The Crowned and Bejewelled Buddha in Theravada iconography: canonical sources and symbolic meaning

Abstract

The article discusses one of the most paradoxical forms of embodying the image of the Buddha in Theravada iconography, which has been the subject of the scholarly discussions since the early age of the Buddhist Studies in the West. The author analyzes the main arguments, which support the theory of link between the emergence of crowned images and the Mahayana ideas, pointing to their inconsistency and weakness. He suggests a hypothesis about the existence in the Pali canon of fundamental sources, which generate the iconographic feature under research. As such he sees the concept of the mahapurisa (mahapurusha) and the dichotomy of the Paths of cakkavatti (cakravartin) and Buddha. He subsequently investigates the development of these concepts in the post-canonical Theravada literature. His special attention is paid to the Jambupati Sutta, text associated with the crowned Buddha image. He compares it to the canonical concept of cakkavatti. In the article is shown that this text, which traditionally was considered as apocryphal and of later date, in fact reflects the key ideas of the Canon and also has very early analogues. In the conclusion brought forward that the image of crowned Buddha reflects the idea of subordinating worldly power to the ultimate goal proclaimed by the Buddhist teachings. The image therefore has to be understood as a symbolic expression of the model of society, which provides the opportunity to follow the path leading to the liberation. This conclusion is illustrated by examples from the Royal ritual practices as well as “folk” forms of iconography.