Indar Pasricha Fine Arts | Indian & South Asian Art in London

A Highly Important Console Table

Ebony, Ceylon
Circa 1850
Height 126 cms (49.62 ins)
Width 134 cms (52.76 ins)
Depth 68 cms (26.77ins)

This extraordinary object may well have been made for the Great 1851 Exhibition held in London

The Top surface of the table shows a Stupa at whose base is a Sandakada Pahana, known in English as a Moonstone. The most ancient form, which is depicted on our table, is from Anuradhapura consists of an outer-ring of flames representing our worldly desires and passions followed by carvings of four animals (elephants, lions, horses, and bulls), following each other in procession symbolizing the four major stages in the life of the Buddha: birth (the elephant at Queen Maya’s conception - to a Buddhist, life begins at conception), sensual palatial life as a youth (the bull symbolizing desire), denouncement of palatial life (a horse was used to escape the palace), and enlightenment (the lion symbolizing the attainment of Nirvana - the famous lion’s roar proclaimed by the Buddha in both the Cula-sihanada Sutta and the Maha-sihanada Sutta). The next band was that of a tightly bound and intricate foliage garland known as liyavel, symbolizing our cravings, attachments and obscuration. This was followed by a procession of pious swans who are believed to be able to separate the curds from the whey when they drink milk, thus symbolizing the ability to separate good from evil that one learns on the path. As one develops one’s morality based on the Buddha’s teachings, one’s cravings become less and the next band of foliage is smaller, looser, and more beautiful to be followed by the lovely lotus in the centre that symbolizes the eventual enlightenment to be obtained by following the teachings 718 AD. The carvings of the semi-circular stone slab were the same in every Sandakada Pahana. Our table has been carved with a Moon stone as described above.

The top part of the table is supported by a broad frieze in the middle of each of the four sections of the frieze is a crouching Yaksha, this image is taken from the steps of an early Buddhist temple in Anuradhapura.