Stupa Revetment Plaque

ca. 100-300

The striving for the state of nirvana, literally the extinguishing of the senses, lies at the heart of Buddhism. This unique and individual experience lies at the origin of the first aniconic representations in Buddhist art and explains why there was no immediate attempt to represent the Buddha in human form. While symbols such as the wheel, throne, lotus, footprint and turban were used at first in the visual arts to evoke his presence, the evolution of religious feeling soon led to the appearance of human images of the Buddha at the beginning of our era, first in northern India and then very quickly in the south-eastern region of Amaravati.