EMACIATED BUDDHA
Art of Gandhara
2nd – 3rd century
Schist,  CM. 12 BY 21

Beside this emaciated Buddha are only two figures of devotees, one male (right) and the other female, and a column appearing on the left. The Buddha indulged in fasting to achieve enlightenment, and his skeletal body shows his prominent ribs. However, the Buddha renounced the practice of fasting, having realized that it was useless and that it is not by renouncing the objects of our desire that we become free, but by renouncing desire itself.
The frieze was presented at the exhibition “The Art of Buddhism” and published in the catalogue on page 43.