The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

Buddha Maravijaya - the"Buddha who vanquished Mara" - a name given in Siam to the episode in which Gautama called upon the Earth goddess to bear witness and gained victory over Mara, the lord of evil forces.
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Siamese sculpture in the Hermitage

Paccekabuddha

1592/93

Bronze, gilding

Height: 54 cm

Until the inscription on this sculpture was read, only one depiction of the Paccekabuddha was known - in the Musée Guimet in Paris. That piece has been dated to the 1720s, so the Hermitage work is older. The sculpture in the Musee Guimet has lost the upper part of the head and we do not know whether there was an ushnisha on it. It is therefore impossible to tell whether the absence of an ushnisha on the Hermitage sculpture is a specific attribute of the Paccekabuddha. (If it were not for the explanatory inscription, it might be taken for a depiction of a meditating monk.) The protruding ears with pointed tops and long narrow lobes, the "raised" eyebrows and the stiff treatment of the facial features all suggest that this sculpture may have been made in areas bordering on the Laotian kingdom of Lang Chang.

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About the Site

Paccekabuddha - a person who reached Enlightenment through his own efforts without ever having heard of the Buddha Shakyamuni or his teaching.
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Lanna - a state in the Far North of present-day Thailand that existed up to the late 18th century. It flourished from the second half of the 13th century to the middle of the 16th.
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Ushnisha - a protuberance on the top of the Buddha's head, beneath the hair, symbolizing his attainment of transcendental wisdom and a state of Enlightenment. One of the main attributes in the iconography of the Buddha.
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Lang Chang - a Laotian state that existed in the north-east of the Indochina peninsula from 1353 to 1700.
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