Youthful, sweet-faced image of the Buddha wearing a robe elaborately folded, edged and decorated often with inset mirror glass, has attained great popularity and become known as the ”Mandalay Buddha”. For many people, it came to epitomize the Burmese representation of the Buddha.
Mandalay images often have a broad band across the forehead.The hair hugs the head in tight curls and covers a broad prominent ushnisha.There is no lotus finial above. The images are frequently seated in the bhumisparsa mudra and the left lying in the lap. The uttarasanga is worm in the open mode and the sanghati is folded decoratively on the left shoulder. Wood, alabaster and bronze have been the favoured materials. Many Buddha images are lacquered and gilded, including the face and body.
Most standing Buddha images wear the uttarasanga in the closed mode, covering the arms and chest and held at each side of the lower body by downward-stretched hands.
Below, at its lower centre, appears the antaravasaka. The sanghati flows in multitudinous folds from the left shoulder.In his right hand the Buddha holds the medicinal myrobalan fruit. |
