Reading Time: the Sarnath Buddha and the Historical Significance of Donor Portraits in Early Medieval South Asia

A previously unnoticed female donor figure on the fifth-century Sarnath Buddha stele, depicting the first sermon at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ancient Buddhist Site of Sarnath, offers new insights into how time was conceptualized and represented in early medieval South Asian art. By analyzing miniature human figures within larger visual programs—combined with epigraphic and literary evidence—a scale-oriented formal analysis reveals an artistic strategy that collapsed multiple temporalities into a single sculpted image. This approach suggests that political actors and artistic communities innovated ways to bridge narrative time and lived historical time, providing a novel perspective on the intersection of art, history, and cultural identity in ancient India.

Kim, J. (2020). Reading Time: the Sarnath Buddha and the Historical Significance of Donor Portraits in Early Medieval South Asia. South Asian Studies, 36(2), 190–215. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.2020.1821517