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ART. XVIII.-Some Buddhist Bronzes, and Relics of Buddha. By ROBERT SEWELL, M.R.A.S.

[The portion of this Paper relating to the bronzes has been prepared at the request of the Secretary of State for India.-R. S.]

The Buddhapad Bronzes.

THE bronze images and fragments figured in the accompanying plates are a few specimens taken from a large collection now lying at Bezwada, all of which were found, some time before the year 1870, by some labourers employed under the Public Works Department of the Madras Presidency while excavating a canal at a place called Buddhapāḍ, or Buddhavani, about 20 miles westwards from the right bank of the river Krishņā, and 30 miles from the nearest mouth of its delta.

In 1870 the late Mr. J. Boswell, then Collector of the District, who took a deep interest in antiquarian work, sent in to the Madras Government an interesting and valuable report on the remains to be found on the river Krishna, which was afterwards published in extenso in the first volume of the Indian Antiquary. In describing the remains at Bezwada (or Bejvāḍā), now a flourishing railway centre on the north bank 50 miles from the sea, he wrote as follows: "There are. . a number of copper Buddhist images in the Library at Bej wada. These were found buried at Buddhavani in the Repalle Taluqa, a place which retains traces of its origin in its name. . . . . ...There are a number of... images of the Buddhist saints, varying in size from one to two feet in height. They are beautifully executed. . . . . Each figure formerly stood on a pedestal of its own, but I am informed that, as these pedestals bore

J.R.A.S. 1895.

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certain characters, probably the names of the saints, they were sent to Madras to be deciphered. They have, however, never been returned. I presume they are in the Government Central Museum. I would recommend bringing the figures and their pedestals together again....

These pedestals have entirely disappeared with the exception of one (Pl. V, figs. 2a, 2b) which was found by myself under the circumstances shortly to be related. Enquiries have, I believe, since been made by the officers in charge of the Government Central Museum at Madras though without success, but as that building contains extensive basements it would appear even now possible that they might be discovered. Such a discovery would be of interest, since it would finally settle the date of these bronze images and fragments; and this settlement might prove of historical value if, as I suppose, the images belong to a comparatively late date in Indian Buddhism. The inscribed base found by myself is apparently not Buddhist but later Jain, and it would seem to have belonged to an image different from those now under consideration.

The images noted by Mr. Boswell consisted of entire figures, and I saw none but these when first stationed at Bezwada early in 1875. One day, however (I cannot exactly remember the date but it was probably in that year), I was informed that in the workshops of the Public Works Department at that place there were a number of broken pieces of bronze lying about, and on sending for and obtaining some, through the kindness of the officer in charge, I found that they consisted of specimens similar to those already at the little museum or library. This led to a search being made and in the end I succeeded in rescuing several baskets full of images, heads, arms, feet, dagobas, bases, and other fragments, mostly belonging to the Buddhist period, all of which had for some years lain condemned as old and useless metal. It was said that they had formed part of the Buddhapaḍ find, and they were placed by me in the library along with the others. In 1879 I brought to England the pieces forming the present

collection-a small fraction of those which I had rescued -and they remained on exhibition in the Indian Institute at Oxford till handed over to the India Office at Dr. Burgess's instance about the year 1882.

Of the statuettes and fragments now figured, Plate I, No. 1 represents Buddha in the Varamudra position, giving, or bestowing, or granting a boon. This is represented by the open right hand. The left hand holds between the thumb and forefinger some object not easily recognizable as it is completely broken off, but it may well be a sprig of foliage, as shown in the Sopara image of Maitreya Bodhisattva (Jour. Bomb. Br. R. A. S., vol. xv, pl. v, p. 298, Dr. Bhagvanlal Indraji's paper), where also the position of the right hand is similar. The head of the Buddha is as usual bare, the hair twisted in crisp curls and always bending to the right; the ears are very long, the lobes being artificially elongated according to the universal fashion of the time. This was accomplished by the insertion of plugs or rings, ever increasing in size as the years went on, into holes bored through the centre of the lobes. The fashion is portrayed in all the ancient sculptures, and is abundantly seen on the Amaravati marbles.

The Buddha is shewn with his long yellow robe clinging tightly to the figure, hanging down to the ankle, and with the long loose end caught up from the outside of the left forearm;-the Roman toga was similarly worn. It is tightly fastened round the waist. The right breast is as usual bare, the cloth passing over the left shoulder.

Behind the figure at

Pl. I, No. 2 is the largest of the three full figures. The same description applies to it. In this case the feet are missing, as also is the left hand. The right is in the Varamudra position, as with the first. the height of the shoulder is a small projection and ring intended evidently to hold the decorated nimbus, which, as with our own pictured saints, is constantly found in representations of Buddha.

Pl. I, No. 3 is very perfect. It has, as have most of the apparently more modern images, a peculiar bunch of