Sultanganj Buddha

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rdf:langString Sultanganj Buddha

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rdf:langString Sultanganj Buddha

rdf:langString The Sultanganj Buddha is a Gupta–Pala transitional period sculpture, the largest substantially complete copper Buddha figure known from the time. The statue is dated to between 500 and 700 AD (but see below). It is 2.3 m high and 1 m wide and weighs over 500 kg. It was found in the East Indian town of Sultanganj, Bhagalpur district, Bihar in 1861 during the construction of the East Indian Railway. It is now in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, England. Over life-size, this is "the only remaining metal statue of any size" from Gupta art, out of what was at the time probably approximately as numerous a type as stone or stucco statues. The metal Brahma from Mirpur-Khas is older, but about half the size. The Jain Akota bronzes and some other finds are much smaller still, probably figures for shrines in well-off homes. In Lalitpur, Nepal the Guita Bahī monastery has a copper Buddha about 1.8 metres tall, of Nepali make and style, of about the 9th or 10th century. This remains in place, and in worship, against a wall at the end of a shrine or prayer-hall, and the Sultanganj Buddha was probably originally placed in a similar location. The style of the Sultanganj figure is comparable to slightly earlier stone Buddha figures from Sarnath in "the smoothly rounded attenuation of body and limbs" and the very thin, clinging body garment, indicated in the lightest of ways. The figure has "a feeling of animation imparted by the unbalanced stance and the movement suggested by the sweeping silhouette of the enveloping robe".

rdf:langString Gupta–Pala transitional period