What does the term aniconic mean? And what is aniconic art in early Buddhism? In this video, we explore the term aniconic by looking at a 2nd-century BCE stone relief carving from the Stupa of Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh, India. This relief is an example of early Buddhist art, which was aniconic. Learn what aniconic means and how aniconic art was used by early Buddhists to depict the founder of Buddhism, the historical Buddha Shakyamuni (Siddhartha Gautama).

CHAPTERS

0:00 A stone relief from the Stupa of Bharhut in Madhya Pradesh, India

01:10 What is an aniconic image?

01:58 Why were aniconic images used in early Buddhist art to depict the Buddha?