India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha is being installe...
- Recent Context: India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha is being installed at the Buddha International Welfare Mission temple in Bodh Gaya.
- About Reclining Buddha: A reclining Buddha statue represents the Buddha during his last illness, about to enter Parinirvana - the stage of great salvation after death that can only be attained by enlightened souls. Hence option (a) is the correct answer.
- Statues of Reclining Buddha show him lying on his right side, his head resting on a cushion or on his right elbow. It is meant to show that all beings have the potential to be awakened and be released from the cycle of death and rebirth.
- The Reclining Buddha was first depicted in Gandhara art - which began in between 50 BC and 75 AD, and peaked during the Kushana period from the 1st – 5th centuries AD.
- Reclining Buddha in India: Cave No. 26 of Ajanta contains a 24-foot-long and nine-foot-tall sculpture of the Reclining Buddha, believed to have been carved in the 5th century AD.
- Kushinagar (present day Uttar Pradesh – where Buddha attained parinirvana) has a 6-metre-long red sandstone monolith statue of the Reclining Buddha inside the Parinirvana Stupa.
- The largest Reclining Buddha in the world is the 600-foot Winsein Tawya Buddha built in 1992 in Mawlamyine, Myanmar.
India’s largest statue of the Reclining Buddha is being installe...
A