Unit 8 Essentials

Hemispherical Buddhist mound enshrining relics; the anda represents Mount Meru; circumambulated via pradakshina path

Sri Lankan term for stupa; hemispherical brick relic mound; Jetavanarama is one of the largest ancient examples

Gateway at a stupa (Sanchi has 4); carved with jataka tales, yaksha/yakshi figures; face cardinal directions

The dome or egg-shaped mound of a stupa; represents the cosmic mountain Mount Meru / the womb of creation

Clockwise circumambulation path around a stupa or sacred object; the devotional act of walking around the monument

Representation of the Buddha through symbols (footprints, empty throne, wheel, tree) rather than a human image; characteristic of early Buddhism at Sanchi

Male/female nature spirit depicted on Sanchi toranas; yakshis in sensuous tribhanga pose are auspicious, not erotic; pre-Buddhist spirits absorbed into Buddhist art

Triple-flexion pose (head, torso, hips each tilted a different direction); ubiquitous in Indian figural art — indicates sensuous vitality and divine energy

Celestial female spirit in Hindu/Buddhist cosmology; depicted in Dunhuang Cave 285 frescoes floating on clouds; associated with music, dance, beauty

Geometric diagram of the cosmos used in meditation; Borobudur's plan IS a mandala; also painted/woven for ritual use

The cosmic/universal Buddha; central figure at Longmen Fengxian Temple (modeled on Empress Wu) and at Todaiji (the Daibutsu)

"Great Buddha" — specifically the bronze Vairochana at Todaiji, Nara; 15 meters tall; commissioned by Emperor Shomu ca. 743 CE

Being who has achieved enlightenment but delays final nirvana to help others; depicted with elaborate jewelry and crown (unlike austere Buddhas); flanks the Vairochana at Longmen

Architectural type in Southeast Asia (Angkor Wat, Borobudur) where the structure physically represents Mount Meru; towers = peaks; surrounding moat = cosmic ocean

North Indian Hindu temple style with curvilinear shikhara tower; Lakshmana Temple at Khajuraho is the AP example; contrast with Dravidian gopuram style of South India

Curvilinear tower over the garbhagriha (inner sanctum) in nagara-style Hindu temples; symbolizes Mount Meru; contains the main deity

"Womb chamber" — the small, dark inner sanctum of a Hindu temple housing the main deity; no windows; worshipper approaches as entering the deity's womb

Loving couple depicted in erotic or embrace poses on the exterior of Khajuraho temples; represents auspicious fertility, union of opposites, and the threshold between worldly and sacred space

Shiva as Lord of Dance; Chola bronze; 4 arms = drum (creation), flame (destruction), abhaya mudra (protection), pointing to raised foot (release/moksha); dances within ring of fire (samsara)

"Dance of bliss" — the dance Shiva performs as Nataraja; cosmic in scope, simultaneously creating and destroying the universe with each step

Bronze casting technique: wax model coated in clay, fired to melt wax, molten bronze poured in; used for Nataraja and many Indian bronzes; allows complex forms

Chinese ceramic using cobalt blue (imported from Persia via Silk Road) on white porcelain body; David Vases (1351) are the key dated benchmark for this tradition

"Pictures of the floating world" — Japanese woodblock print tradition depicting actors, courtesans, landscapes; Hokusai's Great Wave is the most globally recognized example

Printmaking using carved wooden blocks; each color requires a separate block; Hokusai's Great Wave required 10+ blocks; allows mass reproduction for commercial market

Synthetic blue pigment imported from Europe (via Dutch trade) used in Hokusai's Great Wave; gave a wider tonal range than traditional Japanese indigo blue

Japanese "dry landscape" garden using raked gravel and rocks without water; Ryoan-ji is the prime example; associated with Zen Buddhist meditation and the concept of mu

Japanese/Zen concept of nothingness, emptiness, or incompleteness; Ryoan-ji's 15 stones — only 14 visible from any point — enacts mu: completeness is always just out of reach

Persian/Mughal "four-garden" — walled garden divided into four quadrants by water channels representing the rivers of paradise; Taj Mahal's garden is the canonical example

Hard stone inlay technique — semi-precious stones (lapis lazuli, carnelian, malachite) set into marble; covers Taj Mahal surfaces; adapted from Italian pietre dure via Mughal trade contacts

Vaulted portal open on one side; main entrance type in Islamic architecture; Taj Mahal's central gate is an iwan; also flanks the mausoleum on each face

Circle of light around a sacred figure's head; in Jahangir painting: Mughal-style halo merges sun, moon, and Islamic gold — deliberately synthesizing Hindu, Christian, and Islamic iconography

Depicting more important figures larger regardless of spatial logic; used in Jahangir painting: Jahangir is largest, earthly kings smaller, European figure smallest; encodes social/cosmic rank

Korean "merit subject" portrait painted to honor officials who aided the king; stored in ancestral shrines and used in memorial rites; Joseon dynasty tradition under Neo-Confucian ideology

Stories of the Buddha's previous lives; carved on Sanchi toranas and illustrated in Dunhuang cave paintings; teach Buddhist moral lessons through narrative

Trade network connecting China to the Mediterranean; transmitted Buddhism (and Buddhist art) from India to Central Asia, China, Korea, Japan; Dunhuang Caves are a Silk Road node

Dispersal of a people from their homeland; Cai Guo-Qiang works as a Chinese artist in New York — his art negotiates identity between Chinese classical tradition and Western contemporary art world