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[Intro]
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[Texts]
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[Caves]
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For
a discussion of these temples see:Berkson, Carel. The Cave Temples at
Aurangabad: Early Buddhist Tantric Art in India.( Ahmedabad: Mapin, 1986).Burgess,
James. The Cave Temples of India.( London, 1880).Dehejia, Vidya. Early
Buddhist Rock Temples.( London, 1972).Huntington, Susan L. The Art of
Acient India: Buddhist, Hindu, Jain.( New York: Weaterhil, 1985).Levine,
Deborah. "Auragabad: A Stylistic Analysis." Aritubus Asiae XXVIII, no.
2/3: 175-188.
See
Huntington 1985 and Berkson 1986.
As the early
Gandhran material does not significantly differ from that developing
in Western India after the fifth century, this discussion will confine
itself to two cave temples. The first, and oldest, of the cave complexes
to be examined here are the cave temples at Aurangabad.
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Here, Vajrapi shows up in three (1, 2, and 6) of the seven main caves. He is primarily seen as an acolyte of the Buddha here; however, in cave six his image is outside the central shrine and seems to have its own area of worship. |
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It
has been suggested
that these temples mark a shift from Mahyna to Vajryna forms
of Buddhism and that sexual rituals were performed at these temples
as early as the early sixth century. The evidence for this theory
is based upon the presence of Vajrapi, the presence of many female
deities and a maala type structure to the caves. |
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On the basis of this evidence, I have to reject the presence of Tantric Buddhism at these temples. It is true, however, that Vajrapi is beginning to assume an autonomy that he had hitherto not enjoyed. This is first first step away from his incaranation as a Bodhisattva to an emanation, or the embodiment of the Divine. Here Vajrapi is taking the first steps away from his role as the simple protector of the Buddha. These steps however, are extremely minor. While they hint at the explosion that is to come, they in no way offer us significant insight into the later tradition.
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