Crowned Buddha of Amaravati and the Cakkavatti canonical concept

Abstract

The article represents a kind of “postscriptum” to the author’s hypothesis about fundamental sources found in Pali canon and early post-canonic literature that gave birth to formation of the crowned Buddha image. This hypothesis underlies this study of early Buddhist iconography, in particular with respect to images belonging to the Amaravati school, which illustrate the relationship between the Buddha and Cakkavatti. The author substantiates the conclusion that the image of the crowned Buddha had emerged almost simultaneously with the anthropomorphic image of the Enlightened One.