Berenike Buddha and Yavana Prince of Bharhut in Egyptian Porphyry

Berenike Buddha Compliments Bharhut Yavana Prince

The massive stone enclosure of the Bharhut stupa in Central India is carved in royal-red porphyry found only in the Eastern Desert of Egypt. The ancient quarry discovered on July 18 CE by a Roman legionary named Caius Cominius Leugas was exploited by Emperor Hadrian (76-138 CE). Emperor Hadrian built a new road to connect the Red Sea port of Berenike and Antinoöpolis on the Nile, the new cult site established to worship his drowned companion Antinous. The approximately 800 km road named Via Hadriana or Via Nova Hadriana, through the Eastern Desert, supported by fortlets, wells, and cisterns, enabled trade, communication, and transport of imperial porphyry. The Bharhut sculptures, typically carved in the workshop near the stone quarry, were exported across the Indian Ocean from the Berenike port on the Red Sea. The Roman port Berenike, or the Ptolemaic Berenice, was a critical maritime hub that handled the trade of local materials, including black schist and red porphyry, polished to reflect light like a mirror through Egyptian technology. While the Berenike sea post served as a major conduit for exotic goods from India and Arabia (spices, textiles, gems), it also handled local stones such as anhydrite, gypsum, and limestone. The limestone statue of youthful Berenike Buddha worshiped on the forecourt of the Temple of Isis is enlightened by a radiant halo similar to the sun god of Palmyra. The porphyry pillar statue of a youthful Yavana wearing a fluttering diadem like a Greek Prince holds a broad Greco-Kushan sword bearing the Triratna emblem that corresponds to the Brahmi letter Ma. The Yavana prince standing on the liminal Chandrasila threshold shaped like a semi-circular lotus is inscribed in Prakrit Brahmi: "Bhadanta Mahilasa thabho Danam.” It affirms that women versed in scriptures installed the commemorative Thabo or pillar (column, post) in the glory of Danam, meaning Danalakshmi, the goddess of fortune and good luck, depicted as Abhisheka Lakshmi standing on the Amrit Kalash of immortality and lustrated by the royal elephants, introducing Gajalakshmi on the Mahayana Buddhist mortuary monument.