Buddha

Burma (Myanmar)

Bronze

This charming figure of Buddha depicts him seated in bhumispara mudra (‘calling the earth to witness’). The image wears a sanghati with a long sash that reaches to the waist. The cranial protuberance or usnisha is surrounded by a crown on top of his head.

The posture in which the monks are seated is usually known as the ‘earth-witness’ attitude. This represents the moment when Buddha was seated in meditation under the Bodhi tree during the night before he achieved enlightenment. When he was asked by Mara to name anyone who would give evidence that he had given alms, the Buddha moved his right hand and touched the earth and said that the earth would bear witness that, in a previous existence in the form of Vessantara, he had given alms to such an extent as to cause the earth to quake. Immediately before this incident his right hand was folded in his lap in precisely the same way as his left; here he has moved it in order to touch the earth in front of him in the gesture of calling the earth to witness (bhumisparsha mudra). This is one of the three most popular ways of showing the Buddha in Burmese art; the other two represent him standing and at the moment of his Mahaparinibbana.

Size (cms): 12(H) x 6(W) x 4(D)
Size (inches): 4.5(H) x 2.5(W) x 1.5(D)