Object : Votive Plaque
Period : ca. 12th century-13th century, Burma

Techniques
Plain red-stained steatite, carved in high relief

Dimensions
Height 12.7 cmWidth 7.6 cm

Current Location : Victoria & Albert Musuem, UK

Museum number
IM.378-1914

This plaque represents eight scenes from the life of the Buddha clockwise around a central figure of the Buddha in the lotus position and in the earth-touching or earth-witnessing attitude. He is seated on a waisted lotus throne beneath the Bodhi tree, under which he achieved enlightenment. He is depicted in monastic robes which leave his right shoulder bare, his curly hair rises to an usnisha surmounted by a lotus bud. The surrounding subjects illustrate eight main scenes of the Buddha's life. Starting at the bottom left corner they are: the Nativity in which Maya-devi (the Buddha's mother) gives birth to the Buddha from her right-side in the Lumbini grove, attended by her sister Prajapati; the Buddha's first sermon in the Deer Park at Benares; the subjugation of Nalagiri, the elephant, which the Buddha prevented from destroying him by overcoming it with love; on the highway of Rajagrih; the Buddha's death (or Parinirvana or Mahaparinibbana); the descent from the Tavatimsa heaven; the twin miracles, in which flames arise from the Buddha's shoulders and water pours from his feet while at the same time a vast number of images of him appear all over the sky; and at the bottom right, the Parileyyaka episode, in which the monkey offers the Buddha a gift of honeycomb.

I was thinking about Tribal Art from Burma which is not many website or blog are posting.
Like Chin Tribe/ Naga / Karen and other as well...
I like primetive carving form Burma, but all these tribal art are quite rare and hard to find among them.

Anyone ....who can share pictures and informations...that's will be great..please ,,

For full informations about this statue please click on below

http://collectionsonline.lacma.org/mwebcgi/mweb.exe

please click on later ...

THE GONDEN AGE OF MYANMAR LECTURERS.......COMMING SOON

Pagan, the most important historical site in Burma, lies within a major bend of the Irrawaddy River where its east-west course turns and flows south. This capitol city, constructed entirely on the left bank of the river, is in the most arid part of the dry zone of Central Burma. Founded at sometime before the 9th century AD, Pagan was the capitol of the first Burmese kingdom from the 11th-14th centuries after its first great ruler, King Anawrahta, politically consolidated all of central Burma by conquering both the Pyu and the Mon peoples. Art and Architecture flourished during the Pagan Period and classic models were established that were copied by later kingdoms

Bagan (Pagan)is my favourite part & I HAVE SO MANY PICTURES/INFO/THESES/NOTES AND ...

Please let me post under Pyu-Mon for this Coin, even British museum said this is Arakan Coin and I agreed at the moment according to Pro: G H Luce and Dr Than Tun. Museum said it was 6th Century but 70% sure it will be earlier, I would like to say 4-6 th Century.

Pyu Coin from : Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia By Robert S. Wicks

I can't download the whole book, please click on the below link,

http://books.google.com/books?id=Qs1q9VEoEkoC&pg=PA116&lpg=PA116&dq=Ancient+Pyu+Coin&source=bl&ots=M0HRyzlqal&sig=ycD8Tw9cZ9uGuoz5Bl9QRwCL2sQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result

Title: A Pyu Homeland in the Samon Valley: a new theory of the origins of Myanmar's early urban system Date of publication: March 2005 Description/subject: "Archaeological evidence suggests that between about 500 BC and 200 AD, a ricegrowing population was living in a densely settled system of small villages in the Samon Valley in Upper Myanmar. This area was at the crossroads of ancient trade routes. Wealth was accumulating due to agriculture and to access to the copper resources of the Shan hills, the semi-precious stone and iron resources of the Mount Popa plateau, and the salt resources of Halin. This wealth is evident in grave goods unique to the Samon region, which includes items traded from or inspired by Qin and Han Dynasty China. This paper will explore the possibility that the appearance early in the First Millennium AD of the walled Pyu cities of Maingmaw, Beikthano, Halin and Sriksetra, at remarkably consistent distances from the Samon Valley, may be a consequence of intra-regional population flow from the Samon area. While the Pyu cities shared cultural elements such as religious and decorative items, and coins bearing auspicious symbols, with neighbours including Dhanyawadi and Vesali on the west coast, the Dvaravati settlements of Thailand, and trade centres such as Oc Eo in Vietnam, their relationship to the landscape, to each other and to the Samon valley suggests that they formed a distinct economic and cultural system (Gutman & Hudson 2004).

" Author/creator: Bob Hudson Language: English Source/publisher: Proceedings of the Myanmar Historical Commission Golden Jubilee International Conference, Jan12-14, 2005, Yangon Format/size: pdf (642K) Date of entry/update: 01 December 2005

Please click on it http://acl.arts.usyd.edu.au/~hudson/BH2005Jan.pdf

Theravada Buddhist Sculpture at Srikshetra

Most images of the Buddha are carved in high relief with a considerable stele backing. Several sets of these monumental images have been found arranged so that two triads face one another. This practice occurs only during the Pyu Period and may hearken back to the megaliths of a much earlier time.

A number of Buddha images were found within or outside the ancient city. A great number of clay votive tablets have come to light as well as several bronze molds that were used to stamp them out. These tablets were placed in the foundation and deposit boxes of stupas and temples during construction as a means to increase their sanctity as well as the spiritual merit of the donor. An example of this practice is the placement by King Anawratha of votive tablets within the Bawbawgyi stupa; each displays fifty small images of the Buddha.

Individual images at Srikshetra represent a number of events in Gautama Buddha’s life: The Birth, The Prince contemplating the Mysteries of Life, Meditation, one of the most elaborate presentations of the First Sermon to be found in Burma, Teaching with both hands in vitarka mudra, the Enlightenment using both right and left hands for earth touching, the earliest representation of the earth goddess in Burma in which she is shown with two long tresses of hair, the Miracle of Double Appearances, Overcoming the Nalagiri Elephant and Holding the alms bowl. In later presentations these events are often assigned much less importance and appear, if at all, within a small frame in a wall painting or as a background embellishment to the Buddha’s enlightenment.

Several bronze images believed to depict Maitreya have come to light, although they may be the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara without his usual identifying marks. However, one of these curious images has the name Maitreya (incorrectly?) written on its base. The interest in Maitreya, the Buddha as well as the Bodhisattva of the Future (like Gautama Buddha, he is both a Theravada and Mahayanna deity), arises from a belief that he will return to save the world. This concern with Maiteya as a savior figure continues during the Pagan Period where it is an inspiration for creating votive plaques and for the creation of one of the world’s rare building types: pentagonal temples that have a shrine for each of the four Buddhas of the Past as well as one for Maitreya.

Most sculptures at Srikshetra are typically in high relief with a heavy stele backing, although some large single sculptures in the round have been discovered. One such sculpture from the Kan-wet-khaung-gon mound is made of stone and depicts the Buddha in a seated meditation posture with two hands placed on his lap. This is a particularly important image, not only because it is free standing but because it can be dated to the late 7th century by the bilingual inscription on its base. The inscription is fortunately not only in Pyu but Sanskrit as well, the script of which can be dated. This image is then one of the few dated benchmarks that can be used to establish a developmental chronology for Pyu sculpture.

Of particular interest is a cylindrical gilded silver casket found in the relic chamber of the Khin Ba mound. In a style derived from the North Indian Gupta style, it is embossed with the last four Buddhas of the present world cycle seated in the earth-touching posture with a standing disciple between each of them. The casket has a flat lid. A banyan tree rises from its center that was once adorned with metal twigs and leaves. Inscribed around the rim of the lid is a Pyu-Pali inscription in South Indian characters. The inscription identifies each Buddha by name as well as their disciples; it also records two names, probably of donors. A smaller reliquary casket shaped like a cube is without a lid or base and has a meditating Buddha seated on each face. Both reliquaries are executed in a precise and beautiful repousse technique.

It is not possible to give a detailed description of the Pyu style of image because so many different styles co-existed. Indeed, images that turn up and don’t fit any of the known Burmese styles, are frequently, and often inaccurately, dubbed “Pyu”.

Srikshetra: Sculpture

Srikshetra, in comparison to other Pyu sites, is unusual because of the greater number as well as complexity of the images and artifacts that have come to light. The diversity is found not only in subject matter but in iconography as well. Also, objects were created by a variety of techniques and media: for example, carved stone, cast bronze, gilded repousse silver, beaten and repousse gold, inscribed copper, engraved gems, molded and inscribed clay. Consequently, the artistic diversity of the Pyu Period is scarcely rivaled by later periods in Burmese history where the number of objects available for study is vastly larger. A number of Pyu art objects and artifacts are unique or occur only during this Period. In contrast, objects from later periods are often repetitious so that by the nineteenth century, Buddha images are almost always shown in a single iconographic mode, that of “earth touching” or “calling the earth to witness”.

The sculpture from Srikshetra can be divided into categories according to religious affiliation although the characteristics of some objects such as Pyu coins may be equivocal. The sculpture will be discussed here according to religion: Theravada Buddhist, Mahayanna Buddhist, Hindu, Animist and Secular.

Somes book about Pyu-Mon, Burma


The Pre-Pagan Period: The Mon and Pyu City States -Bibliography

Aung Thaw, Excavations at Beikthano (Rangoon, Ministry of Union Culture, 1968).

Aung Thaw, Historical Sites in Burma (Rangoon, Ministry of Union Culture, 1972).

Michael Aung Thwin, “Burma Before Pagan: The Status of Archeology Today”, Asian Perspectives, XXV, (1982-83), pp. 121. [Published 1988]

John Guy, “The Art of the Pyu and the Mon” in Donald Stadner, ed., The Art of Burma, New Studies (Mumbai, Marg Publications, 1999), pp. 13-28.

G. H. Luce, Phases of Pre Pagan Burma (Oxford, 1985), vol.1 & 2.

Donald Stadner, “The Art of Burma” in Maud Girard-Geslan…[et al.], The Art of Southeast Asia (New York, Harry N. Abrams, 1997), pp.39-92.

Janice Stargardt, The Ancient Pyu of Burma, Vol. I (Cambridge and Singapore, PACSEA and ISEAS, 1990).

Paul Wheatley, Nagara and Commandery: Origins of the Southeast Asian Urban Traditions (Chicago, 1983).

Robert S. Wicks, “The Ancient Coinage of Mainland Southeast Asia, Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, XVI, no. 2 (September 1985), pp. 195-217.

Robert S. Wicks, Money, Markets, and Trade in Early Southeast Asia: The Development of Indigenous Monetary Systems to AD 1400 (Ithaca, Cornell University Southeast Asia Program, 1992).