Chaos and Cosmos
To things that awoke the lands slumbering in the Indian Ocean there are two answers; the factual truth lost in antiquity and the answer wrapped in mythology you give to pass exams. Mythology, including that of the Buddha, is but metaphor holding truth at its core. Ushering the historic period when number of tribes gathered under the umbrella of Scytho-Parthian Kushanas (1st to 3rd centuries CE), the foundation of an extraordinary civilization emerged out of chaos and the creation of this new world was thus modeled after the creation of the universe by the gods. With the Great Goddess at the helm and guided by the “Star of the Sea,” perilous waves were crossed to land in unknown territory and the first footprint to sanctify the virgin earth surrounded by indeterminate space was auspicious Sripada, the footprints of goddess Sri Lakshmi having close affinity to Isis-Aphrodite. Signaling the first landing on unoccupied territories the Sripada sculptured in stone slabs is the venerated foundation stone from Maldives to Sri Lanka and the Indian sub-continent. The symbols such as swastika, conch, lotus, triratna, srivatsa, fish and others carved on the Sripada are sacred signs of the goddess and only aliens could mistake Sripada to Buddhapada. The misidentification of Sripada alone is a perfect indicator of waves of immigrants to South Asia during the past two thousand years who are perfect strangers to the intent and content of early Buddhist art and culture. The outstanding characteristic of traditional societies settling pristine land is to symbolically transform it into a cosmos through a ritual repetition of the cosmogony. Consecration of South Asia began with Vishnu the sun god emerging out of deep slumber on the infinite Ocean and taking the Boar Avatar to lift aloft Bhuma Devi (Gaia) on his mighty tusk. In Buddhist iconography the boar as symbol of resolute strength and creative force appears in Central Asian wall paintings, Bamyan stucco ceiling, and on a sculptured offering tray from a funerary shrine in Taxila (0). Vishnu Anantasayin inaugurated by Gupta art is modeled after Parinirvana of the Buddha followed by Immaculate Conception and birth given by Maha Maya Devi. The material culture of early Buddhist period is the result of this enduring belief in rebirth and resurrection, only the manner by which it was sought or expressed had transformed from Gupta period onwards (5th – 6th century CE).
Like the hemispherical reliquary stupa mound, the mother earth out of chaos came to be and the islands and immediately the Indian sub-continent under first occupation were transformed into Buddhistan by the magic touch of a Mystery religion. Subsumed by helotry, Buddhist symbols emerged as a response to people’s urgent response to the message of resurrection and the reward in heaven; thus the earliest vision of heaven supported by cosmic pillars is the gleaming monoliths crowned by sacred symbols of the goddess in union with the invincible sun. The iconography of goddess Gajalakshmi seated or standing on lotus of rebirth and lustrated by a pair of elephants is the first to manifest in Buddhist art in tangent with the mythology of goddess Sri Lakshmi churned out of the Ocean holding a vessel containing Amrita of Immortality (Ambrosia). Grouped in direct opposition, the united effort of Devas and Asuras churning the essence of immortality from the depths of the ocean corresponds to the action that produces a twisted cable that binds and protects capital of cosmic pillars crowned by the lotus seat of the goddess, a rebus that reaches back to ancient Egypt. In early Buddhist art the symmetrical composition of two elephants lustrating goddess Lakshmi comes from the twin sources of ancient Orient. Elephants could swim cross the Oceans and thus the majestic amphibian takes an important place with the solar horse as a symbol of apotheosis, while the elephant and the regal lion or bull with related meaning are frequently paired on votive coins. All these animals gain stature on the capitals in South Asia and on the threshold stones to mortuary shrines in Sri Lanka. In the Buddhist cult the quest for immortality motivated the burgeoning art of reliquary stupa in which nothing that was not wanted was allowed to be. Magic symbols and signs were designed for specific purpose; the precision with which the standard of communication was achieved ensured their efficacy and universal message. To the same end, standardization was achieved in the development of Brahmi, a common script adapted from Aramaic and Greek letters. But the modern world awakening to a lost civilization in the remote antiquity attributed the extraordinary monuments replete with sacred symbols and inscriptions as the contribution of a single shadowy King Asoka solely engaged in the glorification of a Buddha isolated not only by time but also by lack of archaeology to substantiate his existence in 6th century BCE. This singular approach to history that reconstructs the past purely from literary sources is probably unique to South Asia.
