For almost five centuries after his death, which likely took place in the early fifth century B.C.E., artists represented the Buddha as an empty throne, a horse with no rider, a tree, a wheel, or in some other symbolic way, while largely shunning any depiction of him in human form. Among the most widespread of these early symbolic representations of the Buddha were images of his footprints. Found throughout Buddhist Asia, such footprints indicated the Buddha’s spiritual presence and served as a focus for devotion or contemplation. They also reminded his followers that since he had passed into nirvana, he could not be physically present. One Buddhist text declared that those who looked on those footprints “shall be freed from the bonds of error, and conducted upon the Way of Enlightenment.”30

Source 4.1 shows a footprint image from northwestern India dating probably from the second century C.E. and containing a number of Buddhist symbols. In the center of each footprint is a dharmachakra, a wheel-like structure that had long symbolized the Buddha’s teaching. Here, it surrounds a lotus flower, representing the Buddha’s purity. Near the heel is a three-pronged emblem known as a triratna. It symbolizes the three things in which Buddhists can take refuge: the Buddha himself, his teaching, and the sangha (the Buddhist community). This particular footprint image also includes in the bottom corners two yakshis, Indian female earth spirits suggesting fertility. The position of their hands conveys a respectful greeting.