BUDDHA Maravijaya - Thai culture, Thailand or Laos - 18th – 19th century?

BUDDHA Maravijaya

Thai culture, Thailand or Laos

18th – 19th century?

Bronze

H.: 9.5; L.: 3.8 cm

This bronze statuette made using the lost wax technique features Buddha sitting cross-legged on a base marked with Thai symbols and characters in the sattvaparyanka position where his right leg rests on his left leg. His hands observe the bumisparsha mudra position: his right hand is placed on his right knee, fingers pointed towards the ground and his left hand, palm facing the sky, is placed in his lap.

He wears the monastic habit called samgathi , his earlobes are particularly elongated – this last characteristic refers to the heavy jewelry that Prince Siddharta used to wear.

His face is crowned with the characteristic protuberance of Buddha called the usnisa itself enhanced with the symbol of the spiritual force of the Blessed: the rasmi flame.

This position refers to a particular episode in the life of the Enlightened Buddha. Then close to reaching Enlightenment under the Bodhi tree, Mâra, the god of desires to distract and tempt the Blessed and claims to claim for himself the throne of Awakening. Faced with Mâra's repeated assaults, the Buddha remains impassive and through the symbolic gesture of the bumisparsha mudra , he calls the Earth to witness his desire to achieve complete Enlightenment.

Text and photos © FCP CORIDON

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