Menon, Animal Representations in Buddhist Art

This is a very fine lecture about the way animals have been depicted, particularly on the ancient stūpa at Kanaganahalli in Karnataka, a major site which is still relatively unknown to the general public. It also includes some comparisons with the same creatures at Sañchi.

Dr Srikumar M. Menon starts by looking at the depiction of the 7-hooded snake Mucilinda on the stūpa, before moving on to discuss at length the elephant depictions at the monument. How accurate these are is discussed in detail, with comparative photographs of temple elephants from Kerala and other places.

The final part discusses the relatively poorer sculpting of the Batrian Camel at the site, which almost certainly was because of the sculptors unfamiliarity with the creature, which was not found in the Deccan. Whereas clearly they were very familiar with the elephant as can be seen from the details portrayed.