The bronze image of Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara found from the premises of Sri Śangabodhi Vihāra at Veheragala in 1968 and now kept at the National Museum of Colombo, under No. V. 03, is a masterpiece among the world religious art. It depicts the Bodhisattva seated in the 'royal easy posture' in which the right knee is lifted and placed on the throne closer to the body and the left leg comfortably hangs down.
This statue along with some other 51 valuable bronze sculptures belonging to the classical eras of this country were taken away from the Colombo Museum in 1991 and was on display till 1993 in several leading art museums of the world, in France, Switzerland, United States and Australia. During these exhibitions, this image has been acclaimed as a masterpiece among world religious sculptures by a number of world famous art critics. One of them acclaimed: 'He is but one gem of sculpture in a collection of the most beautiful, spiritual and powerful images made anywhere in Asia.' C. Bolon, a specialist of South Asian Art at Smithsonian Institute, selected this piece of sculpture for the cover page of their quarterly magazine Asian Art published in 1993.
This statue has been variously dated by several scholars between the 6th and the 10th century. Paranavitana places it in the 6th century and all the other scholars relate it to the late Anurādhapura period from the 8th to the 10th century. The notion that Mahāyāna may have reached Sri Lanka about the same time it spread to countries like Nepal, Tibet and China appears to have prompted these scholars to place this statue in the late Anurādhapura period. But there is sufficient evidence to prove that Mahayana reached Sri Lanka long before it spread to other countries. King Mahasen's association with Mahāyāna (3rd century), Allahabad Pillar Inscription of Samudragupta (4th century) and Faxian's records (5th century) bear ample evidence for the presence of Mahāyāna in Sri Lanka before the 5th century. The Sri Lankan śipla text Citrakarmaśāstra of Mañjuśrī written well before the 7th century too asserts that the Bodhisattva worship was prevalent in Sri Lanka at that time and states that images were fashioned out of gold, silver, bronze, copper and wood. There is, therefore, nothing to prevent us from supporting Paranavitana who places it in the 6th century.
目次
Introduction 70 Visual Language 71 International Art Reviews 72 Archaeological and Historical Views 75 Worship of Avalokiteśvara and Island of Laka 78 Artistic and Compositional Aspects 83 Technological Facts 85 Perception 87 Endnotes 89
