Railing pillar with scenes of the Great Departure

Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna district, Madhya Pradesh

ca. 150–100 BCE

Not on view

Returned to lender

This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.

This railing pillar depicts scenes from Prince Siddhartha’s Great Departure, when he secretly left his father’s palace in the night, riding to a forest to cut his hair and discard his princely trappings in exchange for the soiled robe of an ascetic. The riderless horse with an honorific umbrella poised above evokes the prince’s departure on his favorite steed, Kanthaka, led by his groom first within the city walls and then beyond. An inscription refers to the celestial “Protector of the Arhats,” likely Indra, supreme god of the heavens, who is said to have witnessed the first step of the prince’s spiritual journey to Buddhahood.

Artwork Details

Overview

Exhibition History

Title: Railing pillar with scenes of the Great Departure
Period: Shunga
Date: ca. 150–100 BCE
Culture: Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna district, Madhya Pradesh
Medium: Sandstone
Dimensions: H. 54 in. (137.2 cm); W. 9 in. (22.9 cm); D. 11 in. (27.9 cm)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Lent by The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena
Curatorial Department: Asian Art