Vajrapani as perpetual acolyte of the Buddha is also prevalent in the art of Mathura (F. B. Flood, Herakles and the ‘Perpetual Acolyte’ of the Buddha: Some Observations on the Iconography of Vajrapani in Gandharan Art, South Asian Studies, 5:1, pp. 17-27, DOI: 10.1080/02666030.1989.9628380).
He is depicted wearing a loincloth, his raised arm holding an unidentified object – likely a fly whisk - and the facetted vajra in his left hand. In Gandharan and Mathuran imagery, Vajrapani’s most noticeable feature is a lion skin tied around the neck as can be seen on the British Museum fragment OA 1970,0718.1. Katsumi Tanabe writes that the vajra, which somehow recalls Zeus’ thunderbolt, first belonged to the powerful Vedic god Indra and that its form might have originated in Indian culture (Tanabe, Katsumi. Why Is the Buddha Śākyamuni Accompanied by Hercules/Vajrapāṇi? Farewell to Yakṣa-Theory, East and West, vol. 55, no. 1/4, 2005, pp. 366).
Tanabe argues that Herakles’s journey during his twelve great deeds appropriately mirrored the journey of the Buddha. It appears that Herakles was consciously chosen during the Gandharan period as a guide, escort and guard to the historical Buddha (ibid 2005, pp. 376-8). The iconography of Herakles-Vajrapani as perpetual acolyte of the Buddha is also prevalent in the art of Mathura (F. B. Flood, Herakles and the ‘Perpetual Acolyte’ of the Buddha: Some Observations on the Iconography of Vajrapani in Gandharan Art, South Asian Studies, 5:1, pp. 17-27, DOI: 10.1080/02666030.1989.9628380).