Fasting Buddha, with pedestal detail of the merchants Trapusa and Bahalika offering food to the Buddha.[1][2][3] The pedestal reflect the details of the Buddhist account: a caravan of traders was led by a bullock cart which became mysteriously stuck in the vicinity of the fasting Buddha. Two nude or semi-nude figures can be seen trying to free the cart, while the rider wields the whip. The two merchants Trapusa and Bahalika were then told about the Buddha by the Genius of the Grove. They can be seen standing and dressed in gowns, offering food to the Buddha, next to their loaded donkeys. Behind them, the Genius of the Grove stands in Anjali mudra. The bearded man seated next to the Buddha and half-turned is his protector Vajrapani.[4][5] Takht-i-Bahi, 2nd-3rd century CE, Peshawar Museum, Pakistan.
Trapusa and Bahalika (alternatively Bhallika) are traditionally regarded as the first disciples of the Buddha. The first account of Trapusa and Bahalika appears in the Vinaya section of the Tripiṭaka where they offer the Buddha his first meal after enlightenment, take refuge in the Dharma (while the Sangha was still not established), and become the Buddha's first disciples.[6] According to the Pali canon, they were caravan drivers from Puṣkalāvatī (Pali: Pokkharavatī),[7] in ukkalapada on way to Uttarapatha. However, most ancient Buddhist texts state that they came from Orissa or Burma i.e. modern Myanmar. Xuanzang (玄奘) says that Buddhism was brought to Central Asia by Trapusa and Bahalika, two Burmese merchants who offered food to the Buddha after his enlightenment.[8]
The era of Trapusa and Bahalika is during the life of the Historical Buddha: most early 20th-century historians dated his birth and death as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE,[9] but more recent research dates his death to between 486 and 483 BCE or, according to others, between 411 and 400 BCE (or between 623 and 624 BCE).[10] Many also claim that they originated from Gandhar Kingdom.
^Spooner, David Brainard (1908). Annual Report 1907-08. Archaeological Survey of India. p. 140, Plates XLIII, XLV.
^Ingolt, Harald (1957). Gandharan art in Pakistan. Pantheon Books. p. 62, items 53 and 67.
^Granoff, Phyllis (2005). "The Gift of the Two Merchants: Defining the Buddhist Community through Story" (PDF). East and West. 55 (1/4): 129–138. ISSN 0012-8376. JSTOR 29757641.
^Ihsan, Ali (2008). Gandharan Sculptures in Peshawar Museum. NWFP, Pakistan: Hazara University Mansehra. pp. 104–105.
^Ingolt, Harald (1957). Gandharan art in Pakistan. Pantheon Books. p. 67, item 67.
^Tsung-mi and the sinification of Buddhism By Peter N. Gregory, Kuroda Institute, Published by Princeton University 1991, Page 281
^"Pokkharavati, Pokkharavatī: 1 definition". 12 April 2009.
^The new encyclopedia of Islam By Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith Published in North America by Altamira Press, Page 302
^
L. S. Cousins (1996), "The dating of the historical Buddha: a review article", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society(3)6(1): 57–63.
^See the consensus in the essays by leading scholars in The Date of the Historical Śākyamuni Buddha (2003) Edited by A. K. Narain. B. R. Publishing Corporation, New Delhi. ISBN 81-7646-353-1.
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