The large silk painting (Ch. lvi. 0019), reproduced in this Plate
on a scale of slightly less than one-fourth of the original, may
rank among the richest of the Collection in respect of decorative
effect and colouring, and fortunately has survived in very fair
preservation. It represents Avalokiteśvara in his thousand-armed
and eleven-headed form, surrounded by numerous groups of divinities
constituting his ‘Maṇḍala’. The scheme is repeated on somewhat simpler
lines in another fine painting, shown by Plate XLII. Elaborate as its
representation is in ours, its interpretation is facilitated by the
Chinese inscriptions attached to all the principal divine figures
which appear in attendance on the great Bodhisattva of Mercy. Helped
by these inscriptions M. Petrucci has been able to discuss at length
the numerous and interesting questions of iconographic detail which are
raised by figures in this and similar sumptuous compositions, and to
his explanations and to the full description contained in _Serindia_
reference may conveniently be made here.[43]
In the centre of the painting we see Avalokiteśvara’s large figure
surrounded by a nimbus-like disc. This is formed by his outer hands
making up the theoretical number of a thousand, and each showing an
open eye marked on the palm. Avalokiteśvara’s thousand arms, arranged
in this fashion, are well known, too, to the later Buddhist iconography
of India and meant to symbolize the merciful divinity’s desire to save
all human beings at the same time. The Bodhisattva is shown seated on a
lotus and under a richly tasselled canopy. His inner hands, apart from
the four in front, hold a multiplicity of well-known sacred emblems,
including the discs of the Sun and Moon, flasks of ambrosia, conch,
willow spray, trident, Vajra, the Wheel of the Law, mace, &c. From the
centre pair of inner hands a shaft of rainbow light streams upwards.
His flesh is yellow, as usual, shaded with pink; his hair blue, of the
same shade as the general background. Of the small subsidiary heads,
two of demonic appearance are shown by the side of the ears and the
rest in three tiers above the tiara.
Among the attendant divinities we see at the top of the canopy the
Bodhisattvas of the Sun and Moon seated behind their five white
geese and five white horses respectively. In the upper corners
appear on finely painted clouds the ‘Buddhas of the ten quarters of
the Universe’, arranged as all the attendant deities in symmetrical
groups. Below them are seated pairs of Bodhisattvas with elaborate
flower-decked haloes and nimbi. Beneath them come on the right Indra
with three attendants, and on the left Brahman with two. All are shown
kneeling and wearing Chinese official dress of a rich type. Beneath
again are shown two monstrous divinities, both unmistakably Śivaitic.
On the right Mahākāla with three heads and six arms reclines on
the back of Śiva’s bull. On the left Maheśvara, of demonic appearance,
stands with legs apart upon a crocodile-headed snake; his middle hands
grasp pike and cords which hold two half-naked humans.
Below the lotus seat of Avalokiteśvara are seen emaciated _pretas_ or
beings in hell clutching with outstretched hands at showers of white
grains (ambrosia) which Avalokiteśvara pours on them. In front of his
lotus seat lies a tank in which stand two stalwart Nāgas upholding
the stem of the lotus. They are in human shape, but carry above their
heads a crest formed of five snake-heads, their ancient Indian emblem.
Besides smaller Nāga figures of the same type the tank holds an infant
soul (now almost destroyed) rising from a lotus.
The bottom corners are occupied on each side by a larger group of
attendants. The central figure in each case is a four-armed female
divinity of beneficent aspect, dressed like a Bodhisattva and seated
on a bird. The one on the right rides on a phoenix and is followed
by a Buddha. The female deity behind him is of interest, as from the
children in her arms she may be recognized as the goddess Hāritī, whom
a pious Indian legend represents as a wicked ogress converted into a
patroness of children.[44] The female divinity on the left is riding
on a peacock, with two attendants behind her who in the absence of
attributes or inscriptions remain unidentified. Lower down on either
side are seen standing two Lokapālas, Kings of the Quarters, in armour,
and in each of the bottom corners a demonic Vajrapāṇi, six-armed and
serpent-decked, straddling against a background of flames. At the feet
of each sits a smaller demon with a boar’s head. Before the Lokapālas
and close to the edge of the tank are seated on the right an emaciated
old man in ascetic garb, and on the left a richly-robed nymph offering
flowers. Both these figures, described elsewhere as the ‘Sage of the
Air (?)’ and ‘Nymph of Virtue’, are with particular clearness seen
again in Plate XLII.
On the iconographic side the interest of this sumptuous presentation
of Avalokiteśvara’s ‘Maṇḍala’ is obvious, were it only for the
appearance in it of such Śivaitic deities as Mahākāla and Maheśvara.
These aptly illustrate the influence which Hindu mythology, even in
its later development, continued to exercise on the Buddhist Pantheon
of Central Asia and the Far East. On the artistic side attention is
claimed by the skill shown in the ordinance of the whole and the
drawing of individual figures. But it is in particular the highly
effective colour treatment which makes this picture rank with the most
impressive in the Collection.