A Study Of The Great Buddha Statues In The 6 Grottoes Of The Daxiang Mountain In Gangu

There are a large number of grottoes in Gansu province.The statues of the grottoes are various in forms and vary in size.Among them,Daxiang Mountain Grotto in Gangu County is a typical example,which is a small or medium-sized grotto.Although there is no clear records about when it started build,according to experts' studying the features of existing statues and other cultural relics,most of statues from Daxiang Mountain Grotto were first built in Northern Zhou Dynasty or even before.However,it is especially hard to know when the Buddhist carving of NO.6 grotto was first chiseled,which makes it more difficult to study the Buddhist carving.The writer focused on the problem,and tried his best to work out it.Performing field visit,examining local folklore,referring local historical records,studying the features of the Buddhist carving,and comparing with the adjacent caves,the writer finally find out that the Buddhist carving of NO.6 grotto dates back to Northern Zhou Dynasty or even before.Meanwhile,in the Tang Dynasty,it was painted comprehensively again.There was no work to repair it and gradually it turned run-down.Then,in the paper,the writer pay attention to the features of caving artwork from Northern Zhou Dynasty,the time when the Buddhist carving of NO.6 grotto first built,and briefly study the specific features,connotation meaning,religious function as well as the around environment effect of the Buddhist carving.