IS IT POSSIBLE TO WRITE HISTORICAL BIOGRAPHY OF THE BUDDHA?

Abstract

In an art historical context, the reference of the term “biography” implies the use of narration, be it planned or carved. But it is evident that this cannot be considered true when examining the artefacts at our disposal in Indian art where Buddhism left its traces from the last centuries B.C. till around 1200 A.D. Buddhist iconography is manifold: the largest part of it is variously concerned with icons which were the focus of veneration and these icons, even though they may, but not exclusively depict the Buddha, can stand far away from the traditional narrative treatment. As a matter of fact, an image of the Buddha Shākyamuni does not necessarily refer to a moment of his life. Far away from it. The nature of the artistic object varies in the course of time and, at a very broad level, we can discern a first period (from the beginning up to the Gupta period onwards) where the icon becomes the Centre of attention and where the narration enters into a normative process of being fixed in the iconic model. This general tendency has to be taken into consideration when searching for elements related to a biography since the structure of the image cannot be isolated from its subject; simultaneously, and through we shall not deal here with this question, it is evident that the prevalence of the narration, or the icon, in the treatment of the Buddha’s life relates to the philosophical perception of “what” the Buddha is. Nobody would ever doubt that the Buddha is a fundamental personality in the religious history of Asia and the world. His life has been elaborated in literary sources as holy biography, practically as hagiography or as legend- which have been analyses for more than one century now.