302 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.59. 



arm bare. Around the forehead is a sort of diadem studded with 

 colored stones. The latter also decorate the upper seam of the robe 

 and the girdle round the waist, which terminates in a sash reaching 

 to the ankles. 



The lotus (Nelumbium speciosum) is the queen of Indian flowers, 

 to which a special sanctity is attached in the eyes of Buddhists and 

 Hindus alike, and both Hindu and Buddhist divinities are usually 

 represented standing or seated upon a lotus pedestal. With the 

 Buddhist in particular it is a favorite object owing to its resemblance, 

 when full blown, to the wheel, the symbol of the Buddhist doctrine 

 (dJiarma). See also below under No. 300. 



Height, 6 feet 3 inches. Burma. (Plate 45, Cat. No. 129902, 

 U.S.N.M.) 



3. Buddha. — Made of wood. Sitting in meditation. Body and 

 robe are painted yellow, the locks of small cones are black, the lips 

 and insides of the nostrils and of the piercings of the ears are red. 

 The eyes wide open, the mouth with full lips wears a faint smile, the 

 face is round and rather short. The mendicant's robe is thrown over 

 the left shoulder and comes down in ringed folds over the left arm 

 and the legs. In place of a halo, five-forked flames issue from the 

 crown of the head. This is common to Buddha statues of Ceylon and 

 Siam and vary in the number of the flames from three to five and seven. 

 On the palm of the right hand are painted in red, blue, and green 

 colors (not seen on the plate) an open and closed lotus and concl 

 shells, while the sole of the right foot is adorned, in the same colors, 

 with wheels, lotuses, and the figures of an elephant and lion. The 

 general signification of the lotus in Buddhist symbolism has been 

 touched upon in the preceding No. 2. The wheel with "a thousand 

 spokes" under the soles of the feet is one of the marks (lakshanas) of 

 a Buddha. The symbolism of the wheel in India meant universal 

 dominion, the great circle of power and rule. The " thousand-rayed 

 wheel" on the soles of the feet of a child when born indicated that he 

 will either be a chalcravarti, that is, a universal monarch, whose wheel 

 cholera, that is, chariot, rolls unresisted over all the world, or a perfect 

 Buddha. The wheel then marks Buddha as a spiritual chalcravarti. 

 Legend has it that Buddha as soon as he entered this world walked 

 seven steps to each of the cardinal points, taking, as it were, spiritual 

 possession of the universe. In the picturesque language of the ancient 

 Buddhist writings "turning of the wheel-of-the-law " stands for 

 preaching the doctrine destined to traverse the world like the chariot 

 wheels of a conquering monarch, and the wheel {dharma-chalcra) has 

 been adopted as a symbol of Buddha's doctrine and is often repre- 

 sented on the throne of statues, sometimes between two deer, in 

 memory of the first sermon delivered by him, after he attained 

 enlightenment, in the Deer Park at Sarnath, near Benares, when he 



