More than a replica of Mahabodhi Temple, this model symbolizes the most important event in the Buddha’s life: achieving enlightenment.
Model of the Mahabodhi Temple, eastern India, probably Bodhgaya, c. 11th century, stone (serpentinite), 17.5 x 8.9 x 10.2 cm (Rubin Museum of Art, New York). Speakers: Dr. Elena Pakhoutova, Senior Curator, Rubin Museum of Art and Dr. Beth Harris
Rubin Museum senior curator Dr. Elena Pakhoutova and Smarthistory’s Dr. Beth Harris explore a model of the most important temple in the Buddhist world. The Mahabodhi Temple, located in Bodhgaya, India, is where the Buddha attained awakening while sitting under the bodhi tree.
The Rubin Museum of Art has teamed up with Smarthistory to bring you an “up-close” look at select objects from the Rubin’s preeminent collection of Himalayan art. Featuring conversations with senior curators and close-looking at art, this video series is an accessible introduction to the art and material culture of the Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian regions. Learn about the living traditions and art-making practices of the Himalayas from the past to today.
0:00:05.4 Dr. Beth Harris: We’re in the Rubin Museum of Art, and we’re looking at a small model of a temple, in fact the most important temple in the Buddhist world.
0:00:14.6 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: This is the model of Mahabodhi Temple, which is in Bodhgaya, India, where the Buddha sat under the tree known as the bodhi tree and attained awakening. It’s one of the most important, if not the most important sacred site for Buddhists from around the world. In Buddhist terms is called Vajrasana, or “the adamantine seat,” where the Buddha gained his realization and attained enlightenment.
0:00:43.6 Dr. Beth Harris: And so over centuries, this was a very important site for pilgrims and especially for Tibetans in the 11th through 13th century.
0:00:52.8 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: This was the period when Tibetans went to India in search of Buddhist teachings. They invited teachers, brought back books, art objects, and models like this as well. But this is much more than just a memento from a pilgrimage journey, it represents the essence of the site.
0:01:13.6 Dr. Beth Harris: In fact, we see several things here that are not part of the structure of the actual temple. For example, we see that tree that the Buddha sat beneath until he reached enlightenment.
0:01:25.9 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: It is not really part of the actual structure of the building, but here it is incorporated into the model to be part of that symbolic representation of the site itself. And right below the tree, there is a niche in which you see a Buddha sitting with the gesture that is touching the ground, and that’s the bhumisparsha, or touching the ground gesture, which indicates that at the moment just before his awakening, he called the goddess of Earth to witness his awakening.
0:01:58.2 Dr. Beth Harris: The model is rectangular in plan, it has an entrance with columns, it’s topped by a tower in the center with a stupa on top, and in addition, smaller towers on the four corners, topped by stupas.
0:02:13.0 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: And this very intricate carving, quite masterfully done. But if you really look and try to decode what these images are, you come to realize that they’re not just images of seated Buddhas, they’re also images that represent the events from the Buddha’s life, which is not part of the actual temple’s carvings. What it tells us is that this model is not just a replica of the building, it is a symbolic representation of the Buddha’s life and the most important event in his life, the awakening. But all the other events, many of them are also depicted here.
0:02:55.9 Dr. Beth Harris: For example, we see his parinirvana.
0:02:58.0 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: Parinirvana is the event of the Buddha’s passing, or Buddha’s death, when his last physical existence as a human being in this world ended.
0:03:09.2 Dr. Beth Harris: We also see a scene of his birth.
0:03:11.4 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: In which his mother, Maya, is standing grasping a branch of a tree and the Buddha-to-be — a little baby — is coming out of her right side.
0:03:22.3 Dr. Beth Harris: And so this temple model reminds us of this most important moment of Buddha’s awakening, of his enlightenment, and looking at it closely could also bring you to those other events.
0:03:34.0 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: But what’s also interesting about this temple is that these models were discovered at the actual site of Bodhgaya in numbers, which tells us that there may have been a huge demand for things like that. And when the British archaeologists in the late 19th century were excavating this site, they used models to reconstruct how the temple may have looked. Even though these are actually not the replicas of the physical structure, they were faithful enough to help them to recreate the site. And this now is the most important Buddhist pilgrimage site in the world.
0:04:13.8 Dr. Elena Pakhoutova: What’s important about this site and how it’s been maintained over centuries is the international nature of the devotion and effort that was taken in maintaining the site. There were also inscriptions discovered — Burmese, Chinese, as well as Tibetan inscriptions — which really testify how important the site was for all of the Buddhists, including Titan Buddhists who went there to pay homage to the site, but also to accumulate merit because it is said in Buddhist tradition that once you visited Bodhgaya, it is assured that you will attain enlightenment at some point.
