The Bukit Seguntang Buddha: a reconsideration of its date
Nik Hassan Shuhaimi’s 1979 article in the JMBRAS challenges the long-standing attribution of the Bukit Seguntang Buddha to the Amaravati school of Indian art, arguing instead for a Pala-influenced date in the late seventh to early eighth century A.D. The study is grounded in close stylistic comparison of the image’s drapery treatment with published corpora from Amaravati, Sri Lanka, Nalanda, and Kurkihar, supported by historical evidence of Srivijaya–Nalanda religious contacts.
Summary
The Bukit Seguntang Buddha, a granite standing image over 3.60 metres tall found near Palembang, had been variously dated by earlier scholars to the second, fourth, fifth, or sixth century A.D., most commonly under the broad label of “Amaravati” style. Krom first published a photograph and tentatively assigned it to the Amaravati school; Devaprasad Ghosh followed with a firm date “not later than the fourth century A.D.”; Bachhofer proposed the second century; Majumdar placed it in the Gupta period; and Schnitger suggested the sixth century. Shuhaimi systematically dismantles these attributions by demonstrating that the image’s drapery—specifically the concentric-arc arrangement of convex flutings, the tight adhesion of the upper garment to the torso, and the trough-like curve at the bottom hemline—does not match the accordion-pleated, heavily draped treatment characteristic of mature Amaravati standing Buddhas (pp. 34–37).
Shuhaimi then identifies the closest stylistic parallels in the Pala tradition, particularly the bronze standing Buddhas from Kurkihar (dated by Kramrisch from A.D. 670 to the late Pala period, 1183) and the stone images at Nalanda. The process of simplification from the complex folds of Gandhara, Amaravati, and Mathura into the unbroken lengthening curves seen at Bukit Seguntang is traced through the Sultanganj type, which Griswold already associated with Nalanda rather than Gupta (pp. 38–39). The body proportions—slim, erect, with feet set close together—also align with the Pala type at Nalanda from the seventh century rather than the massive Amaravati or Sri Lankan forms (p. 34).
The historical plausibility of a late seventh- to early eighth-century date is reinforced by the well-documented travel of Buddhist monks between Srivijaya and Nalanda during precisely this period. I-Tsing visited the Srivijayan capital in 671, Wu-Hsing was assisted by its ruler before 685, and Ta-Chin studied in the Srivijayan maritime region in 683. The Nalanda copper-plate inscription of 860 confirms that such contacts persisted into the ninth century. Shuhaimi further notes that Kurkihar, situated on the route between Bihar, Gaya, and Nalanda, was a stop for pilgrims travelling from Palembang, and that its monasteries enjoyed a reputation extending across the Buddhist world, with inscriptions recording donations from Kerala, Sakala, and even Bali (pp. 39–40).
Key Findings
- The Bukit Seguntang Buddha’s drapery features concentric-arc convex flutings with proportionately increasing radii, a treatment absent from mature Amaravati images where folds appear as loops “applied to the surface in no specific ratio” (p. 36).
- The Kurkihar bronze Buddhas, dated by Stella Kramrisch from A.D. 670 to 1183, provide the closest stylistic match; the standing images in the Patna Museum (Pl. XXXI, figs. 1–3) are identified as the most comparable specimens (p. 39).
- The Sultanganj Buddha (Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery), dated by Griswold to the sixth or seventh century A.D., represents an intermediate stage in the simplification of folds from earlier Gandhara and Amaravati traditions toward the Pala style (p. 39).
- Historical evidence for Srivijaya–Nalanda contact includes I-Tsing’s visit in 671, Wu-Hsing’s visit before 685, Ta-Chin’s study in 683, and the Nalanda copper-plate inscription of 860 (p. 39).
- An unfinished seated granite Buddha in the Palembang Museum suggests local production capacity, undermining Bachhofer’s assumption that the image was imported from the Vengi region of South India (p. 37).
- The image’s body proportions—slim torso with a groove separating the legs, feet set close together—correspond to the Pala type at Nalanda (seventh century) rather than the massive Amaravati or Sri Lankan forms (p. 34).
Conclusion
Shuhaimi concludes definitively that the Bukit Seguntang Buddha belongs to the Pala tradition of northern India and should be dated to the late seventh and early eighth century A.D. The style reached Palembang through the well-attested religious contacts between Srivijaya and the monastic centres of Bihar, Gaya, and Nalanda, and the image was most likely produced locally by a sculptor who either meditated on the Pala form until it appeared in vision or copied moveable bronze images brought back from North India (p. 40).
Context
- The article draws on published photographic corpora (Coomaraswamy, Zimmer, Barrett, Devendra, Jayaswal) rather than unpublished archival material, reflecting the state of South and Southeast Asian art-historical scholarship in the late 1970s.
- Historiographically, the piece represents an early attempt by a Malaysian scholar to reposition a major Sumatran artefact within a more precise Indian art-historical framework, moving beyond the undifferentiated “Amaravati” label that had dominated Srivijayan art studies since the 1930s.