The small Kakemono-shaped picture on silk (Ch. 0018) which this Plate
shows with a reduction to two-thirds of its size is one of the most
finished of our Tun-huang paintings. It presents Vaiśravaṇa, the
Guardian-king of the North, as he advances on a cloud across the
heaving sea, with an imposing suite of attendants, some human, some
demonic, but all of them in striking attires. The painting was found
in excellent preservation, still retaining its border of purple silk
(omitted in the reproduction), and thus it is fortunately possible
to appreciate in all details the high artistic merit of a work which
clearly is from the brush of a master.
When dealing above with another presentation of Vaiśravaṇa’s Progress,
the painting shown by Plate XXVI, we have already had occasion to
refer to the special importance which the Protector of the Northern
Region claims as chief among Lokapālas, and also to the reasons
accounting for the popularity of his worship in Central Asia and the
Far East. Hence we may turn here at once to the varied points of
iconographic interest presented by our picture. The main figure of
Vaiśravaṇa, disproportionately large in accordance with a convention
familiar already to Graeco-Buddhist as well as to late Hellenistic art,
strides ahead to the right, carrying the halberd, his characteristic
emblem, in the right hand, and on a cloud rising from his left a small
pagoda-shaped shrine, a secondary attribute, also otherwise attested.
His face is heavy but not grotesque, with large oblique eyes and heavy
eyebrows. The middle of the body is thrown out, giving to the pose an
air of ponderous dignity.
His dress is that of a warrior king, as proper to all Lokapālas, but
of a particularly elaborate type. His coat of mail reaches down almost
to the knees. The arrangement of the scales, shown by a diaper of
three-armed crosses, is the same peculiar one already noted in
Plate XXVI. It appears also on the corslet, which is edged by bands
of lacquered plate, while the forearm guards and what is visible of
the greaves show oblong scales secured by transverse bands. The whole
armour is gilded. Decorated flaps, probably of shaped leather, descend
over the hips and are joined in front by a stomacher in the shape of a
hawk or eagle mask. The shoulder-pieces end in a lion head, through the
jaws of which the arm passes. Gilded shoes cover the feet.
The high three-leaved crown on Vaiśravaṇa’s head, with the wing-shaped
ornament at the top and the white streamers flying up at the sides,
unmistakably recalls the royal head-dress of Sassanian times.[92] The
flames rising from his shoulders are an emblem also likely to have
an Iranian origin.[93] Their flickering tongues, like the fluttering
streamers and the freely floating stole, emphasize the Guardian-king’s
rapid movement.
The same curling maroon cloud on which Vaiśravaṇa advances carries
also his retinue of varied aspects. Before him to the right we see the
graceful figure of a nymph bowing and presenting a dish of flowers.
Her identity is uncertain; in form and attire she resembles the ‘Nymph
of Virtue’ we have already met in the paintings of the Thousand-armed
Avalokiteśvara.[94] Of her rich attire may be specially noted the
wide sleeves which almost sweep the ground, the acanthus-like leaves
covering her shoulders, and the wreaths thrown over her arms.
The _cortège_ behind the Lokapāla consists partly of demons, evidently
representing the Yakṣas over whom he rules, and partly of figures
purely human, which are clearly individualized but still await definite
identification. Of the former, two in the background have the heads
of monsters, with fiery hair and tusked jaws. One of them carries
Vaiśravaṇa’s flag of the same elaborate design we have noted in Plate
XXVI. Another demon in front of the pair, with brown skin, hairy arms,
and animal-like head wrapped in a scarlet hood, carries a large round
jar covered at its mouth. A fourth in the foreground, with ferocious
animal head and long upstanding hair, carries a club and wears a
Lokapāla’s armour over a richly embroidered scarlet coat.
Among the human attendants the most striking figure is that of a finely
drawn aged man. He is clad only in a white skirt, with a scarf across
the breast. His hair is tied in a topknot and is white, like his
eyebrows and beard, all painted with minute care. His sunken features
and the sidelong glance of his eyes are expressively rendered. In his
right hand he carries a gilded cup (or Vajra?). Behind him we see a
portly male figure with placid clean-shaven face and a high mitre-like
head-dress from which drapery falls behind on the neck. He wears a
green robe over what looks like a coat brocaded in a ‘Sassanian’
pattern and carries a flaming jewel on a gilded stand.
In the rear is a bearded muscular archer, preparing to shoot at a
bat-like demon in the sky high up to the right. In the latter we can
safely recognize a Garuḍa, the hunting of whom is a frequent motif
in Turkestān frescoes, and whose winged figure is well known to
Graeco-Buddhist sculpture also.[95] The drawing of the archer’s figure
as he bends down to fit the arrow to the bow, while his gaze follows
the flying Garuḍa, is remarkably firm and vigorous. On his head he
carries a high conical cap of white, with metal boss at the top and
wide upstanding brim. His dress comprises a blue tunic which leaves
the right arm and breast bare, white breeches, and black top-boots.
His purposeful figure in movement is cleverly set off by the serene
appearance of a man standing in front with hands folded in adoration.
He wears a full-sleeved maroon jacket over a flowing white under-robe
and over his smooth black hair a gilded tiara of peculiar shape.
The special powers of Chinese pictorial art pervading the whole
picture manifest themselves with particular clearness in the masterly
spacing of the background. This shows the greenish-brown sea heaving
in majestically rolling ridges of white-crested waves. Far away
in admirably conveyed distance rises a range of blue and green
mountains, probably meant to represent the fabulous Mount Meru
where Buddhist mythology locates the Guardian-kings of the Regions.
Wherever the eye falls in this small but exquisite picture we may
appreciate the sure drawing with its cleanness of touch, the harmonious
colouring, and the highly finished workmanship. But it is in this
background that we can realize best to what extent the artist shared
that understanding of the Chinese genius for the control of ordered
fluent line and the power of suggestion in spacing.