Factores Endógenos

For ancient people, worship of fire was presumably close to worship of birds; there are extant art works that combine fire and birds showing a close relationship between fire and birds. For example, at the center of a sanctuary site excavated at Surkh Kotal there is a fire-worship altar at whose base large clay bird images remain (fig. 2.43). In addition, on a limestone relief is a scene of the ‘receiving king’s authority from God,’ and next to this there is an altar representing a bird. Generally altars or incense burners decorated with birds can be seen in the Kushan and Partian periods.

229 _{Pratāpāditya Pāla; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, "Indian Sculpture / Vol. 1, Circa 500 B.C.-A.D.}

700," ed. Los Angeles County Museum of Art (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1986), p. 164.

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One of the most characteristic elements of Vaishravana iconography that

originated from the Iranian world is the flame mandorla emerging from behind the deity’s shoulders. There are Buddha images with flames issuing from his shoulders. The

iconography of Buddha’s shoulder flames, which is believed to be borrowed from many different sources in the Late Antique world, exhibits his divine luminosity; his light- emitting character is implicit in many Buddhist scriptures.230 However, the literary source of Vaisharavana’s flame shoulder is not known.

The key to solving what kind of belief influenced this motif can be found in Xuanzang’s Datangxiyuji 大唐西域記 (“Record of the Journey to the West”). According to this book’s article on Jiabishiguo 迦畢試國 “ apisi Kingdom” on the country Jiabishi, an evil dragon had lived in a pond on the top of the great snow mountain in this country. King Kanishka defeated it by means of bringing flame out from his shoulders. Through this legend, in which the evil dragon was defeated by flame, we can see that fire was considered to be a good force, which can drive away the devil. In support of this idea are the posture and motif of the flame-shoulders appearing on coins, standardized by a gold coin issued in the reign of the Kushan king Kanishka I. On the front side of this coin is represented a portrait of a king with a flame emerging from his shoulders, as described earlier (fig. 2.31). The king is putting his right hand on an altar, which is presumably a fire-worship altar. This motif was followed in the coins of many generations of kings up

230_{Benjamin Rowland, "The Iconography of the Flame Halo," Bulletin of the Fogg Art Museum Vol. 11,}

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until the Sasanian kings.231 Phyllis Granoff explains that flames rising from the deity’s shoulders are also a royal attribute, with examples of portrayals of Vima and Huvishka on these kings’coins.232

It is said that in Zoroastrianism, Ahura-Mazda, the god of bright light, made his son, Atar, the fire-divinity, fight with the evil spirit god. Atar caused a flame to defeat an evil dragon sent by the evil spirit. This legend makes us presume that a flame-shoulder motif in portraits of kings is closely related to the flame of the fire-divinity. Most likely this motif of the flame-shoulder reflects the traditional point of view of the kings of the ancient Iranian people. In the Persian world, people saw their king as a kind of fire divinity, which originally fell from heaven in a fire column.233 This is probably an explanation of why Persian kings worship the fire altar.

The Kapisi region, from which the Kanishka legend was transmitted, is present- day Begram of Afghanistan. The Buddhist sculptures excavated in this region had a new style, rather than inheriting the Ghandaran style. Among them there are many examples using a flame-shoulder motif, which at this point was a new iconography in the region. For example, there is a sculpture depicting the Jataka story of Dipankara Buddha,

Randengfu燃燈佛, which is in a new style rather than the Ghandaran style. Buddhist

sculptures in the Ghandaran style depict dramatic scenes of the Jataka tale. When

231 _{Katsumi Tanabe 田辺勝美, anishuka Itse inka o okuo Ritz o-Enken No Kigen to Igi カニシ} ュか 1世金貨の國王立像考-焰肩の起源と意義 (a Study on the Standing Figure of King Kanishka I on His Gold Coins)," Bu geijutsu 佛敎藝術 (Ars Buddhica) 156(1984): 52.

232 _{Granoff, p. 165.}

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compared with this style, the Buddhist sculpture of Kapisi seems stiff (fig, 2.44). In addition, whereas in Gandharan sculpture the Buddha and other figures are all on the same scale, in the Kapisi sculpture the Buddha image is the largest.

It is believed that this new iconography seen in the Buddha image of the Kapisi region reflects a traditional belief or thought that was not present in the Ghandaran region. The new iconography of the flame-shoulders Buddha image is considered to be related to the Iranian iconography of kings that we see on the coin issued by the Kanishka I.234 All these traditional beliefs are most likely related to fire. A fire-worship altar, on which was practiced a ritual similar to an Iranian Zoroastrianism rite, was excavated from Surkh Kotal in northern Hindukushi. This site is thought to be the sanctuary site of Kanishka. According to the excavation, it can be presumed that fire had been worshipped in the traditional Kushan ritual.235 In Zoroastrianistic tradition a king worshipped at a small and circular fire altar. There is also an image of a Sasanian ruler offering on a fire altar on his

234 _{Yoko Motaidei モタイデイ遙子, "アフが二スタン出土の練燈佛本生譚の諸類例 (Several} Examples of Dipamkara Buddha Jataka Excavated in Afganistan)," Bukkyo geijutsu 佛敎藝術 (Ars Buddhica) 117(1978): 36.

235 _{"アフが二スタン出土の練燈佛本生譚の諸類例 (Several Examples of Dipamkara Buddha Jataka} Excavated in Afganistan)," Bukkyo geijutsu 佛敎藝術 (Ars Buddhica) 117(1978): 37. In this article the author says that we cannot know how a flame-shoulder motif, which existed in Kushan religious tradition, was accepted into Buddhist art. However, she understands that when Kapisi was considered to be a political center of Kushan, the Kushan king may have used a flame-shoulder motif, a symbol of his own absolute authority, for a political rather than religious purpose. She concludes that thus the flame-shoulder Buddha 焰肩佛 can be considered a unique local style, which may have been created in relation to Persian thought associated with fire, the absolute authority of Kushan kings deified, and the development of Buddhist literature.

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coin (fig. 2.45). This ritual of offering fire was very popular among the Iranian people during the first to third centuries.236