Unknown Artist

Buddha Torso, 9th century

 

About

• The Buddhist monks and merchants who traveled by sea between India and China brought Buddhism to coastal Southeast Asia by the 5th century. In central Thailand, the Dvaravati kingdom of the Buddhist Mon, who spoke an Austro-Asiatic language, flourished from the 7th to the 10th centuries. They built their religious buildings of brick, which they adorned with stucco and populated with bronze and stone images of the Buddha and, sometimes, bodhisattvas. These bodhisattvas indicate the occasional presence of Mahayana Buddhism, but from the 7th century to the present, the Early Buddhist Schools known today as Theravada have dominated.
  There is a great deal of variation in the style of Dvaravati sculpture, as works were produced in a number of regional centers. The simplicity and lack of detail on this piece is typical of the mode of representation embraced throughout central Thailand, a style that derived from Indian Gupta and Orissanstyle prototypes. Standing Buddhas of the period often have both hands held up in vitarka mudra (the gesture of exposition), a dual gesture not found in India. The lithe figure with a robe that covers both shoulders, along with socketed arms, are also typical characteristics of Dvaravati Buddhas.