Monthly Photos　October 2020

Photos taken by ILCAA staff and associates are posted here once a month; most of them are taken during their field research in Asia and Africa.

(The copyright belongs to the photographers.)

Fasting Siddhārtha

According to biographies of the Buddha, Gautama Siddhārtha practiced different kinds of asceticism for six years. However, he thought that he could not attain enlightenment through asceticism and eventually abandoned it. This sculpture to shape fasting Siddhārtha was made in Gandhara under the Kushan Empire. Owing to its realistic styles such as blood vessels on the rib and the hollowed orbits, this sculpture has gained a reputation as one of the greatest of Gandharian Art.

30 Jan 2020
Lahore Museum, Pakistan
Photograph by Satoshi OGURA