An iconographic break in style: the Siamese walking Buddha

Siamese walking Buddha

Most of the Asian classical statues we know of the Buddha depict him either sitting, standing or reclining. In the thirteenth century, suddenly, like a bolt from a clear sky, a walking Buddha appeared. This way of depicting represented a real iconographic break in style and was unique to the region now known as Thailand.

Already at the beginning of Buddhist art in this region, in the period that went down in art history as the Mon-Dvaravati period, we see the first emergence of a striking visual language that deviates from classical Indian stylistic norms. This striking deviation in the form language was expressed in the highly codified hand gestures of the Buddha. Both in the vitarke mudra, the hand position with the curved thumb and index finger that symbolizes the argument as in the abhaya mudra, the hand gesture with the raised palm that means 'Do not fear' are not, as was the case in India or Sri Lanka, only formed with the right hand, but with both hands. A good example of this style is the one from the 8^e or 9^e century, just under half a meter high bronze Buddha that was found in the crypt of a chedi in Wat Choeng Ta in Nonthaburi and is now one of the masterpieces in the collection of the National Museum in Bangkok. To this day, art and cultural historians do not agree on what caused this deviant form of depiction, let alone explain this phenomenon unequivocally. And it didn't stop there.

Bronze Buddha from Wat Choeng Tha

A complete break in style was the next step when a walking or stepping Buddha suddenly appeared in the principality of Sukhothai in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Although the Buddha spent much of his last earthly life wandering and preaching on foot, he was never depicted walking in classical Buddhist art. Not even in illustrations of phases in his life in which he should be depicted walking. In such scenes only a slight bend of a knee or the drape of his monk's robe suggested such movement, nothing more. And suddenly there he is: the walking Buddha. The origin of this way of depicting is - again - in the dark. It is not even agreed whether it was in Sukhothai or in the northern kingdom of Lanna where this style first manifested itself. Some art historians even dare to suggest that this stylistic break actually came over from Sri Lanka, but there is no real tangible evidence for this last theory and it is also clear that only the sculptors of the area that is Thailand today have been involved with this way of depicting it. kept busy.

It remains a curious fact. After all, this is not the mournfully meditating, floating or almost ethereal Buddha, but a spiritual guide who stands firmly with both feet on the ground, among the population. An earthly approach with possibly also a political touch, because in this way the monarchs of the still fledgling Sukhothai who explicitly confirmed themselves to Buddhism could emphasize that they, in contrast to, for example, their Indian or Khmer counterparts, were also much less elevated and much closer to the people stood.

Wat Mahathat Sukhothai

Perhaps it was precisely this last fact that made it a very popular way of depicting in this region. Others, on the other hand, give a more spiritual dimension to this representation and argue that the walking actually symbolizes the mythical descent of the Buddha from the Heaven of the Thirty-Three Gods (Tavatimsa). Others hold the possible relationship between these images and how the sacred texts of Theravada Buddhism refer to each of the 27 Buddhas who, after their descent from the heavens, left their footprints at the gates of the city of Sankasya. And consequently, many of these images are associated with the equally iconic and revered Buddha footprints.

Be that as it may; in any case, this break in style contributed to the fact that the art of Sukhothai is still regarded today as the 'Golden Period' known in Thai art. Elegance cast in bronze with a highly stylized formal language in which the Buddha is first adorned with the flame that crowns the wisdom hump on his head and with the special body features of the Buddha as described in sacred texts such as the  Lakkhana Suttanta were accurately described: thecurved nose like a parrot's beak', 'the arms like the trunk of a young elephant', fingers like 'the young petals of the lotus', the legs 'like an antelope and the protruding heels…