Pala art: Buddhist sculpture and images of compassion in eastern India
The six-armed Padmapani in the Dalton Somaré archive provides a particularly useful example of the relationship between image, attributes and composition in Pala-period Buddhist sculpture. Dated to the eleventh century, the work measures 47 centimetres and is carved in black schist. Its Pala designation locates it within the artistic history of eastern India; Padmapani identifies the subject as a manifestation of Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion.
The figure sits in lalitasana, with one leg folded and the other lowered, in the posture of royal ease. Six arms distribute gestures and attributes around the torso, while the face remains the centre of the composition. The lotus, mala, vessel and fly whisk form an elaborate repertoire, joined by the varada mudra, the gesture of granting. Studying them involves following the hands as they are arranged in the sculpture, keeping each attribute connected to the body that supports it.
Black schist allows the modelling of broad surfaces to be compared with the detailed carving of the crown, jewellery and surrounding frame. In the archival work, the lateral opening of the limbs is balanced by the stability of the torso. The stele holds these components together and gives the image a frontal presence. Iconographic complexity therefore remains part of a coherent composition: individual features are organised around a clearly defined centre, which remains legible through the ornamentation.
A comparative work is the Buddha from Nalanda flanked by Avalokiteshvara and Maitreya, Metropolitan Museum, accession 20.58.16, dated to the late tenth–eleventh century and also carved in black schist. Here Avalokiteshvara appears beside the Buddha. The comparison shows how the same sacred identity can take different compositional roles: an independent presence at the centre of a stele, or a figure within a larger ensemble. Material and chronology connect the works; the number of arms, posture and hierarchy of figures distinguish their programmes.
Pala sculpture also includes images bringing together events from the Buddha’s life. The tenth-century stele with his eight great events, accession 2009.541, preserves traces of gilding on black schist. This example invites surface treatment to be considered alongside structure: the dark stone visible today does not, by itself, describe every historical finish. Study can thus move from the principal figure to accompanying images, and from forms to attributes, revealing a tradition whose variety extends beyond a shared ornamental vocabulary.
References and comparative works
