Early Aniconic Symbols of the Buddha

Showing the Buddha without showing him

Visit the carved gateways of the Sanchi stupa or study the reliefs from Bharhut and Amaravati, and you may notice something unexpected. The Buddha is present in the stories, yet in the oldest carvings he is not drawn as a person. A worshipper approaches an empty throne. A tree is surrounded by devotees. A wheel stands above a pillar. Footprints are venerated on a stone slab. These are called aniconic symbols, meaning symbols that do not use an image of the figure.

The pattern is typical of Indian Buddhist art from roughly the third century BCE to about the first century CE, although dates are approximate and regions differ. Human images of the Buddha become common afterwards, and the two forms existed side by side for a time.

The main symbols

• The Bodhi tree. The tree under which the Buddha is traditionally said to have attained awakening stands for that event. It is often shown with a railing around it and a throne at its base, with devotees bringing garlands.
• The empty throne or seat. A vacant seat, often under a tree and sometimes with a parasol above, marks the presence of the teacher. The throne at Bodh Gaya is associated with the diamond seat in later tradition.
• The wheel. The dharmachakra represents the first teaching in the Deer Park at Sarnath, which the texts describe as “setting the wheel in motion”. It is discussed further in the article on the Dharma wheel symbol.
• Footprints. These suggest that the Buddha walked the earth and has now moved on; they appear in early reliefs and are linked to later footprint veneration.
• The stupa. The dome stands for the final passing and for relics, and may appear as a symbol of the Buddha’s parinirvana.
• Other signs. The parasol, and in some scenes a riderless horse, or an empty path, can mark the departure from the palace.

Reading a scene

A relief might show the same story as a later image would, only with a symbol where the figure would be. At Sanchi and Bharhut, for example, scenes tell of the awakening, the first sermon and the Buddha’s passing, through symbols and surrounding people. Viewers were expected to recognise the narrative. Reliefs of the Jataka tales, the stories of the Buddha’s earlier lives, work in a similar narrative way: crowds, animals and attendants carry the action, while the central figure may be indicated by a mark.

Why no human figure? A debated question

Scholars have long discussed why early artists avoided depicting the Buddha. No single explanation has won agreement, and the evidence is limited.

1. A deliberate prohibition. An older view held that early Buddhists were forbidden to depict him. This is now less favoured, since no clear early text has been found that prohibits it, and some scholars note that other human and divine figures appear in the same scenes.
2. Reverence and absence. Another idea is that the Buddha, having passed beyond rebirth, could not be adequately captured in form, and the absence itself expressed that. This reading is often cited but is an interpretation.
3. A matter of convention. Some argue that the symbols were an ordinary visual language of the time, already used for sacred places and kings, and that the “absence” is largely a modern impression.
4. Evidence of images. Some scholars believe there may have been early human images in perishable materials or elsewhere that have not survived. Others disagree, and the question remains open.

The Buddha was also depicted in earlier lives as an animal or a king, and these appear in human or animal form, so it is the historical Buddha in particular who is shown aniconically.

The shift to human images

From about the first century CE, Buddha images appear in the north-west, where Gandharan art shows influence from Mediterranean styles, and in Mathura in the Gangetic region. Which came first has been argued for a long time, with some scholars proposing independent developments. Once the human form became common, the older symbols did not vanish. The Bodhi tree, wheel and footprints continued in reliefs, on coins and as objects of worship, and they remain part of the visual vocabulary in every Buddhist country. Theravada countries in particular continued to honour footprints and sacred trees.

Some scholars also point out that “aniconic” is a modern term. The people who made and used these carvings did not call their work by it.

What to look for at a site

At early sites in India, look for railings, gateways and medallions with trees, thrones and wheels, which is where you are most likely to see these forms. Because stone surfaces are weathered, a guide or museum label can help. Visiting conduct is as usual: do not climb on ancient stones, keep to marked paths, and check current official information about access, as sites close and open and rules change.

The early symbols remind us that Buddhism’s imagery has changed over time, and that devotion has found many forms. Different traditions today explain these motifs differently, and scholars continue to revise the picture as discoveries are made.