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Mutable Identity in Buddhist Art – Part I Arputharani Sengupta SYNOPSIS Buddha Code is assumed to be the veneration's immutable object. The larger than life-size togate, gilded, and occasionally mustached Buddhas compensate the unseen monks and nuns. The Great Operator gives the blueprint common to all aspirants and creators of a new world; the Mastermind compares the identity of two objects created in different geographical locations by ethnically diverse people. Thus, style classifies regional variations in Greco-Buddhist art. The common denominator is the function that gives the figure representing its identity. The fantastic human story invented 2000 years ago revolves around death and regeneration with an immutable array of objects with mutable values. Like the winged bird soul; it is an enterprise swiftly gone under precisely because it was mutable. Mutable Identity in Buddhist Art – Part I Arputharani Sengupta This is Lockdown 2020. Eagleman devours Nagin believed to be a cobra. “But, what does it mean?!” Absolutely. The 19th century Colonial archaeology changed the perspective on the history of art and culture of South Asia. The decipherment of new Aramaic derived Brahmi script and Greco-Buddhist art of the early Christian period was a breakthrough to new knowledge. But up till now, the transnational Mystery cult has withheld more than it has yielded. Magnificent monuments and lifelike effigies emulate the Imperial cult of Rome. The divine maiden and her anthropomorphized Eagle consort appear in Gandhara at the peak of the Antinous Cult introduced by Emperor Hadrian. The image reflects the homoerotic love of Ganymede and Zeus' Eagle. Vajrapani, the "bearer of the thunderbolt," and the female counterpart Vajrayogini evolve. The alternate reality in occult Buddhist topics deals with morphology, allegory, cosmology, and psychology. The spiritual aspect of the earliest Buddhist mortuary cult is Cognitive, Philosophic, and Literary. Synchronnal and animistic graphic patterns recurring in therapeutic mortuary rituals, visual and performing arts span Sri Lanka, Romania, Russia, and Roman Britain. Depending on how it is perceived, a warm tangible image can arouse the sexual state as well as a spiritual awakening. However, there are various ways in which the physical and spiritual experiences differ. Sexuality peaks and wanes, whereas, the transcendent state progress on an even keel. Yet, sexual and transcendent experiences can occur simultaneously. That is a line only a particular person can cross under certain circumstances. In a conflicting outlook, both sexuality and transcendence coexist beyond the world of reality in the Buddhist creations. Sexuality and spirituality converge when a humanized eagle lifts a voluptuous female in the group sculptures labeled Garuda and Nagin. The paradoxical image unique to Gandhara represents a subculture in the burgeoning Buddhist cult. The ex-votos are from southern Afghanistan close to Tajikistan, and the Northwest Frontier Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan. The baffling frontal reliefs carved in schist range in height from 10–50 cm. The captivating Garuda and Nagin cutout panels are datable to the Kushan period, but those embossed in precious metal typically from dispersed, hidden treasures are presumed to be Kushan-Sasanian. Different versions of the divine female abducted by ardent Eagleman with a sharp beak and “greedy gentle claw” are known in different museum collections and some more pop-up in the antique art market. Alfred Foucher and V. A. Smith observed that the cosmopolitan Gandhara School is Provincial Roman.1 Hermann Goetz noticed that the Greco-Roman style of early Buddhist sculpture is due to the global cultural links between India and the West. But the initial shock of a raptorn “rape” a maiden in a 2000-year-old sculpture has not diminished.2 Alexander Cunningham (1814-1893) identified the lifting female figure as Maha Maya; after giving rebirth to Buddha ascending heaven to be "born again" in the realm of the thirty-three gods known as Trayastrimsa.3 While the divine maiden reaches for the sky, the glossy eagle known for speed and strength is strangely earthbound. The earliest record of these frontal icons is a small stone badge and a group of 35 to 40 cm tall stele from Rhode Tepe at Sanghao in the Mardan district of Pakistan. In 1893 Grunwedel’s final authority on the subject was accepted by Foucher and others. He describes the Sanghao stele as coarse, and adds: “from the back of the neck on the best-preserved relief rises a long snake, is borne into the air by the great eagle. The features of the female figure…are distorted with pain, the eagle’s beak tears at the serpent.” In reality, the alleged brutal rape is fake as the languorous female willingly yields to the Eagleman's embrace (1.1). The super woman’s hieratic "hand on hip" pose is that of a goddess modeled after courtesan-priestess voguing on a stage. The eagle's talons softly cradle the divine female's hip while the bogus snake caught delicately in the eagle's beak is the mantle, a loose tape, or the “maidenhood ribbon belt” swirling up in the promising breeze with cultural connotations. The female figure takes the prescribed pose of Salabhanjika similar to Maya Devi holding the branch of a Sala tree to deliver miraculous rebirth to a Buddha. The Sala tree stores water and gives life and permanent shelter. The Indo-European word "Sala" means house. To be born under a Sala tree in the beautiful Sala grove called Lumbini launches the heavenly Salapati, as stated in Atharvaveda. Sala (Shorea robusta) accompanying Salabhanjika is a sigil related to Acacia Goddess Isis. The Egyptian iconography of the tree goddess offers food and water to the departed identified as Sutasoma Jataka (The Jataka, Vol. V: No. 537) in the stupa relief in Bharhut repeated in Sri Lanka. The unique type of Garuda and Nagin high reliefs sidestep the Buddhist narrative. To subtract its purpose, we must first acknowledge that the unusual reredos and votive badges pledged to the resurrection 1 V. A. Smith, A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon (Oxford, 1911) p.119. A. K. Coomaraswamy, The Rape of a Nagi, In: Myths and Symbols in Indian Art and Civilization by Heinrich Zimmer, (ed.) Joseph Campbell (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1946) pp.38,39, nos.209,210. 3 Four sculpture pieces from Rhode Tope, Sanghao, Peshawar District: Garuda and Nagini, Photo M. Serrot, 1883, British Library Online Galley, 2009. 2 1.1 Garuda and Nagini, Schist, Rhode Tope, Sanghao, Mardan district, Swat Valley, 2nd century CE New Delhi: National Museum of India (Photo M. Serrot, 1883) 1.2 Salabhanjika on Amrita Kalash, Schist, 23.5x9.8x6.2 cm, Kagirkot, Pakistan, 2nd century CE London: British Museum (OA 1899.6-9.8) 1.3 Santanalakshmi /Lajja Gauri, Limestone stele, Amaravati stupa, Andhra Pradesh, 2nd century CE is from the centrally planned necropolises known as the Buddhist Monastery. Form follows Function. How do we blend the rebirth story with the eagle lifting the Queen of Heaven? In Gandhara, the enshrined tree goddess stands with crossed legs under the molded laurel wreath of victory. With her weight stylishly shifted on one leg, she holds a Sala branch, while her hand on hip emulates the hieratic pose of Salabhanjika. The tree goddess. stands on the Amrit Kalash, the elixir of life is linked to goddess Lakshmi identified as the mother of Buddha by Coomaraswamy (1.2). In the scaffolding of signs, a brimming pot topped by reviving lotus is the fertile female principle. Thus, the metaphorical vulva revered as Yoni in the Buddhist cult is exposed by a girdled pot with splayed legs. The “shameful” flashing names the goddess Lajja Gauri corresponding to Santanalakshmi and Saralamma, the goddesses of sexuality, fertility, and richness in South India (1.3). Amrit of immortality knit with the enduring Goddess Gajalakshmi churned from the “Ocean of Milk” is an inversion of the Isis-Hathor myth. Besides, a pot of water signifies the womb of goddess Lakshmi and Isis. Milk offerings in a globular pot in ancient Egypt is a sigil for the “Rivers of Milk” flowing from Isis-Hathor, it repeats as the pot of elixir holding the lotus of resurrection in early Buddhist art (1.4).4 1.4 Amrit Kalash in lotus medallion, Sandstone stupa railing, Mathura, 2nd century CE 1.5 Bronze situla with lion spout and breasts, Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE (Luristan ca. 800–700 BCE?) California: Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (B60B620) After Harry Falk, 2012 1.6 Gajalakshmi inscribed tondo, Sandstone, Bharhut stupa relic, 2nd century CE 1.7 Nagalakshmi, Sandstone medallion in situ, Sanchi Stupa 2, 1st-2nd century CE Signs of Nirvana In Egyptian hieroglyphics, the phonetic value of globular water-pot “Nw/Nu” portent god Nw (Nu) the cosmic water, whose female counterpart is the sky goddess Nut merged with Isis. Situla is an unequivocal element in Isis's cult. The abundant archaeological finds in the Roman period indicate that the Situla is the measure of the worldwide popularity of the Isis cult. Situla is a spouted pot with a handle used in rituals; the ceremonial vessel consecrates the Dream of Maya tondo on the railing of Bharhut stupa inscribed “Descent of the Lord” (Bhagavato ukramti) in Prakrit Brahmi. 4 A. K. Coomaraswamy, Early Indian Sculptures: Six Reliefs from Mathura (Boston: Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts, Vol. 24, No. 144, Aug. 1926) p.56, fig.6. 'pp. 54-60.' Now, the brass Situla known as Kamandal (Sk. Kamandalu), is a puja vessel used by Saivite priests and ascetics. Stylistically a Situla in the Museum of San Francisco known as Luristan bronze from the cemeteries in northern Iran is a Roman-Syrian vessel. It has a lion spout encircled by ten bullae resembling the multiple breasts of the famous Diana of Ephesus representing Artemis related to the bee goddess of Egypt (1.5). As a result of widespread illicit trade in Central Asian antiquities, the astonishing ritual vessel is one of the countless artifacts clubbed as Luristan bronze dated to 8th century BCE. However, a Luristan bronze plaque counterfeiting a pair of gold and turquoise clasps from Tillya Tepe Tomb VI urge a review of the current dating. The Luristan bronze matching Tillya Tepe gold buckle is obviously from the same workshop; it depicts Bacchus and Ariadne or Cybele and Attis seated jauntily on a lion treading on a “Barbarian” wearing a fur coat.5 1.8 Nagalakshmi and Garuda on a garland swag, Limestone coping, Amaravati, 2nd century CE London: British Museum 1.9 Garuda gifts Amrita of Immortality, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE (e-Auction) Long before the cult of Vishnu, the concept of Avatar or reincarnation is normal in Buddhist belief. Goddess Lakshmi is the consort of protective solar deity Vishnu; paired elephants representing kings lustrate Gajalakshmi first installed in the Buddhist monuments. On a votive token from Bharhut stupa, Gajalakshmi stands on a girdled Amrit Kalash filled with lotus of rebirth. A globular Purnaghata or the urn of plenty overflowing with lotus flowers and buds on an inscribed stepped altar is a recurrent motif in Amaravati stupa. The decorative ‘vessel of plenty’ with a girdle of floral swags personifies goddess Lakshmi in marriage rituals and Hindu worship.6 The semi-nude goddess in Bharhut style holds out her breast like Isis-Hathor and offers perennial “River of Milk” that nourishes the dead (1.6). The hieratic poise of Lakshmi is akin to Isis-Venus. The cherished goddess arose with Dhanvantari, the divine physician equal to Asclepius, resurrected by Zeus as the god of healing. Dhanvantari, linked to Vishnu with his consort Lakshmi 5 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, Vol.2, 2019) pp.257, 260-261, fig.6.26. ‘2 vols.’ 6 Purnaghata stele, Limestone, 137.50x81.25x15 cm, Amaravati, Guntur District, Andhra Pradesh, 2nd century CE, London: British Museum (1880.0709.54) in Vaikuntha, is accepted as an Avatar. The nascent elements of Hindu mythology and iconography are deducted in Greco-Buddhist art. If there is a life philosophy, it is a ferocious metamorphosis in the domain of the underworld goddesses Persephone, Demeter, Hecate, and Isis. Having aquatic and terrestrial ancestry, the fecund cobra goddess Nagalakshmi similar to Isis renews life in the netherworld known as Patal Lok. The subterranean cobra goddess emits flame and spreads her multiple heads to shield her devotees in several Buddhist monuments (1.7). 1.10 Buddha coiled by cobra, Schist, 16.51x 25.4cm, Gandhara, London: Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.179-1949) Langford Jones Bequest 1.11 Cobra adored as Nag Devata on Nag Panchami in North India, 2019 (Vrat and Puja on11 July 2020) Garuda often appears with the cobra, but what is taken to be a mortal clash of nature is a synergetic relationship between a winged Deva and an anguiped Devi with ophidian attributes. Goddess Aditya is the resplendent Dipta shining like the sun. Dipalakshmi, the eternal lamp rewarding prayers (Ditya), is the Nectar of immortality. The anthropomorphized winged Garuda brought the vessel of Amrit portentous of goddess Lakshmi. Nagalakshmi, depicted as a cobra with five heads, is held tenderly by Garuda in a unique Amaravati relief. Nagalakshmi's twisted tail jack-up the celestial bird, the mystical couple is magnified right above a sun disc (Aditya) inserted in the flowing flower garland (1.8). The sigil is related to Garuda's role as the Vahan of Vishnu and Lakshmi; their symbiotic relationship gives credence to archaic animal-human-divine spirit fusion. The Puranas describe Garuda as the Supreme Self, an embodiment of the Self inseparable from Vishnu. According to George Williams, Garuda from the root verb gri is the voice.7 Although Garuda is part of Vishnu mythology, Garuda conspicuous in the Garuda Tantra and Kirana Tantra is a metaphor of atman in Shaivite belief and mythology. Garuda, the king of birds, called Garutman in the Rigveda and Mahabharata, is a shapeshifter that could halt heaven, earth, and hell with a flap of his wing.8 Shatapatha Brahmana in Yajurveda personifies Garuda as courage. Garuda, the ever-ready helper on Vishnu's banner, carried Amrit, the Nectar of immortality reserved for Devas. On the way to Amaravati, the eternal city of immortals in Indralok, Garuda was forced to exchange Amrit for his mother confined by the Nagas. As the serpent clan 7 George M. Williams, Handbook of Hindu Mythology (Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) pp. 138– 139. 8 Roshen Dalal, Hinduism: An Alphabetical Guide (New Delhi: Penguin Books, 2010) pp. 144–145. commenced the rites to partake ambrosia of immortality, Garuda winged away with Amrit placed on the sacred Darbha (Desmotachya bipinnata) or Kusa grass used in Hindu rituals. Nagas’ tongue split when they licked the dew of nectar off the Kusa grass. Therefore, Naga, still confined to the netherworld, gained divine status. Garuda having bestowed Amrit towers over a joyous worshiper holding a vessel embossed with the lotus of rebirth. Amrita's anthropomorphic form holding a pot of elixir on her hip looks up to meet Garuda's tender gaze (1.9). In the frieze from Gandhara, the Garuda holds its beaks winding ribbons signifying binding protection known as Pasha Kayiru or Love Cord in Tamil. Yama Dharmaraja too holds a rope to take the soul to its earned place in heaven. Sculptured stele in limestone known as Palnad marble cover the drum and dome of Amaravati stupa. The multiheaded cobra goddess secures the stupa stele with reef-knot on the Amaravati stupa monument. The polysepalous cobra carved on rock-cut caves and Buddhist stupa railings establish the stupa as the sanctuary of the cobra goddess first revered as Isis. 1.12a Garuda cockade of standing Bodhisattva, Schist, H.120 cm, Shahbaz Garhi, 2nd century CE Paris: Musée Guimet (AO 2907) 1.12b Angels watch Garuda redeeming a prone figure, Knotted cockade (Detail), Musée Guimet (AO 2907) 1.13 Garuda-Nagin cockade, Schist, H.11.4 cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Ex Collection of Rita Perry, Lörrach, Germany, acquired between 1963-1972 (e-Auction) A cracked relief from Gandhara in Vitoria and Albert Museum depicts a graveyard; A man stands near a mastaba under a beam of light and an arched tomb doorway frames a mysterious head. Serpents bend down in devotion on either side of a seated figure wrapped in a snake's coils under a hood with seven heads (1.10). Ackermann recognized it as the Naga king Mucilinda shielding enlightened Buddha in a storm.9 The strange scene is set in a graveyard; in the rear, a man stands near an arched tomb doorway and a mastaba under a beam of light. The Buddha Sheltered by Coiled Muchalinda is a unique type in Gandhara.10 The cobra has notable importance in Hindu mythology; Lord Vishnu rests on the immense seven-hooded Adi Shesha Nag. Vasuki coiled around Lord Shiva's neck was used as a rope around Mandara Parvat to churn Amrita during 9 James Fergusson (1808-1886), Tree and Serpent Worship: Illustrations of Mythology and Art of India (Great Britain, India Office: W.H. Allen & Co., 1873) plate XCVI, 4, https://archive.org/details/gri_33125010818173 10 Buddha in the coils of Muchalinda, Bonham's Indian, Himalayan and Southern Asian Art, Lot 15, New York, 18 March 2013. Samudra Manthan. The overlapping continuity and commonality of ophidian symbolism have roots in reptilian wisdom that taught humans how to transcend evil entities by augmenting positive forces in nature. The bond of protection or Raksha-Bandhan ritual occurs on Shravan Purnima, the full moon day in the rainy season when the protective cord around the wrist of a brother, a blood brother, or brotherly male relative or friend is tied. In Tamil, a twisted rope called Kayiru is a code for a snake.11 The rite of seeking the cobra deity's blessing takes place on Nag Panchami on the fifth day in Shukla Paksha, a waxing phase of the monsoon moon five days after Purnima in the lunar month of Shravan (July-August). Ritual worship of cobras with milk and other offerings occur with cobras swaying in unison in baskets similar to Cista Mystica (1.11). 1.14a Garuda-Nagin badge, Schist, H.11.4 cm / H.10.2 cm, Sangao, 2nd century CE 1.14b Garuda-Nagin badge, Schist, Takht-i-Bahi, Pakistan, 2nd century CE Peshawar Museum (1907.3312) 1.15 Garuda-Nagin stamped bulla, Glyptic art, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE Boston: Museum of Fine Arts (36.622) Every icon has a story to tell; winged cherubs buttress a faceted gemstone on the forehead of a full-length Bodhisattva from Gandhara. His idealized mustached face with downcast eyes is a frozen death mask customary in Roman funerary processions. Fully armed with protective talismans, his earrings in the form of winged griffin signify goddess Isis. Garuda and Nagin embrace in a flutter of ruffled silk on the cockade of his turban (1.12). Small replicas of Garuda and Nagin crest jewel in the form of a stone-badge are peculiar ex-votos found in Gandhara. With its beaks, the eagle lovingly ruffles the tresses of Nagin and the celestial maiden cradled in its claws lovingly caresses his wing. The resurrected dead transported to the realm of gods join the divine dance simulated by the embossed gold brooch in ruffled silk surrounded by a string of radiant pearls (1.13).12 The celestial couple portrayed as Garuda and Nagalakshmi in Amaravati 11 A string called Nool dyed in red is tied around the wrist. A cord dyed in turmeric yellow tied by the groom around the neck of a Tamil bride ensures endless conjugal bliss of a Sumangali. The rite of tying a yellow thread (Tamil. Mangalnan) seeks protection and a favorable outcome. Protective black thread around the ankles and black or red cord instead of a gold or silver chain around the waist of children called Aranjanam or Araijan Kayiru in Tamil and Malayalam is common. 12 Christie's, New York|18 March 2015 (Sold $13,750) are committed to the beautiful afterlife. For precision and purpose, we may refer to them as Garuda and Nagin. Typically, the circular stone badge edged with a simulated silk ruffle display Garuda and Nagin in Gandhara (1.14a,b). The potency of the ex-votos dedicated to the departed was such that anyone touched by it would metamorphose and flourish. In this category is a rare Garuda and Nagin stamped on a bulla from Gandhara. The inscribed elliptical impression in clay is a mirror image of an engraved scarab gemstone characteristic of Egypt (1.15). The composition of Garuda and Nagin is dynamic in its simplicity; yet, the two tiny attendant figures similar to the Dioscuri escort Zeus’s eagle abducting Ganymede, the cupbearer to the Olympians. Two similar “Sasanian Glyptic” are known.13 0.16 Garuda and Nagini, Schist, 40.6 x 23.4 x 7.5 cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Canberra: National Gallery of Australia (NGA 1978) 0.17 Divine love of Ganymede and Zeus’ Eagle, Bronze, iron, 33 x 31 x 15 cm, Asia Minor, 250-100 BCE Tbilisi: Georgian National Museum, Georgia Ganymede and Zeus’ Eagle Among mutating forms and figures, Garuda embracing Nagin overlaps Zeus’ eagle abducting Ganymede (1.16). In about 1885 Henry Hardy Cole related the peculiar Garuda and Nagin cult images to the famous statue of Ganymede and Zeus in Rome copied from a bronze statuette by 13 D. H. Biver, An Unknown Punjab seal Collection (INSI, 1961) pp. 316-17, VII, 17. Clay bulla with Pahlavi / Aramaic Inscription: ‘Ostandar Verozan’, 19.7 x 19.7 mm, Paris, Bibliotheque Nationale. Leochares contemporary to Alexander the Great.14 Ganymede in Greek legend is the son of Tros (or Laomedon), the king of Troy. The handsome prince tending sheep was abducted by Zeus from Mount Ida near Troy in Phrygia. Zeus as an eagle transported Ganymede to Mount Olympus to be cupbearer and servant of the gods. In one version Supreme Power of Zeus compensated Ganymede’s father with a golden vine. Or a pair of divine horses were presented by Hermes with the message that by the will of Zeus, Ganymede received the gift of eternal youth and immortality. Ganymede and Zeus’ Eagle are more a symbol of ‘divine love, youth, beauty, and immortality’ than being ‘raped’ by lustful Zeus. Jupiter/Zeus honored Ganymede's elevation by placing the eagle in the heavens as the constellation Aquila the Eagle and immortalized Ganymede as the constellation Aquarius, the water bearer. A moon of Jupiter named Ganymede is the largest moon in our solar system and the only moon with its magnetic field. Placed close to Jupiter, the aurorae on Ganymede "rocking" back and forth changes along with Jupiter's magnetic field. The ribbons fluttering from the eagle's beak correspond to the bright ribbons of aurorae, hot electrified gas circling the north and south poles of the moon, caused by the magnetic field. 1.18 Youth rises with Eagle, Painted lantern ceiling, Kizil Cave 165, Xinjiang Uyghur, China, 395-500 CE After Albert von le Coq (1860-1930) 1.19 Ganymede seized by Zeus’ eagle, Alexandrian glass painted in enamel, Begram, 1st-2nd century CE Paris: Musée Guimet The mystery of Greco-Buddhist cult deepens with Hero worship in antiquity equated to “Divine Love” of Zeus and Ganymede, the cup-bearer in Olympia. On the ground level, from Alexander to Julius Caesar and Hadrian, it meant being “Every woman’s man, every man’s woman.” The unparalleled Garuda and Nagin are inbuilt with cultural knowledge; it is as much the product of a historical environment as the restoration of Ganymede in the Cult of Antinous in 14 Roman marble copy of a bronze statuette of Ganymede and the Eagle by Leochares (326 BCE), 2nd century CE, Rome Vatical Museum (2445) Greco-Buddhist South Asia. While the form is dynamic in its simplicity, the hieratic frontality of the pose demonstrates that the lissome Phrygian prince abducted by Zeus in his eagle Avatar is transformed into a voluptuous female by Greco-Buddhist art (1.17). Albert von le Coq discovered the Trompe-l' œil painting of Zeus' eagle clasping Ganymede ascend the lantern-deck ceiling of the Buddhist Cave 165 in Kizil dated from 350 to 700 CE.15 The unusual painting arresting the unearthly "Divine Love" in the ancient kingdom of Kucha reveal cross-cultural milieu of Central Asia flush with wealth generated by the Silk Road (1.18). However, the aim and intent of the Buddhist cave painting echoes ecstatic Ganymede embraced by Zeus’ eagle on a painted glass beaker from Alexandria found in the Kushan Begram hoard in Afghanistan (1.19). The extraordinary subject painted in two different mediums has to be considered in the context of Greco-Buddhist mortuary cult flourishing at the time Antinous Cult was spreading wide. In the reminiscence of Ganymede and Zeus’ Eagle, Vaslav Nijinsky could virtually visualize the choreography of The Rite of Spring. The mystery of fever pitch Spring and the high surge of creative power is visible in both the thematically different versions. The Hero Cult glorifies a range of figures, from Ganymede and Antinous to Achilles and gladiators. Achilles the warrior in the enameled glass painting on a cylindrical cup in Romisch-Germanisches Museum, Cologne was found in a cinerary casket at Cologne. It is similar to the combatant gladiators painted on a glass oenochoe from Ismant el Khalab, the ancient Kellis, in Egypt. The Roman painted glass, similar to those found in the Begram hoard are datable to 2nd-3rd century CE when the transcultural Buddhist reliquary cult was at its height. 15 Angela F. Howard, In Support of a New Chronology for the Kizil Mural Paintings (Archives of Asian Art, Vol. 44, 1991), pp. 68-83 [JSTOR 20111218] 1.20a Ganymede offers cup to Zeus, Gold ewer Ø 13 cm, H. 23 cm, Kushan-Sasanian, 2nd-4th century CE Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Nagy Sankt Miklos Treasure (After David Marshall Lang) 1.20b Androgyne rejoices Eagle, Gold ewer detail, Vienna: Kunsthistorisches Museum, Lessing. Archive The multidisciplinary jeweler-sculptor choreographed the original Eagle and Nagin in Gandhara. To the Egyptians the sculptor’s workshop was known as the ‘Place of Gold” —the goldsmith’s workshop expert in eastern Mediterranean tradition exploits the full potential of the homoerotic love of Ganymede and Zeus’ eagle on the sacerdotal vessels in treasure trove found in Nagyszentmiklos, now Sinicolaul in Romania. The similar compositions of Zeus' eagle clutching elated Ganymede embossed in the gold ewers catch the spirit of the moment. One of them in Berlin and the other in Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna identified as Sasanian are conventionally dated to the 7th–8th century CE. Tondi Ganymede holds a leafy branch and offers a conical cup to Zeus' eagle on both sides of the bulbous gold vessel weighing 733gram and 21carat in Vienna. The epitome of unearthly love trapped rituals is dependant on the effectiveness of the sigil. From the wired egg-and-dart handle to embossed vegetal and vine motifs, each detail is useful in magic. A standard torus molding encircling the jug's slender neck is more than a decorative feature; the standard torus molding is a ring of convex garland consecrating the vessel personified as the fertility goddess Anahita. It is akin to Amrita of immortality in Hindu worship when the sacred vessel has a wreath of flower garland (1.20a,b). 1.21a Androgyne and Zeus’ eagle medallion, Guilloche shield on gold carafe, 1st half of 8th century BCE? Nagyszentmiklos: Sofia Archaeological Museum, Bulgaria (Photo Piergiorgio Pascal) 1.21b Androgyne rejoices Eagle, Gold ewer detail, Sofia Archaeological Museum, Lessing. Archive 1.22 Eagle and Nagin emblem, Gilded Æ, Ø 22 cm, 800 g, Cherdin, Perm region, Kushan-Sasanian period St. Petersburg: Hermitage Museum (S217) Discovered in 1936 A gold carafe in the Bulgarian collection from the astounding Romanian Treasure depicts a hieratic eagle clutching a muscular transwoman in an ethereal airborne dance. There is a specific type of illumination unique to the genderless youth holding Zeus's lightning rod in both the raised hands (1.21). The astounding Romanian Treasure, also called Nagy Sankt Miklos Treasure, was discovered in 1799. It comprises twenty-three gold vessels weighing a total of 10 kg. The carafe from the astounding Romanian hoard now in Sofia Archaeological Museum of Bulgaria placed in the first half of the 8th century BCE outsteps the classic gold flasks from the same Romanian Treasure in Berlin and Vienna assigned to the craftsmanship of Sasanian Iran. The ecstatic eagle is lifting an androgynous youth with the droopy breast on the vintage Roman vessel. Between the four entwined circles a branched tree emerges from an inverted heart introduced in early Buddhist art. The gold carafe basking in divine love causes aeration; metamorphosis releases trapped aroma and flavors of wine served in rituals; the forked branches caught in the infinite sky flash bolts of renewed life. The sophisticated medals entwined by protective guilloche proliferate Roman mosaic floors. The guilloche result from tangled mating snakes; later, the motif becomes anguiped Fu Hsi and Nu-Wa in the silk funerary banner paintings of Central Asia. As Theodore Roethke once said, “I live between the heron and the wren/beasts of the hill and serpents of the den…” 1.23a Ganymede and Eagle mosaic, Bignor Roman Villa, Bignor, West Sussex, Southern England, UK 1.23b Geometric floor mosaic, Bignor Roman Villa, England, Discovered by George Tupper in 1811 1.24a Heart gold disc applique, Tillya Tepe necropolis, Afghanistan, 1st century CE, Kabul Museum 1.24b Solar crescent on gold eagle wings, Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE, Cleveland Museum of Art A gilded silver dish in the Hermitage Museum found in 1936 in Cherdyn, the Perm region near the Ural Mountains of western Siberia, is form the fur and amber trade between the Baltics and the Iranian world. The embossed plate shows a nude maiden hanging from a giant eagle’s shoulders, which transforms the homoerotic love of Ganymede and Antinous into the enigmatic Eagle and Nagin motif of Gandhara. In the frontal composition, the hieratic eagle turned right lifts the nude female by cupping her sexy hips in its claws. Between the symmetrical flowering plants, the bedecked nude female with long double braid swings with both hands raised: One hand holds the eagle’s wing while a three-cornered grainy object in her left-hand touches the aquiline beak in profile. The point of contact is the triangular Tetractys or "four-group" of numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, with zero dimension. Tetractys is a sacred symbol of Pythagorean cult signifying space and the four elements — fire, air, water, and earth. A variety of Tetractys gold bead amulet found in burials is from Tillya Tepe necropolis in Afghanistan.16 Two allegoric figures flank the eagle's stiff tailfeathers suggesting an archer marking the day and Nishant the end of Night (Sk. nish-night + aantend) is represented by an archer with a drawn bow at right, and a man with hand raised in assurance shouldering an ax at left (1.22). The subordinate figures allegedly correspond to the Gemini twins in the painted ceiling of Kizil Cave 165.17 The gold plate has a lotus petal frame around a vegetal scroll that entwines a bird of prophecy top right and two dogs, at the top left and the other bottom right, which perhaps represents Anubis and Hecate, the two deities with canine familiars involved in the afterlife. The maiden and the eagle in the gilded dish ascribed to the 6th-7th centuries of the 16 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2019, Vol.2) p. 317, figs.39-41. ‘2 vols.’ 17 Guitty Azarpay, A Jataka Tale on a Sasanian Silver Plate (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 9, 1995), pp.99-104, figs.1, 5. ‘pp. 99-125’ [JSTOR 24048818] Sasanian dynasty is recalled widely from Hungary to Tibet. But despite Bactrian, Sogdian, or Sasanian biosphere, the metalwork has its roots in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia. Smirnov documents enigmatic sigils on two other silver plates from the same hoard dated to the first half of 6th century CE at St. Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum. One of the plates displays a bird of paradise at the center; on another silver plate, two birds and a dog caught in the vegetal scroll with pomegranates, grapes, and flowers in foliage meander surround a lactating tigress linked to the Bacchic cult (Ø 22.8cm). Religious iconography on these ritual vessels relates to the Roman mosaic across the Channel: The multifaceted Four Seasons mosaic at Bignor, Leadenhall Street Mosaic depicting Bacchus riding a tiger in the British Museum, and “Orpheus” tiger mosaic in Cirencester Corinium Museum. The Cherdin hoard discovered in 1936 on the banks of the Kama River in Western Russia displays the superb skill developed by the generation of goldsmiths and silversmiths. The ecclesiastic gold vessels attributed to Iran resemble the craftsmanship of the Eastern Mediterranean workshops. Like vintage wine, a whiff of spirit trapped in the beautiful vessels for centuries resuscitated the Mystery religions – the spiral from the Mediterranean ricochet from the Black Sea's lapels into South Asia. Historically the sacred vessels from these hoards have to be seen in the embossed silver vessels from Gandhara. 18 We have to acknowledge that at this distant point in time, the “World was One.” Enigmatic cults booming worldwide have links to the wealth of material culture kept in abeyance in the ruined villas in Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Boscoreale. Apart from the wide Roman roadways, centuries-old rafting journeys across the Balkans increased rapid communication. The cult members moved through the vast flowing Volga system of the Urals and Siberia linked to the International waterways of the 2850 km long Danube River that flows through several central European capitals, before reaching the Black Sea via Danube Delta in Romania and Ukraine. In all this, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea hold strategic importance while the major catalyst appears to be Anatolia. So far, the cult centers are perceptible only through treasured priestly vessels. Naturally, iconography as a resource and as an instrument of worship varies according to material and cult predilections. Now, back to Ganymede and Zeus’ eagle floor mosaic in Bignor Roman villa surrounded by stunning views of Southern England inWest Sussex, UK (1.23a). The prospect of Divine Love tondo highlighted by the checkered, geometric floor mosaic surrounds a hexagonal sanctifying sunken pool that was likely at the epicenter of rituals. The sacrament of renewal and resurrection performed in the secretive Villa was available to all the cult members coming from a large Roman cemetery located at the London to Brighton Way crossing. The road passed through some of the strategically critical iron-producing areas of the Weald partly provided the iron slag to construct them. The tactical arrangement of mosaic in brilliantly colored panels includes quatrefoil heart framed by a geometric, three-dimensional swastika, paired hearts, and the popular Solomon Knot (1.23b). The beating heart sigil fashioned in incorruptible gold is a unique pair of 18 Elizabeth Errington and Joe Cribb (eds.) The Crossroads of Asia; The Transformation of Image and Symbol in the Art of Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan (Cambridge: The Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992) pp.91-95, figs.97, 98, color plate, pp.x-xi. ear clips, beads, and cutout applique in Tillia Tepe burials (1.24a).19 A group of musicians from the stupa at Airtam in Uzbekistan has comparable appliquéd decoration on the garment's sleeves and neckline. The eagle and its feathers too have great cultural and spiritual value – schematic bird wings in gold strung through soldered tubes to form a necklace or belt are from Gandhara (1.24b). Similar mortuary jewelry pieces are from Passani stupa and Tulkhar burial ground in Tajikistan. Such jewelry components across the Roman Empire spread from Egypt.20 When Roman empresses were personified as goddesses, the courtesan-dancers, probably doubling as priestesses, serve as the model for various goddesses in Buddhist South Asia. The tondo portrait of a divine female accompanied by dolphins and the peacocks on the Bignor floor mosaic distinguished as Isis-Venus or Juno could be a priestess. Roman mosaic floors do incorporate commemorative portraits that are valued, cult members. The inlaid floral scroll as delicate as the embossed vine encountered in the Romanian Treasure provides an arched niche that uses the Cup of Life as a pictorial trope signifying resurrection and immortality (1.25a). In addition to cherubs, dancing girls, and the gladiators with wings give a foreboding performance of the afterlife. The gladiators are ostensibly accessories to cult rituals. The Borghese estate at Torrenova, on the Via Casilina outside Rome, discovered in 1834, has the famous Gladiator Mosaic measuring about 28 meters, dated to the first half of the 4th century. Why gladiators? In what way is the gladiator a medium to the metamorphosis that took place in the Roman villas? Your body stands on edge when you see the gladiators coming out. Besides being a skilled juggler and a spectacular dancer against a backdrop of fame, how would it be to display courage, endurance, and ferocity in an arena, knowing the end is death? And, how would it feel that as the special Chosen One, beyond death, you will live forever? Because the gladiators knew what was going to happen hereafter? Like early Christian martyrs, the brave soldiers of the Almighty? Genetic and Cognitive Artforms The Bignor mosaic depicts the gladiators' figures in a plain background secluded from one another on a baseline. This Roman illusionist style in Gandhara is notable in the chlorite stair risers of the stupa monuments at Buner in Pakistan. The horizontal friezes in high relief datable to Kanishka period synchronal to Trajan (98 - 117 CE) represent a row of Turkic soldiers, musicians, a powerful marine deity, and wine drinkers with divine maidens in the obscure cult scenes.21 The same conceptual framework gains an abstract quality in the Alexandrian painted glass goblets found in the Kushan storage at Begram. Yet, the painted clear glass cups are unlike the gleam of mosaic panels or the sculptured reliefs. With the light tipped colors trembling, the painted figures pulsate and move in a whirlpool tossed by air, as if a new life is poured into them. In one example, 19 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, Vol.2, 2019,) p. 317, figs.39-41. ‘2 Vols.’ Gold and turquoise heart earrings of a princess, H. 7.2 cm, Tillia Tepe Tomb V, Afghanistan, 1st century CE, Kabul Museum (MK 04.40.137) 20 Petra Belanova, Ancient Adornments of Central Asia Influenced by the Greek Jewellery of the Classical and Hellenistic Period (Studia Hercynia XX/1, Prague: Charles University, 2016) p.122 'pp.111-126' 21 Benjamin Rowland, Gandhara, Rome and Mathura: The Early Relief Style (Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America, Vol. 10 (1956), pp. 8-17. (JSTOR 20066979) transfigured Isis overseas a colorful scene of palm date gathering painted in brilliant enamel colors with details in gold (1.26a). The painting done in pigments derived from antimony and iron oxides is not forthcoming about the technique of fluid brushstrokes fused on the glass. The Begram painted glass vessels found on the cultural borders between the Indian subcontinent and the Iranian biospheres match an enameled glass cup found in a cinerary casket at Richard Wagner Strae in Cologne. The surprising discovery made in 1991 establishes that the gladiator identified as Achilles painted on the glass ex-voto served an important funerary function during the early centuries of the Christian era (1.26b). 1.25a Ganymede and the Mystic Cup, Bignor Roman Villa, Bignor, West Sussex, 2nd-4th century CE 1.25b Swastika & Twisted bundle of silk cord, Mosaic border, Bignor Roman Villa, 2nd-4th century CE 1.26a Isis reaping dates, Enameled glass cup, H.12.6 cm, Rim Ø 8 cm, Begram, 2nd century CE Kabul: National Museum of Afghanistan 1.26b Achilles/Gladiator, Enameled glass Skyphos, Richard Wagner Strae, Cologne, 2nd-3rd century CE Cologne: Romisch-Germanisches Museum The "twisted bundle of the cord," known as the Solomon Knot combined with the Swastika meander on the Bignor Roman mosaic, reinforces its sacred function (1.25b). The weavers in India, as observed in Tamil Nandu and Odisha, worship a twisted bundle of red cord placed on an altar in mid-January, when ancestor worship takes place on the day the Sun transits Capricorn and commences its irresistible northward journey. The Day of Janus in the lunar calendar celebrated as the day of "new beginnings" is a religious festival bearing different regional names in India and Southeast Asia. The three-day festival in Tamil Nadu, known as Pongal, is a season of extravagant threshold drawings called Kolam, meaning appearance and guise. The Nool Kandu Kolam meaning "Bundled of Thread" in Tamil, is the Solomon Knot chosen as the sacred seat of the soul and favored by the Tamil Saivite Brahmins in South India.22 The illusionistic three-dimensional 22 d. Saswati Sengupta, Kolam Tradition in South India (New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 2019) p.50, plate C1.29a-d,1.30a- Solomon Knot popular in the Roman mosaic is a geometric graphic sigil replicated without any apparent connection in the Kolam of Tamil Nadu in South India. Kolam's daily ritual threshold is "put" by "propitious" Tamil maidens and matrons to purify and protect their dwelling. Kolam is drawn first by a mathematical arrangement of dots – the dots link straight lines, or guide the interlacement of a smooth continuous line that transcribes an endless-knot Kolam. Another type of auspicious floor painting is the free-flowing Alpona done by the Hindu women of Bengal fluently simulating the painted ceilings of the Ajanta Caves. These customs contingent to genes and inherited memory is what we call tradition. The parallels drawn presents a problem regarding processes and situations. Did mosaicists in the Eastern Roman Empire depend on the consecrated females to sanctify and create the ground plan first, filled in by skilled craftsmen of different categories who laid the colored tesserae? The inquiry is outside an explanatory model, place, or content proper, and even beyond knowledge, so the explanation lingers without a resolution. The notion of likelihood presents a dilemma. The effect of individual action relies on this genetic approach; consider migratory sacred females fully in charge of existential secrets focused on life, death, the Universe, and Nirvana or Moksha. At present, the traditional Hindu housewives and their daughters take responsibility daily, even if it is customary lighting of an incense stick. Imageries in the mosaics are related to the grave; the quirky extravagance exhibited by the far-flung Roman villas could be sponsored by a secret society engaged in a syncretic mortuary cult allied to the Mystery religions of the period. The female head in the arched aedicule and the tondo of eagle lifting Ganymede are in painterly Trompe l'oeil style. The fantastic minute notes in the Bignor floor mosaic seem to be part of the wave of Mystery Villas spread across North Africa, the Levant, and parts of Europe. Among Hellenistic subject in Roman mosaics, Ganymede and eagle return in a Villa at Baccano near Rome, which is now in Museo Nationale, Rome. Cupid leading Zeus's eagle to Ganymede seated at a wayside curb is a slice of mural painting in Naples Archaeological Museum, which once enhanced the House of Meleager in Pompeii. The “Four Seasons–Ganymede” Roman mosaic in Tunisia outshines even Sidus Iulium and the Apotheosis of Julius Caesar.23 The floor mosaic from a Roman villa now in the Archaeological Museum in El Jem Tunisia depicts the Rape of Ganymede medallion surrounded by the Four Seasons in a complex arrangement of figures within a framed square mosaic (43.2 x 28.8 cm). The splendid mosaics is probably parallel to the Four Seasons marble sarcophagus in Rome (104 x 239 cm) that sanctions the lure of everlasting heavenly life articulated by winged cherubs and the Triumph of Dionysus, Endymion, Attis, and Adonis. Incredibly, the anguiped Tritons and hippocamps in the spandrels of the blind tombs carved on the sarcophagus flourish in stupa sculpture and the libation plates of Gandhara. 23 Kenneth Scott, The Sidus Iulium and the Apotheosis of Caesar (Classical Philology, Vol. 36, No. 3, July, 1941) pp. 257-272 [JSTOR 265276] 1.27a Ganymede, Cup-bearer to Zeus, Alexandrian plaster cast, Ø 14cm, Begram, 1st-2nd century CE Kabul: National Museum of Afghanistan 1.27b Ganymede, Cup-bearer to Zeus, Gypsum tondo from Alexandria, Begram, 1st-2nd century CE Paris: Musée Guimet (AKG185329) Maha Pita Bhishma says to Yama Dharmaja that the most fantastic thing is that human beings die every day, yet all wish to live forever.24 Believing the inevitable will exempt them, they go a step further and resort to acquiring eternal youth and endless life using artifice. The Kushan hoard in Begram Room No. 13 demonstrates it. It includes plaster casts of Greek mythological scenes from Alexandria, two Selene, and Endymion tondos, and two conventional medallions of Ganymede feeding Zeus' Eagle (1.27a,b). Gypsum and the ancient skill of molding the soft sulfate mineral are native to Egypt and Anatolia. The Ganymede plaster plaques found in Begram deposit and Sanchi style ivory figurine of Salabhanjika inscribed “Sri” in Brahmi designating Lakshmi (H.25 cm) and now named the “Indian Venus” found near the temple of Isis-Venus in Pompeii are part of the Mystery. If nothing else, these confirm a vast network and cult affiliations linking Buddhist South Asia. Cult objects from Alexandria in a variety of exotic materials found its way to ancient Kapisa in the Parwan province of Afghanistan. Located close to Iran and Mongolia, with Russia to the north and the Amu Darya on the Crossroads of Asia, Afghanistan’s connection to Turkey and the evolving Black Sea-Caspian Regions made it easily accessible to the international waterways of the Danube River. 24 MB, Ch. 4, Anusasanika Parva. 0.28 Zeus’ eagle sanctifies man personified as Ganymede, Schist, H.16 cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Paris: Private Collection (after Tissot) / Eagle crown, Fashion Creates Icons then Isolates Them 0.29 Garuda, savior of Bodhisattva, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE (e-Auction) Aquila and Maha Kala A partially restored head in high relief hacked from a tall figure of a Bodhisattva is an unusual type from Gandhara. It portrays Zeus’ eagle perched on the head of a man personified as Ganymede. The checkered feathers on the eagle’s neck mutate into a Phrygian cap rimmed with a solar sigil. Then, what appears to be a strip of appliqued sequin on a headband converts into a garland adorning the eagle’s neck. The eagle’s beak bends protectively over the man’s face frozen like a death mask with downcast eyes. To Tissot, the head with long flowing hair, mustache, and aggressive sideburns resembled a “barbarian king” (1.28).25 The head carved in intercultural style is related to the memorial statues in Hatra, Palmyra, and Anatolia. Similarly, a solid leaded bronze disc from Gandhara depicts the frontal head of a beardless Roman in high relief capped by a winged eagle. A cape rim with a large circular beaded collar brooch distinguishes the commemorative head (Ø 5.9cm, A.I.C Coll.).26 Legionary Legatus wore a cape called paludamentum fastened at one shoulder; the pinned loose wrap was a sign of honor worn by a high-ranking military officer and rarely by their troops in Imperial Rome. The donor of the votive 25 F. Tissot, Iconographic remarks about a head of the barbarian king of Gandhara (Ars Asiatique 32, 1976) pp.71-90. In French: Remarques iconographiques à propos d'une tête de roi Barbare du Gandhāra. 26 Elizabeth Errington, Joe Cribb (eds.), The Crossroads of Asia: Transformation in Image and Symbol in the Art of Ancient Afghanistan and Pakistan (Cambridge: Ancient India and Iran Trust, 1992) p. 116, fig.119. Cat. Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK was mindful of the flapping cape generally in crimson, scarlet, or purple, and occasionally white fabric. The winged griffin signifying goddess Isis is an impenetrable shield in the Roman world; the Bodhisattva's feathered griffin earrings and Garuda perched on the crest of his turban give assured safety and comfort in the afterlife (1.29). An unexpected twist comes from a Puranic legend; Gajendra Moksha describes the immediate rescue of Gajendra the elephant king by Garuda, the rapid carrier of Vishnu. Gajendra caught in the unrelenting jaws of death throes was rapidly sinking into the waterlogged subterranean Southern Reach where Naga Raja and Naga Devi associated with Osiris and Isis reside. Hearing his agonized cry for help, Garuda conveying Vishnu the savior swished in – the remarkable frieze recounting this event on the sidewall of a very early Deogarh Gupta temple in North India (1.30).27 The winged redeemer akin to Horus swoops in above Gajendra standing in the Padmalaya of Sri Lakshmi. The propitious configuration confirms redemption and blissful afterlife of Gajendra in Vaikuntha/Swarga or Indralok, where a cloud-like white elephant called Airavata transports the Lord Indra. Liberation known as Moksha, Mukti, or Nirvana is a shared belief among Buddhists, Jains, and Hindus. A semicircular rock-cut tank in front of the temple is a distinctive feature in various Buddhist monuments. The Deogarh Temple is a veritable pantheon of Hindu gods; it is among Buddhist and Jain monuments by the Deogarh Hill meaning, the “Fortress of God” (Deo-god, Garh-fortress) in the Betwa River Valley. An unexpected twist to the story of apotheosis comes from a Buddhist “Fumigating Elephant” that is presumably from a dispersed hoard of ceremonial bronzes secreted in a manmade cave along the tributary of Swat River near Mingora in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan.28 Harry Falk had gone to great lengths to relate the bronze “incense burner” published by Kurita (2003) through a comparative study of a matching relic supposedly from the same hoard in the collection of Aman ur Rahman (1.31).29 The elephant casket has a hinged lid; the hollow elephant with a rider cast in one piece supports a reliquary stupa surmounted by detachable emblem rivetted to the lateral sun and moon discs. At the center, a seated Buddha embossed in a raised Kala Chakra (Ø 4.9 cm) is encircled by stars and a pair of trefoils on surging stems at the top. Regrettably, the smooth elephant with a curved trunk holding the residue of an unknown substance lacks the type of apertures needed to waft smoldering incense. The 25.2 cm heigh bronze casket is elephant-shaped, whether the domical reliquary stupa assembled on its back contained any relic in its square base is ambiguous. Historically, Juba I of Numidia ((r. 60–46 BCE) and other sovereigns of Africa were either personified as the elephant or wore the elephant head crown. While the elephant signified Africa to the Romans, the Greco-Buddhist cult of the early historic period 27 Gajendra Moksha Stuthi is a Sanskrit Hymn in the Bhagwat Purana. Gajendra Moksha Stotra is a prayer of surrender to the Lord addressed to Vishnu for protection. 28 Several ritual bronzes from the Mingora Cave hoard are in the reserve collection of the Matsudo Museum of Art, Tokyo, allegedly acquired from T. Kaku, Taiyo Ltd., Tokyo. 29 Harry Falk, “Buddhist” Metalware from Gandhara (Bulletin of the Asia Institute New Series, Vol. 26, 2012) pp.3436, fig.2, ‘pp.33-60’ [academia.edu] undertook to stretch life to infinity through Saturn, the ancestral King of Kings personified as the regal Maha Kala elephant. The homonym Kala meaning black as well as time aptly describes the ponderous dark blue Saturn oscillating in space. Harpa, known as Ankush is insignia of Saturn; as a hieroglyphic label, the Harpa points at the elephant head in early Buddhist art. 1.30 Gajendra Moksha, DashAvatara Gupta Temple on Betwa River near Jansi, Deogarh, Central India 1.31 Assembled reliquary stupa, Bronze, H. 25.2 cm, Mingora Cave, Swat Valley, 2nd century CE Photo Harry Falk 1.32 Reliquary taken by Maha Kala, Sandstone balustrade of Bharhut stupa, 2nd century CE Maha Kala, typified by Mingora bronze reliquary casket, elevates the human lifespan to infinity. The Kala Chakra sigil at the very foundation of the reliquary stupa monument reiterates it. An imposing witness to this idea is Maha Kala elevated by Ganas taking a relic casket in a procession on the sandstone corner pillar of Bharhut stupa railing (1.32). On the right side of the elephant supporting the Cista Mystica is a triumphant youth cantering on a horse. He leads the regal pageant holding a garland bearing Garuda standard matching Aquila the Eagle (1.33a). The image is an astounding counterpart to deified Antinous trotting on a horse; in the commemorative coin, he carried the standard of Ma of Coloma, the moon goddess revered in Anatolia. The “Ma” sigil corresponds to Triratna represented by the Brahmi letter (Ma) (1.33b). Interest in astrology led Emperor Hadrian to identify Antinous with an asterism in the night sky merged into Aquila, the Eagle in the constellation. The popular cult among the ordinary people finds enigmatic expressions in Greco-Buddhist art. For example, a diademed, sword-bearing Greek youth echoes Greco-Roman Hero cult and Tomb cult in the Bharhut railing. From the Brink of Death The gilded body doubles carved in schist substitute the deceased with radiant halo worshiped in various stupa complexes. A Hellenistic “Bodhisattva” in Gandhara is a lit-up prince draped in Phrygian tasseled stole and loaded with protective amulets (1.34). Two worlds meet on his chest: On a pectoral, Isis/Demeter of the underworld holds a cornucopia of abundance, and suspended below is an amulet pendant bead supported by winged angels. The beauty of the youth idealized in gilded metamorphic phyllite with micaceous sheen resembles Antinous, a Bithynian Greek youth (111-130 CE). The ill-fated lover of Emperor Hadrian drowned in the River Nile to serve as a majestic bridge to heaven. The 2nd-century Christian writer Tatian mentions that Antinous' likeness placed over the moon's face, which might be a metaphoric allusion to the halo invented in Greco-Buddhist art. When the dead worshiped as gods received oblations, Antinous was transformed into a deity to guide and protect the departed in the afterworld. As a result of his widespread cult, Antinous appears in a variety of sculptured images, busts, gems, and coins. Although many of Antinous' images are instantly recognizable, a significant variation in terms of iconography in a Roman coin represents the youth as a shining star in the vault of heaven (1.35a). The bilingual Kushan coins inscribed OΔΔO in Greek on one side and in Kharoshthi or Brahmi on the other side, seize the "great strider" pose from ancient Egypt to portray a wind god holding nimbus veil (1.35b,c). Indo-Greek bilingualism is one of the hybrid Kushan traits that adopts Antinous as Hermes/Mercury on horseback.30 Antinous in Alexandria mint posturing in triumphal “Great Departure” provides important iconographic clues to the origin of the regal equestrian commemorated in Kushan coins and sculptured reliefs. Anointed as a priest of the imperial cult, deified Antinous incarnate of Hermes holds a magic wand, the caduceus with two entwined snakes signifying postmortem healing. Hermes is the son of Zeus and Maia, the eldest Pleiades born in Arcadia. Hermes couched in ‘hermeneutics’ interprets hidden meaning – Maia is the goddess of magic and childbirth while Maha Maya meaning Great Magic, gives supernatural rebirth. The lustrating elephant as the symbol of Egypt points to goddess Isis installed as Maha Maya Lakshmi standing on the lotus of rebirth in Greco-Buddhist cult (1.36). When the spotlight is on you, feel like you're flying to the sun.31 Antinous most readily identified with Ganymede, and it created an ambient seismic din in the Hero cult typified by deified Bodhisattvas. The influence of Hero cults on the new Greco-Buddhist cult is conveyed by Hercules, Bacchus, Dioscuri, and Mithras, the coincidence of which ought to engender doubts about the motives we attribute to early Buddhist sect at the moment. Antinous, the Bithynian Greek youth depicted as Ganymede, wears a Phrygian cap and stands with legs crossed in the elegant pose of Nagin in Gandhara (1.37). 30 Antinous as Hermes on horseback, Bronze Drachm 31mm (18.97 grams) Alexandria mint, struck 134-135 CE. Commemorative Bithynian coins in the reigns of Commodus (assassinated, 192 CE) or Caracalla (assassinated, 217 CE) G. Blum, Numismatique D’Antinoos, In Journal International D'Archeologie Numismatique 6 (Spring/Summer 1914): Plate II. Several commemorative coins show Antinous’ portrait. 31 Pat Cleveland: the model who partied with Warhol, lived with Lagerfeld – and took on Vogue. The Guardian, 13 August 2020. 1.33a Garuda standard in a procession, Sandstone balustrade of Bharhut stupa, 2nd century CE Drawing Suma Lata, 2009 1.33b Triumphant Antinous riding Hermes’ horse (rev.), Æ Obol, Bithynia Mint, 2nd century CE 1.34 Youth revered as the moon wears tassel stole, Gilded Schist, 62 x 26 cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Lahore Museum (2354) Pakistan 1.35a Antinous the Great Strider commemorative coin minted by Bithynion-Claudiopolis, 2nd century CE ob: Caracalla, with legend AVKMAVP | ANTΩNINOC rev: Antinous dressed in a cloak and mantle, carrying a pedum, animal grazing behind, with legend BEIΘVNIEΩN AΔPIANΩN, In G. Blum, Numismatique D’Antinoos, 45, #13, Plate II, xxi. 1.35b,c Wind god OΔΔO / The Great Strider Antinous? Bronze, Kushan memorial coin, 2nd century CE London: British Museum 1.36 Azilises (Antinous?) the victorious on horse right, wears a tunic, holds an attribute, 2nd century CE ob: Equestrian modeled after Antinous/Hermes coins (Gk.) of the King of Kings Azilises the Great rev: Gajalakshmi (Prakrit Kharosthi) of the Great King, King of Kings Azilises the Great (16 CE?) London: British Museum The eagle lifting the divine maiden is the rage of the Greco-Buddhist cult – in what might be metaphorical Psyche caught up by and espoused by divine spirit promising eternal youth and immortality (1.38a,b). Isis and Antinous worship at the annual inundation of the Nile can be gauged by a multitude of devotees rafting under the gathering monsoon clouds gather to worship at the confluence (Sangam) of rivers Ganges and Yamuna on Basant Panchami annual fair of Magh Mela Prayagraj. In the remote past, water brought from the Nile allegedly replenished the Ganges. The Nile water poured from a vessel and enthroned Serapis on the gold coin of Kushan king Huvishka are enigmatic examples. The historic Kushan coins from the Buddhist reliquaries reveal different cultures of the people once unified under the umbrella of Buddhist cult, the true nature of which is readily available in visual art. The togate image of Buddha inscribed BOΔΔO in Greek on one side, and bearded Kushan king Kanishka I (c. 78-115 CE) proclaimed the "Great Kushan King of Kings, Son of God" on reverse displays a high level of fusion. Similar to the Roman emperors, Kanishka holds a lance and offers a sacrifice at a fire altar. A Roman general’s cape pinned to his chest and a broad two-edged sword strapped to his belt, he wears Central Asian pants and boots.32 In Hindu mythology, Mercury worshiped as Budh is Saumya, the son of the Moon. Also, in popular culture, "Bhoot" overlying "Budh" denotes ghost or spirit of the dead. 1.37 Zeus’ eagle and Ganymede in a Phrygian cap, Roman Marble, 2nd century CE, Chiaramonti (Inv.1376) 1.38a Garuda and Nagini, Schist, Rhode Tope, Sanghao, Swat Valley, Pakistan, 2nd century CE New Delhi: National Museum of India (After Grunewedal) 1.38b Divine couple Garuda and Nagini, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE (e-Auction) In October, Egypt is an exhilarating experience on the Nile River swollen by summer rain rushing in torrents from Sudan, represented by two fleet-footed deer goddesses. In October, in the year 130 Antinous cruising with his lover Emperor Hadrian mysteriously drowned in the Nile. Whispers of ritual self-sacrifice to save the emperor's life soon turned into a legend that Antinous' ghost arose to give oracles in Hadrian's dreams. The cult identified strongly with Egyptian culture borrowed heavily from antiquity and adopted Zeus' Aquila, the Eagle constellation, to represent Antinous in heaven. Antinous transformed into a powerful oracular god was worshiped as Apollo, Hermes, Silvanus, and Bacchus or Dionysus synthesized with Osiris worshiped as the night sun and shown as a crescent moon.33 Horus, the youthful sun-god worshiped as a falcon in the land of Pharaohs and pyramids, increased the enthusiasm for resurrected Antinous. Horus is the son of Isis and Osiris, which explains the extensive use of the Situla in the Buddhist cult. Tamil culture known for temple building is closer to Egypt than one would expect. Every day, from "time immemorial," a pair of eagles came to receive food offering at a hilltop known as Pakshi Theertham and Thirukazhukundram near Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu. The BOΔΔO coin of Kanishka I (ca.78-115CE), Gold Stater, Ø 2.1 cm, Wt.16.98 gm, Ahim Posh Tepe Stupa 2, Afghanistan, 2nd century CE, London: The British Museum (1882.IOC.289) 33 Gil H. Renberg, Hadrian and the Oracles of Antinous (Sha Hadr 14.7); with an Appendic on the so-called Antinoeion at Hadrian’s Villa and Rome’s Monte Pincio Obelisk (Memoirs of the American Academy in Rome, Vol. 55, 2010), pp. 159-198. 32 hallowed sanctuary reached by 565 rock-cut steps leads to a more recent Vedagiriswarar temple dedicated to Shiva. The temple tank surrounded by worshipers witness once every twelve-years a conch sacred to Lakshmi and Vishnu glide up on water. The site is known for myths; the only known anthropological record of a priest feeding a pair of raptors daily at Thirukazhukundram is a 1906 photograph by Edgar Thurston (1855-1935), then the Superintendent of the Madras Government Museum (1.39a).34 In folklore, the white chested Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) alighted precisely at noon since “forever” – each day people gathered to witness this miracle. Gloomily, the old-world “Pharaoh’s chicken” ceased to appear at Thirukalukundram after the Indian Ocean earthquake and a devastating tsunami in 2004. The sudden disappearance of Egyptian vulture was a foreboding sign. Found from North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula to India, the Egyptian vulture is rarer than the white-bellied sea eagle on the Coromandel Coast (1.39b). Romaka Jatakam — The Jataka, No.277, Vol. II, tr. by W.H.D. Rouse, 1895 The garland bearers rife in Gandhara sculpture run across a coping stone from Mathura; on the whole, the blend of decorative swags and mythological scenes is characteristic of the Asiatic Roman sarcophagus. The Mathura style in sandstone is closer to Egypt than to Anatolia known for the workshops producing the garland sarcophagi in marble. Two deer rush across the rocks like the two cataracts of the Nile, the deer represented replenishing waterfalls in Upper Egypt adulated as fertility goddess Anuket and her twin represented by deer, cowry shell, and bow and arrow. The sandstone slab breaks off at the eagle’s head, seated with waistband binding his fixed folded knees together, a sage chastely chin-chucks the allegoric eagle (1.40). In Greco-Roman mortuary art, the eagle is Ganymede as Aetos Dios, a golden eagle serving his beloved Zeus. In Greek tradition, When you (Zeus) were an eagle when you picked up the boy (Ganymede) on the slopes of Teukrian Ida with the greedy gentle claw, and brought him to heaven. – Nonnus, Dionysiaca 10. 308 ff Interpreting the meaning and context of an active and passive relationship in Greek society shown by a person affectionately holding the chin of another person in Greek pottery painting is far from straightforward. It freely translates Pederasty, a socially acknowledged romantic relationship between two men in ancient Greece, shown by reaching with one hand for the beloved's chin in a possible initiation ritual. The scaffolding of meaning is incorrigible in early Buddhist art. A panoramic view shows circular native shrines by the side of gorgeous trees. To the left, a youth standing next to a fire altar and a lidded situla leans on twin baskets shouldered on a pole. It is identical to the baskets holding curative herbs hung in a hermit’s hut in Bharhut’s Alambusa Jatakam medallion. In early Buddhist sculptures, consecrated local healers and non-Roman deities are effortlessly equated to Roman gods and interpreted as an aspect of their Hero. Consequently, the splendid youth with the medicine baskets embody Apollo. The sage caressing an eagle on the broken edge is Asclepius, the Greek god of medicine, a hero, and the son of Apollo. On the behest of Apollo, Zeus as the 34 Tamil. Thiru (Reverent)+Kazhugu (Eagle)+Kundram (Mountain). eagle resurrected Asclepius. This frieze captioned “Romaka Jatakam” has a dubious link to a faltering pigeon story: Once upon a time when Brahmadatta was king of Benares, a flock of pigeons frequented the cave-dwelling of a virtuous hermit in the Veḷuvana forest. After several years, the Bodhisattva pigeon noticed that a newcomer living in the cave had a taste for pigeon curry. Warned of impending danger, the pigeons fled from the fake recluse. Chastened by Bodhisattva, the imposter left the cave. The story narrated in the Hall of Truth categorizes the protagonists: Bodhisattva pigeon is Buddha, the fake recluse is Devadatta, and the virtuous hermit who first lived in the cave is Sariputta.35 1.39a Eagles fed by a priest, Pakshi Theertham / Thirukazhukundram near Chennai, early 20th century Photo Edgar Thurston, 1906 (Ethnographic Notes in Southern India) 1.39b White-bellied Sea Eagle, Pazhaverkadu, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India Photo Birder Gnanaskandan Kesavabharathi GK, 20 September 2014 1.40 Eagle and Ascetic / Wise Pigeon in Romaka Jatakam, Sandstone frieze, Mathura, 2nd century CE Mathura Archaeological Museum (00-14) Match Made in Heaven A unique sandstone block carved on both sides from Pali Khera near Mathura has a 40.64cm broad, and 20.32 cm deep socket supported a stone vessel to receive wine oblation in a stupa complex. The commemorative monument reflects the custom of placing offering vessels in front of Greek temples. On one side, a rotund man with escorts is seated with one leg tucked on a raised tomb vault. He is identified as Silenus by Carter.36 He holds an unusual tankard with a curved handle 35 Romaka-Jataka, J.277, Vol. III, The Jataka or Stories of the Buddha's Former Births, Cowell, E. B. (ed.). Chalmers, Robert, W. H. D. Rouse, H. T. Francis, R. A. Neil, E. B. Cowell (trans.), 1895–1907 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. vol. II, Online) pp. 260-262. ‘6 vols.’ 36 Martha L. Carter, Dionysiac Aspects of Kushan Art (Ars Orientalis, Vol. 7, 1968) pp.121-122 ‘pp.121-146. Carter approves Greco-Roman influences observed by Colonel R. L. Stacy, Foucher, Rowland, and Rosenfield. attached to the bottom and the rim of a flared mug. By his side, a bejeweled maiden in the guise of a Parthian princess holds a matching cup.37 As bizarre as it may seem, Buddhist art awash with wine cups and drinking scenes called Bacchanal show it as an accepted part of Buddhist culture. The hieratic group sculpture in transcultural style describes the unusual layered dress of the divine maiden, she wears a short, long-sleeved blouse with ruffles over a skirt with long pleated hem (1.41a,b). She stands next to a boy near a couple of wine vessels on the rear of the block. The child makes contact with the same man seated on the stupa mound, A boy standing on the other side of the grave manifests heavenly Gemini twins often seen in Gandhara sculpture. The resurrected man’s convivial crown and near-nudity denote transcendence and not drunken revelry. He is lifted by the underworld goddess and a tall male, whose "Heroic nudity" and the army commander's cape held by brooch identify Mercury the psychopomp (1.41c). 1.41a-c Bacchanal reveler, Two-sided sandstone sculpture, Pali Khera, Mathura Museum, 2nd century CE Rev: Satiated man flanked by celestial twins is lifted by a goddess and nude Hermes draped in a cape Mathura Archaeological Museum (00-C-2) Discovered by Colonel R. L. Stacy, 1836 Early Greco-Buddhist sculpture in the remarkably evolved mortuary cult demonstrates schematized connectivity between design, purpose, and definitive goal. The three-dimensional high relief set against the Tree of Life relates to another two-sided sculpture supporting a ritual vessel from Mathura known as “Vasantasena” in the National Museum of India. The Kushan 37 Chantal Fabregues, The Indo-Parthian Beginnings of Gandharan Sculpture (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, Vol. I, 1978) figs 1-4. Isao Kurita, Gandharan Art II (The World of the Buddha, Vol. II, 2003) p. 194, no. 564. period nude female on her bent knee is the foremost in a group of allegoric figures. The Yakshi now bears the name of a presumably intoxicated Ujjayini courtesan named Vasantasena in a famous Sanskrit play, Mrcchakatika (The Little Clay Cart) by poet Kalidas of later Gupta period.38 The stunning allegoric group sculpture that served a ritual purpose now hooked to a fictional narrative fall into a fanciful and least understood stereotype. Religion is about revelation, and at the core of religious imagination is death. At the turn of the new era, the subcontinent is like the Isle of the Blessed inhabited by the heroes of Greek and Roman mythology, enjoying a winterless paradise. The map-dot-location of an art-work might be in one place, but the influences come from diverse directions. The goddess in billowy dress shown on both sides of Pali Khera plinth could be Celtic goddess Rosmerta balancing solar Lugus assimilated as an aspect of Mercury by Romans. Julius Caesar noticed that Mercury was the most popular deity in Britain and Gaul.39 Worshiped as the inventor of all the arts, including enchantment, Mercury gained the paludamentum that transmutes army commanders' cape into magicians' mantle. It is reasonable to compare the rotund man holding a mug of wine to Silenus known for his sexual drive equated to fertility in the Buddhist cult. Labrax is a Latin term abusing Silenus as a treacherous pimp or leno in Plautus’ comedy play Rudens / The Rope (254-184 BCE), “...a pot-bellied old Silenus, bald head, beefy, bushy eyebrows, scowling, twister, god-forsaken criminal.” Roman syncretism adopted local deities as manifestations of their gods; Celtic deity Belenus was equated with Apollo, in turn, comparable to Buddha. At this point, it is essential to focus that a group of Celts consecrate a stupa monument on the northern gateway of Sanchi stupa, which also displays stunning procession of the Celtic goddess Epona on horseback.40 Wealth and prosperity in commerce link Mercury to rotund Kubera, the North's wealthy regent. As the keeper of boundaries Hermes, and Mercury to the Romans, form a bridge between the upper and lower worlds and assigned to escort the dead, he holds money bag in Gandhara sculpture to pay the ferryman. The latter took the dead across the River Styx to Hades. The skin-and-bone “ghastly Bhoot” is a veritable ghost of the dead from the shadows – sky and stars in the eyes gaze out from the skull of cadaverous “Fasting Buddha” with hollowed-out stomach customarily received homage. The rite of worship shown on the pedestal usually exhibit a cup of immortality, eternal flame, or incense burner. On the seat of famished Buddha, always shown with a prickly beard and honorific stole, six men holding cup partake in a ritual on either side of an offering table; the pot of Amrit on the draped altar linked to goddess Lakshmi leads to instant renewal (1.42). In addition to obscure origins, the indeterminate role of new Buddhist images interpreted with the range of flexibility hides the insights into how Greco-Romans thought 38 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Art and Culture: Symbols & Significance (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, Vol. II, 2013) p.180-182, fig.9.1a, b. ‘2 vols.’ 39 De Bello Gallico 6.17. The 1st-century Roman writer Tacitus notes Mercury identified with Wotan of the Germanic peoples (Germania 9). 40 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Voyagers Dodging Death, In Epic Dimensions in Buddhist Art (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2021) fig.7.13. about life and death in changing times. There is complex interconnectedness to explain the hidden meaning. The original rippling cloth breaching severity of the shriveled Buddha image drained of all material comforts is the twist. The overlooked S-shaped parallel grooves on the strip covering the laps might be simply a touch of extravagance characteristic of Buddhist art.41 But the curved parallel grooves that fan out evenly on the drawn-out thighs are ‘strigillated’ grooves on a curved caisson, a strigil sarcophagus. The Greco-Buddhist cult is not a stranger to the Roman sarcophagi, during a vigil on the night before the funeral mourner mill around the stately coffin in “Parinirvana of Buddha” scenes rampant in Gandhara.42 The strigil used by the Roman bathers to scrape off all the dirt and rubbed oil leave curved striations on the naked body. Non-elite Romans and Greek freedmen retained the economical and straightforward aesthetics of strigil sarcophagi signifying purity of body and soul from the midsecond century until the decline of Rome. The front side usually includes symbols such as goblet, portrait busts, and scenes from the life of the deceased. It corresponds to the plinth on which the Buddha is seated showing different symbols such as a lamp, incense burner, or vessel, and ritual scenes. The “Fasting Buddha” commissioned by a common man, conveys devout beliefs at the roots of his faith. The gutwrenching mummified figure reveals ritual purity, extreme austerity, belief in the immortality of the soul, life after death, and Nirvana. The death-related libation plates less than 12 cm in diameter recap austere Fasting Buddha recharged by rituals.43 This type of inexpensive chlorite plates favored by the needy suggest a strong sense of unity and commonality bonded beyond death. Greco-Buddhist funerary cult uniting diverse groups of people seek a place in heaven in a far-off land. It reflects a righteous utopian society, otherwise known as Dharma. Buddhas dart across geography through a crack in time, to pull the events in the eastern Mediterranean that seal the human beings together to maintain a cooperative system and cooperative ethic in 1.42 Fasting Buddha, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Alain R. Truong (e-Auction) 41 Anne Hollander, The Fabric of Vision: The Role of Drapery in Art (The Georgia Review, Vol. 29, No. 2, Summer 1975) pp. 414-465 (JSTOR 41397188) 42 Janet Huskinson, Roman Strigillated Sarcophagi: Art and Social History (Published to Oxford Scholarship Online, 2015 43 Arputharani Sengupta, Epic Dimensions in Buddhist Art (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2021) fig.1.18. the theocratic rule of the Kushan kingdom. As Bono U2 sings in Wise Blood (Exit 2919) — “Where you come from is gone, where you thought you were going to never be there, and where you are is no good unless you can get away from it.” The revered Fasting Buddha is a Jivanmukta, someone who has gained infinite divine power and knowledge of spiritual self-realization. As a result, the gilded togate Buddha at the peak of extravagance is also a Jivanmukta, someone in his subtle form, the eternal being appearing beyond life and death in the Advaita Vedanta philosophy. The western winged superman in the frontal memorial sculpture is called Titan and Atlas. The deified “sky-clad” man exposed as Hercules by the lion cape knotted on his chest is one amongst a variety of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas installed by the Hero cult. The transfigured naked human body with deliberately exposed penis in an icon of worship is about establishing male sexuality and fertility (1.43). Though stripped of clothing, what Greco-Buddhist cult develops in this unfolding is not austerity but ideas about eternal splendor and sensuous enjoyment. 1.43 Deified man as winged Hercules, Schist, H. 38.1 cm, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE Cleveland Museum of Art (2011.136) Gift of Maxeen and John Flower honoring Stanislaw Czuma 1.44 Birth of Buddha, Schist, Swat Valley, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Anthropologists carefully consider the role of dress in the expression of cultural identities. Buddhist funerary art consistently showing Roman dress or combinations of Roman and indigenous garments is an intriguing phenomenon. Costumes of three women assisting Maya Devi in the Birth of Buddha vignette demonstrates the vital role of clothing in the narrative reliefs. One of them wears Shalwar and Kameez – a long-sleeved short tunic over baggy pantaloons native to Turkic-Parthian females. In contrast, two others wear long Greco-Roman tunic and flowing mantle girdled like a sari. The second layer of the drape drawn between the legs and tucked behind like traditional Marathi sari leaves the legs of Maya Devi to move freely. The courtesan priestess perfuming the Mystery play seems to be in a rush run to ascend heaven directly after the incredible delivery (1.44). The name Maya meaning magic points to Maia, the Roman goddess of magic and mother of Mercury. At birth, the full-grown miraculous child took the first seven steps to declare his supreme status on heaven and earth. It suggests that the preoccupation with appearance is related to function and role in rituals. In the case of epiphany of Buddha, posture and clothing classify race; the dynamic movement and dress behavior of mixing the pan-regional ensemble are contextual to funerary art.44 The costume also takes on the purpose of personification. Shalwar Kameez point to Anahita and Greco-Roman costume identify Demeter, Persephone, or Isis recognized by the Situla used as an ensign. Priest and Priestess The Asiatic Greek trend of the prosthesis, or laying out of the dead on a furnished couch with a pillow, is a way-out method to indicate Nirvana. While cremation was the norm, the suggestion of inhumation comes from the display of the dead body. It corresponds to a couple lounging as though in their boudoir on the lid of Etruscan and Roman sarcophagi. Everything showcased in the Roman world converges in South Asia; mortuary personalities are prismed through the Dampati in the male-oriented Buddhist cult. The comely consort providing eternal bliss appears to be a goddess possibly personified by a priestess performing cult rituals. Graphic mythological imagery is shorthand for an ideology. There are ‘conflicts and contradictions’ in the nude honorific portraiture in early Greco-Buddhist cult the same as the sculpture in the Late Republican Rome observed by Paul Zonker in his seminal work The Power of Images in the Age of Augustus.45 Greco-Buddhist art is breathtaking in its sweep; courage, good faith, and devotion contrast with mindless indulgence and sycophancy. The most luxurious is Bacchus as Dionysus Sardanapalus, it portrays a nude older man with a long beard cradling a nude Maenad in a pop-up wedding arbor with bunches of grapes in vine creeper (1.45). The nude maiden in the aedicule leans on the mature Bacchus holding a cup of wine in his raised right hand swathed with heavy himation. A partly cracked kneeling Silenus is tugging the impractical veil drawn across the lower limbs of the supple female. The arts of Greece and the wealth of Roman Asia join together to furnish the extraordinary funerary monuments in the virgin land suddenly thrust into a fermenting world.46 The succession theme song of the arched vine arbor is an ornate figurative vine-scroll door jamb from Gandhara housed in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. The series of five cameos enclosed by interlaced vine tendril evokes the Four Seasons –Autumn, the Triumph of Selinus, Bacchus, Ariadne, and one of their two sons linked to grapes and wine. The vertical ascent of the twined vine leaves provoking the imagination about the pleasant afterlife is illuminating. The conceptual connections pointing to the west are surely not imagined. The exquisitely carved details demonstrate how a global society renovates ancient cultures in South Asia destitute of any comparable tradition. The doorjamb does the balancing act between the vine scroll meander and torus molding decorated with flattened bad-and-reel, and dog-tooth. The overlapping triangular plates on the lower section could be laurel leaves sacred to Apollo, which typically stretched along the molding to divide horizontal reliefs in Gandhara. Also, the imbricate pattern adopts the curved spines of the pinecone Ursula Rothe, The “Third Way”: Treveran Women’s Dress and the “Gallic Ensemble” (American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 116, No. 2 (April 2012), pp. 235-252. 45 Tom Stevenson, The 'Problem' with Nude Honorific Statuary and Portraits in Late Republican and Augustan Rome (Greece & Rome, 2, Cambridge University Press. 45 (1): 45–69 [JSTOR 643207] 46 Benjamin Rowland, The Vine-Scroll in Gandhara (Artibus Asiae, Vol. 19, No. 3/4 (1956), pp. 353-361. 44 consecrated to Bacchus. Throughout history, the perfect sequence of its sacred geometry has been the seat of the soul and enlightenment. 0.45 Dionysus Sardanapalus and Mad Maenad vine arbor, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE (e-Auction) 0.46 Bacchus and Ariadne – Dionysian Mystery Doorjamb, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Boston: Museum of Fine Arts (after Benjamin Rowland) It is unlikely that the votive door jamb with figural medallions is from a broken doorway to a Greco-Roman sanctuary in Gandhara. The euphoria of the mythological world on the frieze evolves to reflect the times. The archer at the base is the far-shooting Apollo, Lord of the Silver Bow. The lush vegetal surge reaches the top where Bacchus drinks wine from a rhyton followed by Ariadne and Bacchus embracing in a vine arbor (1.46a). Midway, the figure carrying a basket of grapes could be one of the sons of Ariadne and Bacchus; Staphylus associated with raisins, or Oenopion personifying wine. He scrambles in the bower to fill his baskets with grapes, to be able to pour a libation of wine when he reached the crossroads (1.46). Wine and honey discovered by Bacchus are conspicuous in the fabled offerings noted in Buddhist art and literature. In the GrecoRoman society, borrowing from others amplifies the identity of images ranging from mythological to historical. Immediately above the divine archer at the bottom, a bearded man shouldering a male on a hierarchical scale might represent Zeus and Dionysus, the twice-born in Greek mythology. Or it could be fatherly Silenus called Papposilenus carrying Dionysus. Bearded Silenus carouses through the vineyard holding a thyrsus, which is a pinecone tipped pole. In front is a kind of traveling trunk or portable chest denoting wealth and prosperity. Kibôtos in Greek is a chest or coffer, and the name Cibotus (Κιβωτός – chest, coffer) on some coins of Apamea is a conjecture to denote the wealth collected in this vast emporium. On a Roman Republican coin from African mint Aeneas, the Trojan Hero carries his father Anchises on his shoulder and advances toward victory and the founding of Rome (1.46b).47 The piggy-back iconography is also consistent with Aeneas conveying his father to a new beginning. The high-level of craftsmanship suggests that the Hellenistic doorjamb is from an established workshop in the Eastern Mediterranean. The scenes display cogitation on the aspects of the sacred and agree with the winemaking in Roman mosaic and on the tomb walls: Scenes of grape harvesting, wine pressing by foot, and wine stored in jars in the tomb painting provide a perpetual pick-me-up to scribe Nakht in Thebes, who lived on as the astronomer priest of Amun in the great beyond.48 A cultured patron, possibly a poet, had commissioned the orchestrated melodies in the vine scrolls. It begins with a mystic link between Dionysus and Apollo articulated in the sacred hymns known as Dionusites.49 It praises Apollo as the real savior of Dionysus: Bacchus, formed in the magic mirror, pursued the mirage and became dispersed into particles of light. As a deity of purification and healing Apollo collected him and made him whole. The “Praise and Persuasion in Greek Hymns” inevitably find a place in the Asiatic sarcophagi and the Buddhist stupa sculpture in Gandhara.50 The Theory of Style Aï Khanum northwest of Afghanistan is presumed to be the historical Alexandria later named Eucratidia, in the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom of about 280 BCE. Aï Khanum necropolis is on the cliffside at the fork of Oxus River and its tributary Kokcha. It is on a naturally elevated triangular landform about 2 km and 600 meters long. The delta (Δ) shape forming a door is the fourth capital letter in the Greek alphabet. Typically, delta at the mouth of a river where it empties into a body of water is an excellent place for cult rituals. Composite marble capitals similar to the chlorite capital shrines in Gandhara and terracotta acanthus antefix acrotian ex-votos litter Aï Khanum. The outstanding craftsmanship of the pseudo-Corinthian capitals, the rarity, and the high quality of marble points to the quarries of Göktepe near coastal Caria in modern-day Turkey. The garland reliefs in Gandhara resemble the style of Asiatic Garland Sarcophagi of Anatolia. Antinous was hailed as a Hero and a new god from Anatolia when he emerged mysteriously like Osiris from his watery grave. Antinous with a cascade of short comma curls was a stunning supernova competing with the resurrection of Christ. A bronze Antinous Herm from Alexandria is one of the random ritual objects found in the Kushan Begram hoard. The Greek Herm shaped like a Canopus jar with four sprigs around its mouth is an altar-top piece that fits your hand. From beyond the grave, 47 African mint, 47–46 BC, Rv. CAESAR, Aeneas, advancing to the left, holding the palladium in his hand, and Anchises on the shoulder, cf. M.H. Crawford, Roman Republican Coinage, Cambridge 1974, nr 458-1. 48 Tomb TT52, North Side of the West Wall of Nakht's Offering Chapel. Nakht during the reign of Thutmose IV, Eighteenth Dynasty Egypt, 15th century BCE. 49 Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim (1531), Three Books of Occult Philosophy or Magic, Book II (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2017) p. 428. @ https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/agrippa-nettesheim/ 50 Michael Koortbojian, Myth, Meaning, and Memory on Roman Sarcophagi (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995) http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft4199n900/ Antinous's diademed head whispered prophesies from the top of his head (1.47). Vout cites a coin from Tarsos that depicts Antinous as Dionysus-Osiris. In the corpus of a mind-boggling number of Antinous portraits, classifying the Canopus portrait type of Antinous Herm is inferred by its resemblance to the expression and the strong position of the portrait head of Antinous with identifying inscription. 51 1.47 Antinous Herm, H.6.35 cm, Begram, 2nd century CE, Kabul Museum (Huntington Archive, 1970) 1.48 The Bearded Priest-King, Steatite, H.17.5 cm, DK Area in Mohenjo-Daro, Proto-historic period Karachi: National Museum of Pakistan (DK 1909) The Theory of Style proposed by Erwin Panofsky (1892-1968) gives a plan. The strategy first considers the subject matter and iconography. Next, it takes an in-depth look at the cultural and iconographic knowledge that imparts meaning. Then, iconology takes into account cultural, social, and technical history into the understanding of the work of art as the product of a historical environment and not as an isolated incident. Art-historical consideration of all these aspects will fit the answer to the puzzling question: "What does it all mean?" Here, the Theory of Style leads to deductive archaeology pursuing scientific clues. For instance, the layout of Mohenjo-Daro dominated by the Great Stupa is similar to various stupa complexes, which is a square; the building clusters arranged on right angles follow the typical Greek orthogonal grid plan. The alleged Bronze Age site is famous for its waterproof Great Bath, amazing wells, standardized brick buildings, and underground drains built of corbel arch. The paved main thoroughfare designed for cart traffic and aligned north and south is similar to Cardo Maximus, the main road in all Roman styled cities. Synchronicity is God’s Message in a Bottle. The iconic Bearded Priest-King of MohenjoDaro is in the form of the famous Roman Azara Herm of Alexander the Great copied from a Greek original by Lysippus dated to 330 BCE. His off-shoulder robe with trilobite pattern feigns the 51 Caroline Vout, Antinous, Archaeology and History (The Journal of Roman Studies, Vol. 95, 2005) pp.87, 88, fig.2 and pl. II (after de Ridder 1906, pls.15,16) ‘pp. 80-96’ (JSTOR 20066818) leopard skin worn by Horus as Horendotes performing priestly rituals to resurrect his father, Osiris. The Bearded Priest more famously wears an armband similar to the Bodhisattvas, and the matching solar headband fluttering down his back is a Greek diadem denoting divinity and royal dignity (1.48). The circular ring tied to his forehead resembles the seven-star disc on the headband of the priests of Serapis in the Roman world. The sacred number-7 recurs in Buddhist, Mithraic, Osirian, and Orphic Mystery closely related to Bacchus linked to primal forces in nature. In ancient Egypt there were seven heavenly cows and seven paths to heaven; Horus led his father Osiris through seven halls of the underworld. The number seven central to the cult of Mithra meant that the soul rose to paradise through seven planetary spheres. The eighth step in the “The Eightfold Path” in Mithraism, as in Buddhism, is the attainment of the chalice of eternal life. Osiris prevailed Serapis in Ptolemaic Egypt, and continued to increase in popularity during the Roman Empire; the priests consecrated to Serapis increased, as did the priests and priestesses Isis. In Roman syncretism, Serapis often substituted Bacchus consorts with Isis-Venus and Demeter in the temples outside Egypt. A Garland Holder depicts a superbly attired elderly bearded man couched in lofty acanthus scroll. Wearing priestly stole and headband, he holds out both hands floral tribute piled up like pinecones (1.49). The vertical volute presumed to be an architectural element to hang a wreath on a domical stupa is a portable L-shaped prop with a stable base placed on a plinth. 1.49 Dionysus, Winged celestial garland holder, Schist, 27 x 24 cm, Gandhara, 1st-2nd century CE Metropolitan Museum of Art (2001.736) Friends of Asian Art Gifts, Honoring Douglas Dillon 1.50 Acanthus memorial altar, Schist, Butkara, 2nd century CE, Peshawar Museum, Pakistan The “Garland Holder” uniting winged divinities in the vertical acanthus volute is a type of Greco-Roman ex-votos in Gandhara. Designed to serve as portable altars, they stood in a stupa sanctuary. In the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the winged goddess Garland Holder is a distinctive counterpart to Zeus-Serapis’ priest.52Acanthus surge into a tall volute to support Isis-Venus52 Kurt Behrendt, The Art of Gandhara in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, MET, 2007) Cat. Nos. 24, 25. Celeste, leaning like a figurehead on the prow of a ship. With a hand raised in protection, she holds a ball of rolled garland.53 The goddess wears Alexandrian cross-chain and a long string of pearls looped between her breasts. A seven-petal rosette on the center boss of her headband corresponds to the seven-rayed star signifying Serapis. The figure carved in minute detail seems gold-tooled by a skilled jeweler-sculptor. She wears a neckband and disc earring engraved with concentric circles; a girdle strung with three rows of beads is attached to ripples of gold fillets suspended from the high waistband. The emblematic Garland Holder is a front-facing icon of worship doubling as a private mortuary altar in the reliquary stupa complex. The winged goddess volute formerly in Eilenberg's collection belongs to a unique type of autonomous vertical shrines probably produced by the same workshop in the Eastern Mediterranean. The Eilenberg Garland Holder is similar to the goddess couched in the anterior acanthus capital that served as a portable private chapel and an offering table in the stupa complex at Butkara (1.50). She holds relic casket and offers protection through Abaya Mudra. Occasional Indo-Greek votive coins are under the acanthus altar. In the mainstream Gandhara, the memorial acanthus altar is a private chapel with occasional Indo-Greek votive coins placed underneath. The pseudo-Indo-Corinthian capital enshrining a seated Buddha, celestial musician, bust of departed, or Helios riding quadriga signifies apotheosis. Predicting the Past Comparing features and demeanor in a Typological study, a likeness that is generically related, whether Apollo type of Buddha or bearded Zeus-Osiris type Hercules, demonstrates how regional variations take place in the context with conformity to the making 'replicas' of typecast portraiture supplied by the global production centers. Aside from such divergent iconography as Egypt, there is the problem of regional diversity and local preferences. Bringing the Dream of Maya or the Birth of Buddha as an example shows that there is a similar central regulatory system in Buddhist mortuary art allowing flexibility due to regional preferences. However, despite provincial choices, making 'replicas' of prominent portraits had a centrally defined three-dimensional model for consultation across the Roman Empire. 54The skilled overseas workforce with centuries of experience catered to a rapid volume of the novel, high-end demand in the geographical confines of South Asia. A young male hero, such as Antonius like Bodhisattva or a forceful bearded "Hercules," is a part of the complex reflection that might involve sculptors' confusion and mistranslation of form. At the same time, the viewing of original Buddhist art requires misunderstanding due to cultural estrangement. In all this, several portraits of bearded and 53 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult: Magic Symbols (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, Vol.1, 2019) p.73, fig.2.17. ‘2 vols.’ Winged Goddess Garland Holder, Schist, H. 24.9 cm, Gandhara, mid–1st century CE, New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art (1987.142.213) Gift of Samuel Eilenberg. Julia Shaw, Buddhist and non-Buddhist mortuary traditions in ancient India: Stupas, Relics, and the Archaeological Landscape, In Death Rituals, Social Order and the Archaeology of Immortality in the Ancient World “Death Shall Have No Dominion,” (eds.) Colin Renfrew, Michael J. Boyd, Iain Morley (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015) pp 382-403. 54 diademed priests in Gandhara telltale thriving cult of Antinous as Dionysus-Osiris, including a system of consulting oracles, that sink into the familiar Casandra syndrome. 1.51 Acanthus ring-stone, Ø 5.9 cm, Taxila, 1st century CE, Lent by Samuel Eilenberg, New York MET 1.52a Jataka Tale of Queen Kakati, Schist, H.53cm, from Peshawar region, Pakistan, 2nd century CE Tokyo: National Museum of Japan 1.52b Garuda abducting Queen Kakati, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE London: Victoria and Albert Museum (IS.5-1973) The systematized Buddhist relics accomplish the prearranged function. The two Acanthus Garland Holders in the Metropolitan Museum of Art show that for no perceivable purpose, it tucks in the Greek bead-and-reel trimming introduced in early Buddhist sculpture and Indo-Greek coins. The discreet string of bead-and-reel comprising disc beads alternating with cylindrical ones is an enigmatic sigil known in architectural molding, sculpture, and numismatics. Religious symbols alone or together with other signs, reinvent to preserve life. Acanthus (Acanthaceae) is a medicinal herb for cure ranging from snake bite to skin diseases. In Greek mythology, Acanthus indicates Apollo's healing gift, the resurrection, and the metamorphosis of Acantha. In the Plant Symbolism, Acanthus anticipates life as cyclical and advocates life emerging from the grave in ancient Greek and Etruscan art. Acanthus called honeysuckle appears on scores of Buddhist cult objects, most memorably on the abacus of early pillar monuments, on Bodhgaya Vajra Asana and the impressive four-sided Pataliputra Altar in the Patna Museum. The acanthus scrolls on the curved volute accentuate the perpendicular altarpieces with winged divinities. The motif is compressed on a quartered circular field of polished sandstone discs and rings carved with a gem cutter's precision. The lathe-turned ex-votos measuring about 4 to 6 cm in diameter are rare in Gandhara but prolific in North India. The model for this brilliant style is probably Greek seals of the early Helladic phase. The scaffolding of signs is incorrigible in Buddhist art. Acanthus known as honeysuckle on the quadrants of a lustrous ring-stone alternates with an archaic goddess arising on the sliding threshold to receive libation in Buddhist funerary rituals. The unique ring-stone talisman from Taxila has a smooth raised demilune frame around a ring of pyramids in high relief between defensive plaited cable (1.51). A disc-stone from Eilenberg's collection in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1987.142.55) has quadripartite acanthus scrolls around a sunken disc like a minute libation plate. A Kushan-Sasanian silver figure from Siberia represents a nude goddess or a shamanic priestess perform the spirit dance by tossing her airborne scarf arched like the vault of heaven. Isis Pharia, with billowing nimbus veil recognized as Venus Celeste, leads a Roman biga in a pageant on the sandstone gateway to Sanchi Stupa I.55 The mantle reaching for the sky is taken up by Nagin's stance soaring heavenward with her turbaned eagle consort. They puff-up like the windy cloud excited to meet the sun on two stele from Pakistan now in the National Museum of Japan and the Victoria and Albert Museum (1.52a,b). A man undertakes Great Departure from life but mysteriously returns with transplanted head and wings to cohabit with his sexy consort frozen in time. Or, a turbaned conjurer’s grand feat of transforming into an Eagleman goes caput, he is unable to revert to his former self. The stage assistant clings to her paramour; letting go of the Grand Master is not an option, anytime he will transform into real life in real-time. The enthralled audience installs petrified versions of this incredible event in several mortuary shrines hoping that someday the couple would become flesh and blood. They truly do. Postmortem healing is the most exceptional science nonfiction ever. The goddesses of the underworld conceived in the hidden cave mansions liberate the dead from the land of eternal darkness. The departed thus attain immense radiance and eternal life as decreed by Amitabha. Ceremonial dances and trance performances are pure forms of shamanic dance-drama. The courtesan dancer in ritual dance-drama performances provides the model for the new Kushan period goddesses, commonly known as Yakshi. Eagle and Nagin make the perfect duo in the tableau; Nagin gathers the wind under the eagle’s wings and metaphorically fuses into a winged cobra-goddess. The roots of ophidian symbolism is none other than Wadjet as Uraeus lift the sun disc on the head of immortal Pharaohs. The female creative force transforms the soul; Nagin's prophetic dance till death for spring to begin is open to an alternative explanation in the light of a sanctified maiden in cult rituals. The “sacred feminine” in the realm of the afterlife offers an invaluable “divine female perspective” – a consecrated maiden must dance till death for spring to begin. Each version of the mystic icon celebrates the celestial couple moves through primal rituals toward a sexual climax. A voluptuous female eagerly lifted off the earth by a heroic male represented as an eagle rise through the oculus on the dome of heaven to highlight the erotic and nurturant significance of the fertile female valued in magic and cult rituals. The anthropomorphized eagle suggests that a man performing in the Mystery play has donned a mask. An 8th-century wingless statue of Garuda called Karura in Kofukuji Temple of Nara in Japan is historical evidence of the Garuda masked medium valued in the Buddhist tradition (1.53). The “Naga-Gurulu (Garuda) Raksha” masked dance ritual in Sri Lanka gives protection (Raksha). The hieratic form proposes that sculptors routinely reproduced performers in the Mystery plays. Several key scenes, such as the "Dream of Maya" and the "Rebirth 55 Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Voyagers Dodging Death, In: Epic Dimensions in Buddhist Art (New Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2021) fig.7.15. of Buddha." could be facsimiles of ritual enactments petrified for perpetuity for magical purposes. Even the exhausted dancers and musicians in the typical “Renunciation” tableaus set in a palace boudoir is an important clue. Time is not linear there as we understand it. Everything was happening all at once instead of in sequential order. Time adjourned, dreamlike visions wrap around on itself like a Swiss-roll, one end touching the other end. There was no future or past. There was only now. 1.53 Historical image of Garuda or Karura masked statue, Kofukuji Temple, Nara, Japan, 8th century CE 1.54 Garuda and Nagini, Schist, 17.5x10x5cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Galerie Golconda (1483) e-Auction 1.55 Courtesan dancer, Collection Amory (Kramrisch 1975, 251) 1.56 Garuda abducting Queen Kakati, Schist, Rhode Tope, Sanghao, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Photo M. Serrot, 1883, British Library Online Gallery 1.57 Naga-Gurulu Raksha Performance: Kandyan masked dance-drama of Sri Lanka Nagin identified as the cobra is Nagakanya meaning virgin cobra goddess. The idea might have resulted from a natural evolution of Egyptian religion in which Isis is the protective cobra goddess. The immaculate conception of falcon god Horus by Isis makes her the original virgin cobra goddess. Standing on an altar pedestal to signify the unity of heaven and earth, the winged Garuda catches a fluttering ribbon in his beak and holds the divine dancer’s hips. The graceful Nagin stands with crossed legs, balancing her weight on the toes of her right foot. In a choreographed regal pose, her left hand is placed on her hip while her right arm touches the right shoulder of the magnificent bird-man. The mantle draped over her shoulder, offsets a close-fitting chiton, and girdled himation wrapped around her waist. She is amply ornamented, from the crown of the wreath to the anklets on her feet. She leans her head against Garuda towering above her, and with fluid movement sways with the turbaned raptor sporting a topknot. Together, the keepers of secret power provide safety to the devotee (1.54). The size and material make the enigmatic icon more tactile, allowing the interaction between the altarpiece and the worshipper from one of distant awe and adoration to a more intimate encounter. Planet Venus sways both Lakshmi and Isis-Venus. Even in Bharhut, the trans-Asian goddess modeled after Hellenistic Aphrodite holds mirror and fiddles her curls with the comb inside the divine harmony and symmetry attained by a lotus medallion. In Gandhara, a festooned figurine of a tinkle toed dancer posing cross-legged on the lotus pedestal manifests goddess Lakshmi (1.55). A Nagin and Garuda pair from Peshawar district repeats the clawed protective hands' posture, cupping the swinging female's hip thrust out in a provocative angle. Her amazing change of attire shows a Turkic costume; the dancer wearing the usual crown of floral wreath sports a long-sleeved short kameez over baggy pantaloons while stockings cover her bare feet. Her outfit and carriage link her with other females in the Birth of Buddha vignette (1.56). The image is quite contrary to what is considered Buddhist; the Eagle lifts a sexy woman to break through the frontiers of theological traditions. And, there is an unspoken connection with other ex-votos familiar in Buddhist art. With scarf swirling and her bosom heaving, she wields her arms to embrace and stroke her adoring aviaryan hulk. The signature movement first shown in Gandhara has taken a life of its own in the Bollywood films and in the bulb-and-boss-blaring entertainment tents where the current nautch girls, trans-women, and Bacha-Bazi or “boy-play” offer virtual sexual gratification in India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Here the moral compass might be murky, but memory ingrained from the way back is adept at figuring out which way the wind is blowing. The frontier female eunuch’s blatant display of sexual desire for the eagle-man is now the “Hot New Dance of Miss Mardan” in YouTube 2020. The captivating show models all the liberated women and transwomen chronicled in Buddhist art. Masquerades in religious plays interpret metamorphosis and the mythological ability of human beings to shapeshift into animals. Ethnographic evidence relating to the Buddhist secret rites suggest that “Naga Raksha” and “Gurulu Raksha” masked dance by shamans is an altered state of trance. To understand one thing is to understand the other. Understand Everything. The traditional Kandyan Naga-Gurulu Raksha dance fostered in Sri Lanka give protection to the communities. The secret rites lost in the crumbled Buddhist necropolises thrives on stage recitals. For the first time in a long time, a breakthrough as prosaic as YouTube shows a wildly gyrating Nagakanya dive into the gentle Garuda (Gurulu). The enthralled audience is well aware that the ritual dance averts death and deters evil demons (1.57). It begins with Garuda's solo performance (Gurulu), the energy crackles when Nagin joins Garuda soaring with hands hovering close to her hip. In the buildup, Nagakanya spins like a top by twirling her waist in an unstoppable whirlwind. The spellbound viewer’s jaw hit the floor; in a trance, the attenuated energy leaves the stage at the end. Behind the façade of the masquerade, there are three types of masked dance in Sri Lanka. The folk dance of Sri Lanka called Kolam gives light-hearted comic relief. Next, the shadowy Kandyan dancers from the murky Buddhist sites in the heart of central Sri Lanka perform traditional shamanic healing and purification rituals. The “Devil Dancers” don the masks carved from local Kaduru timber (Nux vomica) to perform Sanni Yakuma healing rites to remove physical or psychological sickness — and exorcise (Tovil) demons that cause death. The historic maskcarving hub is the coastal town Ambalangoda, located in the Southern Province of Galle in Sri Lanka. The eighteen masked ritual dances called Sanni Yakuma correspond to the eighteen ailments attributed to demons called Sanni. The "Sanni" in Sinhalese is the negative effect of Saturn, known as Shany, Shany Dev, and Maha Kala worshiped on Saturday by Hindus. Shani is known as Maha Kola and Kala in Sri Lanka. The apotropaic Sri Lankan masks are crucial to exorcism performed in three steps: First, a specialist lures the demon with offerings; upon its arrival, the ‘healer’ extracts the demon from the ailing body; in conclusion, the demon is politely sent away by the last dance. Eighteen wooden masks depict eighteen demons in Sanni Yakuma rite, in which the chief of Sanni manifests in the healing Medicine Mask. 1.58a Naga Raksha Mask, Polychrome Wood, Kandy, Sri Lanka, 20th century CE 1.58b Naga-Gurulu Raksha Dance Mask, Polychrome Wood, 60 x 85cm, Sri Lanka, c.1920 Credit: R. Manukulasooriya, Royal Asiatic Society of Sri Lanka & Michael Backman Ltd, London, 2005 The Eagle and Queen Kakati The third type is the Kandyan Naga-Gurulu Raksha masked dance aimed to destroy death or Mara. The Kandyan Naga-Garuda Raksha ritual dance is from the spirit world. Here is the chance to glimpse the “other side” of the façade. Do we know for a fact what exists on the other side? 56In folklore, Nagakanya (Cobra Virgin) and Garuda give protection. It is common to display a replica of apotropaic Naga-Garuda masks in Sri Lankan households (1.58a,b). Contrary to the enmity between the eagle and the serpent in wildlife, Nagakanya and Garuda masked dance is the ultimate magical ride to immortality. Ocean of time and space separate Naga-Garuda masked dance from the mythology of the cobra goddess Isis and the solar falcon god Horus was battling the dark forces to protect and resurrect the dead. Instead of the flying ribbons in the Garuda and Nagini icons of Gandhara bunches of raffia tassels flow from the cobra-eagle masks. Raffia tassels toss about wildly when Nagini and Garuda dance to the drumbeat. First, the cobra goddess stirs up the storm; by the time Garuda joins her, the Nagini bent from the waist twirls in a circular motion to simulate the sinuous sway of the cobra. Then, the shock of remembrance stored in the gene takes hold; Garuda dancing behind Nagini tunes into the performance and holds her waist and slowly lifts her. Garuda’s hand steadying her at the waist, with a spring to her toe Nagini like a ballerina could fly up in an arabesque.57 56 At the beginning of all these manifestations, the Kushan period Mahavamsa records that Mahadharmaraksita or the Great Protector of Righteousness, a Greek (Pali. Yona) from Alexandria, arrived with 30,000 monks for the consecration of the Great Stupa (Maha Thupa) at Anuradhapura in Sri Lanka. 57 Naga Raksha Performance - Thinetha (III) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDetw-8vqmk Gandhara sculpture from antiquity transmutes a Buddhist sacramental ritual confirmed by the Naga-Gurulu Raksha dance. In a significant way, the Eagle and the ophidian attributes of the female bow to the winged cobra goddess Isis and her youthful son Horus, the falcon sun god of Egypt. The “Garuda and Nagin” museum label accepting the fabled Garuda as a prototype is ok. In a significant way, the Eagle and the ophidian attributes of the female bow to the winged cobra goddess Isis and her youthful son Horus, the falcon sun god of Egypt. The "Garuda and Nagin" museum label accepting the fabled Garuda as a prototype is ok. As a shining example of coincidental identification, the woman is fully human, and the snake is absent in this type of icon. As an alternative, the pair labeled "Eagle and Queen Kakati" is from a Pali Jatakam. 58 From the start, scholars sought to trace the otherworldly Garuda and Nagin to a legend. But the hastily applied label noting the Eagle as an infatuated abductor of Queen Kakati in some way takes the metaphorical Jatakam casually. In Kakati-Jatakam, the King of Benares habitually played a dice game with the Eagle that craved Queen Kakati. The attraction was mutual. One day the Eagle king abducted Kakati to his distant Naga Island and cocooned his beloved in a bed of Eraka grass. They lived happily together in the fragrant Simbal Grove. The Eagle continued to commute to play dice with the King of Banaras, now heartbroken by his loss. The astute court poet named Naṭakuvera looked at the Eagle with mounting doubt, and one day he hopped a ride and saw Queen Kakati by a lakeside bedded with the Eagle. Then, once again, the minstrel hid in the Eagle’s plumage and returned to Banaras. When the time came to play dice, Naṭakuvera took his lute, and going up to the gaming board stood before the players and gave utterance to a song he had composed to reveal the whereabouts of Queen Kakati. On hearing his secret love-nest spill out, the Eagle declared in the fourth stanza: Out upon the foolish blunder, What a booby I have been! Lovers best were kept asunder, Lo! I've served as a go-between And Queen Kakati was restored to the King of Banaras. But not before exclaiming to Naṭakuvera: Sea and Kebuk Stream defying Did you reach my island home? Over Seven Oceans flying To the Simbal Grove didst come? In reply, Naṭakuvera uttered the third stanza: ’Twas through thee all space defying. I was borne to Simbal grove, And o’er seas and rivers flying. ’Twas through thee, I found my love.59 Bodhisattva, in a similar Sussondi-Jataka, is a young Garuḍa from Naga Island known as Seruma Island. He frequented the dice-chamber of Tamba, the King of Benares. Sussondi, the 58 59 Kakati-Jataka, J. 327, Vol. III, H.T. Francis, and R.A. Neil (tr.), 1897, pp.61,62. (sacred-texts.com) Sacred Texts Kakati-Jataka, J. 327, Vol. III, H.T. Francis, and R.A. Neil (tr.), 1897, pp.61-62. Sacred Texts (sacred-texts.com) queen consort, caught the eye of the Eagle, and both craved for each other. The supernatural Eagle flew away with the Queen. A minstrel named Saga commissioned to find the Queen met a group of merchants at Barukaccha ready to sail for the Golden Land.60 He bargained his passage for a song but refused to play his lute, claiming that the sound would attract leaping shoal of fish that would topple the boat. When forced to play, the sound of his lute strings stirred the fish into a frenzy, and a sea monster crashed into the ship and broke it to smithereens. Saga survived by clinging to a plank, and the wind took him to a Banyan tree in the Seruma/Naga Island, where the Supanna king lived with Queen Sussondi.61 Whenever Supanna went to play dice with the king of Banaras, Sussondi took a pleasant stroll along the shore. Thus, the sultry-eyed Queen chanced upon the minstrel, embraced, and comforted him on her couch. Bathed, perfumed and clothed in heavenly vestment, and decorated with ornaments and flowers, Saga feasted on delightful food and wine. The Queen took tender care of him and hid him whenever Supanna returned from his game of dice. After an ardent interlude for forty-five days, the minstrel returned home when a ship on its way to Benares stopped at the island to gather food and water. The minstrel described to Supanna king his voyage to the Banyan Tree that stood surrounded by the crashing waves in the Seruma Island filled with the fragrance of Timiras. He revealed in the song that the Queen smelling of sandalwood took him in a “gentle embrace, as a mother her son.” Astonished Supanna realized that the Queen kept back in the secluded Seruma Island did not guarantee exclusive privileges. Regretfully, he restored the Queen to the King of Benares. This story narrated in the "House of Truth" enabled the hearer to attain the "fruit of stream-entry" understood as propitious rebirth and everlasting life. Consistently, the final resting place in the Hall of Truth is known as Set-Maat (st mꜣꜥt) or the Place of Truth in ancient Egyptian. It upholds the concepts of divine Law, Truth, balance, order, and harmony. Maat, the winged goddess of Truth, prevents the universe from returning to chaos; her chief role is Weighing of the Heart, a process by which all human beings aspire to reside with the gods in ancient Egyptian religion. Both Kakati-Jataka and Sussondi-Jataka inherit centuries-old 1.59 Eagle turban emblem, Schist, H.17.7cm, 2nd century CE, 60 Pvt. Collection (after Kurita & Azarpay) Sussondi-Jataka, J. 360, Vol. III, H.T. Francis, and R.A. Neil (tr.), 1905, pp.124-125. Sacred Texts (sacredtexts.com) 61 Guitty Azarpay, A Jataka Tale on a Sasanian Silver Plate (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 9 (1995), pp. 99-125 ‘pp. 99-125’ Endnote: 48 quotes K. R. Norman on Sussondi-Jataka. (JSTOR/24048818) Greek myth about Zeus’s eagle abducting Aegina to an island near Attica called Oenone, after that known by her name. In Ovid’s narrative, Zeus’ eagle is a great flame. Informed by Sisyphus the king of Corinth about a mighty bird bearing a maiden away to a nearby island, Aegina's father Asopus the River chased. But Zeus thunder-bolted and plunged him into the river. Aegina eventually gave birth to a son Aeacus, the king of Aegina in the Saronic Gulf. Zeus granted Aeacus prayer and populated his depleted kingdom with myrmidon warriors transformed from the ants on an oak tree. Again, a mythic inversion takes place in the travelers’ tale about the gold-digging ants along the inaccessible Indus River Valley of the Himalayan region. Buddhist literary language couched in double-enders may seem paradoxical, but in the dynamics of religious history, they disclose the inner meaning. In a figure of speech, Supanna or Suparna Garuda, representing a supernatural bird in heaven is a trope The "Ladder to Heaven" too is a trope tangled with Benares. The figurative expressions and the embodied visual analogies provide related images in pictorial art. At the core of Kakati-Jataka is the magical divine female (Maha Maya) redeeming and resurrecting humans into powerful beings, “splendid like the sun, beautiful in body and spirit” typified by Buddhas and Bodhisattvas. One may guess that metamorphosis takes place in an enchanted island like Sri Lanka and the Indian Subcontinent. Language-based art stems from poetry; the Buddhist genre has distinct tropes of its own. 1.60a Eagle and Kakati, Schist, H.20.59 cm, Sangao, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE Pvt. Collection. Japan (after Kurita & Guitty Azarpay) 1.60b Eagle and Kakati, Schist, H.c.20 cm, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE London: British Museum (1888.8.62) 1.60c Eagle and Kakati, Schist, H. 19.2cm, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE, Peshawar Museum (497) The minstrel Naṭakuvera in Banaras sings, “Thoughts transmitted from her distant home moves my inmost soul,” and declares, “I found my love in the “Simbal Grove” by crossing seas and rivers. He confirms that this space defying feat was possible only because he could fly with the Eagle King. The Eagle is the facilitator, and the divine female is the ultimate goal to reach the heavenly abode. At no time the Eagle can assume that the Queen of Heaven is his sole possession. Jatakam is about the former lives of the Buddha. In this one, the king of Benares with his beloved queen-consort Kakati is the future Buddha, and therefore still a Bodhisattva.62 The futuristic and optimistic Greco-Buddhist cult is active in four spaces. The most interesting takeout of Eagle and Kakati artwork is the framework itself. There are clear hierarchies operated by the two cohorts soaring heavenward with Kakati on the wings of the Eagle in an ex-voto from Gandhara (1.59). The symbolic crest jewel representing Eagle and Nagin acknowledge that the inclusive allegoric image befits only the Bodhisattva by the Simbali-Lake surrounded by fragrance. 1.61 Ganymede and Eagle, Bronze mirror case, Etruscan, Ø 15.2 cm, Palestrina, 3rd century BCE?-CE London: British Museum (726) (after Guitty Azarpay) 1.62 Eagle and Kakati, Schist, H.20.7 cm, Gandhara, 2nd-3rd century CE Columbia, Museum of Art and Archaeology, University of Missouri (Gift of Samuel Eilenberg) Group Sculpture Garuda and Nagin's icon reveals how art must evolve and adapt to reflect the Rite of Spring in a changing world on the verge of lockdown. The Eagle seems to bind with a winding rope; moments lived in the metaphorically active “Eagle and Kakati” icons provide the way to the next world. Each addition to this, constantly changing collage figures offers an informed framework for a larger comparative study. Dharmapala’s drawn sword ready to protect the ascent to heaven is a clear-sighted finale to a dazzling quartet (1.60a). This kind of naturalistic body with unexpected juxtapositions and visual rhymes is associate with Roman art. Naturalism heightened by the female figure caught in a moment at the focal point breaks free of the block; it has come to play and occupy space and time in a far more exciting way. The couple draws our gaze to the soaring, but the inert hieratic form of the Eagleman taking off from the runway on which the reclining figure in the limelight seems to surrender to immense power (1.60b). The stop-gap action of the levitating Queen of Heaven maps out an ever-evolving image in startlingly mercurial moods. The paired 62 John Guy, Indian Temple Sculpture (New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2007) p.24. male and female acolytes introduce new roles to Yogi and Yogini before they dive deeper into Tantric Gilded Age. One of them holds a coiled rope in the Peshawar icon (1.60c). The sculptured collective actions in the summer nights are transplanted to a world away from where the sun never seems to set. 1.63 Eagle King, Kakati Abduction, Grey schist, H. 33.3 cm, Gandhara, 2nd century CE New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art (I980.325) Bernice Richard Gift Each person has his dice with death; the Greco-Buddhist mortuary cult sees it as a momentary setback and introduces countermeasures. The commissioned sculptor portrays his perception with furious energy and decodes ideas into real-life performances suddenly released from the stone. The frontal composition of Eagle and Kakati is a cultural landmark in GrecoRoman style comparable to an immersive re-envisioning of Ganymede and Zeus’s eagle on an Etruscan bronze mirror case. The eagle dominating tondo envelops Ganymede standup between two kneeling male figures representing the nude Bithynian youth in serial action of rising from the ground to meet the eagle with open arms. His outstretched left-hand touch the waist of partially draped Venus; the goddess of love accosts the mighty eagle with a raised hand (1.61).63 In the New Monuments to the Buddha to be, a similar composition shows a troubled figure on the ground surrender to the redeeming Eagle in the Museum at the University of Missouri (1.62). Both apparels and ailment became tropes for new attitudes attuned to the flux of gender. Antinous is the image of Ganymede; it was a queer body celebrated by the Romans. Nagin or Yakshi draped in a female body effectively alters the myth of Hermaphroditus in the collection of Buddhist artwork. 63 Guitty Azarpay, A Jataka Tale on a Sasanian Silver Plate (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, New Series, Vol. 9 (1995), p.114, fig.23. ‘pp. 99-125.’ 2.64a Eagle and Queen Kakati crown of Bodhisattva, H.23 cm (auction.fr, July 2020, Lot 199) 2.64b Makara–Eagle crown of Bodhisattva, H. 33.7 cm, Bonhams (New York, July 2020, Lot 809) The Greco-Buddhist group sculpture is a distinctive type; in some stele, the bird-man, and his bride are surrounded by other supporting actors. The chronographic formation of collectively experienced cultural identity is a small piece of information to understand the figures staging a performance. The chronographic formation of collectively experienced cultural identity is a small piece of information to understand the figures staging a performance. The Mystery play translated in the durable visual medium is as if to declare that determining intent is critical to actualizing goals. The group sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art succeeds rest of the action-packed icons from Gandhara. A male depicted twice in continuous motion holds rolled fiber rope in his hand and looks up at the Eagle. This kind of hieratic iconography has the sanctioned effect upon the eye given by someone adequately imitating the pose of a scribe in ancient Egypt. The coiled rope meant to measure the Pharaoh's holdings could be twisted raffia or sisal hemp (Agave sisalana) (1.63). The scribe was the record keeper and overseer of the agricultural property of the Pharaoh. He was also a physician, skilled painter-sculptor, and calligrapher. Usually, the erudite scribe as a wealthy and influential court official prepared impressive monuments for himself to enjoy a glorious afterlife. The portrayal of an Egyptian scribe is tell-tale evidence of Egypt's allpervading genius in the Greco-Buddhist mortuary cult. The Hall of Truth doggedly asserted at the end of each Jatakam is a trope that links the recurrent motif to the Egyptian theme of the House of Eternity. From the exotic headgear to the colorful accessories the modish mustached princely Bodhisattvas time and again undergo a plastic transformation. Face to face, their death masks with downcast eyes contemplate the other side. A couple of unauthorized Bodhisattva heads were eauctioned in July 2020, the Bonhams’ at New York fetched $50,000. are deified by the luminous moon emanating from a dot on the forehead. The heads severed from the effigies in Gandhara's mortuary shrines wear improbable headgear bristling with symbols to redeem the Bodhisattvas (1.64a,b). The crown holding Eagleman and Queen Kakati swap Zeus’ eagle and the Queen of Heart to undergo critical adjustments. The changing perspectives in Roman syncretism seem to substitute Queen Kakati and merge on the crown Isis-Venus and Venus Celeste of Carthage. The goddess paired with eagle insists that human enhancement depends on enlightenment through the divine female with supernatural affinities and beneficial animal complementarities. Unexpectedly, the crown of Bonhams’ Bodhisattva is elaborated by the unique Eagle and Kakati group in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (1.64b). An erudite sculptor reintroduces the mysterious figure holding a rope evocative of the ancient Egyptian. The sign could be altered to signify immeasurable time allotted by Chronos. Saturn glorified as the ancestral King of Kings by Romans believed in the Golden Age of Saturn. Saturn named Mahakala and Shani Dev after Saturday (Shanivara). Mahakala is a homonym denoting time as well as black. Thus, Saturn personified as huge black elephant is persistently pointed out by the Harpa/Ankush ensign. Among a cluster of sigils, the innovative Makara jewel face two-directions on the Bodhisattvas' forehead. Makara is Capricorn's ensign, ruled by Saturn, Surya's son. The return of Saturn into Capricorn on 24 January 2020 was a cosmic homecoming; this constellation affected the people of all the zodiac signs and brought tremendous changes to the world in the Wheel of Time. On the other hand, Sun's annual transit in Capricorn in mid-January, known as Makar Sankranti in North India, is a famous festival in many cultures. It marks the Sun commence its irresistible northward ascent when the gates of heaven open. A variety of magic symbols and talismans protect the nuanced Bodhisattva as a posthuman Buddha. His earrings shaped like a winged griffin known for divine healing energy from higher metaphysical planes designates goddess Isis during the Roman period.64 The winged griffin is recognized and understood by its winged leonine form and the beak of a parrot in Roman stele from Egypt.65 On a Torana fragment of Sanchi stupa a massive winged griffin is seated on the spiral whorl (1.64a). The hypnotic spiral path in the spirit realm, depending on the right or the left turn, point to heaven or the underworld. Here, the clockwise movement regarded as ascension rise through seven tiers of spiritual development and act as a bridge to heaven. Like the dervish spin the whirling path of the winged griffin at the pinnacle of truth leads to Divine Oneness in the lotus of rebirth. The ascension whorl then swipes its curved tail into a lotus pond where the goddess holds the relic caskets and nurtures the elephant famously representing the descending soul in Maha Maya’s Dream sequence. 64 Isis as winged griffin, Polychrome faience pot, H.17 cm, Ø Rim 10.9 cm, El Hilba, 2nd century CE, New York: Brooklyn Museum of Art (70.89.3) Charles Edward Wilbur Fund. Arputharani Sengupta, Buddhist Jewels in Mortuary Cult (Delhi: Agam Kala Prakashan, 2019) fig.2.7. 65 The Funerary Stela of C. Julius Valerius, Limestone, 35.7 x 25.8 x 4.6 cm, Egypt, 3rd century CE, Brooklyn Museum. The Jataka or rebirth story is about the former lives of the Buddha. In his previous life, the Buddha is the royal Bodhisattva born as solar Eagle besotted by Queen Kakati, the beloved consort of the King of Benares. Even after the Queen returned to her rightful place, the Eagle continued to roll the dice with the King of Benares, rather like the endless game of Senet played in the Egyptian tombs known as the House of Truth. The Eagle is Buddha in his previous birth, Dharmapala with a drawn sword, is the fierce protector of Buddha on his transit to heaven. The rope coiled around the group to reinforce protection. Curiosity drives the sorrowing figure’s complete submission on the plinth. It comes from a place of wanting to incite change for good. To share a vulnerability that might help herself and others. And to highlight something that resonates long after the dedication to the dead. Tantric Vajrayogini The Eagleman lifting his passionate bride is melodramatic. The iconography, as Plato says in Greek, is eristic, “designed for wrangling.”66The Eagle and Kakati montage is a radical reinterpretation of the mystical sexual union of female-centered energy in Mahayana Buddhism. It anticipates the esoteric Vajrayogini stirred-up by the whirring prayer-wheel proliferating in Tantric Buddhism. Maharaga, meaning Great Passion, is the essence of transcendent Vajrayogini intensely engaged for the good of all. In that sense, Vajrayogini linked to the original revelation in the thundering Eagle and Kakati is the diamond couple at the core of Vajra-Mahayana, Mantrayana, and Tantrayana. A Yogini or Dakiṇi is Karmamudra or the “Seal of Action” substituted with Kamamudra or the “Seal of Passion” in the Vajrayana Buddhist technique of sexual practice with a physical or a visualized consort known as the Jnanamudra, the “Seal of Wisdom.” The Yoginis proliferate as accomplished female practitioners of sex for the good of all. Yoginis in Tantric Buddhism vastly expand the pantheon; Vajrayogini conflated with Ugra Tara is a precursor to the highly charged black Kali in union with her consort Bhairav Shiva in the graveyard. Buddhist and Hindu Tantric practice of Siddhas or Yogis can be traced to Sadhana, the revelation of unique mystical knowledge attained in life. Supernatural power enables Siddhas to shapeshift, gain speed, levitate, fly, and accomplish impossible feats. Siddhas become invisible, appear simultaneously, do extraterrestrial travel, increase or decrease in size, obtain and accomplish anything, switch off passion, control others, enter another body or a place at will, paralyze or cause death, and revive the dead. The four female Siddhas among the famed 84 Mahasiddhas in India are the mad princess Laksminkara, the model wife Manibhadra, and Kanakhala and Mekhala among two headless younger and older sisters. The spiritual path in Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism inspired the great female practitioners in Tibet; they practiced the Yogini Treasure or Ratna Lingpa to benefit countless beings. Many of them took a cinematic turn to acquire a rainbow body and attained enlightenment within a lifetime. The famed Gechak Nunnery in Nangchen eventually housed about 3,000 female Tantrics; Tsangyang Gyatso built it on the instructions of the first Yogi Drubwang Tsoknyi (1828-1904) in the Drukpa Lineage. Plato defines Euthydemus’ and Dionysodorus’s argumentation as ‘eristic’. This means “designed for wrangling” ('eris' means 'strife' in Greek). 66 The legendary conflict between astral Garuda and Naga of the netherworld parallel mythical Garuda and Nagin. Garuda typically caught a Naga by the head. Naga swallowed large stones and wearied the mighty bird down, which let go from exhaustion. Karambiya, the ascetic, bared this secret and taught Garuda to seize by the tail and force Naga to disgorge and surrender.67 In the Jatakam framework, Nagin is an ardent female willing to bed with passersby, which turns up in a reproving discourse in Kunala-Jataka. In the rebirth story Kunala, the Eagle is Prince Arjuna, the Bodhisattva, who always began his story with the words “I saw” — Seeing was one way to startle his audience. To create supernatural darkness, he sat there, emitting two dark-blue rays from his hair. Or stirred up a storm and made nightfall on a bright day. To gladden troubled hearts, he exuded the six-colored rays. Seeing him thus, even sworn enemies laid down their arms. Then the Blessed Eagle Kunala alighted and seated himself on a magnificent Buddha throne and narrated what he had seen in his former births to the royal cuckoo Punnamukha, who had just got up from his sickbed. “I saw” Kanha of double parentage wed five princes, insatiate she lusted for yet more, and with a hump-backed dwarf, she played the whore.68 I have seen, friend Punnamukha, a female ascetic named Saccatapavi, who dwelt in a cemetery and gave away even a fourth meal. She sinned with a goldsmith. I witnessed too, friend Punnamukha, the case of Kakati, the wife of Venateyya, who dwelt surrounded by the sea and yet sinned with Naṭakuvera. I have seen, friend Punnamukha, the fair-haired Kurangavi, who though in love with Eḷakamara, sinned with Chaḷangakumara and Dhanantevasi. It was known to me, how the mother of Brahmadatta, forsaking the king of Kosala, fornicated with Pancalacand. These and other women went wrong; hence one should not trust or praise women. As the earth is impartial towards all, bearing wealth for all, a home for men good and bad alike, all-enduring, unshaken, immovable, is also with women in a wicked sense. A man should not trust them. Verily on nine grounds, a woman is blamed: if she is fond of frequenting parks, gardens, and river banks, fond of visiting the houses of kinsfolk or strangers, given to dress and adorn herself like a man, given to idle gaze, drinks intoxicants and stands before her door — I say, such a woman will inevitably stray from virtue and will be corrupted (1905:232). Verily, friend Punnamukha, death is predictable owing to the regressive charms of the female wench walking the streets as harlots. Instead, to overcome societal constraints primitive sexuality portrayed by Eagle and Kakati is enigmatic. Jatakam rebirth tales show a flippant attitude toward long-held social conventions. Kakati was attracted to the Eagle in a pleasure garden; in Sussondi-Jataka, the Queen of Benares gazed at the handsome Eagle in the dice-house. On the whole, sexual power and eroticism in early Buddhist cult were a formidable force to transcend human limitations. Due to the inherent struggle with morality, seductive female relentlessly lighting the darkness of being is a largely ignored part of early Buddhist art. The Greco-Buddhist “Otherwise Worlds” turning on the wheel of cult rituals is performed by “courtesan dancers” fabricating “priestess nuns” — it is demonstrated by glorified 67 Pandara-Jataka, J.518. Kunala Jataka, J.536, Vol. V, (tr.) H.T. Francis and R.A. Neil, 1905, p.225, ‘pp.219-245’ Sacred Texts (sacredtexts.com) Amazingly, Kunala-Jataka in early Sri Lankan Pali is a brief episode of the Panch Pandavas with their names intact. They have a great run in Mahabharata, the great epic in Sanskrit literature. 68 females embodying sexually powerful religious experience in stupa sculpture. The curiosity of which pursued to center conceptual Trop of Desire historically; it includes the Homoerotic Love and cross-dressing Bodhisattvas and the Symposium Rhetoric in schist shields put out as offering plates. What is above, so is below. In whatever form, they are willing recruits to gladden a man’s heart on the other side of River Styx. The recruitment of thousands of willing women was an essential part of the Buddhist mortuary cult. Reimagining religious belief through the socially engaged art, anything goes to get to the other side with one’s halo intact. A sandstone eagle from Mathura outshining the eagle fragments in Afghanistan and Iran lifts a maiden by her long plaited hair that changes into the tail of a serpent (1.65a). Isis as the winged cobra goddess is the prototype (1.65b). The turbaned Garuda wearing earrings as the transporter of Vishnu and the charioteer of the sun god Surya can be visualized on the capital of the Besnagar Heliodorus pillar. The famed Double-Headed Eagle Stupa is a singular monument in Taxila; the heads turned east and west signifies the perpetual Sun god leading to Moksha. The two-headed eagle unique to Turkey and Central Asia is first observed in a Hittite seal in Anatolia (18th century BCE). In a medieval dirham from Turkey, the double-headed eagle called Kulakl lifts a crescent cup on a garland (1.66). From Mongolia to Myanmar and beyond, the heroic Garuda the eagle signifies courage. Garuda in Vedic literature appears as a metaphor for Rik (rhythm), Saman (sound), Yajna (sacrifice), and Atman or the living soul. Aquila in Latin is the eagle allied to valor and vitality on the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary as an Aquilifer or the “eagle-bearer” carried the front-facing eagle standard. The imperial eagle signifying the Sun is an emblem of resurrection in Jiroft and other burial mounds across the deserts of Iran. The prehistoric eagle seals are from Gonur Tepe known as Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC) north of ancient Merv in Turkmenistan excavated by Victor Sarianidi in the 1970s when it was part of Russia. The eagle and ibex cast in solid gold have singular implication in the Sarmatian and Scythian Kurgans in Central Asia. The Silkroad Guide to Moksha The map-dot location of the Eagle in Buddhist art-works might be in Kushan South Asia, but the stimuli to the workshops come from diverse directions. Helios, the Greco-Roman sun god, riding a chariot shoots arrows in an interesting frieze on a pillar monument in Bodh Gaya. First, Monotheistic Bhaga signifies the sun god in the Heliodorus Pillar monument at Besnagar in Central India (Madhya Pradesh).69 Bhaga in Sanskrit is a term for lord, benefactor, but also means wealth, prosperity. It represents not just elevated spiritual awareness of their coded system, but the expertise and organizational prowess of the peers in the board of directors. The Heliodorus pillar presumed to be erected around 113 BCE was discovered by Alexander Cunningham in 1877. It is both unique and familiar. The Heliodorus Pillar known as Garuda Stambam and worshiped now as Khmba Baba (Pillar Lord/Pita) by the local fishermen is cognate with Latin Pater associated with the Trajan Column in Rome. Heliodorus Pillar at Besangar is about 7 km from Vidisha, marked by a pillar 69 Bhaga is Lord (RV 1.123). Rays adorn Bhaga's eye (RV 1.136), and Dawn (Ushas) is Bhaga's sister. statue near the Great Stupa at Sanchi. The revered man garbed in an ethnic dhoti once stood in the vedika on the lotus capital of a memorial pillar. The Besnagar Heliodorus Pillar is unusual. Granting it recalls the prevalent inverted lotus capital, the graded bevelling of the shaft differs from the primary tapered cylindrical “Asoka” pillars with a smooth, shiny surface (1.67). The legend Garuda, and a fractured dowel pin projecting from the lotus capital indicate that the animal emblem might be an eagle signifying renewal at the top. The inscription “Heliodorus Bagha” combines Greek and Old Iranian term for “God” sometimes designating a specific god, portents Vishnu as a Great God (Bhagabhada). For more than two centuries, the gender-biased epithets in the Kushan world fit into a hierarchy, with Buddha and Bodhisattva at the top of Bagha, Bhagavata, Bhagavan, Deva, Aya, and Arhat. Midway, each octagonal facet of the beveled quartzite shaft of the Heliodorus Pillar has an arched aedicule with a lotus bloom and a lotus bud spandrel. Below this band, two historical inscriptions in Prakrit Brahmi across the three beveled sides of the octagonal shaft face east and west. The dedication to “Devadeva Heliodorus riding an Eagle (Garuda)” faces west. It continues: “Divine Lord (Bhagavan/Bhagavata), son of Dion of Taxila sent by the great Greek King (Yona Maharaja) Antialcidas (Amtalikitasa) in the fourteenth year of his reign as ambassador and savior of Kasiputra (son of Benares) Bhagabhadra.” The inscription on the east face of the pillar lets sunshine on truth, justice, and righteousness prevail upon the dead after life’s fitful fever and thus sleep well as the reward in heaven. 1.65a The Eagle and Kakati, Sandstone, H. 28 cm, Mathura, Mathura Museum, 1st century CE 1.65b Isis, winged cobra goddess of Egypt, Gold plaque, New Kingdom Egypt, 1550-1070 BCE 1.66 Kulakl double-headed eagle, Nasreddin Mahmud's mint dirham, 619 AH (1213/4 CE), Turkey “Three immortal precepts (footsteps) when practiced lead to heaven: self-restraint, charity, awareness.” 70 [Devadevasa Va [sude]vasa Garudadhvajo ayam karito i[a] Heliodorena bhagavatena Diyasa putrena Takhasilakena Yonadatena agatena maharajasa Amtalikitasa upa[m]ta samkasam-rano Kasiput[r]asa [Bh]agabhadrasa tratarasa vasena [chatu]dasena rajena vadhamanasa Trini amutapadani [su] anuthitani nayamti svaga damo chago apramado 1.67a,b Heliodorus Pillar/Garuda Stambam/Kamba Baba, Sandstone, Besnagar, 1st century CE /Wikimedia 70 Archaeological Survey of India, Annual Report (1908-1909) The religious faith in righteous conduct (Dharma) and reward in heaven (Paraloka)proclaimed by the Asoka Edicts are shared by Christianity, Mithraism, and Orphism at an inflection point. The pillar memorial to Heliodorus festooned with twisted strands of floral swags with a bunch of lotus and fruit pendants emulate Roman Garland Sarcophagi. Apple, pear, and mango hang from the eight birds turning clockwise on the swing from eight to sixteen sides of the tapered shaft. The recall of the Golden Apples of Hesperides in the last but one feat of Hercules before capturing the multiheaded Cerberus in the underworld. The flying geese, floral swag, and the fruit of the Tree of Life signify Victory over Death. The section above the octagonal shaft faceted into sixteen sides taper into thirty-two delicate facets narrowing to an arrow point under the downturned lotus capital. The diameter of the capital is nearly 91.5cm, and about 76cm in height together with the abacus separated by a twisted cable has bead and reel molding. The swag with a bunch of lotus and fruit pendants emulate Roman Garland Sarcophagi. Apple, pear, and mango hang from the eight birds turning clockwise on the swing from eight to sixteen sides of the tapered shaft. The recall of the Golden Apples of Hesperides in the last but one feat of Hercules before capturing the multiheaded Cerberus in the underworld. The flying geese, floral swag, and the fruit of the Tree of Life signify Victory over Death. The section above the octagonal shaft faceted into sixteen sides taper into thirty-two delicate facets narrowing to an arrow point under the downturned lotus capital. The diameter of the capital is nearly 91.5cm, and about 76cm in height together with the abacus separated by a twisted cable has bead and reel molding. The lotus petals rest on batten molding, and the abacus stretched by rosettes on arcade has hieroglyphic “prince” designated by the geese enface alternating with acanthus of rebirth (1.67b). The missing Garuda emblem on the broken dowel relates to Homeric Greek god Helios and the Imperial Eagle of Rome contending with the earliest falcon sun god Horus of Egypt. Alexandrian Heliodirus from the Nile Delta gives birth to the new cult of Khmba Baba (Pillar Lord) and the “self-sacrificing” Bodhisattva as much mythology as it is art, maybe even more so. The Heliodorus pillar datable to 1st century CE has the earliest reference to Garuda. A. L. Basham thought that Heliodorus was a Greek converted to Bhagavata religion of Lord Krishna, the divine transport of Vishnu gaining the status of the Imperial cult under the Guptas.71The imperial Heliodorus pillar corresponds to an inscribed column in Roman North Africa found 75 km southwest of Avitina by the River Bagrada.72 The pillar measuring 80 cm high was one of four dedicated to Tiberius Caesar Augustus by C. Septumius c.f. Saturninus, flamen. According to Tiberius’ title, the date of dedication was 33 CE. Other than Lepcis Magna, evidence of priest of Imperial cult in Avitana, then a part of Carthage probably went under Numidian control. The “Bhagavata Heliodorus” pillar linked to Alexandria and Ptolemaic Numidia/Mauretania, originated as an imperial monument in the Roman Empire. The inscription derived from the Imperial cult of Egypt that personified the king as Horus, the sun god in the form of a falcon. The falcon merged with Jupiter’s eagle appears first as Garuda Bodhisattva consorting with the 71 A. L. Basham, The Wonder That Was India (Oxford, Taplinger Pub. Co., 1967)p.60. (3rd ed.) J. B. Rives, Imperial Cult and Native Tradition in Roman North Africa (The Classical Journal, Vol. 96, No. 4, Apr.May 2001) pp. 425-436 (JSTOR/3298422) 72 spellbound Nagin in South Asia. The sun represented by the eagle is the life force in the universe. The Garuda Pillar Monument at Besnagar and the Double-Headed Eagle Stupa at Taxila are the first monumental “Disruptors” that daringly diverge and remain within the mainstream Buddhist iconography. 1.68 The Double-Headed Eagle Stupa Plinth, Sirkap, Taxila, Pakistan, 1st century CE 1.69 Floral Swags and Arched Aedicule, Schist, Gandhara, 1st century CE A stupa is a mandap with four stone pillars stood on the circumambulatory plinth called the “Stupa of Double-Headed Eagle” in Sirkap, Taxila. The two-headed eagle stands on the arched and pedimented roofs carved on either side of the six-steps leading to the ruined platform. The two-tier arch entry to one of the blank doorway corresponds to the Torana gateway to Sanchi and Bharhut stupa. The aedicules and the commemorative Corinthian pilasters between them carved in low relief on the plinth served as auxiliary shrines to the deified dead worshiped inside a fortified quadrangle (1.68). The eagle turned towards east and west stands on the empty tombs to herald the sun’s eternal passage and transcendence of human limitations. The royal double-headed eagle called Kulakl in Turkey in a sublime cocktail of myth and occultism that shield the Czars of eastern monarchies as far as Russia. The arched mortuary shrines recur above with floral swags on a votive frieze from Gandhara. The Alexandrian garland bearers are typical of the Roman Garland Sarcophai produced in Anatolia (1.69). In this example, the arched aedicules placed between antique pillars with addorsed animal capitals enshrine the dead. One of the arches enshrines the house of eternity reached by a staircase. It is the metaphorical Ivory Tower cut off from the world of the living, where the dead enjoys a blissful afterlife in the realm of the Thirty-Three Devas known as Tavatiṃsa heaven in Buddhist cosmology. 1.70 Cleopatra and Mark Antony’s twins Selene and Alexander Helios, Limestone, Egypt, b.40 BCE 1.71 Helios and Selene Obol, Anguiped Agathamenon (ob.), Telephos’ Indo-Greek Coin, 1st century CE There are more patterns to pairing than one may realize. The Alexandrian memorial herald a royal descendent named Heliodorus. Therein lies the connection to Alexander the Great (356– 323 BCE) worshiped as Amun-Zeus across his vast Eurasian empire. The last Macedonian successor to Alexander is Cleopatra, immortalized with Marc Antony. But their twin offsprings Alexander Helios and Cleopatra Selene born in the autumn of 40 BCE have been all but forgotten. As infant serpent deities in an Egyptian limestone sculpture, Cleopatra Selene II and Alexander Helios anticipate Naga and Nagin iconography in early Buddhist sculpture (1.70). The twined celestial names of Helios (Sun) and Selene (Moon) spread their prophetic destiny to govern a Golden Age across the Roman Empire. They seem to have fulfilled the great things predicted about them. The libation plates of Gandhara show a type of aquatic anguiped promise safe passage to the soul. A male anguiped with a human torso and two twisted extremities with a serpent head appears on a sandstone stele in Mathura Museum (42.2944). Lotus blossom at the end of crooked legs distinguishes a female anguiped on the railing of Sanchi Stupa 2. An identical anguiped on the Indo-Greek coin of Telephos is an agathodaemon or a good spirit (Gk. daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. The essence of prosperity backs Helios and Selene twins on reverse inscribed in Kharoshti typical of Gandhara (1.71). The Punic-Carthegnian coins of Numidia under Juba I (r. 60–46 BCE) is prototypical of the bilingual Indo-Greek coins written in Greek and Phoenecian derived scripts. Numidia’s Phoenecian fleet under Juba II (d. 23 CE) and his son Ptolemy of Mauretania (d.40 CE) filled the coffers of the Kushan kingdom allied to the Greco-Roman culture of North Africa. Though unmarked by history, Cleopatra’s son Alexander Helios might have claimed Parthia as his birthright. The domical mausoleum of Cleopatra Selene II and Juba II in Mauretania, now Algeria, evolved from a pyramid inspired the reliquary stupa monuments in South Asia. It is inconclusive if the Heliodorus Pillar commemorates Alexander Helios. But it surely precedes the polished monolithic pillar monuments of the Imperial Cult in South Asia. The swags and flying geese encircling its shaft correspond to the patterns on the reliquary casket of Kanishka I (c.78-115CE) discovered in Shah-Ramji-ki Dheri Tila in 1909 (1.72a).73 The part-gilt bronze casket is precision cast, lathe-turned, filed, and engraved to resemble a Hellenistic pyxis. A group of three figurines at the top of the lid in the manner of the Etruscan cinerary chest enclosed a small crystal relic box, a Kushan coin, and sealing. The royal casket made by a migrant craftsman originated in the eastern Mediterranean. The inscription in Aramaic derived Kharosthi, first published by Sten Konow in 1926, provokes different interpretations. mahara)jasa kanishkasa kanishka-pure nagare aya gadha-karae deya-dharme sarva-satvana hita-suhartha bhavatu mahasenasa sagharaki dasa agisala nava-karmi ana kanishkasa vihare mahasenasa sangharame “In the year one, this religious gift (perfume box/gadha–karae) in the city of Kanishkapura is for the welfare and happiness of all beings. Agisala was the maker of the King’s Vihara in the Mahasena Sangarama according to the Sarvastivadin teacher.” The name “dasa Agisala” is taken to be that of a Greek slave. The engraved writing in dotted lines using a pointed burin is a traditional technique. The line “Mahasenasa Sagharaki dasa Agisala” might connote the keeper of the “fire chamber” (Agni Sala), similar to the Fire Barrack of the Vigils or Fire-Keepers/Brigade of the Roman Augusteum of Ancient Ostia. The Buddhist funerary complexes known for the fire altars correspond to the Roman Augusteum known as a Sebasteion in the Greek East of the Roman Empire. Kanishka in Central Asian attire embossed on the cylindrical casket stands in a pose shown in the Kanishka BOΔΔO coin. The investiture of Kanishka by the sun and moon deities repeats on the lid on which Kanishka transformed as a Buddha is seated on a pedestal. The BOΔΔO gold coin was found in the shrine-like gold Bimaran Reliquary with the tracing of a lotus at the bottom. Similar lotus appears on the lid of Kanishka’s bronze casket. The joyful youth support the swag and encircle the bronze casket, anticipating the Asiatic Garland Sarcophagi similar to the Romaka 73 Archaeological Survey of India Collections: Director General's Report, 1909-10. Jataka frieze from Mathura. Stylistic analysis suggests a link with the Mathura workshop.74 A row of flying geese carries a ring of wreath around the rim of the lid. The grazing goose is a recurring motif on the abacus of the early pillar monuments in India. The duck sigil is similar to the Geese of Meidum found in the mastaba tomb of Pharaoh Sneferu’s (d. 2589 BCE) son Nefermaat (Fourth Dynasty). The hieroglyphic sign of Pintail Duck (smn) is the royal title ‘Son of King’ or Prince (1.72b). The Egyptian earth god Geb considered the duck designates the father of snakes. The duck also has erotic connotations in Egyptian culture. 1.72a Kanishka’s bronze relic casket, Shahji-ki Dheri Tila, Peshawar Museum, Pakistan, 1st century CE Replica of Kanishka casket in the British Museum (BM1880.270) Discovered in 1909 1.72b Hieroglyphic Pintail Duck (smn), Sign for the oyal title ‘Son of King’ or Prince, Old Kingdom Egypt 1.73 The Four Seasons Ploughman, Pedestal of Bodhisattva, Schist, Gandhara, 2nd century CE Cleopatra Selene was the queen of Mauretania, the North African kingdom of Juba II. Mauretania supplied the purple die harvested from a certain shellfish for dyeing Chinese silk on the Syrian coast before being exported to Rome as the purple stripe on the senatorial robes. Other commodities of Mauretania include grapes, figs, pearls, and lathe-turned wooden furniture displayed in Buddhist sculpture. The coins of Juba I partial to the Roman type bust displays lion, elephant, and other themes, such as Hercules’ club on the reverse. Astrological topics, too, are presented, such as the crescent moon, star, and Capricorn, a sign of Janus favored by Octavian Augustus adopted as Makara in Buddhist art. Makara resembling the dolphin linked to Venus and Yakshi perhaps refers to the conquest of terrestrial and celestial realms. Cornucopia signifying Demeter/Hariti referring to the endless bounty in the hereafter is the chief evidence of transcultural influences in the germination of Indian civilization. The elephant and Harpa represent Saturn, the Mahakala, and King of Kings responsible with Demeter for an agricultural prosperity. Saturn as the plowman on a pedestal equivalent to the Four Seasons Roman sarcophagus, promises eternal life to the Bodhisattva (1.73). Water tanks and agricultural fields adjacent to stupa and temple sites encourage the magic of the endless life seized first by the Egyptian tomb paintings and the Book Mirella Levi d'Ancona, Is the Kaniṣka Reliquary a Work from Mathura? (The Art Bulletin, Vol. 31, No. 4 (Dec., 1949) pp. 321-323. (JSTOR 3047258) 74 of Dead. A satyr with the body of a horse carrying female appears in Sanchi stupa reliefs. Bacchus was often accompanied by sexually aroused Silenus, Satyrs, half-goat men with horns and erection, and female Maenads called Bacchae, typically portrayed in a drunken dance. A male satyr is also known as a Silenos, Faun, and Pan. Romans sacrificed in his honor. From the moment of its sighting, the wide-ranging obligations of a lost civilization make it doubly challenging to construe correctly. We may comment on this peculiar and newly borrowed tradition only by comparing Buddhist syncretism with visible spectacle in the contemporary Roman world. That ought to quickly take care of the outer form. Still, the fundamental part is the mysterious intent aimed to achieve eternal life equated to immense light called Enlightenment encoded in the name Amitabha meaning “Immeasurable Radiance” and “Endless Life.” The energized body progress through various melodramatic stages to attain its final goal. The onslaught of Mara or death and the extinction of life is Nirvana, literally “fading out” in the dramatic Cycle of Life of a Buddha. In simple terms, this inevitable episode of Mara is an apt melodramatic description of human “tragedy.” The Great Departure describes the finality of death following the onslaught of Mara. Supernatural beings called Gana bodily lift to heaven the riderless caparisoned horse or the royal equestrian. The idea of deified cavalryman comes from the vortex of a storm that swept the world after Alexander the Great and his Greek successors. There is a need for a conscious framework for a broader comparative study of GrecoBuddhist art, inclusive of its symbolic function. Often a crucial transformative moment in history is ushered by a unique iconography. Such is the image of "Bharat Mata," declaring India's independence, which was first signaled by Roma extolled on the gold coin of the Kushan king Huvishka (126-164 CE). This phenomenon can be seen in the borrowings from Greek mythology, strikingly in the expansive and expensive interpretation of Ganymede and Zeus by the KushanSasanian kings. The painted glass beaker in the Begram hoard first highlighted it. The subsequent picturesque and allegoric group sculpture depicting the Eagleman embracing the Queen of Heaven adopt enactments by the courtesan dancer who must dance herself into a vortex to usher Spring. Merged with the Eagle consort, the otherworldly couple creates breathtaking dream sequences that invite the viewer to consider alternate realities. The creator of the Buddhist dance-theatre belonged to a secret society. Each choreographed version moving through primal rituals move toward a climax in Sri Lanka. Her body whirling on a pivot like a top, the dancing couple gives a predestined union's visceral performance that displays continuity of tradition. Literature is obtuse, and there is much more than what meets the eye. Buddhist performances are frozen in sculptured relief restage a lost tradition in Greco-Roman and Egyptian religious plays. The Eagle and Nagi tableaux's essence is the dramatic pose, which is the line of the body tuned to melodramatic dance. Yet, despite repeated display, the crux of its inner esoteric meaning is unobtainable any more than finding its origins. Above all, the religious and the business enterprise of Buddhist cult was a pioneer in vertical integration: it planned, built, and maintained mortuary clusters in the virgin land and operated them with the standard rules and requirements. And it brought the same approach to personnel matters, furnished necropolises by company standards of integrating creative heads, manufacturing workshops, suppliers, workers, and auxiliary male and female functionaries to live in and serve cult requirements. This business was a massive success, but its profit model relied mostly on the propaganda model of the visual media sanctioned by the leading elite class, starting from the Kushan rulers controlling the land and its resources. When the funerary requirements changed, the entire edifice fell and crumbled, to be replaced by another model introduced by the Guptas. Conclusion Greco-Roman involvement made fundamental contribution to the nebulous Buddhist mortuary cult, but Art Historians are left seeking the “Indian Buddha” centric explanations for all aspects of the symbolic system in early Buddhist art. During the re-thinking and re-situating early Buddhist art and culture, I woke one Sunday morning to the irreverent patter of Sankarshan Thakur in “Lazy Eye” (The Telegraph, Kolkata, 02 August 2020). “Who gets to decide which is which? Take your pick. And tell me when you’re ready. Even if it is too late to tell me. Do tell me, I shall have my ears flapping for what was right and what was wrong, and how you came to arrive at what was right and what was wrong, what you said yes to, what you said no to. I should wish upon you the benediction of being able to judge this from that, right from wrong, the right Yes from the wrong Yes, the wrong No from the right No.”