Stylistics of Amaravati and Poetics of “Lalitavistara”: Comparative Analysis of Visual and Textual Narrative

Abstract

The Ancient Indian Buddhist hagiographic narrative developed both in the form of text and in the form of images created in abundance in places of worship. These two forms of tradition were interrelated in certain ways, although the variability of versions was reflected both in the text and in the pictorial lines of development. Comparative analysis of these two forms of Buddhist narrative can be carried out in different ways. Above all, the comparison is focused on the events of the Buddha’s life as reflected in the narratives, as well as attributes and other external features of the characters. The author pays specific attention to the stylistic side and tries to match the style of pictures to the texts. Comparing “Lalitavistara”, the most important Buddhist hagiographic text, to the stupa at Amaravati with its abundance of images, one can detect a certain closeness between the poetics of the text and the style of the images. This includes multi-figure composition, associated with the expression of the idea of cosmic spheres, as well as special dynamism of characters’ movement, extreme rhythmicity of constructions, abundance of formulas and symbols. These common features in the imagery and stylistics of Amaravati and “Lalitavistara” obviously stem from a certain affiliation of the monastic environment that gave rise to them: the design of the stupa was associated with the chaityaka sect (dominant in the region) which claimed the “transcendental” nature of the Buddha.