OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 127 



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 

 (dhartna). See also below under No. 374. 



Height, 6 feet 3 inches. Burma. (Plate 31, Cat, No. 129902, 

 U.S.N.M.) 



3. Buddha. — Statue of wood, lacquered and gilt. Represented 

 standing upon a lotus, which rests on a hexagonal stepped base, 

 in the attitude of gift bestowing. Height, 6 feet ^Yo inches. Burma. 

 (Cat. No. 317007, U.S.N.M.). Gift of Wilham Liliy. 



4. 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, 5 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 3 to 5 and 7. 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 conch 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 (lalcshanas) , 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 wdll 

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

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

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

 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-chaJcra) , 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 

 "set rolling the royal chariot wheel of a universal empire of truth 

 and righteousness." 



