Vairochana Buddha

This is a fragment of a wall painting from the Buddhist shrine at Balawaste. The Buddha, with various auspicious symbols all over his body, is seated in meditation (dhyanasana). Lower portion of the Buddha is missing. The most important symbols on his chest are the srivatsa mark which is usually seen on the chest of Vishnu and Jain Tirthankar Mahavira, and the scene of churning of the ocean (samudra manthana) from the Hindu mythology. These two symbols indicate that Central Asia had close contacts with the Indian culture, so much so, that they adopted various symbols and themes from Hindu mythological stories.