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111100188469S

.\of Nepal

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This handsome volume, by the chief curator of the Tokyo
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THE ART OF INDIA/ STONE SCULPTURE

by .\schwin Lippe, 1962. 64 pages (9314" \ 8314") hoards,

43

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Dr. Lippe's

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ot Indian temple sculpture.

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by Dr. Maurice S. Dimand, 1961. 82 pages (8" x 8') boards,

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price $5.00
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No other survey of this fascinating subject has been

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Dr. Lee provides us with a unique and lively account of the

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from China

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THE ART OF SOUTHERN SUNG CHINA

by James Cahill, 1962. 103 pages (8" x 8") boards, 65

price $5.00

tions, including cover plate in color.

Dr. Cahill, Curator of Chinese Art

in

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and
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describes the paintings, sculptures,

decorative arts created in Southern China in

13th centuries.

THE EVOLUTION OF THE BUDDHA IMAGE

by Benjamin Roxvland,
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Jr.,

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price $7.00

illustrations.

In this ta.^tefully designed andhandsomelv produced volume.

Dr. I^owland of Harvard University traces the fascinating
history of the varied artistic manifestations ot the Buddha
image as it traveled from India to China, Southeast Asia,
Korea, and Japan.

iVustrated on jacket: Catalogue

Number

68.

Samvara

(detail)

RETURN

iu v.fcNTRAL

DATE DUE

"

--nrr-4-mi
^':-i

prSEP

m
ME

iy96

2 3
]

19917

709.58

Asia Society
Art of Nepal

Library
Marin County Free

Administration Building
Civic Center
San Rafael, California

THE ART OF NEPAL

20. Avalokiteshvara.

Ca. fourteenth century.

Prior to sending the image from the Golden Monastery in Patan, Nepal, to the exhibition,
>vorshipped. Sindixr (vermilion)

powder

w^as sprinkled

on

it

to wish

it

it

36".

was

good journey.

The Art of Nepal

by

Stella Kranirisch

Catalogue of the Exhibition presented under the Patronage of

His Majesty King Mahendra Bit Bikram Shah

THE ASIA SOCIETY, INC.

IViariri

Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

County Free Library

Civic Center Administration

Building

Son Rafael, California

Deva

no o S
'^
\

THE ART OF NEPAL

by Dr.
in the

Stella

An

the catalogue of an exhibition selected

Kramrisch and shown

in the Asia

summer of 1964 as an activity of the Asia

greater understanding
States

is

House Gallery

Society, to further

and mutual appreciation between the United

and the peoples of Asia.

Asia

House Gallery Pubhcation

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in reviews,

no

book may be reproduced without permission

in

part of this

writing from the publishers.

Printed in Vienna, Austria

Library of Congress Catalog Card

Number: 64-16018

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Foreword: by Gordon Bailey Washburn, Director Asia House Gallery

Page

Acknowledgements

Lenders to the Exhibition

10

Introduction

15

Plates: Sculpture

53

Paintings and Manuscripts

97

Catalogue: Notes on the Plates and Small Illustrations

127

Glossary of Iconography

155

Short Bibhography

159

Plates:

FOREWORD

and

institutions

from the ancient

this

exhibition and

first

major exhibition of

kingdom of Nepal.

It

art

warmly hoped

is

pubUcation, like the display

creative genius of

Nepal

itself,

to

beautiful examples of

NepaU

new

is

of

public

The

its

Stella

know-

rare

art that arc

shown have been chosen by Dr.

who

that

will bring the

ledge and to a wider appreciation.

as

who

This catalogue seeks to record and interpret a

and

being

Kramrisch

the true author of this exhibition as well

catalogue.

its

It is

thanks to her extensive

tedness

is

have aided us
catalogue.

its

in preparing

Our

first

indeb-

His Majesty the King of Nepal,

to

King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva, who

from

the start of our enterprise promised to send

of the greatest treasures of

several

the exhibition.

mer Prime

also

extend thanks to the for-

Minister, the Honorable Doctor Tulsi

former Ambassador of Nepal to the United

Giri, to

States

We

his nation to

and to the United Nations, His Excellency

acquaintance with the culture of Nepal and to her

Matrik Prasad Koirala, and to members of the

distinguished scholarship in the entire field of

Cabinet whose approval of our enterprise has

Indie arts that the Asia

House Gallery

has been

pioneer statement

regarding the historical development and

chronology of Nepah
text

art.

the

She shows, both in her

and by example, that the Newari people of

Nepal created

a native

form and

style

of

art,

both for Hindu and Buddhist usage, that must

be regarded

as

one of great

originality, grace

power. Through Dr. Kramrisch's

efforts a

and

new

chapter in the unfolding history of Asian art has,

ill

fact,

been sketched. This must be counted

as

unique contribution to our continuing modern

effort to

know and

understand the great cultures

of the world.

The
is

Asia

it

possible

Nepal

itself.

display

several

notable

ment,

we

In effecting this desirable arrange-

have been most kindly aided by

Ramesh Jung Thapa,

Sri

Director, and Sri Purna

Harsha Bajracharya, Section Officer, His Majesty's

Government, Ministry of Education, Department

of Archaeology and Culture
well as

in

by our own Ambassador

the Honorable

Henry

Affairs Officer,

Katmandu,
in

E. Stebbins,

Mr. Robert

Jaffie,

beyond
It is

as

Katmandu,

by

his Public

and by Mr.

Nandaram Bhagut, whose assistance, extending

far

the call of duty, has been invaluable to us.

thanks to the kind favor of the

of India that

we

Government

have obtained the several loans

House Gallery of

the Asia Society

from

many

courteous people

of her Ambassador

deeply grateful to the

to

sculptures such as are not available outside of

able to arrange the present display.

Dr. Kramrisch herein offers

made

this source,

and to the
in

solicitous

concern

Washington, His Excellency

B. K. Nehru,

General in
his

we

as

New

well as to that ot the Consul

Roy

York, Mr. Sunil K.

Consul Information, Mr. Z.

L. Kaul. Similarly,

are grateful for the indefatigable spirit

helpfulness that

is

constantly displayed

Grace Morley, Director of the National

of New Delhi. As on

and

of

by Dr.

Museum

earlier occasions, her assist-

On

such an occasion,

it

collections. Happily,

it

we
many

with Pan American World Airways,

would

express our heartiest thanks for their

helpful consultations

and tor

their

company's

ready aid in transporting the shipments from Nepal.

from

their

are the hrst

and

to recognize the value ot their cooperation

therefore seek to
hst their

make our

names elsewhere

these lenders

tives

who

they

is

our undertaking.

Sales representa-

lenders for

their generosity in permitting loans

our deepest appreciation.

and Mr. James J. O'Brien, Cargo

many

thank with any adequacy the

ance with loans from India has been crucial to

To Mr. Kumar Guha, Mr. Madan M. Rampal,

scarcely possible to

is

will also

discover that in

many

to their possessions,

We

feel

certain that

understand

when thev

instances the dates ascribed

and

their

nomenclature, have
reflect

Dr.

risch's efiort to re-chronicle the entire

of a

with

in this catalogue

been changed. These changes

NepaU

We

task the easier.

material as seen

Kram-

body of

from the point of view

total chronoloffv.

Gordon
Director, Asia

B.

Washburn

House Gallerv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author

is

greatly indebted to the Depart-

ment of Archaeology and Culture ot

ment of Nepal,
Sri

Puma

to Sri

P.

Govern-

Rameshjung Thapa, and

Harsha Bajracharya, and

Regmi. Dr.

the

Pal has

to Sri

D. M.

given invaluable and

generous assistance in reading the inscriptions of

several

of the pamtings and manuscripts. Mr.

Gordon B. Washburn and Miss Virginia

have revised the text with

warmest thanks go

to

H.

Field

infinite patience.

My

E. Rishikesh Shaha.
Stella

Kramrisch

LENDERS TO THE EXHIBITION

His Majesty the King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva, Patron of the Exhibition.

The Ashmolcan Museum, Oxford, England.

Baroda

Museum and

Picture Gallery, Baroda. hidia.

Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Banaras. hidia.

Mr. George

The

British

P. Bickford, Cleveland,

Ohio.

Museum, London, England.

The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn,

Mr. and Mrs. Richard C.
Cincinnati Art

Museum,

New

York.

Bull, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Cincimiati, Ohio.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

Collection of NasU and

Dr. and Mrs.

J.

LeRoy

Ahce Heeramaneck
Davidson, Los Angeles, California.

The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado.

Department of Archaeology, Ministry of Education, His Majesty's Government,

Katmandu, Nepal.

The

Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.

M. H.
Dr.

Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco,

and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg, New York City.
de

Mr. Donal Hord, San Diego, Cahfornia.

Mr. Christmas Humphreys, London, England.

Mr.

10

J. J.

Klejman,

New York

City.

California.

Stella

Kranirisch

New York City.

Museum of Art, New York City.

Mr. and Mrs. Aschwin Lippc,

The Metropolitan
Musee

Guiniet, Paris, France.

Museum

of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.

National

Museum

Nelson Gallery

of India,

New

Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri.

New Jersey.

The Newark Museum, Newark,

Mr. Alfonso A. Ossorio,
Philadelphia

Delhi, hidia.

Museum

Hampton,

East

I.,

New

York.

of Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Ann

Mrs. James Marshall Plumer,

Mrs. Sumitra Charat

L.

Ram, New

Arbor, Michigan.

Delhi, India.

Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, Holland.

Mr.

E.

Seattle

M.

Scratton, Oxford, England.

Art Museum,

Stanford University

Seattle,

Washington.

Museum,

Stanford, California.

Mrs. Edgar J. Stone, Toronto, Canada.

Mr. and Mrs. Erwin D. Swann,

Victoria and Albert

City.

Museum, London, England.

Mr. and Mrs. John

W.

Wilham H.

Inc.,

Wolff,

New York

Warrington, Cincinnati, Ohio.

New York

City.

11

86.

Mahakala, Protector of the Tent.

Pata.

Nepal school in Tibet.

Fifteenth century.

38'/4" x 26V4"-

0^

INTRODUCTION

The

kingdom of Nepal, high

ancient

Himalaya between India and Tibet,

of

own. This

its

how

is

is

in the

smile," he cut through the mountains.

world

the rock

the people of Nepal

He

cleft

and the imprisoned waters ot the lake

rushed through the gorge into the plains of Lidia.

how

think of themselves and of the origin of their

This

country

the road to India through the Pharping gorge

The legend
where Nepal
surroiuided

tells

now

and

there once

is

was

that

a blue lake

by snowclad momitains. They were

the setting of its waters.

this lake.

prove

facts

No man

Buddha of

could approach

former aeon, in

his

supreme knowledge and foreseeing the future

destinies ot Nepal,

lake

and threw

went on

a pilgrimage to the

a lotus seed into its waters.

miraculous lotus arose and bloomed

of the

lake.

than the rays of the

This

is

before

how
all

siui

shot

m the middle

more

flame, purer and

up from

the Adi-Buddha, the

splendid

its

center.

Buddha from

time, the selt-existing one, was mani-

the lake.

passed.

The Buddha of each aeon

The Buddha of the

that a Bodhisattva
to appear

visited

third aeon prophesied

would come and cause land

above the waters.

that

Deir\'

had spontaneously

manifested on the waters of the lake. Manjusri

home in faraway
From the north-east

left his

walls.
tains

China, behind seven

he entered the

around the lake and with

Vagmati came

his

sword,

moun-

"Moon-

to be,

and

Mahabharat range.

in the

This

is

how

know of

the Buddhists of Nepal

the origin of their country, whereas the Huidus

of Nepal ascribe the same

Vishnu in

feat to

his

Krishna manifestation.

By

own myths

their

the

two

great religions

of Nepal convey the same inner experience of

Thev have

realitv.

specific shapes to

their

which

own

with their

2;ods

had given names

India

and form. They came to Nepal ready made, and

Nepal infused them with the

so that the gods ot

became

identified

of

faith

its

people

Hinduism and Buddhism

with one another or assmiied

Avalo-

attributes.

kiteshvara and Shiva coalesced in one image called

Lokeshvara.

To worship Buddha

Shiva, says the

guides

Bodhisattva Manjusri, in the perfection of his

wisdom, knew

the river

one another's quahties and

fested directly in his essence.

Aeons

is

The

the

Nepah Mahatmya,

is

to

worship

a text

which

Brahman pilgrim through Nepal.

sacred

sites

which the pilgrim

the valley of Nepal,

visits are in

on the banks of its

the slopes and peaks of the

low

hills

rivers,

on

which once

had been covered by the lake and where temples

arose,

and

buildings,

also in the

palaces

towns with

and houses

full

their sacred

of images.

15

The Nepal of art and legend

is

a small valley

and nobility that the successive dynasties

rulers

eighteen miles

of ancient and mediaeval Nepal, the Licchavis

long from east to west and twelve miles from

and Mallas, carried or assumed the names of

about 4,500

above

feet

north to south.

Its

sea level,

They

people are the Newars.

are related to the other

Mongoloid people of the

which extends about

entire country of Nepal,

500 miles along the central and eastern Himalaya

and about 150 miles

in the

across.

The people who

live

mountains are of Tibetan type whereas the

Newars absorbed
There

grants.

also a

is

waves of Indian immi-

several

substratum of

a race

of

Indian clans and married Indian princesses.

Traders came from India in order to bring

home

the soft, pashmina

Nepal. Buddhist

made

monks joined

the journey

less

there,

the traders. This

hazardous. Buddhist refu-

o{ history, found

gees, in the course

Nepal and

wool blankets from

about 300

b.

haven

c, the

last

in

great

apostle of the Jains spent the final years of his

Pre-Dravidians and Dravidians who were in Nepal

life.

even before the Newars.

do not say when the images of Indian gods came

The Newars however formed

the bulk of the

Katmandu.

ancient inhabitants of the valley of

It is

they

who

created the art of Nepal, in close

touch with that of India, preserving

while evolving their

own

its

traditions

in the relative seclusion

of the mountains and the separateness of their race.

Tradition speaks of a long association between

Nepal and
in

Buddha Shakyamuni was born

India.

Lumbini, on the southern frontier of Nepal.

He

is

It is

also told

said to

that he
set up,

came

have

of Emperor Ashoka (273

236

b. c.)

to the valley, caused stupas to be

and married

of Nepal

of Nepal.

visited the valley

who

his

daughter to

Kshatrya

founded Deo-Patan. She lived

there and built a monastery and stupa near by,

which

to this

day commemorates her name. The

low, hemisperical shape of these so-called "stupas

of Ashoka" corresponds to that of stupas

in India at the time

scious or desirable

16

set

up

of Emperor Ashoka. So con-

was the

association with Indian

All this

is

reported by Indian sources.

They

to Nepal.

The
their

shapes in

which

the

Newars venerated

own divinities, which had preceded

the gods

of Buddhism and Hinduism in Nepal, sharply

differed

from

the forms of the latter. Stones were

venerated in their natural shapes, whether singly,

piled in heaps under trees, raised
in the

Such

ground below the

objets

trouves

on

altars or still

surface of the earth.

were numerous

but

they

did not arouse the visual imagination, did not

clamor for precise

to anything.
their Indian

of Nepali

limits,

proportion, or similarity

Only when
form came

to

the gods of India in

Nepal did the history

The numinous

art begin.

formless and timeless.

They

are

stones are

worshipped to

this day.

The
itself

art

of Nepal not only became famous

in

but also played an initiatory and decisive

part in the art of Tibet and of China. Hsiian

Tsang, the Chinese

monk who went

to India

I.

Vishnu Vikranta Murti.

467 A. D.

Pashupati, Nepal.

17

and

most intormativc and dependable

the

Ictt

account of the

which he

at

sites

that he visited

go

stayed, did not

heard of the country from monks

during

two-year stay

his

accompanied him on

his

Emperor

China and married

oi

as

to Nepal, but

two queens who brought Buddhism

whom

venerated

he met

Nalanda, or

who

way from Ayodhya

to

as

was

and treasures of her country

cold and alien valley. Even

fail

bv the

to be struck

arts"

so,

"skill

in the

of the Nepalis. This, coming from Buddhist

monks accustomed
and sculpture
Ajanta,

to the splendors

the

in

monasteries of India,

Nalanda, and elsewhere,

underrated.

They

also

of painting

saw

is

at

not to be

that then, as to this

day, "monasteries and temples ot gods are contiguous," although

Katmandu, Patan, and Bhat-

gaon, the three great

not yet been founded

about

his travels

seventh century
It

was at

this

in

of the valley, had

cities

when

Hsiian Tsang wrote

the second quarter of the

This extension of the

around the year

seventh century

onK'

a victory

the

time that Tibet, the other neighbor

Emperor Srong-tsan-gampo. After

tells,

he asked for

Princess Bri-btsum, the daughter of

King Amshuvarman of Nepal. She

is

said

to

have brought with her from Nepal, when the

bridal part}-

went

wood

of Tara and

statue

lapis lazuli that

himself.

18

first in

bringing the gods

to Tibet, a miraculous sandalalso a

begging bowl of

once had belonged to Lord Buddha

Srong-tsan-gampo

also

defeated

the

where she

to Tibet

art

64()(:).
left

of Nepal came about

the

of

an indelible impression not

who

Tibet but on those

India

Nepal

Art in

and China.

Nepal

visited

middle of the

the

In

Wang

seventh century (657) the Chinese envoy

Hsiian Ts'e described the manifold wonders which

he saw in Nepal. There was

on

fire.

there

The King of Nepal

was

it.

told the

golden casket in the

but was submerged

take

a lake

It

lake.

which was

envoy
It

that

appeared

when anyone wanted

to

gold was the gold of the diadem of

Its

the Bodhisattva Maitreva, the

a. d.

over Nepal, legend

hand of

in

from

country of Nepal, became a great power due to

the genius of

art,

to

was joined by the Chinese Princess Wen-cheng.

they could not

and facihtv

was

the green Tara, symbolic of the role Nepal

not flattering to Nepal. His informants

in this

to Tibet arc

white Tara. Princess Bri-btsum, the incarnation of

terity

have enjoyed their stay

The

incarnations ot the green and the

play in Tibetan

to

princess,

ardent a Buddhist as Princess Bri-btsum.

Wliat Hsiian Tsang transmitted to pos-

do not seem

Tang

and the places

Vaishali.
is

future Buddha.

was guarded by the Fire-Serpent.

Leaving aside the symboUc meaning of the

story told
to

the

680?)

by King Narendra Deva (640

Chinese envoy, the golden diadem of

Maitreya must be imagined

as similar to

which Bodhisattvas and gods

in

their

these

images

were

set

in

are seen to

stone and metal.

wear

Some of

with precious stones. Precious

stones also decorated the buildings.

annals,

those

based on the account of

Ts'e, describe the royal palace

The T'ang

Wang

of Nepal

as

Hsiian

having

II.

Vishnu Vikranta Murti

476 A. D.

Lajatnpat,

Katmandu, Nepal (now in the Bir Library, Katmandu).

19

tower of seven

a central

stories. Its

metal work,

and beams were

balustrades, screens, columns,

decorated with precious stones. Neither the

num-

Centuries
tact

when

later,

was no

there

between the King of Nepal and the Mongol

court of China,

was the

it

of Nepal which

art

ber of stories nor the decoration of the towering

penetrated into China and Tibet.

structure appear to have been exaggerated. This

in all the monasteries

structure was,

no doubt,

tion. In India, the

direct con-

built in the Indian tradi-

the images

many-storied temple towers in

A-ni-ko

It

said that

is

of both countries most of

were the work of A-ni-ko.

(1244

1306),

descendant of the

stone bear witness to this day to the comparable

royal family of Nepal, was so accomplished an

wooden

artist

structures,

long since perished, of which

they were adaptations.

painted
capital

wooden

temples of

Wang

many

near the capital.

Deo-Patan, the

sculptures in

He

on an

also

feet

with precious stones and

isolated

marvels

mountain

at

similar

is

exceed in
as

They were adorned

which

with

of turquoise, the

and the gleam of the pearl

gold,

are seen in Indian

of metal with metal,

silver,

or

copper,

and NepaU metal images

of the seventh century. Polychromy, not only by

means of pigments made from stones and metals

but by the original substances,

is

part of the

sculpture of Nepal. This must have astonished

the Chinese
as

20

it

envoy

to

golden stupa in Tibet. This task was

in the seventh century,

does Western taste today.

the service of Kublai Khan.

charge of

pearls.

effect the inlaying

of bronze

erect

latter

A-ni-ko to follow him to China where he entered

spinel rubies, the blue freshness

crystal,

of Kublai Khan, was ordered bv the

around, with wondrous

neither decadent, "late", nor barbaric.

of rock

King Jayabhimadeva

carried out so successfully that the abbot persuaded

200

The mellow and deep glow of cabochon-cut

light

whom

feet

capital,

decorate metal sculptures with precious

stones

from Nepal

contingent of eighty

Saskya monastery in Tibet and spiritual advisor

sculptures in its four paviHons.

To

artists

Hsiian Ts'e himself describes

stories

high and 400

he headed

his youth,

had summoned when P'ags-pa, abbot of the

a reflection

broadly terraced structure in the

[ch'ih]

of

in metal that in 1260, in spite

of the splendor

of Nepal, were

of the palace.

The wooden houses with

and worker

much

portraits

all

on

years later he

of the Yiian emperors. Four

was appointed

Imperial studios.

Among

Duke of

that of

the

Chinese,

1274 he was in

metal workers, and he also painted

silk

was

By

controller of the

his titles, 'when

Liang. His chief pupil

was

Lin Yiian. The tradition which

A-ni-ko had created in Tibet and China

a

he died,

lasted for

long time, not only in metal and clay, but also

in lacquer.

Moreover,

it

was kept

alive,

by new

contacts, into the eighteenth century (71).

It

seems

long

way from

the formless stones

indicative of the presence of divinity

the

accomplished work of A-ni-ko.

{(lyu)

to

But the

passage of time has not affected belief in the

validity

and the efficacy of the unhewn

stones.

To

this

side

by

day they may be placed and worshipped

with

side

carved stone or gold-plated

grandfather of King Manadeva.^

cated

four Buddhist goddesses, consorts of the Buddhas

with inscriptions and with

stones

directions, are represented

form that

existence maintains a tension between the

the

is

work of

unformed datum of

The range of
is

nature, the

on the

the numinous,

Nepal

on the one hand, and the

art,

from

mere support of

(87).

The

of Buddhist

whether

art,

of

of Buddhist thought or

mandala, an instrument
spiritual reintegration.

the gods

came from

India,

unhewn

of the numinous, belonged to the

which once upon

lake.

Finally

time was

they had become

exposed, ready to attract the attention and

as

awe

he wandered along or mused

while tending his flock.

aeon long

mythical time.

in

an

Its fertile soil

was covered by dense vegetation. None dared

the soil
is

a people,

with

its

was opened

art

Nor

expresses.

is

it

necessary to take literally the span of four generations

trom Vrishadeva

to

Manadeva, although

they are historically accountable figures.

Its

short

duration denotes a rapid and total change, just

as

when

in the opposite sense the aeons,

the

former Buddhas came and went their way, denote

an incalculable time, before years began to count,
a

rhythmical time of inner experience which

attunes the imier attitude of the believer to

all

that happens.

This rapid change from one

other and the
artist

first

making of a

mode ot

self-portrait

coincide in the legend of Balbala

in the reign

Hfe to an-

by an

who hved

of Vrishadeva. Before him, none

had dared to lay open the earth for agriculture.

of Nepal came into existence

past, in

to interfere

of no consequence when

this

manufacture. However, the rough and

valley

is

form of

together with the theory and techniques of their

The

again, time

Yet

rapid.

is

that the

The images of

herdsman

or sculpture in the round,

the figurative to the abstraction

and diagram for obtaining

complex organization of the reUef of

with the rehgious experience

in the visible field

of

pastoral

identified

in the inteUigible structure

covered by a

mode of Hfe
and from an unhewn stone

from

becomes

shown at peace or in frenry, have their definite place

earth of Nepal

stele

rehefs.

the sculptures and paintings of

figures

stones, supports

transition

to an agricultural one,
to the

II)

receptive of a fully evolved art like that of India,

other.

of the mandala, the geometrically ordered painting

The

by simple

on the southern stupa of Patau. Such co-

up

and

(I

many stone slabs, and had them covered

and

set

dedi-

latter

two images of Vishnu Vikranta

metal image of any phase of image making. The

of the four

The

luxuriance until one day

for agriculture. This event

assigned to the reign of Vrishadeva, the great

Balbala the "stutterer" did

none

to

died he

mourn
set

or to

up with

himself. This statue

it.

He had no

familv,

remember him. Before he

his

own

hands

a statue

became the center of

Balbala, stigmatized

by

his defect

of

a cult.

of speech

and lack of a family, was destined for the "hubris,"

21

^
4
f^i"

III.

V-/ ^

Pilgrims in the Mountains.

chronology of Indian
based,

is

art

Near Kathesimbhu, Katmandu, Nepal.

of the sixth to eighth centuries, on which the

mother

dug

first

into her and

became the

earth.

He

agriculturist;

he cut into the stone and in his hubris

acts

style

of the Nepali sculptures

made

not o{ a god, but of himself. For these

of cultivation and creation, he became the

his glory

by having given

cultivation of
ture

the

its

is

latter

This altogether un-Indian legend

outweighed by

his

work. Balbala, hero of agri-

Just as his ancestors

culture and art, belongs entirely to Nepal. Daring

king

and

shvara.

self-assertive,

he converts

his

stigma into

set

is

told in one

memorable happenings

that took place in the reign

were cancelled and

of portrai-

ment of self-consciousness.

which predestined him

it,

art

through the equivocal achieve-

breath together with other

for

to the country the

ground and the

center of a cult. His hubris, and the handicaps

11

(The

not as yet securely established.)

the daring crime, of violating

statue,

Ca. seventh century.

of King Vrishadeva.

had done, so

also did this

up images of the Buddhas and of Loke-

The revolution

brou2;ht about

bv

the

"stutterer"

carried along in the flux of the

is

ing

line,

physiognomy of

narrative.

The two

relief steles (dated 467)

Manadeva, fourth
are images

in succession

of Vishnu

and

(I

image can be assigned

of the time of

from Vrishadeva,

No

II).

to his age."

Buddhist

One

statue

reliefs

and

(I

have their place

Indian

art,

grandiose

the

of the statue of the Kushana Emperor

Kanishka of the

first

century A. D. makes

one

it

of the great works of Indian sculpture.

Portraits

identity of the date, the year 467, of these

two

coins found in Nepal. ^

The

"statue of a king"

from Mrigasthali, Pashupati,

(1)

however,

has,

disposition

is

revealed

their styles.

by

ot

their

their inscriptions

The one

tablet

(I)

with

and not

its

uncouth, and cubically separate figures,

greatly

from

the other

which

(II),

squat,
differs

elegant in

is

the composition of the figures and the flux of

their contours.

of kings appear on Indian Kushana

both the

in

the

by

Portrait statues

(1).

shown

is

self-

and with the self-same actors

II)

similar

appears to be that of

king

Although the

the king.

tigures,

carvings

and

and

as are the stance

same moment of the myth

preceding the dated images ot Manadeva's reign

finesse

determined

as

is

detail

of costume stands out,

the high three peaked crown,

its

volume widening

toward the top.

During the

fifth

and sixth centuries the contacts

physiognomy of pure Nepali form. Nimbate and

of Nepal were with the Indian schools of sculpture

diademmed,

in

it

exhibits cruelty in the serene vaults

which span from

ear to ear

and bind the features

dome of

of the

face to the

Wide

shoulders and chest, malleably modeled,

broad

lead to the disciphned flatness

and to the

of the abdomen,

of the drapery which

NepaH

from

Whether Indian

these centers taught in Nepal, or

came

sculptors

to India to

work under

Indian masters, or whether sculptures reached

Nepal in that period cannot be answered

halo does the face.

in

retracted elbows

make

the gesture of the

they are subsumed to a whole which

placed on the lateral

bows of

just

been

the shawl.

An

economy of ornament and costume underscores

modeled planes of the

nomy

is

figure. Its physiog-

Mongoloid, and more

determined,

as

are

kings'

childlike, but as

faces

in

pre-Khmer

mingled

Nepal, but whichever components prevail

form

harder,

the line

drawn. Watchfully,

daintily,

Its

is

the sculptor has

qualities

groomed

become

its

more

is

Nepali.

consciously

and with firmness

his presentation.

These

backbone and content. The

"king" from Mrigasthali, Pashupati, embodies

this

content in a style corresponding to Gupta

sculptures of the early fifth century.

sculpture.

The width of

at present.

Traits of these several Indian schools

sets oft

as the

arms instantaneous. The hands have

the

sculptors

central India.

of the body

this part

The

fulness

the forehead.

Mathura and

Vishnu's stride

obhque sweep of the

(I

legs stretched in

and

II),

the

one ascend-

The

statue

of Devi (Gauri or Tara)

compactness represents

this sculptural

(2) in

her

conception

23

about two centuries

later.

ponderosity of the figure makes

and gravid with

is

that

in

its

When

it

clarity.

it

appear saturated

When

presence.

of a god or goddess

fulsome

status

own

its

By the seventh century, the Deccan and Western

The threc-dnnensional

divinity
is

is

a figure

embodied

that of a king his

and character inform the tension of the

The work

India had contributed their tradition.

of the Nepali sculptor has some features

common with that of the Aurangabad cave sculpand of the Western school centered

tures

North Gujarat

with that of Uttar Pradesh with the temple

compact, these sculptured presences stand firm.

Deogarh, and of Bihar, where the

Their sohdity has absorbed into

Gupta"

tradition

of modehng which follows the move-

ment of the breath and

sap of

the ebb and surge of the

the vital process

life,

itself,

is

in Indian

as

is

Nepali expositor.

Buddhist sacred text by

To him the

oscillating curves

style

with the

vital currents

is

palpitations of

its

planes.

The

static

form

grips

touch

art.

rhvthms of the contour and also of the countenance

of the figure
tion

(III).

With this goes a loving presenta-

of children and flowers. In the

an image of childhood in

curves and the

in direct

sober appraisal of the roundness and the

works, so that the sculpture stands sohd and

its

"post-

Another component of Nepah sculptural form

whole of Indian

estabUshed in the surge of

was

of Indian

of Indian form are the substance in which he

is

new

at

produced monuments Hke the Va-

raha Avatar in Aphsar. Nepal

its

thoroughly understood by the

as

Nepali sculptor
its

caught in

form

course. All this, as an achieved

sculpture,

the Indian

in

(Samalaji), and, nearer to Nepal,

curved planes of the figure. Straightforward and

itself

in

children,

art

of the

Asia, Nepali sculpture has created

many figures of nameless

whose movements

of animals when they

are pristine as those

know

themselves to be

the swelling, vaulted shapes replete with an inner

unobserved. The flying Vidyadharas in Nepali

movement, and subordinates them

sculpture are not valiant youths of charismatic

to the firmness

of its discipHne.

appeal, nor the flying Devatas angelic, or

Whether carved
(3),

the sculptures

in stone or cast in solid metal

like as

made

putras, children

in the

two

centuries

they are in Indian

Nepah

ever-renewed contacts with India show that more

In

than one school of Indian sculpture provoked

hero

their form.

few years

In

the fifth to sixth centuries the

who

reliefs.

of heaven,

vanquishes the serpent (IV),

old,

not yet a lad

as

was

Nepali. There

and the Gupta schools of central

India contributed their part

become palpable

other Indian centers

solely in the effect they

Nepali sculpture, their

24

work not being

had on

preserved.

phant

Devafly.

sculpture the god-child Krishna, child-

shows him. His small-featured

felt

are

who know how to

impulse once given by the school of Mathura

still

They

gnome-

is

a streak

elation, the

only a

Indian sculpture

face

of cruelty

same cruelty

is

is

thoroughly

in his trium-

that rules over

the Hneaments of the king's countenance in the

statue

from Mrigasthah, Pashupati

(1).

Nor

is it

ir-a

IV. Krishna subjugates the serpent Kaliya.

Old Palace, Katmandu, Nepal.

Ca. seventh century.

25

from the

absent

some

ot

They

Ncpah

the

ot

do

just as they

in the

pact of their presence,

ness

and

at the

their fleshli-

which

the bliss ot absorption

sculptures ot the early seventh century,

Hindu or Buddhist,
of surface

cision

in their

luxuriance and detachment, the

their

in

msmuatmg

show. Ambiguously both sleek and

their faces

stern

almost physical im-

same time beyond reach

detachment or

interpenetrate

style

miages ot the Bodhisattvas (V).

sumptuous

are

of goddesses. In

images seemingly incompatible

their

components

delicate beauty

gemlike pre-

excel in a

tinish

and

whether

in the detinition

of

These

details are

are the

voluminous masses of pleated gar-

whence they derive

;

taut,

Among

of diverse provenance.

ment, oblivious of the

(2)

shown

classically

their

Western

folds

bulk and arrangement

vaulting planes of carved volumes (of

the seventh century; three-dimen-

sional amalaka shapes are particularly conspicuous

in earlier times,

are

and

intricate designs are

the eighth century.

after

worn

All

and body

Indian sculpture; or

in

as

sometimes they are absent, leaving body and

hmbs

from

free

their

magic protection and

from accentuation and encumbrance,

but their
In

own smooth

freedom of choice Nepali sculpture

this

avails itself oi the resources

tradition as

work

it

of India and oi

crowns of mitre shape and

others which, covered with delicate

as

relief,

widen

they ascend in three detached crests from the

The

forehead.

wigs

coiffures range

their profusion

(III),

from Gupta-type

of locks

like a

shower

of pearls, to braided arrangements placed on top

of the head or
in

Nepal

as

laterally, all

much

catclv
described.
4

known

to India but

stereotsped as they are intn-

Even more varied

is

the attitude

toward jewelry; simple shapes such

strings
large,

26

with
flat,

gem

as

pearl

momentum from one

Confirmed in its own ways,

to the other.

strength against the in-

a local tradition tests its

flowing Indian types. Transplanted into the body

of Nepali

art, their

cumulative combinations and

exchanges are part of its substance and are transwhile one or the other motif

it,

The
Indian

art

of Nepal

art.

wav

traftic.

India

It

No

they stay

is

not

a regional school

on the receiving end of

is

art

of

one

forms flow from Nepal

to

m the mountain kingdom having

received the impress of their makers, the Newars.

Whatever admixture of Indian blood

craftsman possesses makes for

this

the

Newar

readiness to

absorb the traditions of the Indian schools, but

circular or "rosette" shaped earrings

Newar element

5)

context.

this process.

his creative use

or "rosette" (V,

new

is

Eclecticism and conscious borrowing are part of

and

a central

its

gathers

carried along as a residual shape in a

so that their

surfaces.

geometrical figures of patterned textiles which

(3, 4)

also

kneaded, modeled volumes have no ornament

formed with

them

ornaments

these

Indian provenance) incised or mlaid with the

cling to

common

m their established places near the joints

ot limbs

own

detail.

them

are

of them
itself

It

is
is

to the credit
as

of the

unmistakable in

the

form

ot the sculptures as

nomies of their
These

not carved against

rugged, cubistic configurations

(III).

eastern India.

in

may

These repre-

tures

against or ensconced

set

second half of the seventh century anticipate some

of the character o{ the

figures, if they are

sent rocks

in the physiog-

figures.

ground, are

plain

it is

in India

through half

millennium

the

half of that century

first

be ascribed some of the most relevant sculp-

of Nepal

(III,

IV; 24).

Padmapani (V) and Vajrapani carved between

and more, from Barhut on, before they reached

pilasters in niches facing the four directions,

the mountains of Nepal and there proliferated.

No new mode

Henakarna Mahavihara

of Nepal, entered

setting

Nepali

patterns.

nomy

of showing mountains, the natural

art

their closely textured

the physiog-

transformed

of the figure of

man from

an ideal Indian

to an ideal Nepali type, but did not, before the

eighteenth century,

up from traditional

look

Indian practice and formula and coin a version

of its

own

Newari

experience of surrounding nature.

(ca.

Dashavatar

in their architectural setting, to the

Temple m Deogarh
temple

in Uttar Pradesh, India.

assignable to about 600 A. D. or the

is

is

more

detailed,

more

of the Nepali images, relying

as

it

does on the

tury,

own

modeling according

physiognoni)' and his

full-blooded

moved

self,

which he has

recourse.

figures exist in a

in

its

own way
it

is

of

not his

utmost depth, to

Groomed and

daintv, his

world of elegance and

etiquette,

(as

stupa of this kind

called in Nepal)

purity of the contour. Within

filled out,

the stone having

of might.

It

become

sion are the

rehgious experience and

the consciously conducted, cultivated line

circumscribes

it,

Nepali

sculptures

which

from

the

summary.

the

more rounded,

whose

immacu-

intersections are as neat as

summation and

preci-

work of the Newari sculptor. Actually

sculpture at that moment was moving in

same

bility

the figure has

surges in vaulted planes of

gabad.

artistically creative

is

the flesh of a conception

those of clover leaves. This

Indian

it,

shoulders and thighs are

with Deccani cave sculptures hke those of Auran-

inner distance from primary

commonly

suppresses detail in order to strengthen the

late precision

this

is

of the Dhvaka Baha

even where their form is akin to and contemporary

Because of

sixth cen-

whereas that of the images of the Licchavi

Chaitya

It

its

relaxed than that

stronger than

its

This

end of the sixth century. The modeling of

figures

in

seventh century) are closely related,

A power

looking, feeling, and forming. But

and

Dhvaka Baha)

knowledge of Gupta sculpture of the

of the human figure and

to his

Katmandu

(or

remained true

conscious aim wrought the transformation

on

prismatic pedestal supporting a stupa at the

sculptor, in his intention,

to the Indian original.

this

The

of

The images of Buddha and of the Bodhisattvas

and symbolize nature. Their patterns

had evolved

To

later Pala sculptures

direction,

away from

of Gupta form to

simplified

volume.

the tender sensi-

heightened sense of

Sculptures

from

Aphsar,

27

V. Bodhisattva

Padmapani.

Dhvaka Baha,
Katmandu,
Nepal.
Ca. seventh century.

would be

Bihar, of the reign ot Adityasena

the

are the shape itself

way

of that limb or

part.

next Indian reference along the arrow of time.

this

They appear

of the goddess has come about, the

to be about a generation later than

Dhvaka Baha

the

away from Gupta

further

The

clearing

tude, are the

the

Newar

Northern

become

its

the

harmonious ampH-

outcome of the consideration which

sculptor gives to the

If the

India.

satin

from

detail

Gupta

curved planes tend to

smooth, the spacing of

belts,

orna-

ments, and sashes calculated, the flutter of reedlike folds arranged,

hke
its

they are part of the Nepali

In

treatment of the sculptural mass,

its

style contributed

two

this

of form, the

essential types

one endowed with movement, the other with

a balance

ment

is

compacted of movement. The moveand

that of a serpentine writhing

is

cm-

bodied in the shape of the serpent (IV), or in

lotus stalk (V) or in

The former

type,

culminates in the

hmbs of the human

a chahce.

volumes

is

ascending

sinuous

formed by the angular shapes of the

The

zigzag pattern of

triangles in space,

the flatness of the

is

to the shoulder.

ment on
bv the

this

the proper leh of the figure

slio;hter

vertical masses

which the diaphanous

and beside the
FoHate

as calculated

is

garment where

The volume of

scrolls

legs,

skirt

is

pleated

its

clings

it

upper garis

repeated

of the

folds in

gathered, between

squaring their rotundities.

and creepers, in low

relief

and

in

endowed with movement,

of the image. The elegant geometrical dovetailing

body of

shape

the heroic child-god

whose modifications

When, however,

of fohate

the figure

expands from the core of every

it

sets

shown

is

as is the

an amphora with a

part of the body, until

in his serpent

up

feet,

image of

the figure

movement

hmb
its

at

that

and of each

Hmits,

which

scroll

and pleated garment

arresting version in the

To

are incorporated

firmly planted on her

filled like

these

to

compartments of their own, frame the lower part

body of the Naga King and

(2),

rib-cage here serves as a stem,

(1).

compacted of movement,

Gauri

transition to the

its

zone of contrast and transition to

forming

ends,

at the

rest,

is

the shoulder.

volumes, gyrating and charged with a power of

hoods.'*

of

descending, draped, upper garment slung around

less

in the

tirin arcs

contour carries upward

this

counterpoint

Krishna (IV), an interlacing in space of serpentine

resilience

The

in

round volumes above.

as

style.

which

flatness as a

the

of

style

of

their contour, the purity

is

of the legs

that the glorious opulence

erect torso

finesse.

of descriptive

contour, the emphasis on

one step

being

sculptures,

It

Dhvaka Baha

given

image of Padmapani

(V).

these stone sculptures

image of the goddess

(3)

pedestal [mahamhhujapitha).
its

is

may

be added

metal

standing on a lotus

Both

feet

planted on

seedpod, with a bend in the hip, the goddess

allows her
stance,

left

arm

holding the

to follow the curve

left

hand

(in

of

this

kapittha-Uasta)

against her thigh whereas her right hand, pointing

downward on

the retracted hip, bestows gifts

29

trom her open palm. The upper garnienr here

drawn

is

falls

and back, and

across her body, front

behind her

left

arm

in a

sequence of pleated

whose concave plane curves away from

folds

body, augmenting the

the

lateral projections ot the

From below the ornament of the belt, folds

stream down as it trom a separate sash. They
follow the curve of the stance. The narrow, slopmg
skirt.

shoulders are loaded with ornaments.

of beaded armlets reach up to them

in the

image of Vishnu Anantashayin,

Flower-shaped earrings
cover

and

rest

The
as

in

by the forward

tilt

of the halo.

crest

its

height

Deogarh.

face to

from

rises

lateral

of the diadem

augmented b)

is

the

pointed halo of flames.

Bounded by
by

a flat

flat

waves

ot hair, held in place

band of the diadem, the oval

of

face

of the

pure Nepali type whose family

goddess

is

likeness

with the countenance of the child-god

Krishna

is

unmistakable.

goddess goes further in

The metal image of the

its

stylizations

does not cover

of the

face.

it.

The NepaU god-

dess has her counterparts in the rock-cut

ses

goddes-

of Aurangabad whose maternal amplitude her

shape emulates.

The image

stripes

centers

sohdly

is

and

circles.

The

woven

admixture ot gold.
with gold and

circles

and around each

is

outhned

which give the

cast in

silver

have holes in their

square

or /^(7f-dyed pattern.

ornaments are

copper which has

cast in

considerable

incised pinpoint dots

etfect

The gems

inlaid

of

metal whereas the eight-

shows an empty cavity

have been

b)"

in all the

petaled flower in the center of the girdle

in the center.

with gold or

silver

It

now

would

or with a

precious stone.

The

of the goddess. This mighty coitfure broadens

the sohd figure;

it

skirt are inlaid

behind the shoulders and leans on the

meshes of the coitfure and the

eye though

Shawl and

surmounted
It

descends to the inner corner of the

it

they do

crown form

is

lid;

suggests the fold of the

It

from the

one sculptural unit whose mass

upper

eyes.

apparently

double strand bead necklace, broadening

the body, so that body, face, and

almond-shaped

crests

on the shoulders and

solidifving; the transition

with their elongated curve, shielding the

parallel

halo, oval msidc

and pointed outside, has

two

plain inner borders whereas the broad, outer

rim

consists

size

of bifurcated tiames increasing

toward the central peak marked by

oval.

The halo and

thick

flat

shapes:

in the

their

wax mode!

they were aftixed to the

figure and then cast together with

view

a plain

the long end of the upper

garment were made separately

as

it.

curved surfaces are echoed

In the

back

the skirt

High, arched brows are incised above the meeting

which, similarly

of the planes of forehead and

trapezium shape. This flattened, abstract treat-

lids,

adding an

overtone of wonder and increasing the Mongoloid

character of her mien. This

3<1

ment of the back of

the image, particularly of

indicated

by the

the skirt,

which runs

closely

precedents sen in the colossal Yaksha and Yakshini

is

incised line of the upper eyelids

flattened, flares out in an irregular

is

reminiscent o{ very ancient Indian

VI. Vishnu Sridhara.

Changu Narayan,
Nepal.
Ca. ninth century.

i^

fLM1

mmt

trom Didarganj and Pama,

figures

Mauryan

ot

The

feet ot

Gauri appear

ground

as

ground by

tied to the

which

the heavy bands of the anklets,

skirt the

The

they pass around the heels.

single

of the base with their broad, simple shapes

petals

agree with other simphtications pecuHar to this

image, such

and bent section of

as the flat

folds

or the soUd rim of abstract flames. In the lower

half of the pedestal, with

its

double row of petals

turned downward, no petals are shown

back.

image of the goddess

related

modehng but
Nepah

edly

its

countenance

(2) is

than in the stone fragment

Thev

breasts.

from

surge

the

rehef

(III)

a flower-offering scene in the

three dimensional,

large,

thcv

as

of

those

are

as

up her

modeled

are

chest

woman in the stone

ting

pronounc-

some of them

who

ruled

said to

from 575

He was

Cave

in

II,

is

not recognized. The

are gilded

and

fact that

others, after the

is

not

known from

later Pala period,

supports this view. But the argument

contradicted

by

is

and sculpture.

who

weak

first

high

to 617.

Amshuvarman

died

invention in the early

part of the seventh century

storehouse

He

is

620.
was

remain

to

half millennium

next

the

for

of

Nepali sculpture.

From

the middle of the seventh centurv and

second
cult

deity,

half,

Hinduism

by

its size

well as

Buddhism

by

(VI,

Hindu type
the

is

VII,

that

VIII).

The most

of Vishnu accompa-

standing figures of Lakshmi and

Garuda, whereas Padmapani Avalokiteshvara

the

set

and central position, dominates

two minor images

nied

as

images in which the figure of the main

main

is

figure in the Buddhist configuration.

Padmapani

is

accompanied by two kneeling nini-

bate and worshipping female figures.

of Vishnu Sridhara

at

of

its

described

its

form suggest

The image

Changu Narayan

sentative of the first type (VI).

Wang

the testimony of

Hsiian Ts'e, the Chinese envov

architecture

extant

at

have become the Regent in 602.

between 615

up

of "early" NepaH

examples in India prior to the

32

atmosphere which must have

the arts.

all

sound

feudatory" or Mahasamanta of King Shivadeva

mountains within

painted

existence

that this technique

NepaH

stimulated

extols

sagacity of spirit." Justly famous,

an

created

its

eighth century, are also encrusted with jewels,

is

he

frequent

At present the

and

knowledge and

This rehef shows

Ajanta.

and

who knew about Nepal from hearsay only,

King Amshuvarman who had ruled "with

the

synthetically cubistic set-

equivalent to those

metal images

Tsang, the Chinese pilgrim to India,

tious. Hsiian

The wealth of sculptural

the slim high waist, holding

closelv-set

richer in

is

less

is

at the

of Amshuvarman was propi-

In Nepal, the reign

(4).

More exaggerated

Nepal

early part of the seventh century in

and India was one of great sculptural achievement.

date.

its

The

is

repre-

The completeness

iconography coupled with the rigidity of

a later date, but in

none of

its

motifs and idioms are this and alhed images de-

from Pala

rived

of Vishiiu of the ninth

steles

and tenth

centuries.

Narayan

is

The Vishnu image

hterally

on

separate images, each

of three

configuration

a pedestal

Changu

at

of

own,

its

assembled in front of an ornamental broad rim

a stele.

The

stele

translated

mto

stone

cast in the

round and placed

of

has the appearance of being

from

in front

of a prahha-

lotus pedestal

the rock base of

circle.

Garuda

is

is

circular

and

transformed to

Lotus bases and flame edges of halos and

mandorlas of the seventh centurv were elaborated

in different designs,

of flames or

units

of

and

single, double,

petals, in planar

or

triple

more

full-

bodied patterns, the simple curved plane of the

lotus petal occurring also in a later phase.

The

rock cubes of Garuda's pedestal with the twotiered, circular section

form

three-dimensional

pattern in black and white, the underside of each

tier

being cut obHquely. This ingenious adapta-

tion to the shape of the lotus base strengthens

by

They

supporting

are also attached to

him

in width,

the interlocking of fluttering shawls, cape-like

wings, and lotus plants resulting in excited arabesques to which neither the stolid

parallels in the styHzation

modeHng of

that

of the metal

and waist
extended

by

related to
differs

(3),

condensation

image of Gauri

set

on

which appear more

to the chest than springing

exaggeratedly shown by her

body

is

from

it.

as if

The

volume of the image of Gauri,

unified sculptural

without elbow

sweep

this

and by the com-

to the knees),

all

left

of one piece

arm almost

like a serpent's

here replaced by an articulation not

only of elbows and knees but also of the thorax

abdomen. With

against the

in the joints the face

is

this greater flexibility

held

less erect,

it

looks

on, rather than confronts, the devotee.

fleshy, short-featured,

(VI) appears as Indian as

broad face of Vishnu

it is

Nepali. As in the

metal figurine of Gauri, high arches are incised

in

one thin

line

above the modeled ridge of the

brows. They descend

all

in a point to the root

small and puppet-like

three figures.

from the elbows have

"vase

elbow and

in hidian sculpture

brims

in Nepali sculpture. Discus

wrist, a

mouth

The arms

of
is

raised

bulging contour between

No

this agitation.

of Gauri

figure,

paratively small breasts

to

of plenty" [purna-ghata)

the

down

common

Vishnu's pedestal express

scroll.

unsuccessful integration ofjewelry

(in

the claw-hke scrolls and tremulous leaves

of the "vase of plenty" on the front panel of

offer

of the opulent sweep of the body between knees

The

stele

Elura,

Orissa,

though

(VI)

statuette

and headdress with the

the nose.

symmetry of the

of the

The image of Lakshmi

respond.

the figures nor the

Only

temples in Bhuvaneshwar,

early

The

pillars to

stance.

681) and the

Vishnu's

two

lateral figures

Alampur (Svarga Brahma Temple,

down

stele,

the later part ot the

when

making the

the formal structure of the

their style

seventh and the eighth centuries

from her by its

of Lakshmi

work of

derived from

is

three bronze images

mandala in repousse technique.

The

with such tortured fragments, though

mannerism

that

came

to stay

and club, the weapons

33

Vn. Padmapani
Avalokiteshvara.

Near Yampi Baha,

Patan, Nepal.

End of seventh
or early eighth

century.

34

of the god, are given prominence by

whereas

their size,

cosmic symbols held in

his

liis

lower

hands are small, the conch held horizontally, the

lotus

dwindled

Here the crown of Vishnu

by

mass of pleated,

arises a

stiff

material decorated

with three circles of the goldsmith's

one encompassing

The

niuhha).
its

figure of Vishnu

sacred thread passes

art,

the frontal

of glory

a leonine face

jewelry and apparel,

a high shape

is

beaded diadem whence

is

left

{kirtti-

segmented by

among which

from the

warmth of

It is

the long

shoulder under-

imbued with
combined

three lotus pedestals are

is

The

scroll

of the broad rim

short, sturdy

Padmapani Avalokiteshvara

a waistbelt;

without

is

nothing breaks the continuity of the

contour. Held against the image

wooden.

thighs sag and the legs are

comes from

right and

left,

Dhvaka

at the

Baha (V) the modeling has become

ever,

one base

into

The young,

utterly conventional.

figure of

harmonious

ground and spacing. The

figures,

for the total image.

to a small bud.

attached to the head

the Vishnu image.

the

tired,

how-

Zest,

from the impetu-

ous kneeling and greeting by the two royal

ladies.

neath the waistbelt, above the folded upper gar-

A new

ment. The

motif (V) of Indian Gupta origin with the imme-

draped in
thread

is

latter is fastened to the waistbelt

and

loop across the thighs. The sacred

tucked in near the right thigh then

nearly to the knee.

With

their tubular folds

diacy of its meaning.^

The

falls

and

experience here has infused a traditional

posture of the

the sacred space

fies

two kneeling
which

figures ampli-

the recessed

The

ground

the three-dimensional pattern of their edges, the

around Avalokiteshvara

indicates.

ends of the upper garment contribute to the

of

with the immediacy of

complexity of the stele in its lower part. The striped

the

movement, and

and patterned loincloth, worn short on the

the

modehng of

leg

and long on the

right,

is

left

gathered between

their shapes accords

fashion (shared

drapery o classical Western

The image of Garuda,

wearing
neck,

two

cape of wings, a serpent around the

different earrings

Garuda images

to

similarly attired but

and

coiffure peculiar

in Nepal, stands

with

a slight

flexion in an attitude of veneration.

The draped

end of the dhoti clings to the right

leg,

the

left

one

leaving

The image of Padmapani near

is

with
to

seem

their

to indicate a

by the image of Tara [No.

in the British

18, 1]

be noted to

high

Museum),

new
1948,

the armlets

crest in the old style reach

up

the shoulders; they are placed higher than

those of Avalokiteshvara. His beautiful face, full

of compassion, belongs to the family of the

Vishnu image.

It

has

none of the

self-absorption of the Gupta-like

rapt bliss of

Dhvaka Bod-

hisattva.

free.

in Patau (VII)

may

the bust as in the earher sculp-

If the necklaces

tures.

the legs and preserves the zigzag pattern of the

art.

a return

precision

the

Yampi Baha

without the dreary solemnity of

The

sculptors chose for their images

different

many

combinations and variations of motifs,

35

however standardized
becoming. Motifs

in

main

their

common,

features

were

such as the crown

of whatever shape, widening towards the top,

or

long and tucked-in sacred thread are

the

differently treated according to the sensitivity

the sculptor.

of

It is

the sacred thread of the

where

its

high order

as

of

shown by

caresses

and

its

of Padmapani

stone image

Avalokiteshvara (VII) though

consistent in

more powerful and

modeling and

structure,

is

the

gilded copper figure of Vajrapani in the Stanford

University
it

Museum,

California

has the affixed halo in

of Gauri and

are

as

Technically,

(5).^

common

with the image

also the abbreviation

and compres-

forming an angle

The ornaments

the nose.

conspicuous

however, the

lacks,

Another, larger image of Padmapani

(VIII)

arm of Bodhisattva

left

Vajrapani, though

somewhat more modeled and bent

of Gauri. In the proportion of

parallels that

body

in the elbow,
its

the statuette resembles the stone carving

of Avalokiteshvara, but
relation

of body and

more

is

legs

unified in

the thighs

Bodhisattva images, that

is

prior to circa 800

the simphfication of the end of the dhoti into a

curved sheet

leaves, as in the

hvara, an interval beside the

its

silhouette. This

idiom

is

image of Avalokites-

left leg,

strengthening

also seen in the figures

of Vishnu and Garuda.

By

its

width of

in the seventh century,

image and

its

than

of

it

his

is

the attenuation of the

had been

in the

new

bones, and

its

of the cheek

short features, the countenance of

Vajrapani belongs to the conventions of

sculpture,

though the nose

is

more

Nepah

hidian, being

latter

even

is

lower half of the image

in Fig. VII. In the

body, the Padmapani

under

The

The

halting contour.

more conspicuous

upper part

Kathesimbhu

at

disposition of form, above the

of the lower

part.

figure has the precision of curved metal

elongation, this Nepali Bodhisattva

sheets. In

its

image

reminiscent

is

of some

stone

colossal

Bodhisattvas from northern Orissa.

The

face,

similar to the torso,

Hnear definition, following

of the

ideal Nepali type.

as

The

it

is

pure in

now

meets

along

it,

nose.

The Newar eye

upper
lips,

lid

raised ridge

of the

an angle
is

at the

indicated

close to the

by an

incised

edge of the lowered,

of doubly curved

its

many

shapes

line

root of the

bow

shape.

relaxed in their schematic beauty, have

behind the
In

and

at

its

does the model

brow, having dispensed with the incised

line parallel

face at the side

a. d.

Contrasting with the ponderosity of the figures

its

do not sag

the

at

concludes the series of "early"

hesitations in the treatment

The

finesse

Srighata Mahavihara or Sigha Baha, Kathesimbhu,

away from

seen in the back view.

bodv

of the image of Padmapani.

rises,

is

root of

in relation to the

sion of the drapery into a thick metal sheet flaring

the figure, as

at the

the

is

those of Vishnu. Their

as

body

contact with the

Katmandu

accentuates the modeling.

this

thin, incised line

image of Avalokiteshvara

beaded string accompanies,

Related to

prominent. Above the modeled brows

The
left

given to them before.

mask-like perfection,

this

formalized face

36

is

reminiscent

vet

ot

crod-child

the

ot

that

Their pointed ends enliven the lower part ot the

image, supported on

Krishna.

At the base ot the

blooms

slab, the three lotus

here belong to one plant and arc held aloft

the stem and

its

ramifications. This

motif

by

carries

widespread

stiff,

once more, the powerful face

Nepali.
the

The

crown

on images of a

tied occur

is

The

armlets of Vishnu are

of the main divinity, and two artichoke-like

than

women

on which are enthroned the royal

of those of the Padmapani

rests

in

hand of the Bodhisattva

right

on

in the

a lotus

Vishnu

versions

Patau (VII). The

in

both the

steles

support, akin to the florid shape

part of the stele does not share the

of its upper half and some of its stodginess

recurs in the heav^-handed, pedantic detail in

the elaboration of the

The

crown and

the lotus flower.

the other images; clubs ot this shape are

account of

a later

completely different

from

that ot Surya (1065)

at

up

it

is

definite

not

as late

dated stone images

in

this

Thapahiti,

form,

like

Patau,

are

(X).

Conservative in

of Buddha Amitabha, the

curl

image does not

While no

when

eleventh century,

known

ot

details

iconography and

ornaments and drapery

same time richly

spiritual father

of the

at the

flames here have stems

which

from more than one Indian

reflective

(6),

Similar flames surround the lotus-discus [cakra]

minghng of

and

of new currents

school, the sculptures

betw^een the eighth and eleventh centurv

at the ends.

On

image of Changu Narayan

into the following centuries.

particularly of

The

the

later.

rephca but seems to carry

the type of the Vishnu

niche arising from a lotus, enshrines the image

Bodhisattva.

power

stark

its

appear to be

central crest of the crown, a flame-edged

later date.

found on Vishnu images centuries

as the

which

worn lower down

date can be given to this tigure,

stele (VI).

The lower
clarity

lumped

devotees, dwarfed and

also

more Indian than

is

horizontal ends of the band by

here a "double lotus" in the middle, the pedestal

"single lotuses"

Here,

legs.

show

these currents within the overall

of a gold-plated metal image of Vishnu Sridhara

Nepali form. The indigenous tradition which in

on loan from the Brooklyn Museum

the fifth century created the figure of the "king"

image has more than

its

iconography in

with the Vishnu of the stone

Narayan

(VI).

more nude

Yet

it is

thread

is

more

in the splendor

and the ornaments

set

(10).

at

stele

stark in

This

common
Chano-u

its stiffness,

of its golden radiance

with

stones.

doubled and shortened.

It

from

Pashupati

Mrigasthali,

ferment and moves

along

its

at its

native heritage, together with

its

own

all

that

had been assimilated by absorbing contemporary

sacred

Indian impressions

passes

under

between the sculptor and

whose

more

ends, too, are shortened as are those of the dhoti.

uses

own pace while carrying

The

the waistbelt and the folded upper cloth

(1),

to his

(7). Tliis

judgment or

Suavitv o form

is

Ins

process puts a distance

his

taste

work which owes

than to intuition.

main concern.

37

The depths of

reaUzation

form

sculpture gave

which hidian

to

rested in hidia.

Nepal has

no Elephanta or Aurangabad of its own, but the

shape of the female figure

gabad found
there a

way

its

new body

after the seventh

developed in Auran-

as

and was given

to Nepal,

unlike, yet related to

Besides,

it.

century northern hidia, taking

went on

stock of past achievements,

practising

sculpture according to established and carefully

followed

completed

Matijusritnulakalpa, a text

century, speaks of

Buddhism

made

the attempt being

newly fashioned images,

new form and

for

of Buddhist

rules, hi the field

new

to
hi

art,

in the eighth

as declining

revive

Nepal

it

this

salvation

the

is

and of

through
groping

seen in the

reUef of the "nativity" of the Buddha, from

Deo-Patan

The

tall

(11).

figure of

Maya Devi

(11)

surpasses

the image of Avalokiteshvara of the Sigha Baha,

Katmandu, by the assurance of its long, swinging

contours.

Her body

carries the

memories of the

form of Gauri and of Yakshinis from Mathura.

She reaches into the branches of the tree where
a

miracle of fruits and flowers

is

born from her

hands. Their three-dimensional interlacement

the horizontal response

on high

is

to the crossing

of legs and the garment's folded front

piece.

But

Maya Devi are only the frame for the

Buddha who is born, the Lord of the World.

Padmapani Avalokiteshvara.
Sigha Baha, Kathesimbhu, Katmandu, Nepal.

VIII.

Ca. eighth century.

38

tree

and

Like

sturdy

of

pillar,

and supported by the

body of

lotus,

the

the child stands in the egg shape

his effulgence

while the

to bathe the babe,

celestial

and angels

tilt

streams flowtheir vessels

brimnung with

and moist

lotuses, soft

in shape,

Seen against the Avalokiteshvara image of the

Sigha Baha, a

Maya

work o{ convention,

Devi, a

invention, has

bedded

work of

the reUef of

purest creative

Nepah

mobiUzed hidian resources em-

in the tradition

of the countrv. The face

related to types

from Bihar of

the eighth

to ninth century.

Under

the Licchavis and their successors

750

400

A. D.)

the art

of Nepal had

felt

and took part

tiveness

composition,

this

in the

from images

differ

twelfth

late

each other

assignable to circa the eighth-

ninth centuries (IX). These images arc stone

To

group must be added

this

Uma-Maheshvara

The

both

as

in the

steles.

metal image of

Museum

Baroda

(9).

Eastern school of Indian art contributed

nothing to

this

school sent

its

when

type of image, even

illuminated manuscripts

and probably

also

this

78,

(cf.

Nepal from

painters to

(ca.

79)

the

about the year 1000. Far from accepting even

heartbeat of the Gupta tradition of Northern

India,

much from

centurv, differ as

of Maya Devi and the form of the Buddha child

seem

dated versions ot

one in 1012 and the other of the

eddy of the waters.

in the

Two

Kailasa.

culmination of crea-

which swaved India from the Deccan

to

single motifs

from

its

that school, once

accomphshcd

the compositional type of

Uma-Maheshvara went

through

which

modifications

each

sculptor

Bihar in the seventh century. Reverberations of

brought about when he showed the god knowing

both these impacts continued into the eighth and

himselt

ninth century.

this

At

this

time Hinduism no

less

tions

which served

as

it

in

composi-

Now

an array of representations of Uma-Maheshvara,

(IX).

The

Uma,

his

to his left,

Nepal.

had come, and with

the great Lord, together with

knowledge Shiva gives exposition with

models for centuries.

the turn for Shiva images

To

main

Vishnu had received the homage of the Nepali

Manadeva,

with the goddess.

Buddhism

than

produced newly fashioned images

sculptor since the age of

his consort

elaboration of this image in Nepal

his togetherness

right hand, while he embraces the goddess,

with

Uma

to him,

his

rests

main

left

her hand on his leg. She leans

on the god. The torsion of her body, the cadence

of her curves, vary with her

which

is

listening

shape,

one of

ease,

and understanding

from her

(IX, 9). In the

In this greater intimacy the

Ellora

are

blended with central and northern

Indian motifs preserved only in their later versions.^

The

sitions

is

center of these many-figured

Shiva enthroned with

Uma

compo-

on Mount

its

to

sway her

entire

of her toes

Uma-Maheshvara images of

temporary Deccan elements such

of

and posture,

coiffure to the tips

eastern school the goddess

those

mood

allowing the rhythms of

follows one complex iconography in which conas

hand. Sitting next

sits

the

on the lap of the god.

freedom of response,

pause, and the organization

o the figures

together with their interspaces are absent.

During the

rule

in Eastern India,

of the Pala dynasty (750

150)

bronze images were made in

39

large

numbers

and being

their

form

Nepali tradition

the

in

found

easily portable (14)

Nepal where

to

Nalanda and Kurkihar

at

ni Bihar,

their

way

once became re-cast

13).

(12,

the

In

carlv

eleventh century the monastery of Vikramashila

the heart of the

in

Nalanda

as

Pala empire

had replaced

Among

center of Buddhism.

brilliant teachers

were three Ncpalis.

It

its

was from

there that Pandit Atisha, the founder of Tibetan

Lamaism proceeded
of Nepal. In

spite

the Pala style

1040 to Tibet, by

in

way

of renewed contacts and though

was

closely followed,

Nepali

its

versions are unmistakable in their suave line and

expression.

They extract from the ornate maturity

of Sena sculptures

deHcacy of feehng and an

the ornateness of
ture,

found their way into Nepal mider Nanyadeva

and

his

Eastern India.

tation in

and excel those of the subsequent

15)

Sena dynasty in Eastern India

modeling of the Sena school

is

(16).

The

presented

Nepal

plasticity,

Its

had
so

in the

much

less

and reached

When

as

invests

embodiments steeped

if listening

them with

The homeland of

to

in

the voice

glory

within

and China,

the Sena rulers

was

in the

Deccan. From the same region, the Kanarese

country,

came Nanyadeva, who conquered not

only Tirhut (north Bihar)

tains

of Nepal but

also

at the foot

Nepal

of the moun-

itself in 1094.

Stone

images of the Sena school, which had assimilated

its

the tenth century,

height in the thirteenth century.

art

by an

at

times

up

matu-

of sentiment were

somewhat equivocal form

into the fifteenth century.

sixteenth century the

set

of Nepal to Tibet

local Nepali traits also attained

rity (18). Thereafter, dehcacies

power

their

Mallas

(1480

By

1768)

three kingdoms.

It

The

the

had
is

in

phase of Newari creativeness that the

way of knowing

the ultimately Real

given support by images of frenzied grandeur

was
(29).

stone sculptures after the tenth century do

not keep pace in their quality with the bronzes.

While metal images, both

cast

and repousse,

maintain their quality into the sixteenth century,

and

their radiance.

early Mallas (ca. 750 to

A-ni-ko brought the

Tantrik

it

(16).

was on the ascendancy from

by the

tension than

subtle re-interpre-

1480) the influence of the school of Eastern India

this last

Sena school. The images appear not

as direct

but rather

which

however, has

most

from

artists

that the Eastern Indian

Under the Thakuris and

rich

Newari sculptor as sensitively as are the ornaments.

was then

It

was given

art tradition

(20, 23, 26),

13,

Muslim conquest of

Bengal brought to Nepal refugee

bronzes. Although none of these Nepali bronzes

(12,

end of the twelfth

the

century, furthermore, the

carried,

dated, they parallel the phases of Pala sculpture

By

successors.

elegance not within reach of the East Indian

is

contemporary Kanarese sculp-

less

frequent instances into the nineteenth

century, stone sculpture stagnates after absorbing

the

Sena impact. The creative

artists

of that

phase were the workers in metal and wood.

No dated

temple with

before 1394.

With

wood

carvings

is

known

the small Bhairava shrine at

Panoti (dated 514 N.

S.)

begins, to our

know-

40

ledge, a prolific production

as

strono;

itself

the eiQ;hteenth centurv as in the

in

The

fourteenth.

which shows

phases

singular

wood

of the

carver's art (36, 62, 64, 72, 73) have not as yet

been defined, nor have those of the carvers in

rock crystal

(63), ivory,

nor of workers

The Sena

and human bone

dry lacquer.

in

remained the

style

(57),

basis

of the form

of metal images

in the thirteenth century although

the modeling

became more shallow and the

contour more smoothly melodious

(18).

In the

fourteenth centurv, with an increasinslv sum-

mary modeling

Sena

22),

of the

the contour

volumes tightens with an arrested

simplified

energy

(19

(23, 24). In

style,

the

Newari response

the ornaments

to the

which formerly had

enriched the effect of the sculptures became an

essential

and expressive part ot the sculptural

vision (16, 17).

Toward
renewed

the end of the fourteenth century a

interest in

modeling makes the surface

of some images appear

where the intention

tive,

to

made

kneaded

in

(25)

new

or,

descriptively sugges-

abdomen

to appear resilient to the

The fourteenth and

abound

tions

more

if

parts of the body, like the

thighs are
(26).

is

as

fifteenth centuries

or

touch

seem

creations, in different ramifica-

of an evolving

style.

Bodliisattva figures

assignable to the earlier part of the fifteenth cen-

tury (30, 31) are over-elongated in their shmness.

IX. Uma-Maheshvara.

As provocative as they are unearthly in their stance,

Nagal Tol, Katmandu, Nepal.

they seem to sway while the figure, after having

Ca. eighth-ninth century.

foot in this world, halts.

Toward

set

the sixteenth

41

century these slim, elongated figures swell with

a

new

Prajna

sap (38).

m the third quarter of the fifteenth

Meanwhile,

more earthbound

century, a

image of Vasudhara dated

established.*^ hi these

contour

is

A. d.

had become

1467,

of the

figures the fluency

Only

sits

rarely (34)

on broad
type

this

is

given the lyrical charm in which an image of

is

the figure

is

given toward the end of the fifteenth

century, the

duces

which

steeped. In the fuller proportions

work of the

itself (38).

sixteenth century intro-

These two centuries correspond,

not only in time but also in their sequence of

artistic

the

end of the sixteenth century the

form becomes

charged with fierce or

dilated,

brooding emotion

(55)

or desiccated by

it

(58).

Images of the seventeenth century often have

dry correctness which rigorously preserves the

sweet nobihty of Newari tradion

With an unprcccndented
are given

form

(29, 85)

elan,

The

tuiio

the opposite principles in the sexual

of Tantrik Buddhism

is

shown by

of

mystica

symbolism

the

embrace

of male and female images. The male image

stands for the

passionate

Buddha

throughout.

principle,

which

is

com-

The female image

is

Prajna or gnosis, the knowledge and symbol of

the Absolute, Shutiya, the Void.

contingencies, of all

By

42

It is

void of

all

human limitations and egoity.

penetrating Prajna the

Buddha

expresses

and

the

means and

Together they are the Realiza-

Tantrik Buddhism

in

every man. In

art,

made approachable

is

this principle has

two

to

types

of shape, that of the Buddha image and that of

the

Yidam or

tutelary divinity.

symbolizes the
its

The Buddha image

of Buddhahood, the Yidam

state

operation within the

human

limbed images of the Yidams

heart.

The manydancing

in their

frenzy symbohze the

moment of ecstasy, of being

outside oneself, free

from

its

manifold

the

selfish interests

self,

the ego, with

and attachments. The

weap-

tutelary gods with their

ons and symbols cut and sever attachments.

liberate.

It is

moment of rapture

Prajna participates and

ecstatic

in

Thev

which

the

being obtained. The

is

union of these images takes place in the

mind of the Tantrik Buddhist.

The

Tantrik images

is

For the sake of mankind, the Buddha principle

(56).

from the mid-fifteenth

to the eighteenth century.

the end.

many hands of the

content, to the Renaissance in Italy.

From

is

Buddhahood. He

his

tion of the Absolute.

type, related to an

interrupted and the torso

hips (32, 33, 37).

Indra

confirms

tion
in

sadhanas or injunctions for the contempla-

and making of images had been composed

centuries

India,

eighteenth

earlier.

centuries

in

In

the fifteenth

Nepal,

to

ancient

these

symbols became quickened not with new meaning

but with

new

life,

and the abihty arose to project

into the sanctioned forms an emotional

imme-

diacy amounting to frenzy, whether in the experience of the tremendous or the horrendous.

The symbols of sexual union

experienced on

many

levels

in hidian art

and served

were

different

meanings. In some of the Hindu sculptures of

Konarak the carnal element was strong whereas

Khajuraho sentiment and savoir

in

the

assuaged

taire

In the eighteenth ccnturv the elan

and power

animating these maages, although diminished, do

the buffalo

(68).

An image

demon

(67; 1768)

of Durga,
is

still

killing

upon

to create representations

of divinity

distilled

is

cal-

in

its

whose

serene aspect, he accomplished showpieces

spectacular beauty

by

sustained

them. Where, however, the image-maker was

led

and

soar, forecasting the

of some

form of these symbols.

not subside

glide

from more than

traits

day sculptures

latter

An illumination of the late sixteenth

mav retain all the essentials of a com-

centurv

more than

position created

be

earlier, yet

Nepali paintings whether on palm

All

wood

paper,

quahty, produced
Tibet, and

West

in figures

large quantities in Nepal,

MongoUa.

In China, preciosity

rationahzed (70), and sweetened

Paintings are

and on

The metal images

are cast in the lost

More

They followed

book covers

The

(74; a. d.

Nepal

to

earUest dated set of

Nepah

1028) harmonious in

juxtaposition of images, circumscribes

less

its

Bengali workmanship.

Newari

when he
that

is

line

intrica-

an agitation controlled by their near-geometrical

When shown

to float in their

standing, the figures

swaying

stances;

seem

walking they

not

is

painter.

attempts

modeling

as a rule the

He
it

(31).

Sculpture

is

color,

concern oi

not always successful

a

as

b)'

book cover shows

the direct impact ot the late Pala

(78)

do the highly modeled

shapes of NepaU painting (80) relate to a tradition

which stems from forms such

Modehng
although

The flamboyant

be painted with

painted with the vivacity of folk art (75).^

more

of scrollwork on thrones and mandorlas add

outhne.

and

shadino;

retained,

immediate than those of

may

closely related as they

as

although

India,

them with

flux has a studied perfection,

meticulous and

cies

and Sena schools

which brought

form of Eastern Indian painting

whose

were

wooden book

covers,

process,

often than not they

be seen

still

and painting remain

Only under

(74, 75, 77, 80).

lines

the small

sometimes

hair can

the

only from

wax

gold and the original polychromy ot face and

of Buddhist scriptures on palm leaves

their

the Pala

was

(71).

known from Nepal

the eleventh century.

illustrations

of average

leaf,

or cloth are carried out in gouache.

are gilded; if not, their faces

familiar to the

half a millennium

alive.^

art (65, 66),

came

Perennial

centuries.

or they are repousse.

of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries be-

(30).

stance

of Nepali form are transmitted across the

millennium of the unbroken tradition of Newari

The metal images of "Lamaistic Buddhism"

ambiguous

images

in color

became
it

those in Ajanta.

and shading, where

residual

and

persisted in certain

like that

as

sporadic

it

was
(77),

horror-provoking

of Lhamo (Shri Devi)

in a paint-

ing on cloth of the fifteenth century (86), intensifying the horror

of the figure by making

it

almost tangible.

The meticulous

finesse

of miniature painting,

with or without modehng, was replaced

at the

43

end ot the tourtecnth century by more schematic

or

else

more

sketchy, cursive outlines (81).^^ This

technique was suited to

ings

a large

demand

A-ni-ko and

come

his eighty

to Tibet in 1260

time;^" the

founded

in

to paint

its

1419).

invited

chapels.

artists

who

was not forgotten bv

Nor monastery
1429,

in Tibet

The work of

Nepah

many

They and

Nepali

patas (83). Nepali artists also

(87)

worked

in

border, aflame with the

also

Western

Tibet, in Guge.

movements and

Cosmos and

choice

its

an art applied to an instru-

is

must be correctly made

purpose, which

is

with-

to fulfill

to serve as a chart or

guide

entanglements ot the world. The execution of

(87).

The square

yellow, red, and blue

is

divided by

whose colors

white,

represent the four direc-

Entry and exit into the magically fortified

square are marked in the middle of each side by

symbolic gate structure. Stations on the

marked by small images of subsidiary

ties in their

of space within the square. As

illustrate the

fold task

way

divini-

appointed places, in the eight direc-

rim of the surrounding

They

[y antra). It

is

within a square, enclosed by further con-

diagonals into four triangles

tions

total effect

out ot the chaos of the unconscious and the

centric circles

are

tonahtv of the

artist's

an eight-petaled lotus filHng a

in principle, in

tions.

individual

wherever the mandala

areas

Mandala painting

self

divinity of the mandala. This divinity resides,

44

restricted to the

The

and variety of the scrollwork that covers the

ment

is

the colors serve as

of the mandala, which he modifies by the den-

coincide in the image of the central and main

circle,

attributes,

identifying cognizances.

out figures.

self.

in miniature

are prescribed. Like their physiognomical types,

on the way toward

the Center of the cosmos and

drawn

technique or in a spirited shorthand. Their colors

background

aids

of gnosis which

"perfect ones" {siddha), and hierarchs of the

Mandalas are visual supports of concentration

ritual

its

destroys ignorance, are painted auxiliary divini-

sity

and meditation,

fire

church. All these figures are

artists

and

of the cemeteries and

circle

this

their pupils also

number of mandalas

Center.

its

ties,

painted on cloth hierarchs of the Sa Skya pa

school, a large

Outside the

in preparation for entering

self,

had

Southern Tibet,

in

the citadel with

for paint-

by the "Yellow Church" founded

by Tson-kha-pa (1357

propensities ot the

circle

a rule, the

teems with scenes.

"eight cemeteries", the eight-

of dying

to the ego,

to

all

worldly

these instruments

sion

from

artist.

form of
this,

itself to the creative

Where

it

does,

a pata, a painting

too,

conforms

is

correctness and preci-

Mandala painting

the painter.

does not lend

the

demands

it

of images. Although

with

it

his

Over and above

be gi^t

its

art.

and to

it

its

demands from

the artist

who

wants to

work. He

paint an image, if he cannot be

may

approximates the

guided by prescription so that

religious significance,

pata

experience of

to the original conception

identification

strictly

it,

cannot paint it.^"'

prescribed iconography, a

Surya.

1065 A. D.

Thapahiti, Patan,

Nepal.

45

Mandalas painted

Nepal

in

are less

92)

(88,

cotton cloth

when

painted in Tibet, the ground

rigorously controlled in their organization than

being sized with a mixture of chalk and glue;

those painted in the Tibetan monasteries (87).

the colors, being Hkewise

The

one with the ground. The fmished painting

main divinity with

central square houses the

the greater freedom of a pata and the scenes

around the encompassing

which mav or mav not be

of narrative

room

In addition to that

with the

be

of the marginal

are

divinities.

By merely

of the pata served

looking

at a

might achieve whatever he

pata

desired,

illumination or health, wealth, and sons, a

it

with water.

As

his

karma. Certain

preparing the cloth

rites

or

All that

was needed was

on

evocative

the

might be observed in

they could be omitted.

faith

mantra,

and concentration

the

magic formula

in sculpture, so also in painting, the period

from the

contained

power

presented

the

The

were invoked but

style

the world
lotus lake none of

also their setting

ocean, mountains, clouds, a

which

figure in the paintings

found

at

who

Tun Huang

in

on cloth

in

Nepah

westernmost China,

nor in those from Nepal and Tibet from about

1400

A. D.

The ground of

color surface, or

may

these last

is

an opaque

be vibrant with all-over

patterns of closely traced scrollwork in a

some-

what hghter tone of the color of the ground.

The

paintings,

whether mandala or

pata, are

on coarse cotton when from Nepal and on fme

46

in

its

century

sixteenth

themes

sacred

large figure of the

with

assurance

elements (89; 1570).

art

main

deir\- in its

aureole

(prabhamandala) occupies the center of the painting.

Particulary in

1436;

84)

it

the earher paintings

would seem

sculpture, complete

the

with

its

(82,

dated

some work of

that

back-stele for aureole

must have ruled over the vision of the

painter.

Manjusrimulakalpa showed not only the gods

The

(84).

and an admixture of folk

For

in the

(particularly

late

although, toward the end, with a heavier hand

(VI, VII)

purpose the paintings described

of the fourteenth to the

earher part) works of an intimate nobility and

uttered in front of the competently painted image.

this

later part

sixteenth century provided

remission of his shortcomings, or an amelioration

of

is

varnished with the white of a duck's egg mixed

full

of evocation of and identi-

divinirs', the art

magical purpose.

the faithful

illustrated

in the earher paintings, leaving little

for the images

fication

of the cemeteries

circle

mixed with glue, become

He

translated

it

into a picture, giving

ground not only color but

cover of scrollwork
reds, equally

as

dense

as

also, as a rule, a

moss.

Deep hidian

deep and mellow blues and greens,

enhvened by golden yellow and white,

are the

choice in Nepal (88) whereas the palette of the

Nepah
and

school in Tibet

at the

is

brighter, less restricted

same time colder

(83).

Furthermore,

Chinese motifs of textile origin add their hghtness

to

some of

the paintings o( the Nepali school in

Tibet.

The composition of the

patas

is

symmetrically

ordered following the structure of the throne of

image

the central

Border zones accom-

(82, 83).

modate further images, groups or

compartment of its own

in a

(84). It

scenes, each
as if these

is

small scale illuminations might have been taken

from

volume containing

the pages of a

all

the

images and scenes which formed the repertory

of

art

this

required

and

been placed in the sequence

by each

pata. In addition, there

an

is

Buddhism and Hmduism but

assimilation oi

merge

the one in the other, recognized in the

Adi-Buddha

form of Devi, the Hindu Great

Goddess. Similarly, he associated his

It

was

in his long reign

of over seventy years

MusUms came

that the first

one or more compartments

consequence.

pata,

showing royalty or

becoming

to their status

oftheday

(82, 84, 88).

In
ing.

some
It

citizens in the

costume

and following the fashion

illustrations

to

Nepal. While

might have contributed

their arrival

gious policy of the King,

bottom of the

name with

the installation of Buddhist gods.

array of portraits of the donor and his family in

at the

Its effect is

of

it

to the reli-

had no poHtical

barely noticeable in the

paper manuscript of the Hito-

padcsha of the year 1594 (90, A-C). This

"profitable instruction", a compilation

patas the vision of deity

is

overwhelmof small

pushes aside the multiplicity

to

Pancatantra, imparts

of

fables.

its

book of

from

the

worldly wisdom by means

These spread over the world, were

scenes (85, 86). In the heat of the apparition of

translated

into

Mahakala

illustrated

with sophisticated vigor and Nepali

And yet,

(86)

even

they coalesce in

turmoil of shapes.

this visual precipitation

tive-creative energy

is

of destruc-

ordered, following freely

the rigorous scheme of the mandala,

sixty

languages,

and are here

charm.

certain recrudescence

of folk

art in a pata

of

eight

the later part of the sixteenth century (89; 1570)

cemeteries being massed in the four directions.

does not indicate a decline in the art of the pata.

Whereas

the painter of this pata

name of the master

(85)

is

given in

its

inscription together

The Malla kings were

its

much

palaces

a part

mountains. The

in the year 1467.

Deeply rooted
and delicacy

in tradition, paintings full

(95)

were created

of

zest

in the seventeenth-

eighteenth centuries (98).

By

that time, Rajasthani as well as Chinese-

They

Tibetan elements had been integrated into Nepali

and temples. Without them

painting, as revealed in a long scroll (96; 1635).

of Nepal

it is.

Their towers are

as are the

snow-clad

name of King Ratnamalla

is

The seventeenth-eighteenth

centuries recaptured

the splendors of the fifteenth century and lent

them

a resilient

and elegant

line (98). In Tibet,

of Vajradhara, of the year

in the seventeenth century, the Tibetan

mode of

Ratnamalla, himself a Hindu, in his en-

painting was consolidated as a style of

its

also given
1488.^'*

the

with that

great patrons of art.

Nepal would not be what

as

unknown,

(mahapatra) of the other pata

of the donor. King Ratnamalla,

gave Nepal

is

its

on

a pata

deavor not only to further the already extant

Whereas Nepali masters were the

own.

teachers

of

47

Tibetan

fourteenth and fifteenth

the

in

artists

had found

centuries, the Tibetan style

its

way

to

Nepal by the middle of the seventeenth century,

as

two

paintings dated 1662 in the hidian

Calcutta,

pata

go

The Nepali

to prove.''

however remained

against a

eight-

ting twelve holy places

on

tendrils appearing

are arranged in a

it

The Nepali

type remains

leafy

new

pata of the traditional

painted iconostasis.

On

the other

hand, a Tibetan tanka (104) of that phase suspends

its

images

of an invisible curtain across

as part

a landscape fantasy

of Chinese

origin.

The Nepali

opaque, colors in

was superseded

its

in the nineteenth century

power over

wliich had

of 1862

come

(in

It

many

to

Nepal

compartments of contrasting,
rhythmical sequence, with

free,

mode

only the format was retained in

Nepali

style painted

century

(99,

101,

after

the early eighteenth

long narrative scroll

103).

Museum dated

1705, illustrating the

Lord Buddha, shows not only Western

heterogeneous elements

Rajasthani painting had brought to Nepal, but

the surface of a pata

however, did enter Nepali

came from

in

perspective, such as seventeenth century Indian

crowd

illusion,

of pilgrimage

retained

it

the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras).

This spatial
painting.

the

the composition represen-

the lively narrative of the scrolls in the Rajastham-

story of

Even

at Sanclii.

sixteenth to seventeenth century Rajasthani

of "nature" and the

space.

translated into relief

an occasional horizon line in some of them. This

in the British

of three dimensional

(96),

consisted of oblong

pata of the traditional type resisted the intrusion

illusion

begin-

In the early seventeenth century, as the scroll

mid

set

at the

they adorned the crossbars of the gates

dated 1635 shows

images are

of Ajanta

era;

of the

opaque ground, even though

flat,

perspective.

Its

ning of the Christian

style

vital into the

eenth century (102; 1755).

Museum,

friezes in the cave temples

India together with the

of the

also Indian

This

new

and

Mushm figures and their costumes.

style also appears in wall paintings in

the palace at Bhatgaon.

It

invades

some of

the

patas which, at this time, also incorporated the

century.

landscape of the Tibetan tankas, while other patas

Rajasthani painting had absorbed, through an

continued to be painted in the traditional Nepali

Rajasthani

style

assimilation of

seventeenth

Muslim painting and

particularly

style.

The new

style,

its

Rajasthani elements

of Mogul painting, some of the perspectives of

supplemented

Persian as also of Western Renaissance painting.

mitted

The impact of Rajasthani painting proved irresist-

early eighteenth century Buddhist

ible, particularly to the

Nepali painters of the long

These narrative

modes of

scrolls are

pictorial

among

the

composition

most anin

India.

Transferred to the walls they had formed long

48

times

by Chinoiseries

through Tibetan painting,

tions (100 B).

enters

also

book

trans-

illustra-

There the high horizons are over-

lapped by the mountains of Nepal.

narrative scrolls.

cient

at

More

than a hundred years

of the nineteenth
are

combined

century,

later, in
all

the middle

these

in zestful spontaneity in

elements

some

large

scale

album

leaves

(105,

from ancient Indian

106).

tales are

Deeds of valor

NOTES

re-enacted in a land-

scape of mountain crags as only a Nepali

artist

of the nineteenth century could paint them.

To this day Nepal has a living myth. It is enacted

throughout the year
rites

and

festivals.

in the succession

No

Daniel Wright, History of Nepal {Camhridge, 1877),

1.

of seasonal

p.

118; S. Levi, Le Nepal (Paris, 1905), Vol.

Vol.

1960),

Uving

art

supports

them

It

has

withdrawn and mav be hidmff

in the golden casket

if the lake

fallow

guarded bv the Fire Serpent,

which was aflame

field.

has not

become

The Shaka, and nor

78.

p.

Regnii, Ancient Nepal (Calcutta,

L.

however determines

era,

anv longer.

D.

p. 96;

II,

D. G.

of Manadeva, see

the date

Sirkar, Select Inscriptions bearing on Indian History

The chronology of

The

when

Miracle

is

not the

more-

decisive event,

over, according to the chronicle used

and

1.

the rule of Vrishadeva

in the local chronicles.

place

"Licchavi"

the

Civilization (Calcutta, 1942), p. 366, note

same

p. 385,

I,

by

Levi, took

S.

Vrishadeva was miraculously resurrected.

and

legend

interwoven

are

with

history.

Vrishadeva's reign seems to coincide with that of the

Indian emperor Samudragupta.

2.

The Bud-

This does not preclude their existence.

dhist images,

however, which have been assigned to

the fifth and sixth centuries because of their style, belong

to the eighth century' (sec

Le

(Roma,

Cit'ilta delFOrietite

Sculpture from Nepal,"

3.

"Arte del Nepal" by H. Goetz,

and "Early Indian

^-irtibus .isiae,

Coins of Kadphises

Journal of the Royal

1962),

and

.Asiatic Society,

II;

XV (1955), p. 67
cf.

f.

H. Walsh,

E.

1908, p. 681

V. Smith,

Catalogue of Indian Coins (Oxford), p. 179.

4.

The photograph, taken many

years ago

by

Nepali photographer, does not show the entire sculpture,

5.
^^ith

which

is

at present inaccessible.

Dying King Narendradeva bequeathed

a

copy of the

The

A.

this

date and

D.

it

cit..

st>-le
is

Vol.

of the

"A

II,

p.

stele

164). This

two

was in

would agree with

possible that the r^vo royal ladies

represent the daughters ot

6.

crown,

Prajnaparaniita (scripture) to his

daughters (Levi, op.

780

his

In an article to

King Narendradeva.

be published

Pre-Pala Sculpture and

Its

in Artibus Asiae

on

Significance for the Inter-

national Bodhisatt\a Srsle in Asia," John

D. LaPlante

49

discusses this

image

date of the image

by

arrived at
assign the

at length.

His conckisions about the

the seventh century agree with those

the writer.

Mr. LaPlante, however, would

image identified by him

as

Ghantapani

to

script,

hand

what

not a bell

is

The some-

(ghattta).

image of Bodhisattva Vajrapani of the

later

Nag

Licchai'i Caitya,

Baha, Patan, holds in

his right

hand another kind of rounded shape. The

right

both these images seems to hold a

According

fruit.

hand of

Peintes dans

Matijusrimulakalpa [Paris, 1930] p. 14)

le

Bodhisattvas hold a fruit

in their hands. This

{pliala)

vague specification applies to the two images. In other

sculptures the right
7.

shows

The Hindu

Kramrisch,

Stella

1946), Vol.

hand of Vajrapani

II,

Pi.

LV, the

empty.

Temple (Calcutta,

flying figure. This illustration

form of

a rudimentars*

is

represented in full shape in

the flying tigure.

many

other Nepali

Maheshvara images of the same period

as

It is

Uma-

the

one

Between

a stone

image of Mahagauri

of the year 1205, and

in

Deo-Patan

metal image of Vasudhara of

the year 1467 (the latter reproduced in Oriental Art,

1959, p. 91, Fig. 2), a

few dated images

are said to exist,

but could not be traced.

9.

One

nativity

on

these

paraniita

his

taking possession of the world,

book covers and

in a manuscript

dated A. D. 1570, in the Asutosh

Indian Art, University- of Calcutta.

and

less

careful

Museum is a sign

of its

later date.

Museum of

in the

cursive

Asutosh

Moreover the crowded

sister

in

the Asutosh

page lacks the sophistication of composition

on the book cover.

50

shown

of Prajna-

The more

drawing of the page

group of Maya Devi and her

Museum

1015 (Cambridge, Ms. Add. 1643);

I.

3, 4; II. 4:

Manuscripts of

1 1

Katmandu;

this

both dated 1395, the

type are in the Bir Library,

latter

"Nepalese Painting," Journal

Oriental Art,

12.

PL

and

a Nityahnikatilcika,

reproduced,
Indian

the

of

Krainrisch,
Society

of

(Calcutta, 1933), p. 147.

pata (G. Tucci, Tibetan Painted Scrolls

B; and Benjamin Rowland,

1949], Pi.
oj the

VI. 3, etc.

a Jayaksharasamhita

[Rome,

The Evolution

Jr.,

[New York,

Buddha Image, The Asia Society

1963],

26) has been assigned to the fourteenth century.

Another pata

ot the

same

series

is

in the Bharat

Bhavan, Banaras Hindu Universit\'.

of

New

this style is in a private collection.

ver\- large patas,

one

Kala

third painting

York.

Two

New York,

in a private collection,

London, could

the other in

be assigned to

also

this

phase.
13.

"Dante sums up the whole matter from the

when he

says

paint a tigure, if he cannot be

(Convivio, Canzone
pressed

not

'No

it

first

of

III,

all

it,

54) or

53

painter can portray

106, p.

as

any

made himself such

to be' (ib. IV, 10,

only has to compare the scene of Buddha's

and

d.

a.

medieval point of view

illustrated here.
8.

dated

(Paris, 1900), Pis

to

the Maujusrimnlakalpa (M. Lalou, Icotwgraphie des Etofes

Nepali palm leaf manu-

also the earliest extant

A. Fouchcr, Etude sur T Iconographie Bouddhique de Flnde

Northern India rather than Nepal. The object held

in the right

Cf

10.

'He

who would

cannot paint

he

otherv\^ise

figure, if

it.'

ex-

he have

as the figure

ought

309 of the Oxford Text)."

Ananda K. Coomaraswamy, "The

Intellectual

Operation

in Indian Art," Journal of the Indian Society oj Oriental

Art, June 1935, p. 9.

14.

The composition of

though more
1570

(91).

sensitive than that

Cf

Nepalaise du

this

painting

is

similar to

of Lokeshvara, dated

Odette Monod-Bruhl, '"Une Peinture

Musce Guimet,"

Arts Asiatiques,

VI

(1959),

color plate facing p. 297.

15.

Archaeological

192324,

p. 103.

Survey of India,

Annual Report,

65.

White Tara.

Eighteenth century.

H:

22 '/2

PLATES

SCULPTURE

54

2.

<

1.

Statue

Early

Devi (Gauri or Tara).

ofaKing(?).

fifth

century.

161/2"

Seventh

3.

Tara (or Garni).

Seventh century.

4.

Devi.

H:

8'

Seventh century.

H:

6^1^".

Z2

5.

58

Vajrapani.

Seventh century.

H:

10 '/V'.

6.

Buddba Maitreya, Seventh-eighth

century.

6^1 16

^>

9.

Uma-Maheshvara.

< 1 Nimbate figure and attendant.

.

Eighth-ninth century.

Late eighth century.

4-/4"

51/2'*

61

11. Nativity

62

of the Buddha.

Ninth century.

H:

33'

14.

Vishnu in Lotus-mandala.
Eastern Indian School.

10.

Early twelfth century.

Vishnu.

Ninth century

5".

(?).

65

18. Indra.

<

66

Thirteenth century.

H:

10 \

Ca. 1200.

H:

IS^s"-

16. Indra.

fU

-fv^

XM

r1-A

:r^'

iV\

19. Avalokiteshvara.

68

Fourteenth century

(?).

H:

24^j^'.

Prajnaparamita.

15. Vasudliara.

Early twelfth centur>-.

H:6V4'.

Fourteenth centur>-.

HrP".

26. Tara.

70

End fourteenth

century.

H:

36'

m-A

28. Nagas.

72

Ca. seventeenth century.

H:

ca. 2V4'-

23.

Vasudhara.

Fourteenth century.

73

<V.''

Jjrl

^v ~^-^r>i

rir

'#

fr.

rL

i^
t\
,^^i*

<^i

,>!>

lil

ir'

35.

Arapacana Manjusri.

30.

<

29.

Fifteenth century.

Padmapani Avalokiteshvara.

Navatmaka Heruka.

3''/4".

Fifteenth century.

Seventeenth-eighteenth century.

H:

H:

43'

91/2"

<J

13

O >^>

33. Indra.

76

Fifteenth centur>-.

10"

38. Vajrapani.

Late fifteenth century.

H:8'.

40. Consort ot Vrisha-Samvara.

Ca. late fifteenth century.

14 '/2".

79

44. Bull.

80

Fifteenth-sixteenth cenmry.

H:

2^4*

41. Krishna.

Fifteenth-sixteenth century.

H:

6^/4"

81

46. Vasudhara,

48.

Prabha-mandala.

82

Sixteenth century.

H:

llVs"

Beginning sixteenth century.

H:

6-V8

54.

Udiyana Kurukulla. Sixteenth century.

71/4"

47.

Ucchushma Jambhala and Vasudhara.

Early sixteenth century.

1-,
j

83

50. Tara.

Sixteenth century.

H:

5".

84

51.

Xokeshvara.

52.

Sixteenth century.

Akshobhya.

H:

9V8"

Sixteenth century.

H:

71/4"

85

>

55. Indra.

Sixteenth-seventeenth century.

H:

11".

~*^nifc

57.

Plaque from a

ritual apron.

Sixteenth-seventeenth century.

53. Vasya-Vajravarahi.

H:

Sixteenth century

6-1^"

(?).

H:

W:

25".

87

IV4"

^
60.

Arapacana Manjusri.

Mongolia

Seventeenth century.

)|[fri

61. Bhairava(?).

Tibet.

Seventeenth century.

88

H:

4".

H:

5".

(?).

62.

Padmapani.

Seventeenth century.

H:

6".

89

63.

Buddha Sheltered by

a Serpent.

64. Tara.

66.

White Tara.

Eighteenth century.

H:

Seventeenth century.

Seventeenth-eighteenth century.

SVs"'

H:

12^1 2".

22'

91

67.

Durga

Killing the Buffalo

68.

92

Demon.

Samvara.

Dated

1768.

12".

Eighteenth century,

H:

14".

4i

71. Bodhisattva.

94

China (Peking).

Eighteenth century.

H:

18

90

A C.

Hitopadesha.

Dated 1594.

Three pages

each 2- /g" x

8-/4"-

:/''^^^jJ^,
'7jij

"^

a fa J4 k^
?nf

'*

Vi>-

^*.*y.'5l'*

-r:>yf TtTlt

Ttrtf 1 1

;'^

.
[-J

i i

I3?rj?fif

ii l it l lUlWiW

^^

'

^
^^^
/^virtt'rn',

.^rrf*<x^.

1J1>1UH>

PLATES

PAINTINGS AND MANUSCRIPTS

80.

Shivadharma.

Painted book cover.

Thirteenth century.

3'^!^"

xII^Ik,".

99

78.

100

Leaf from a Gunakaranda\ yuha

(?).

Eastern Indian School.

Twelfth century. 2"

21"

>"

(detail).

81. Zodiacal signs

and

divinities.

End of fourteenth

or early fifteenth century.

4-V8

lO-Zg"*

74.

A book
21/2"

cover of an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Book ot the Perfection of Wisdom). Dated 1028.

171/4" (detail).

101

75.

102

book cover of an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita. Ca. mid-eleventh century.

2^lg,"x22'

77.

book cover from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita. Dated 1110 A.D. 2V2"

><22^/i6" (detail).

103

82.

Amoghapasha Avalokiteshvara.

Pata.

Dated 1436.

ll^jV' --H^h"-

85. Traylokyavijaya (?)

Pata.

Dated 1467.

42-Vx27>/2"

PBm^snsu^^
rH**^i

88.

Vasudhara Mandala.

Ca. 1504.

371/2"

r-

x 26".

105

83.

Adi-Buddha Vajradhara.

Pata. Nepali School

of Nor Monastery,

S. Tibet. First

half fifteenth century. 33^/8

"

x 31 1/4".

86.

Mahakala, Protector of the Tent. Pata.

Nepal School in Tibet.

Fifteenth century.

38 1/4" x 26^4"

(detail).

107

89.

Lokeshvara (Sukhavati?) and Tara.

Pata.

Dated 1570.

22V4''

18".

ammmm

^- :x^
:Ti

JOS

-^i

91. Siddhas, Hierarchs, etc.

Pata.

Sixteenth century.

22"'/i6"

19^^"

'J""

'

^J
L'

t'jtt

\:

ill

itm^A.Aik.AJk-Jb^
'y'^'.

M
AHkAA,'AM.kAA

^ AAAAAAkAAAA

7--,

t-]S^

92.

Vasudhara
Mandala.

'"

AkA'AAAAA

Pata.

'

Sixteenth century.
<

45-78' ^351/4.

>.

?^

'-^fi

.v-<

.A^^

,i.a:,

'"

A A All A 41

>'

J.i'

'AAA'4A>i.l4

41 AAA*

;1 J/ vT

.^'- "
&/

vvl

AAAAA414

;^'/:

iv

>v

.*<

J.

-^^a

-^

4^111

1
r3F-<5?/.

rr.

<

, t

LAAMAk
AAA

^11^

ji:j^^-ai

iTSWX

u-

Al AA.A

-V

11 A*

^>i

^W:

.v:*J
rr&t-i^

fX^i

|1^1

ii<^-..^v.<07'%
?d-

I A 1*1

\>'

'F'-'.y'

/^-.

>^^\rm

-;^-

..--..nr-i

'^

tie

-<ri-->'

AAA U

i-.f.G^

jOUiB^XSLt.-

^<'''<'
93.

Stupa.

Pata.

,icdiMU^

Late sixteenth
century.

Vis
,* -

373/4" X 183//.
^1

^X'

.5rj,j|.

IV

t^i

KSJ-

-U

J'. >^^

f^.S^

^^V.Vjft^

*-jt#'iJ,-;i^=i^

96. Tirtha

Mahatmya.

Dated 1635.

IS^/g"

x 51 V/

112

^f^r.^

95. Chakrasatnvara.

Pata.

Sixteenth-seventeenth
century.
571/2" x323/,6".

97. Pata

of

Dharmadhatu
Vagishvara.

Dated 1664.
59-\'4"

ftWS*Bf',V..-

>.-.-^

31".

98. Vajravarahi

Mandala.

Seventeenth-eighteenth century,

411/2"^ 28 Vg
115

100b. Leaf from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita

116

(detail).

100a.

Book cover from an

Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita.

Early eighteenth century,

4^2'

18'

117

101.

Vishnu Pata.
Ca. 1810.

102.

118

20"

202''(detaUs).

Assemblage of images.
Pata. Dated 1775. 29'^"

22".

:)

,-J^

if.

ZK,
-t-^-'1^*'^.

X^S^-'

^4
s.

^'.<.<riK*.\i<r-y^j-'*<r-j^j:i'y'i*'>^~t'>^j^,:^^^

->.-.*v

*.-*-<*-'*-: ^..^-^'u-J^f*^-'
103.

120

The Story of Banasura. Later

^--^^v t-*-"'^'*^-'

part of eighteenth century (?).

'<

29V2'' ^ 141 V/*

104.

Navatmaka Heruka. Tanka. Tibet.

Eighteenth century. 17 1/2" X 12 1/2".

1^

121

105, 106. Illustrations

from

a Bhagavata Purana. Middle of nineteenth century.

M'/s x 20 1/2

123

88.

Vasudhara Mandala.

Ca. 1504.

Sl^l/ x26"

(detail).

CATALOGUE

The

dates given the

works of

to suggest a relative chronology.

the

works

are inscribed

instances, lack

any but

with

meant

referred to as "bronzes" they are actually largely

Very few of

composed of copper. Some cataloguers quite

art are

dates, and, in

nianv

of comparable objects precludes

tentative dating.

otherwise designated, are of

All works,

NepaH

unless

origni.

Although NepaH metal sculptures are ordinarily

reasonably designate

Nepal and
are

known

India,
as

them

as

copper images. In

however, these metal figures

made of

Ashta-dhatii (eight

"ele-

ments" or metals). The eight metals include gold

and

silver.

127

1.

King

Early fifth century. Dark limestone.

Gorakshanath Monastery, Mrigasthali, Pashupati, Nepal.

Statue of a

The

disciplined

?),

power of this figure, one of

known, has been given a

Nepal as yet
Although nimbate, the figure
identify

2.

it

is

16 V2

the earliest sculptures

consistently

"

from

Nepali form.

without attributes or gestures that would

as a divinity.

Devi (Gauri or Tara). Seventh century. Dark limestone. H: 28".

Gift of His Majesty King Mahendra Bir Bikram Shah Deva to
Stella

Kramrisch.

The smooth, rounded volumes of

body are set off by the mass of

which is merged with it (V) and
stele from Deo-Patan, Nepal. Right

the

pleated drapery and by the scrollwork

enriches the different levels of this

arm and head

3.

are missing.

Tara (or Gauri). Seventh century.

Lent anonymously.

Bronze.

H:

8".

The high percentage of gold in this bronze has prevented patination and
glow to the surface, inlaid with gold and silver.

gives a subdued golden

4.

Seventh century. Copper. H: 6'/8"George P. Bickford Collection, Cleveland, Ohio.

Devi.

The goddess

has raised her

pendant right hand holds

5.

left

hand before her

a fruit

breast in kataka hnsta, the

with the gesture of giving

(r)

boon.

Vajrapani. Seventh century. Gilt copper. H: 10^ I4".

Stanford University Museum, Stanford, California. Gift of Mrs.
E. H. Heller.

The Bodhisattva "Thunderbolt

in his left

on

double lotus pedestal,

discharges the Bodhisattva

on

the verge

of attaining

living beings. Published:

its

Hand"

in

hand and seems to have

{Vnjra-pniii) holds this

a fruit in his raised right hand.

symbol

Standing

he
salvation, while

his sturdy figure gives the assurance that

vow of
it,

renouncing

in order to

his

work

John D. LaPlante,

own

for the liberation

"A

of

all

Pre-Pala Sculpture and

Significance for the hiternational Bodliisattva Style in Asia," Artihiis

Asiae, 1964 (in the press).

6.

Buddha Maitreya. Seventh-eighth century. Copper. H: 6^l\f,".

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Gift of Mr. and
Mrs. Ralph King.
Seated in paryankasana, with knees apart and feet firmly placed on the

ground, the Future Buddha holds

128

his

hands

in

an eloquent gesture. His

on eidier side of die figure similar to those of the

Buddha images o( the Liccliavi Chaitya, Dhvaka Baha, Katmandu provides
a transition between the figure and the broad seat. The lotus scroll decorarobe, massed in folds

tion of the footstool

gold leaf remain.

Nimbate

7.

H:

5'

figure

is

of a type similar to that of (VI) and

and attendant.

(2).

Late eighth century.

Traces of

Copper.

/.

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck,

New York

City.

Wearing only few and simple ornaments and no sacred thread, the bare
body cinctured by a waistband, the short, striped loincloth held by a belt,
the upper garment folded around the hips and knotted on the right, this
tall, noble tigure is crowned by a high, plain mitre having a raised circle
in the center.

simple, pointed, oval halo enhances

its

importance. In

lower right hand he holds, with hanisasya tnitdra, expressing benediction,

a small round object, possibly a fruit. The right hand rests on the head of
an attendant whose sturdy, small shape accentuates the height ot the nimbate
figure. The arms of the attendant are crossed in front of the chest conveying
disciplined submissiveness {uinaya hasta). The stance of the main figure
is a moditication of the pose of a "world-ruler" {cakravartiii), standing
straight, with legs apart, one arm akimbo.
his

8.

Seventh-ninth century. Bronze.

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck,

Garuda.

H: A^W-

New York

City.

Garuda, the sun-bird, kneels holdmg a serpent, with folded hands, on a

square, double pedestal impressed with the rectilinear design of rocks.
This rock pedestal, rather than the lotus pedestal, belongs to the tigure of
Garuda in early Nepali Sculpture. His stxlized wing-cape and the array
of his locks enhance the forward tilt of his sturdy body, as if he had just
alighted. Serpents are wreathed around his neck and arms. Except for
the wings, the shape of the diademmed sun-bird is altogether human.
9.
^^

Uma-Maheshvara. Eighth-ninth centurj'. Bronze.

Baroda Museum and Pictiure Gallery, Baroda, India.
While

H:

A'j^'.

image conforms with the sr\le of stone carvings assignable

it differs from bronze images of later periods
in the soft fullness of the modeled face, contrasting with the sharp delineation and pointedness of the features and their linear exaggerations. The
modeling still owes something to Gupta tradition. However, it is not
derived from the Vishnu from Nalanda, the earliest dated metal image oi
the Pala school (fourth decade of the ninth century), with which it is
nearly coeval. (Cf. R. D.Banerji,(i5ft'nj Indian School of Mediaeval Sculpture,
Delhi, 1933, Pi. lb.) Published: P. H. Pott, "The Tibetan and Nepalese
Collections of the Baroda Museum," Bulletin of the Baroda Museum and
Picture Gallery, DC, 1953, p. 17.
the

to the eighth-ninth century,

129

10.

Vishnu.

Ninth century

(?).

a Licchai'i

New

even more closely related to the images of Vishnu

Chaitya in the Taleju Temple, Katmandu, than to the stele

This gilded image

on

H:9l'/i6'York.

Gilt copper.

The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn,

is

Changu Narayan (VI). Two bosses in the main right hand replace
the lotus of Vishnu. The club has been damaged and is now bent. Published
George J. Lee, "Two Nepalese Sculptures," Brooklyn Museum Bulletin

in

IX, 1958, p. 6-, Fig.

11.

2.

Nativity of the Buddha. Ninth century. Black limestone.

Sundhara Fountain, Deo-Patan, Nepal.

The

H:

33".

Maya, is shown
in this relief by the traditional pose of Maya Devi under the Ashoka tree.
Three separate elements, the woman-and-tree motif, the clouds and flying
Devaputras, and thirdly the Buddha child with lotus pedestal and aureole,
birth of the

Buddha from

the right side of his mother,

here coalesce.
12.

Bodhisatrva Padmapani. Ninth-tenth century. Gilt copper. H:l".

Mrs. Edgar J. Stone, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The aw-kward

and the overlarge hand with the boon-giving gesture

impart an impetuous immediacy to the figurine wiiich is also expressed
by the lotus flower, its petals opening as it were before our eyes. The face,
of Indian t\pe, is equivocal and alluring in its expression. The stance is
a variant of that of the Padmapani, Boston Museum of Fine Arts; see
A. K. Coomaraswamy, History of Indian and Indonesian Art, 1927, New York,
Pi.

13.

XCV,

stance

Fig. 176.

Tara. Early tenth century. Copper. H: 5".

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New

York

Padmapani

Similar in the ambivalent expression of the face to the

this

City.
(12),

well-balanced figurine parallels the sr\le of Pala sculptures of Eastern

India of the early tenth centur\-.

14.

Vishnu in Lotus-mandala.
century. Bronze. H 5
:

Eastern Indian School.

Early twelfth

The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.

Vishnu, enthroned on the seed pod ot a lotus,
liis

incarnations (avatars) or "descents"

is

surrounded by eight

to the earth.

(f)

They include

of

the

Rama

trom the standard ten incarnations and

also others, like Dattatreya, which are innumerable. Each of these diminutive images is seated on a lotus pedestal, inside a petal of the lotus-mandala.
The petals are hinged to the base around the seed pod and are movable;
Man-lion, the Boar, and

when

the petals are closed, the divinities are concealed.

The low,

circular

stand of this mandala of manifestation and withdrawal has lotus petals

130

on

main molding. Nepali numbers appear on base and petals. Similar,

more ornate and less architectonically composed lotus-mandalas reveal in

its

the center of their seven petals the Tantrik Buddliist goddess Vajratara.
(Cf.

Picture Gallery

15.

LXXII; H. Goetz, Baroda Museum and

Handbook, Baroda 1952, Pi. XXIX.)

R. D. Banerji, op

.cit.,

Pi.

Early twelfth century. Gilt Bronze. H: 6^14".

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.

Vasudhara.

Vasudhara, the Giver of Wealth,

according to the

sadliatia,

is

here represented

the formula

which

should be conceived. Closely related to

as

young

how

girl

a divinity

late Pala sculpture, the

image,

sensitive

with gems, is remarkable for the warmth of expression and

modeling. The ears of com, attribute of the goddess, are missing.

Indra.

Ca. 1200.

which

16.

prescribes

is

inlaid

HilS^/g".

Gilt copper.

Lent anonymously.
Seated

at ease in siikhasatia, the right

hand

raised before the chest in the

gesture of exposition {vyakhyniia imidra), the

body which

is

but slightly flexed

left

supporting the upright

at the hips, this

ornate image of Indra,

king of the gods, whose third eye is always shown horizontally on liis
forehead, differs from all other images of this god by its three-peaked

yfs^jmg^t
13

crown and sacred thread tucked under the knotted waistband. The modeling
of the image is close to that of Sena sculpture which it excels in delicacy
and immanent power. Encrusted with spinel rubies, rock crystal and turquoise. Published: Bulletin of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, LV, 1960,
p. 26.

17.

Khadiravani Tara.
Philadelphia

Gilt copper. H:
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Thirteenth century.

Museum of Art,

9V2

This image of the Green Tara with the blue lotus

(nilotpala) on her left,

on her right, seated in a posture of ease (lalitasana),
the over-large right hand in varada mudra, shows by the equivocal expression
of her face that, according to the sadhana, "she is full of jealousy." The

18.

and the

padii,,i-\otus

pedestal

is

Indra.

missing.

Thirteenth century.

Seattle Art

Museum,

Seattle,

Bronze. H: 10".
Washington. Eugene Fuller Memorial
17

Collection.

The image of Indra is dear

the Newari sculptor had to

myth and

of Nepal. The best that

give often went into the making of images of
to the

art

and relaxed mood, Indra's right arm rests on his right

knee; the drooping hand reinforces the elegant, linear movement which
gives melodious significance to every limb and ornament. Although the
Indra. In a pensive

131

jewelry-

is

simpler than that of Indra as showTi in

prominent part
is

more

pi.

16,

it

plays a ver>-

modeling, which here

muUuta or crown of Indra, a high shield

in the composition, setting off the

abstraa.

The broad

Jl'iriM

of the piled up hair, is fastened around the head, as are all the
crowns, by bands whose ends form rosettes or pleated clusters above the
ears. Here they accentuate the arc of the forehead, whereas the earrings
link the angles of movement of head and body. Published: H. Zimmer,
The .An of Indian .Asia, New York, 1955, Pis. 598, 599.
in front

19.

22

Avalokiteshvara. Fourteenth century (?). Gilt copper.

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio,

The

H:24V4'

modeling of this image represent the

of plastic vitality". The somewhat stilted movement, the arrested mobilin.- of the line are characteristically NepaU. The
ornaments of this image, which are almost without incrustation, lie as
thick as tur on body and crown.
schematization

and

aftermath of moments

20.

residual

full

Copper gilt. H:36'.

Golden Monastery (Hiranyavama Mahavihara), Patan, Nepal.
Avalokiteshvara.

Ca. fourteenth century.

heavy in treatment. The end of the upper

garment on the left shoulder is derived from a Pala motif. The lateral
peaks of the crown are bent inward, pointing to the central crest which
carries an image of Buddha Amitabha, the spiritual father of Bodhisatrva
Avalokiteshvara. The image is not encrusted with gems.

The image,

21.

seated in virasana,

is

Prajnaparamita. Fourteenth centviry. Gilt bronze.

Mr. Christmas Humphreys, London, England.
Prajnaparamita, goddess ot "Transcendental

H:

Wisdom," holds

9'

in her raised

hand the Book of Transcendental Wisdom, the Scripture of Mahayana

Buddhism, of which she is the embodiment. The r\vo main hands have the
gesture of teaching {dhawiacakra tmidra). The distended outer contour
of the raised forearm was for centuries a mannerism of Newari sculpture
(VI). In this image, '"Transcendental Wisdom" in the frilness of her
shape, appears as the Great Mother. Published: D. Barrett, "The Buddhist
An of Tibet and Nepal," Oriental Art, HI (1957), p. 92, Fig. 6.

left

22.

Ca. fourteenth century.

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg, New

Janguli

(?).

The thunderbolt

Gilt copper.

York

H:

2-1^'.

City.

one ot the right hands and the threatening

gesture (tarjani) of one of the left hands are the only distinguishing signs
which remain for an identiticarion of this goddess with three faces and
six

132

arms.

{vajra) in

23.

Vasudhara. Fourteenth century. Copper gilt. H: 5".

Nelson Gallery Atkins Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. Nelson
Fund.

Although lacking the

this figure

rich plasticity

balanced in

is

its

of an earlier image of the goddess (15),

and clear contour. The attributes in

structure

hands (book, ears of corn, overflowing vase) are as carefully placed

end of her loincloth. Her main right hand with one finger
pointing downward, does not, as prescribed, show the gesture of giving

her
as

left

the folded

{varada nnidrn).

24.

As

in the earlier image, the goddess

known

lateral

buns, an ancient fasliion

Indra.

Fourteenth century. Gilt bronze.

J. Klejman, New York City.

Mr.

J.

in

wears her hair in two

hidia

H:

from

sixth

century.

5^1 4".

image of Padmapani, a lotus ascends from Indra's left hand

to his shoulder where its open flower carries liis weapon, the thunderbolt
(vajra). The fingers of the drooping right hand, resting on the knee, show
the vyakhyana tundra. The head slightly bent forward, and the body pulled
back, make this spontaneous movement the focus of the composition.
Its zest is expressed in a modeling which has eliminated the detailed
"naturalism" of the Sena school. Simplified and hardened, the outline has
a clear-cut strength. The "jewels" in ornaments and crown are completely
shaped in metal and are not actual gems.

As

25.

in the

25

Lokeshvara. Fourteenth century. Gilt copper. H: S'/gThe Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Edward L.
Whittemore Fund.

None of

the

as Lord of the World (Lokeshvara) has

one hundred and eight forms known today

completely agrees with

tliis

image.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

many

26.

forms.

Tara. End fourteenth century. Riveted sheet copper.

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

The

basic feminine type evolved in seventh century sculpture (2

seen here in a

mode comparable

Cranach. The ornaments

by
27.

differ

a Bodhisattva. See Barrett,

to that

from

the

loc. cit..

Classical in

its

norm

but similar shapes are

4)

is

worn

Fig. 4.

H:

3V4"-

balanced equipoise, and reminiscent of eleventh century

Pala images of Jambhala, this image of the pot-bellied

makes of the mongoose

vase of plenty, spilling
its

36".

of 16th century Venuses by Lucas

Jambhala. Fourteenth century (?). Copper.

Mr. and Mrs. Aschwin Lippe, New York City.

on

H:

curvature,

is

its

keenly and intimately

contents

endowed with

below

a life

felt

God of Wealth

animal study. The

the foot of the

god which

rests

of its own.

133

28.

Nagas.

Ca. seventeenth century.

Seattle Art

Museum,

Gilt

H: ca. 2 "4".
Thomas D, Stimson

bronze.

Seattle, >X'ashington.

Memorial Collection.
These serpent gods seem to have formed part of a prabha-ruandala. Their
pose, gestures and expression have great subtler^'. The naturalistically
modeled, pendulous cheeks of the oblong faces, treatment of the scarves
covering the shoulders, and calculated cur\'es of the writhing bodies point

toward

a later date than the

one hitheno assigned

to these Nagas. (Cf.

Bronzes of India and Greater India, RJiode Island School of Design [Providence. PJiodc Island. 1955]. pp. 18, 20.)
29.

Navatmaka

H:

Heruka.

Seventeenth-eighteenth

century.

Bronze.

Mr. Alfonso Ossorio, East Hampton,

New

York.

This fierce Buddha-manifestation, dances in union with his parmer (prajna)

Nairatma ("Without-selfhood") on the Hindu gods Brahma, Indra,

Vishnu, and Shiva. On his left, he holds within the circle of his sixteen
hands the di%-inities of Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Moon, Sun, Death (Yania),
and Wealth (Dhanada), and on his right their animal mounts: elephant,
horse, donkey, cow, camel, man, bitch, and jackal. Nairatma ecstatically
raises her chopper and skull-bowl toward Heruka's four faces while his
front face looks at her \\-ith frenz>' and compassion. The tenderness of the
full face burgeons below the coagulated flames of the crown and the
'Tace of Glor\" {Kirttinuikha) above it. The expressive and almost naturalistically modeled faces, the easy postures of the four trampled Maras, the
crude and sketchy modeling of the bodies of the protagonists, all these
conflicting traits are unitied by the outburst of sheer plastic power. The
image is crystallized into a structural form saturated with the fury of
Heruka. Navatmaka Heruka is described in the Xislipannayogavali (cf.
Gaekwad's Oriental Series, vol. CIX, p. 20).

31

30.

Padmapani Avalokiteshvara.

H:

43

Fifteenth

century.

Gilt

bronze.

Victoria and Albert

Museum, London, England.

mannerism that was current in the 15th centur\-, the Bodhibecome that of an overslim figure in the triply bent
stance {trihhanga). He is presented on elongated legs which, from the knee
downward, not only belie the continuity" of his movements but do not
offer him firm support. Mannered and othersvorldly the body is surmounted
by a broad face which is not integrated into the whole image.

Illustrating a

satr\a ideal has here

31.

32

134

Manjuvara. Fifteenth centurj*.

Lent anonymously.

Bronze.

H:

ig'-

The strong, high, lotus stalk underscores the height and stance of the Bodhisattva. The face is painted with gold and colors. (Cf. 45.)

32.

Indra.

Gilt bronze.

Fifteenth century.

H:

3V4'-

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Anonymous

Seated in the posture sukhasana,
{trihhanga), the left

arm

body and head with

their triple

gift.

bend

supporting the figure behind the left thigh, the

the space cone

an image of
of
rising from its
Vasudhara dated 1467 (Barrett, op. cit., p. 91, Fig. 2). Crown and
ornaments of this debonair figurine are studded with gems.
right

arm forming

bridge to the right knee, the figurine

lotus base.

33.

Indra.

modeling

Its

is

tills

similar to that

H:

Fifteenth century. Gilt copper repousse.

Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

10

University
Indra,

Lord of the gods,

here seated in adamantine pose, his open hands

is

stretched out horizontally. According to a local legend, Indra

which

mother

came

to

heaven required for a piijn

(worship). He was caught. In a shroud of mist the mother of Indra took
him back to heaven. The open arms show that thenceforth Indra does
not steal.
earth and stole flowers

34.

Indra.

Fifteenth century

Brooklyn Museum,
The image

New

(?).

in

Gilt copper.

H:

York.

unusual in the hour-glass-like stylization of

is

the shape of the flowers.

Its

his

The one on

central part, with the seed or

its

body, and

the left resembles a Vishva-vajra.

stamen shapes projecting from a bell-like

hand of Vajrapani (5).

container, recalls the object held in the right

35.

Arapacana Manjusri. Fifteenth century. Gilt bronze.

Caroline and Erwin D. Swann, New York City.

H:3-V4"-

on his bent right leg, the

sword of discriminating knowledge while the
left hand shows the gesture of exposition. At the same time fluttering
scarves steady and enhance the movement. The image is inset with turquoise and spinel rubies.
Kneeling on

liis

left

knee, supporting himself

Bodliisattva brandishes the

36.

Bodhisattva.

Mrs. Edgar

37.

J.

Fifteenth century (?). Wood. H: 22".

Stone, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Lakshminarayana. Late fifteenth century.

Mr. J. J. Klejman, New York City.

Gilt copper.

H:3^/8".

This conjoint figure o( Vishnu and Lakshmi carries into the asymmetry

of the face

its

bi-sexual character.

t^

'.

-ii->

36

38.

Vajrapani. Late fifteenth century. Copper

British Museum, London, England.

gilt.

H:

The

The slender and contemplative Bodhisattva type is here given robustness.

Buddha Akshobhya, as spiritual father of the Bodhisattva, is seen on the
central crest of the crown of this Bodhisattva "Thunderbolt in Hand."
The crests of the crown bend inward at the top. Published: Barrett,
op.

39.

cit.

p. 95, Fig. 7.

End of fifteenth century. Gilt bronze. H: 28".

The Newark Museum, New^ark, New Jersey. Albert L. Shelton
Tara.

Collection.

one of the few images preserved with its prahhaDtandala or "surrounding effulgence," which has the shape of the back of
a throne. In its preciosity it brings up to date in physiognomy, coiffure,
and ornaments the Nepali image of the goddess (3, 4). The upper and lower
garments overlay the modeling of the figure with insistent patterns of
parallel lines, those of the lower garment being raised in double ridges.
Below the crossbar the prabha-mandala is astir with the frolic of bird
people {kiiinaras) and serpentine convolutions, and, above it, with the
agitation of the ocean of air. Its currents have condensed into the shapes
of the sea monster {inakara) and serpent-damsels {naginis) with Garuda
the sun-bird on top. The outer border is set with flames. An ornamental
bar at the bottom is part of the prahha-iiKiiiddla. The pedestal is
This tigure of Tara

is

architectural.

40.

Consort of Vrisha-Samvara.

H:

Ca. late fifteenth century.

Copper.

14>/2".

Nepal Museum, Katmandu, Nepal.

This female figure has to be imagined in the embrace of a bull-headed
god (Vrisha-Samvara) with whom she was united (ytigaiiaddlm). Her front

view would not have been

the

god.

The

figure

visible, as she

holds

the

was held against the body of

and chopper; her three

skull-bowl

eyes are dilated in demoniacal frenzy; her tongue, stuck out, touches

her nose. She wears

and

41.

"human bone" ornaments shaped

head festoons

Krishna. Fifteenth-sixteenth century. Gilt bronze. H: 6'U".

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.
This image of Krislina playing a
created

136

as

skulls.

on

flute

is

a base of Indian iconography.

work of pure Newari

inspiration

42.

Shadakshari Mahavidya (?). Fifteenth-sixteenth century. Gilt

7'.
copper.
Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.

and prabha-rnandala form a unit; a recess in this

Its mass is the pivot of the centrifugal and return movement of the embossed Icogryphs, makaras, nagas,
acolytes, and scrolls, strengthened by the sun-bird (Garuda) on top o( the
stele. The slight inclination of the head of the goddess draws the symmetry
of her shape into the commotion of the total form.
In this image, figure

repousse throne partly houses the figure.

43.

Vina.

Fifteenth-sixteenth century.

H:

Gilt copper.

3^1 le"

Lent anonymously.

The

figure personities the music of the Vina. She

is

one of the sixteen

attendant goddesses of worship, which requires music, dance, incense,

garland, flowers

altogether

sixteen ritual ingredients. Published: Phila-

delphia Miisemii oj Art Bulletin, op.

44.

p. 27.

Fifteenth-sixteenth century.

Bull.

H:

cit.

43

Bronze, traces of gold

leaf.

2-^U"-

Mr. John Warrington, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Published: The Art of Greater India, Los Angeles Count>' Museum, (Los
Angeles, California, 1950) p. 87, No. 144; Master Bronzes, Albright Art
Gallery-, (Buffalo,

45.

New

York, 1937) No. 109.

Manjuvara. Ca. 1500. GUt copper. H: 4".

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Gift of Margaret
F. Markus in memory of her mother, Dorothy Frost Wheeler,

form

ot Bodhisatt\'a Manjusri

carries the

Book, the

hands touching in dhannacahra

46.

Vasudhara.

H:

6'

J.

H.

niudra.

Beginning sixteenth century.

Gilt copper, inlaid.

The Cleveland Museum of

the

which does not hold the sword but

and instructs, as is shown by the

Prajnaparatiiita,

Wade

Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Purchase

from

Fund.

This iconograpiiically complete unage gives to the goddess an opulent

body whose proportions differ from those of the earlier images (15, 23)
although all of them conform with the iconometric prescriptions, which

were

elastic

enough

to

accommodate changes of

style.

45

137

47.

Ucchiishma Jambhala and Vasudhara.

Early sixteenth century.

Copper gilt. H: l-lg".

Mr. E. M. Scratton, Oxford, England.

A miniature group of the god of wealth and his consort shows the divinities
mood,

on an oval lotus pedestal. This sculpture in

the round is not without an admixture of drollery. The god, as prescribed,
"appears as a child ot tivc years"; he is a gnome, nude but for his snake
ornaments. He holds a mongoose which vomits jewels (a ruby is inset) and
in his right hand a lemon. Vasudhara holds cars of corn; her right hand
in their fierce

seated

bestows boons.

48.

Prabha-mandala.

Sixteenth

century.

The Newark Museum, Newark,

gift

New

of a group of present and past

This repousse "enclosing effulgence"

Gilt

copper.

H:

12

'/g

Golden Anniversary
members, 1959.

Jersey.

staff

(sec also 39, 42)

was

set

behind an

The symbolism of the throne is here complete. The elephant,

symbol o( Earth, the Sardula or Ico^ryph (the active power of the sun) in
the mid-region {aiitariksha) or air, are separated by the crossbar from the
Makara, here symbolizing the celestial waters. The sun-bird Garuda is at
the apex, flanked by Dcvaputras. Scroll and flame borders edge the prahhaimage.

mandala.

49
49.

Sarvabuddhadakini.
Lent anonymously.

The "Dakini of all

Sixteenth century.

Gilt copper.

H:

13

'/4"-

the Buddhas," the force of inspirational consciousness,

Buddhas toward

the realization of Buddhahood. She strides

four-armed gods whose upper hands salute her. She is
naked but for a garland of skulls and her jewelry. With insatiable elation
she drinks blood from the foaming skull-cup in her left hand. In her right
she clasps a chopper. The blood-tillcd skull-cup {kapala) does away with
all ideas of substance and non-substance, and is a symbol of oneness.

urges

all

on two

the

prostrate,

Published: Philadelphia

50.

Museum of Art

Bulletin, op.

cit.,

p. 28.

Bronze. H: 5".
The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, England.

Tara.

Sixteenth century.

image

combmed

an exceptionally free posture and fleshy

modeling. Published: A. K. Coomaraswamy, "Indian Bronzes," Burlington
Magazine, May 1910, Pi. I, 4.
In

51.

this

Lokeshvara.

are

Sixteenth century.

William H. Wolff,

138

Inc.,

Gilt copper.

New York

City.

H:

9'/8'-

52.

Akshobhya. Sixteenth century. Gilt bronze. H: l^l^'.

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.
Akshobhya. "the Imperturbable," who, in Nepal, is the foremost of the
five-fold Buddhahood, is showTi with the gesture of touching the earth.
By this gesture Buddha Shakyamuni, called earth to witness his illumination and the defeat o( Mara, the Evil one. In this image the imperturbable
nature of the Buddha, the unchangeableness of the Buddha principle,
the adamantine state of being beyond becoming have been given form.

53.

Vasya-Vajravarahi. Sixteenth century (?). Dry Lacquer.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio.

H:

25".

Vajravarahi dances in ardluiparyajika posture; but tor the ritual ornaments

of human bone, the garland o( severed heads and other ornaments the
she is naked. A subtly horrendous smile plays
bracelets are of metal
over her broad face with its delicate features and dilated eyes. Although
most of the attributes are lost and the left hand is missing, it appears
that she held a chopper {knrrri) in her raised and threatening right hand.
This form of Vajravarahi is invoked in rituals which are performed with
the purpose of bewitching men and women. Traces of red pigment show
on the weathered, clay-colored surface. The material points to an earlier date than
the style of the image. (Cf P. Pelliot, "Statue en
Laque Scche dans I'Ancien Art Chinois," Journal Asiatiqiie, 1923, p. 193f.)

54.

Uddiyana Kurukulla. Sixteenth century.

Mr. John Warrington, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Gilt copper.

l^U"

The name of this form

ot Kurukulla points to Uddiyana in East Bengal,

one of the original centers of Tantrik Buddhism. The goddess dances
on a corpse (now missing); her main arms are engaged in drawing a
flowery bow charged with an arrow of red lotus. Her second right hand
held a goad o( flowers her second left hand holds a flower. Her face is
fierce
five skulls are on her diadem and she wears a garland of severed
heads. She bewitches and subdues men, women, ministers, and kings.
Her spell-casting presence makes her hair rise like flames. The upper
garment is massed and tied so as to enhance the nakedness of her body
and she wears a tiger skin round her loins. Published: The Art of Greater
;

India, op.

55.

cit.,

p. 87,

No.

145.

Indra. Sixteenth-seventeenth century.

Copper gilt, repousse. H

11

".

Lent anonymously.

The solemn meditation of

the

image

is

carried in vaulted shapes broadly

mwm

51

massed in a fluid continuity of opulent curves. Its ambience is enlarged by

the pendant leg of the posture, called lalitasana. Spinel rubies, rock crs^stal
and emeralds enliven crown and ornaments.

139

56.

Adibuddha

H:

Vajrasattva.

Early seventeenth century.

Gilt copper.

5-V4"-

Mr. Donal Hord, San Diego, California.

The primordial Buddha
in

in his

body of bliss {samhhogakaya)

the graceful posture of a Bodhisattva

and wearing

is

here

shown

Bodhisattva's

princely ornaments.

57.

Plaque

from

ritual

apron.

Sixteenth-seventeenth

century.

Carved human bone. H: 6^g"; W: 1 4

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg, New York City.
'

56

The miage of

Sanivara, supported

on

a lotus

".

and two recumbent

figures,

accompanied by dancers, musicians and worshippers in two rows at

The image is flanked by pillars with lotus capitals. Above are
kimiaras, Garuda, and nngns, the five Buddhas and a stupa at the top.

is

the bottom.

Seventeenth century. Copper gilt. H:

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg, New York City.

58.

Indra.

59.

White Tara.

60.

Arapacana Manjusri. Mongolia

S^/g".

Seventeenth century. Gilt copper. H: 5V4''.

Marshall
Plumer, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Mrs. James

H:

(?).

Seventeenth century. Bronze.

5".

Mr. E. M. Scratton, Oxford, England.

61.

H:

Copper.
Victoria and Albert Museum, London, England.

Bhairava

Tibet, seventeenth century.

(?).

hi the transmission of sculptured types

from Nepal

4".

to Tibet (such as 40)

they acquire an abruptness and ruggedness, their curvilinear fluidity

giving way to angularity. The mask of this male figure of fearsome
{krodha) aspect

62.

58

is

almost the same

as that

Padmapani.

Seventeenth century.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art,

of a Nepali Bhairava.

Wood.

H:

New York

City.

Rogers Fund,

1947.
Traces of the original polychromy and gilding,

carved image, are rarely found on

wood

carvings

old because of the custom of repainting the images.

140

6".

as

on

this

more than

delicately
a

century

63.

Buddha

H:

Sheltered by a Serpent.

Seventeenth century.

Crystal.

51/8".

The William T. and

Cincinnati Art Museum, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Louise Taft Collection.

Seated in adamantine posture, his right hand raised in front of his chest,

from tear, the Buddha is surmounted by the triple

hood of the Serpent whose body is his support. It rests on a base suggestive
both of rocks and lotus petals. The Serpent king, Mucalinda, protected
assuring freedom

Buddha after his enlightenment, during a territic storm. He offered

his body as a seat and spread his hood above the Buddlia's head to ward
off^ the rain. Naga Mucalinda is generally represented with seven hoods,
protecting the seated Buddha who is engaged in meditation.
the

64.

Seventeenth-eighteenth century. Wood.

Mr. and Mrs. Aschwin Lippe, New York City.
Tara.

The polychromy of this image

65.

121/2

red and white.

White Tara. Eighteenth century. Gilt copper repousse. H 22 V?"M. H. de Yoimg Memorial Museum, San Francisco, California.
Avery Brundage Collection.
:

The

repousse technique resorted to in images of larger

to splendors

itself

the other.

66.

is

H:

The

J. J.

More

has here lent

of modeling and ornamentation, die one enhancing

lotus base

is

missing.

White Tara.
Mr.

size,

Eighteenth century. Gilt copper repousse.

Klejman, New York City.

22

".

modeling and decoration than 65, is this repousse sculpture

of the same goddess. She is here seated in a posture ot ease. Tantahzing
in its slight asymmetrs", her head is carried as if in a spontaneous and
momentar\- gesture of withdrawal. The angles at which she holds her
hands add expressiveness to die sign language of the Diudras. The hip
ornament below the belt, a fantasy of "green-men" and scrollwork, draws
attention to this part of the body, as does, in its turn, the cro\\Ti on her
head. Published: K. Khandalawala, "Some Nepalese and Tibetan Bronzes,"
reticent in

Marg. IV, 1958, pp. 2140.

67.

Durga

Killing the Buffalo

figvu-e in

Demon.

repousse Prabha-mandala.

Dated 1768. Copper

12

gilt

".

Lent anonymously.

Durga here shown having sixteen arms about to behead the Buffalo
demon, strides from the lotus on the Buffalo's head to the lotus resting
on her lion. This triple group, each part cast separately, is bolted together.

flaming prahha-mandala unites the figures.

59

Kirttimukha, devouring

141

serpents, appears
''toratia"

Palace

on

top.

Complete images of

or suprn parte, as of the golden

Patan.

at

toraiia,

The image was made during

type were part of the

this

dated 1619, inside thcMulchok

the rule of King Jayaprakasha

Malla.
68.

Samvara. Eighteenth century.

Lent anonymously.

Copper.

14

".

is partly hammered and partly cast,

of four arms wliich were once bolted to the body.
Clad in a tiger skin, the Yidam, with knees bent, stands firmly on both
legs. The hands, held in siinhanmkha tundra have lost their weapons. Crescent
moon and sun appear on the high double topknot of the four-faced head.
Despite the mechanization of its execution, the image is powerful and
monumental.

This twelve-armed image, which

has lost

69.

left set

its

Copper repousse.

Eighteenth century.
Lent anonymously.

Pandaravasini.

H:7V4-

This "White-clad" one (Pandaravasini), triumphant in her ecstatic detachment, is the consort or gnosis (prajna) of Buddha Amitabha. The figure,
part of the conjoint image of Buddha "hifmitc Light," originally clasped
her partner in the embrace of her legs. She raises gleefully the chopper
and skull-cup.

70.

Varuna.

H:

China (Peking).

Eighteenth

century.

Gilt copper.

!>/,(,".

Mr. and Mrs. Richard C. Bull, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

70

The

Cliinese contribution to this spirited image,

Peking,

is

71.

in

seen particularly in the shape of the pedestal representing water,

the element of Varuna,

of

which was made

and

that

of the Makara which here has the shape

dragon.

Bodhisattva,
H: 18

China (Peking).

Copper

Eighteenth century.

gilt.

The Newark Museum, Newark,

New

Jersey. Gift

of C. Suydam

Cutting, 1950.

The flamboyant

delicacy of the accoutrements and the naturalism of the

feminine shape of body and face leave the eye unprepared for the heavy
feet

72.

with their Cliinese

stylization.

Puja Devata. Nineteenth century. Wood.

Mrs. Edgar J. Stone, Toronto, Canada.

Polychrome wooden attendant

main image during Puja.

up by the

figures

were

set

22

".

side

of the

73.

Standing male figure. Wood. H: 16^/8*.

Dr. and Mrs. LeRoy Davidson, Los Angeles, California.

A\

Museum, Katmandu) and ivor>and Albert Museum, London) adhere to an ancient type. They
all have the same headdress, a high three-peaked crown and a broad
coiffure, which is not known on other hgures.
Figures of this kind, in metal (Nepal
(Victoria

74

a.

and
74 b.

covers of an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Book of

the Perfection of Wisdom). Dated 1028. Gouache on wood.
2- ;
171 .\

Book

Lent anonymously.

The

inner side of the

wooden book

covers of the palm leaf manuscripts

lent themselves to longer compositions than the small squares reserved

where space tor illustration is found only bervveen the

lines of the text. The composition is an assemblage of groups and single
figures as they would appear in the palm leaf illustrations. They are unitied
in this instance by the repetitive pattern of palm trees. Published: M.
Mookerjee, "An Illustrated Cover of a Manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika
Prajnaparamita in a Private Collection," L<:/if Kala, No. 6 (1959) p. 53 f.

on

Plates

75.

palm

the

leaves,

73

E G.

Ca. mic
Book cover of an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita.
eleventh century. Gouache on wood. 2^ ^
22
Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.
.

Single scenes illustrating the

life

of the Buddha are combined into one

composition, though lines demarcate one scene from the next. Coarse

and

N-ivacious, these paintings

combine

aspects

of Newari folk

art

with

the traditions not only of the Eastern Indian school of painting but also

'-

76.

of others. The Nepali decoration of the painted house, and the diminutive
lions above the subdued elephant in rut, are o particular interest. The
lions symbolize the power of Buddha, the Lion of the Shakya clan. The
scene of Buddha's death shows bearded figures of a t\'pe unknown to the
Pala school. These, and the rectangular compartments into which the
oblong book cover (palaka) is divided, may be from a school of painting
like that of the Indra Sabha at Ellora. Published: G. Tucci, Tibetati Painted
Saolls,

Rome,

Leaf

from

1949, p. 327, Pi. B.

an

Eastern India.
21

17'

Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita, Pala School,

Late eleventh centurv. Gouache on palm leaf.

:".

Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck,

The oblong shape

New York

City.

due to the shape of the palm

leaf. Such leaves are perforated in two places and strung together. They
are placed between rvvo wooden planks covered with paintings on both
of the manuscript leaf

is

76 detail

143

79 detail

sides,

the figural scenes

appeanng only on

the inner sides.

One

small square panels are reserved on the palm leaf for painting.

shape

77

a.

and
77

b.

is

retained even

the pages are

made of paper.

Book cover and

leaf from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita.

Dated 1110 A. D. Cover, 2 '/z" ^ 22^/16", gouache on wood. Leaf,
2 ^/g"
22 Vs gouache on palm leaf.
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Purchase from
the J. H. Wade Fund.
>

The scheme of
is

these illuminations

is

related to (76) whereas their style

nearer to (78) without, however, the residual modeling. Published:

The Art of Greater

78.

when

or more
The oblong

India, op. cit., p. 85,

No.

140.

Leaves from a Gunakarandavyuha (?). Eastern Indian School.

Twelfth century. Gouache on palm leaf. 2 x 21 ^/g ".
Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.
"

The

drawing and the entire panel full of shapes and their

from those where a single figure appears on the
plain colored ground of its mandorla (76). The present illustration, richer
in the representation of both action and setting, shows a tree and mountain
fantasy modeled in color. The painted stylization of the rocks has the
same hidian origin as do their sculptural versions in Nepal (III).
swift

and

pliant

setting differ noticeably

79.

Leaf from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita. Eastern Indian

School. Ca. 1200. Gouache on palm leaf. 2 '/4 / 18 '/o'.
The Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit, Michigan.
"

The

fluid

outlines

of the illuminations of

another version of the Eastern hidian

style,

this

manuscript show yet

and distinguish

it

from

Nepali work.

80.

Shivadharma. Thirteenth century. Painted book cover.

3y8"x213/,6".
Bir Library, Katmandu, Nepal.

On

book

below the

of an
arcade, sits Uma-Maheshvara enthroned on a rock platform with Ganesha
and Karttikeya. The trefoil arch above is set with rocks and has the image
of Ganga in the center. Sadhus, royal devotees, and Shiva in various
aspects occupy the niches. Their ground is covered with tapestry-like
scroll work. The baluster-like pillars, their shafts drawn in by an Amalaka
ring, have lotus capitals. The arches arc flamboyant with scrollwork and
there is a Face of Glory {kirttiiiiiikha) at each apex. Some of the figures
are modeled in light and dark tones of the sanie color, achieving a threedimensional effect in front of the tapestry-like ground. Such Hindu

144

the inside of this Shaiva

cover,

central arch

illuminated manuscripts and bookcovers, though not as copious as the

Buddhist ones are

1120,

(ilhwihi,

known

Bir

in

dated examples of the twelfth century

Library,

Katmandu;

1180, Library of Fieldmarshal Kaiser,

81.

{Visliiui-

SriiiinhaiiuvillhiiMhlinirinui-huirrd,

Katmandu).

Zodiacal signs and divinities. End of fourteenth or early fifteenth

Painting on palm leaf. 4-V8 '^ lO'/s
Metropolitan
Museum of Art, New York City. Rogers Fund,
The
century.

1955.

82.

Amoghapasha Avalokiteshvara. Pata. Dated 1436. Painting

on cloth. 22 1/2 "^17 '/2"Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde, Leiden, The Netherlands.
:

The painting, according to its inscription, represents Anioghapasha of

the Mahabhuta temple in Bhatgaon. The image is flanked by two goddesses,
Tara and Bhrikuti on Anaoghapasha's Ictt and by two gods, Sudhanakumara
and Hayagriva on the

right.

Flying Devaputras in flower-like, flaming,

three-lobed niches, appear above on either side, next to the sun and

Donors

are seen at

bottom: palm

floral overall patterns witliin the

trees beliind the

mandala. The

moon.

standing divinities;

rest ot the

ground

is

dotted

with white flowers. The purpose of the painting was to bring long life,
prosperity and ample progeny to the donors. Published: P. H. Pott,
"Die Kunst Tibets," in Kiiitst der H\'h Buniui, Korcn, Tibet. Pi. on

p. 168.

83.

Adi-Buddha Vajradhara.
S.

Tibet.

333/8

"

First

X 31 V4

half

Pata. Nepali School of

fifteenth

century.

Nor Monastery,

Painting

on

cloth.

Lent anonymously.

The primordial Buddha, he who exists from the beginning (the Buddha
principle) is shown here enthroned on a lion, Kinnara, and lotus throne.
Seated in adamantine pose, he holds in

I'njralitiDiknra

iiiiidra

the

I'dyn?,

symbol of ultimate reality, and the bell, symbol of gnosis {prajiia). His
color is blue and he is flanked on his right by the standing tigure of Bodhisattva Ghantapani or Vajrapani. His bell and vnjrn are supported by flowers.
He is flanked on his left by the Prajna who carries the skull-bowl and
chopper. Below the Makara, the symbols of the throne are here elephant,
lion, Kinnara, and Shardula. They are surmounted by twisting scrolls
and the triple jewel at the apex. Surrounding divinities, encircled by lotus
stalks, are arranged in the border. Two abbots enthroned and tour goddesses

work covers the dark blue

and of the dark red throne. The salmon
pink trefoil aureole of Vajradhara is left unglazed, heightening its luminosity. Ancient Chinese textile patterns decorate the loincloths of the
three main figures and the cloth in the center of the throne. The drapery

help to

fill

the central square. Self-toned scroll

ground of the

central square

145

oi the

two standing

figures

more Tibetan

is

having been painted in Tibet

master or his Tibetan disciple.
the

84.

patii

Amoghapasha Avalokiteshvara.
Painting on cloth. 27 - 23

at the

Pata.

than Nepali in treatment,

Nor monastery by

Nepali

First half fifteenth century.

".

"

Lent anonymously.

The Bodhisattva in his mandorla and flanked by his four attendant divinities
(see 82) appears here in his temple. The upper part of this painting with
the upper floors and tower

is missing. Lotus-surmounted pillars support

with Buddha images; celestials are placed one above the other in
open balconies; others approach, worshipping, on lateral lotus platforms.
In rectangular compartments below are shown the punishments in purgatory and other scenes; at the bottom, portraits of the donor and his very

cells

large family.

white and

of

85.
i^b.^^ii^'^mef?^

line,

The

colors of this painting are mainly deep blue, hidian red,

Their strong contrasts

flesh color.

modeling and

set off

the great delicacy

tigural expression.

Traylokyavijaya ( ?)
42 -74" 27'/:".
Lent anonymously.

Painting on cloth.

Dated 1467.

Pata.

This deity (face and body colored blue on the right, green on the

84

shown here

left)

embrace of his red Prajna. His eight main arms are

of seventy-two additional arms arranged in two
concentric semicircles, each hand holding a weapon, symbol, dismembered
part of the human body, flower, skeleton, etc. The two main hands of
the god embrace the Prajna with uajra-huiiikara miidra, holding thunderbolt
{vajra) and bell. The next pair of his arms is lowered toward the gluteals
is

in the

surrounded by

a circle

in karana hasta.

The

arm holding

Prajna ("sophia;" consort) ecstatically raises her right

a vajm.

The

deity has seventeen

heads in five

tiers;

the

dark angry face of Vajrapani (e) surmounts the pyramid of sixteen peaceful,
three-eyed fices. It is crowned by a vishva vajra. Legs of a flayed elephant
terminate the array of hands.

Two

legs of the figure are raised in his

on downtrodden denaoniacal creatures.
The apparition of the god, in front of his aureole or "sea of flames,"
rests on a double lotus. Four skull-cups and four Dakinis appear on the
scroUw'ork of the "sea of flames" of the aureoles.

dance, the other

The

two

are supported

eight cemeteries are indicated, mainly

are small

and arranged

shown

laterally in tiers.

by

their eight guardians.

Yidams and

a bull-headed

They

goddess

At the bottom, Yamantaka, the Ender

of Death, is in the center; the royal donor and his family are at the extreme
right and left of this arcade. The name of King Ratnamalla is given in
the inscription; the name of the painter is only partly legible. The inscribed
date corresponds to 1467 in our calendar.
are

146

in the four corners.

86.

Mahakala, Protector of the Tent.

Fifteenth century.

Nepal school
38'/4"x26V4-

Pata.

Painting on cloth.

in Tibet.

Lent anonymously.

The

of Mahakala (the Great Black One) holds skull-bowl

and chopper, symbols of severance from mortality. The chopper destroys
central figure

ignorance, the skull-cup signihes absolute oneness.

man, naked and recumbent on

The god tramples on

the large, lotus flower pedestal.

Mahakala

wreathed with serpents, decked out with a tiger skin and filigree ornaments of hum.m bone, inscribed with the sacred syllables oiii ah hiiin on
belly and ankles. A cudgel rests in his bent arms, its ends tied with fluttering
cloth. A shawl inscribed with lotus pattern and figures arches above his
shoulders. The red-gold hair of the dark blue god falls in locks to his
shoulders and is piled up as his crown, hi the central crest of his diadem
dances the miniature shape of sixteen-armed Hevajra in the embrace of
his consort (prajna) Nairatma.

is

Nilambara Vajrapani stands on the

prostrate figure of Shiva and Sri Devi (Lhamo), the consort of Mahakala,
"goddess ot arms in a world of sensual pleasures" rides her mule over
a sea of blood. The flames emanating from these blue gods rise in layered
peaks of feathery scrolls. Against them are shown the dark figures of
jackals, crows and Garudas, as well as other aspects ot Mahakala; the one
in the shape of a Braliman playing on a thighbone flute is modeled in
lighter tones of blue, as is Sri Devi.

Aniong

the four collateral images,

This total apparition blazes forth in the center of the eight cemeteries,

-^

symbolizing the center of the human heart. The eight cemeteries are
symbolic of the amiihilation of the eight propensities of the ego by which
it is tied to the world. These human characteristics dwell in the heart.
They are imagined as being situated in the eight directions of space where
their annihilation is shown as taking place. Each of the eight directions
is symbolized by its presiding divinity. Beginning from the east (at the
bottom of the painting) Indra is shown on his white elephant, Shiva
on his bull in the northeast, Kubera (here) on a blue horse in the
north. Vayu appears on an antelope in the northwest, Varuna on
the Makara (sea monster) in the west, Yama on a buflalo in the southwest, Nirriti on man in the south, and Agni on a ram in the southeast.
The prescribed position of the cemeteries may be seen in a
mandala (87). In this painting however, two cemeteries are painted in
each of the four comers. They are peopled with scenes of torture and
with Siddhas. Siddhas are perfect men, living examples of mystical

whose presence intensifies the purifying function of the

Adi-buddha Vajradhara is shown in the center of the top row,
Buddhist hierarchs and others in collateral arcades. In the bottom border
Indra appears in the center, with a Buddliist monk, witli Sri Devi,
and further forms of Mahakala, etc.

realization

cemetery-.

147

87.

Nairatma Mandala. Nepal school in Tibet. Ca. fifteenth century.

Painting on cloth. 24"\20'/2 Lent anonymously.

Nairatma, "no-self," (the embodiment of slitiiiya, the Void) dances on

a corpse in the center of her mandahi. Scrollwork fills the ground of the
central lotus, the palace-square, the surrounding circle and its outer flame

The eight cemeteries make lively cartouches o{ the central border

of this circle. Siddhas and hierarchs appear in the upper border; forms
of Nairatma, etc. in the lower border. In the field between mandala and
borders Nairatma is united with Heruka dancing; hierarchs and others
are encircled by lotus stalks. This mandala is connected with the school
of the Vajradhara pata (83) but appears to be of the later part of the century.
edge.

88.

Vasudhara Mandala.
Lent anonymously.
Vasudhara

shown

Ca. 1504.

Painting on cloth.

371/2 "^26".

of her mandala. For the inner border

the traditional colors arc used in three of the four regions
white (east),
green (north), red (west) but blue instead of yellow is used for the south;
yellow, being the color of Vasudhara, is concentrated on her six-armed
figure. Buddha Ratnasambhava is above her head. Above him are Jambhala,
companion goddesses and attendants, ynkshas carrying bags full of wealth,
cudgels, etc. Each has his own station in the eight directions within the
square. Outside the mandala are scenes illustrating the ten evil states in
purgatory, and scenes from the story of Simhala. The five-fold Buddhas
occupy the middle of the top row. Dancing Vighnantaka is in the center
of the bottom row, flanked by the figure of the royal donor (Jayaratnamallaf) with symbols, family, and retinue. The name of this king is given
in an inscribed and dated (1504) mandala of Vasudhara in the British
Museum, of the same style and provenance as this one. Published: Stella
Kramrisch. "Nepalese Painting," Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art,
is

in the center

87

I.

89.

1933, Calcutta, p. 129. Pis.

XXXIX, XL.

Lokeshvara (Sukhavati ?) and Tara.

on cloth. 22 V4' 18'.
Lent anonymously.

Pata.

Dated 1570.

Painting

by two minor
divinities, are surmounted by foliate scrollwork emanating from the
"Face of Glory" with its serpents at the apex. Sun and moon, together with
auspicious signs in their red circles, float on the dark blue ground. At
the top are the Five Buddhas; lions and donors are at the bottom. The
lateral scenes illustrate a legend telling of the liberation of a fish by the
seventh daughter of the man who had brought it and recounting that
she went to heaven. Published: P. C. Bhagchi, "A Note on a Painted
Barmer," Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art, I. 1933, Pi. 1, where
the deities are identified as Manjusri and Prajnaparamita; see also p. 146, ib.

The main god and goddess

H8

in their arched shrine, flanked

90

A C

Hitopadesha. 1594. Folding book painted on paper.

Pages: Z-Vs" x 8-V4".
Bir Library, Katmandu, Nepal.
These illustrations show the well known fable of "The Deer, the Vulture,
and the Jackal." hi the two upper panels of the pages illustrated here,
the fable of the old vulture is recorded. He had lost his eyes and his talons;
the birds who roosted in the tree provided him with food. A cat, pretending
to be of an aesthetic disposition and eager to learn wisdom from the old
bird, won his confidence and settled in the hollow of the tree. After
devouring the nestlings ot the birds and leaving their bones, the cat
slipped away. The parent birds discovered the bones. Concluding that
the old vulture was the culprit they pounced upon and killed hini.
In the panel at the bottom, a jackal befriending a deer takes
field

of green

com

the deer gets caught.

on

to graze there,

The

jackal,

the corpse of the deer,

trap

fails

whereupon

who

its

owner

him

to a

sets a trap

and

has been looking forward to feeding

to get his prey

which

is

released

from

the

by the husbandman.

The oblong

pages, reminiscent of manuscripts painted

are either tilled entirely

by painted

in small rectangles in the text.

on palm

leaves,

scenes or the paintings are interspersed

The background of

the paintings, covered

with opulent foliated scrollwork, is divided by thin verticals of the stems

of trees with spreading tops of similar scrollwork. The scenes of the fables
are enacted

below

their canopies.

The sumptuous setting enriches

the brisk

drawings of the feral protagonists. Fierce and bristling with animation, the
reproduced are nearer the level o( folk art than are most of
the paintings of this Hitopadesha.

illustrations

91.

-.^

Siddhas, Hierarchs, etc. Pata. Nepal school in Tibet.

Sixteenth
22'1
19-\/4".
century. Painting on cloth.
15
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Purchase from
the J. H. Wade Fund.
This pata, one of a series of similar paintings, represents the work of a
Nepali school in Tibet. The use of white lines delineating eyes or mouth
adds an uncanny note.
holds a skull cup.

The

The

and Manjusri respectively,

92.

figures are enthroned. Each ot the

two Siddhas

hierarchs belong to the spiritual lineage of Vajrapani

as

is

shown by

their

symbols on

lotuses.

Vasudhara Mandala. Sixteenth century. Pata. Painting on cloth.

45-V8"x35i/4".
Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.

Though more

elaborate, this painting follows the Vasudhara mandala of

1504 in the British Museum (see 88). Here the border of the circle shows
the regents of the eight directions. The names of Jayaratnamalla and
Jayaindramalla are given in the inscription which also makes reference

149

which has given the

of Katmandu its name. The date has been read as 1516 by W. Norman
Brov^Ti and as 1555 by P. Pal. Published: The Art of Greater India, op. cit.
to the Kashtha tiiandapa, the rcsthouse for pilgrims,

city

p. 88,

93.

No.

146.

Stupa. Pata. Late sixteenth century. Painting on cloth. 37^/4

National Museum of India, New Delhi, India.

The stepped

"

18^/4".

of the painting contains a stupa with its

hariiiilia with the eyes of the
Adi-buddha. its shikhara-VAae top surmounted by an umbrella. Flower
garlands are stretched iii a triangle from the umbrella to the base. Rows
upon rows ot miniature stupas dot the background. The tive Buddhas
are seen in the top row; four donors and their many women appear in
the two bottom rows. The lateral floral borders of the pata are similar
to those of Pahari miniature paintings of a later date.
central portion

enclosed goddess (Ushnishavijaya), a square

94

a.

and
94

b.

Brahma and

Sarasvati.
Pata.
Sixteenth-seventeenth
Painting on cloth. 25
Xl^li"The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts.

This pata
side,

is

painted

on both

sides

of the

fabric.

Brahma

is

century.

shouTi on one

four-headed and eight-handed; eight-armed Sarasvati appears on

the other.
trident

Both

on their hamsa vahaiia (gander), both holding

upper hands.

are dancing

and book

in their

94 a
95.

Chakrasamvara. Pata. Sixteenth-seventeenth century.

on cloth. 57' 2
^2^ if,'.
National Museum of India, New Delhi, India.

Painting

The Yidam Samvara with his Prajna Vajravarahi arc supported by the
downtrodden bodies of Bhairava and Kalaratri. The naturalism of their
contorted shapes contrasts with the stylization of such figures in earlier

of the lotus petals also differs from

formalism in an earlier Pata (85). Whereas in the earlier work the
base of the group suggested a solid slab conceived in three-dimensional
terms, it is here a thin plate hovering in space above the tips of the petals.
The bordering figures, whether single or conjoint, embracing before the
discs of their haloes and aureoles, repeat the movement of the central
paintings, just as the freer treatment
their

group and strengthen

96.

its

impact.

Tirtha Mahatmya. Dated 1635. Painting on cloth. IS^g' x 51 1/4'.

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio. Gift of Mrs.
Albert S. Ingalls.

of pilgrimage arc shown in the juxtaposition of green,

pink, deep blue and white surfaces. The system of coloring through the

Twelve holy

ISO

places

use of contrasting zones

The

golden

97.

the sparse, slender figures recall those

outlines of

sculptures.

snnilar to Rdjasthani painting

is

of the same age.

of earlier Nepali

fluttering scarves of some of the figures are traced

and Chinese curves on the opaque color of the ground.

The

lines

Pata of Dharmadhatu Vagishvara.

59-V4"^31".
Mrs. Sumitra Charat

Ram, New

Dated 1664.

in

Painting on cloth.

Delhi, India.

lower half of this unusual pata, large portraits of a worshiping

couple, seated on a wheeled platform drawn by horses, appear opposite
the enthroned figure of the deity, which is surrounded by an effulgence.
A lion crouches below the high-backed throne. Ritual objects, a stupa,
and celestials emerging from clouds fill the area between the deity and
his worshipers. The model of the large Chaitya (stupa) which occupies
the central upper half of the painting is near the hand of the deity, which
is shown in the gesture of exposition. Nimbate figures seated on cushions,
and a palm tree, are seen behind the throne of Dharmadhatu Vagishvara.
The god and the donors confront each other.
hi the

The Chaitya shown in the upper part of the painting holds in its dome
(womb) the goddess Ushnishavijaya, flanked by two divinities. Outside
the Chaitya the scene is astir with the commotion of moving the flag.
It is attached to an umbrella and is shown twice
once in the process of
being moved on ropes, and also installed on top of the Chaitya. The

scaffolding and the

shrines

with

unwinding of the rope are painted in detail. Small

workmen, musicians, and worshipers dot the

94 b

their images,

red ground with their

precise

are

at

shapes.

second pair of donors

or

of the Chaitya. A third and

names, are seated near the right
edge of the painting at the level of the dome. The lower part of the
painting with the deity and donors, and the upper part describing the
flag-moving rite, are placed within a tliinly outlined, upright frame,
like that of a votive stele, ending with a five-fold cusped arch.
the

same

portrayed

The

the

inscribed with

fourth couple,

base

their

of the worshipers or donors here form part of the main

of the painting. Their physiognomies and costumes are Nepali
equivalents of such elements in contemporary Mughal portraiture. The
main "stele" of the painting is surrounded by rows of miniature Chaityas.
Sun and moon in their spheres are superimposed in the upper corners.
The row of divinities in the upper margin and that of worshipers etc.
in the lower are no longer clearly recognizable.
portraits

field

The

bottom has two dates; one corresponds

of Jayayakshamalla, the other, which is the
date of the painting, to the year 1 664 when Jayapratapamalla, King of
inscription

to 1433

A.D.

at

the very

in the reign

Poets (Kavindra) ruled.

Katmandu

is

called

Yambu,

its

Newari name.

151

98.

Vajravarahi Mandala. Seventeenth-eighteenth century.

on cloth. 41 1/2" ^281/8 "
National Museum of India, New Delhi, India.

Painting

on a corpse in the
Her companion goddesses stride in the
six small triangles that reach out in star shape from the central hexagon.
Vases supporting skull-bowls appear on the star-dotted circle. An inner
circle of lotus petals and, on the outer side, rims of skulls and flames
enclose the eight cemeteries. They are here without their horror, pleasaunces
where the regents of the eight directions reside and the Siddhas sport.
Their style is a revival of fifteenth century form. A parseme ground is
In this free version of a mandala, the goddess dances

center of her

hexagon

{shadkona).

used outside the circle and, in between, the ancillary divinities and manifestations in their aureoles

fill

the surrounding square.

The

portraits

of

the donors arc clad in the fashion of the dav.

99 detail

99.

Shiva with Avatars of Vishnu.

on

cloth.

24'/:'

79'/:

Eighteenth century

(?).

Painting

The Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado.

The mountains in Nepali style here produce a flat screen behind the
The undulating top of this mountain screen is capped by cloud

figures.

rococo guides the brush of the artist whether he paints

a tree, the intricacies of the throne or the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu
who, having burst forth from behind a pillar, is clawing at the entrails
of his adversary. From the end of the seventeenth century the pupils of
ruffles.

the eyes,

of the

100

a.

and
100 b.

fastidious

when shown

in front view,

were placed near the inner corners

eyes, giving to the faces a hypnotizing stare.

Book cover and

leaf from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita.

eighteenth century. Cover, gouache on wood. Leaf,
gouache on paper. 4 '/t X 18 ".

Early

"

Lent anonymously.

On

Buddha is shown walking, carried by Naga Shesha, accommonks and gods, and worshipped by a pair of donors. The

the cover

panied by

illuminated page illustrates the Temptation of the Buddha.

101.

Ca. 1810. Painting on cloth. 20

202 ".
Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, Banaras, India.

Vishnu Pata.

The

'

Kaundinya and his wife Sita, which is being

by Krishna to the five Pandavas. It relates the marriage oi Kaundinya,
the vow performed by his wife, the burning of Kaundinya's house, the
austerities of Kaundinya in the forest, his findmg of the old sage Ananta,
told

152

pata depicts the story of

worship o{ Vishnu. Among the figures m the lower register

1816), a
is that of the boy-King Girvana Yuddha Vikrama Sah (1800
devotee of Vishnu.

and

102.

his

Assemblage of images.
29'

s"'-

Pata.

Dated 1775.

Painting on cloth.

22".

Lent anonymously.
Although cursively drawn and symmetrically coordinated, the effect of the
pata is determined by the directional lines of the movements of the divinities. Each in his specific color (which is iconographically prescribed) stands
out harmoniously from the red "sea of flames" around him and the deep
blue and green of the pata's ground. In the center appears Yogambara
with liis Prajna Jnanadakini. In the top row are Kalacakra, Dharmadhatu
Vagishvara and Navatmaka Heruka; in the second row Vajrahunkara
.md Samvara. In the third row are Yamantaka, Vighnantaka and Ubhayavarahanana. The names of members ot the donors tamily and the date
875 of the Newari era (A.D. 1775) are given in the inscription. (Cf. 97.)

103.

The Story of Banasura.

Later part of eighteenth

Painting on cloth. 29 :
141 ^4"Musee Guimet, Paris, France.

century

(?).

Banasura, son ot Bali, king ot the demons, had one thousand arms.

was

a devotee

of Shiva,

lord but did not

tmd

who

guarded

his city.

sufficient use for his

Bana was

thousand arms.

a great

He
war

He complained

foretold that soon someone who was his equal would quell
The occasion came when Bana found Aniruddha, the grandson
of Krishna, in the palace apartment of his daughter Usha, where he had
been carried miraculously through the air by her maid. Bana made
Aniruddha his prisoner. This part of the stor\- is shown in the upper half
of the long scroll. The lower half shows the battle between Krislina
flying on Garuda
and Banasura. Krishna kills the retinue ot Banasura
to Shiva

who

his pride.

and

finally

last

pair

chops

of arms

off his arms.

Now

Shiva pleads for his devotee. His

then spared and Krishna releases Aniruddha.

is

The

three-dimensional palaces and the riffled mountain ranges form an animated

stage tor the briskly told narrative.

104.

Navatmaka Heruka. Tanka. Tibet. Eighteenth century. Painting on cloth. 17 /2 " X 12 /2 '.
Collection of Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck, New York City.
1

word for a temple "banner") the angularity

of the dancing figures are forced conveys an agony
fiercer in its nature than the rapture expressed in Nepali patas showing
the Yidams with their parmers.

In this tanka (the Tibetan

into

which

the cur\-es

153

105- 106.

from a Bhagavata purana. Middle of nineteenth

14' ,
century. Gouache on paper.
20 tLent anonymously.
Illustrations

Prasena possessed the Shyamantaka jewel which the sun god had presented
to his brother. Krishna asked for this magical jewel. Prasena refused

took

it

to the forest

where he was

killed

by

a lion.

The

and

painting shows

Prasena coming to the forest to hunt and being killed by the lion

who

then walks away with the jewel.

Jambavan, the Lord of bears, killed the lion, took the jewel and brought
it to his daughter. Krishna, having followed Prasena and the tracks of
Jambavan. fought with the Lord of bears, defeated him and was given
by Jambavan both the jewel and his daughter. The painting shows tliis
touching scene, Jambavan having come forth from his "palace" on the
left side of the picture.

107.

Khadga (sword).

L: 34'

:".

Dr. and Mrs. Samuel Eilenberg,

New York

City.

Similar swords arc published. (Cf. W. Egerton, Handbook of Indian Arms,

London, 188II, Pi. IX, 350 and 352; p. 102.) Swords having a curved blade,
sometimes ending in the head of an animal, were found in Ashur and
are known from Babylonian representations {c^. Rachel Maxwell Hyslop,
"Daggers and Swords in Western Asia," Iraq I'lII, 1946, p. 42; Y. Yadin,
The Art of IVarjarc, New York, 1963). They were used ceremonially
rather than as weapons.

154

GLOSSARY

Adi-buddha

names of Buddhist and Hindu gods represented

The primordial Buddha; Buddhahood

in itself.

The Buddha "Imperturbable"; image of

power inherent

in

Buddha. This power was

the

shown by Buddha Shakyamuni when he

attained

Brahma,

Hindu,

to the

Deity manifested

is

the

Hamsa,

the celestial gander. In Tantrik-Buddhist images,

Brahma

as

Akshobhya
the

Brahma

in the exhibition.

is

the creator of the universe. His vehicle

is

one of the four Evil Ones (Mara) trampled upon by

Hcvajra and other gods.

enlightenment, remained steadfist under the attack, and

Buddha

defeated Mara, the Evil One. Akshobhya, a hypostasis

Shakya clan (Shakyamuni). For the current xon he

of

the

that

power, seated

adamantine position,

in

pendant hand pointing to the earth,

symbol

the East. His

is

in

blue.

him

The
is

is

particular

perfect

the Vnjra (thunderbolt). His color

the doctrine

and

human

Buddha. This

which fmds

release

The Buddha "Boundless

Nirvana, the

state

support a vase

full

Life";

on

his lap,

palm on palm,

of the water of deathlessness. Amitayus

"form of splendour"

(saiiibhognkaya)

Aniitabha, "Boundless Light". His region

His symbol

is

image of

of deathlessness. Seated in adamantine

position, the hands resting

the

failing

the lotus flower. His color

who

directs his gaze

downward,"

He

has one hundred and eight

"The

Fearful," originally a terrific

{ii^ira)

form of the Hindu god Shiva; wrathful but protective

spirit,

the emanation of divine omnipotence, slayer of

demons. Nepal

is

the sphere of action of 5,600,000

Bodhisattva
lightenment

He

being

{hodln),

who

all his lite strives

wluch becomes

his

for en-

essential self.

renounces Nirvana, however, and leads

life

of

Akshobhya

which

is

resplendent {vairocaua) and

Buddha Vairocana. Buddha Vairocana

cosmos

in the east,

is

similarly realized in the tour

Buddha Amitabha

Buddha Ratnasambhava
or

with

an

further

Orient,

ing:

members of
is

wrath,

the

south,

liis

in the west,

and Buddha

of Buddhahood

or

spiritual

"family."

desire,

is

color,

With

associated
a

son,

also associated a particular

malignity,

Buddha

Each of these five Buddhas

cognizance,

Bodhisattva

{prajtia),

in

in the north.

exponents

fivefold

consort

and even

each of the

human

envy and

fail-

stupidity.

(Cf Yidam.)

Devaputra

"Son of god,"

in child

form.

of Bodhisattva and Buddha,

Devata

"Buddha."

throughout the

directions of space in four further forms, as

action in order to save mankind. Regarding the relation

see

as active

exponents of Buddhahood. The Buddha nature permea-

Five Buddhas

Bhairavas.

is

center with reference to the other four

at the

Amoghasiddhi

forms. (See Bodhisattva.)

:

central realization

placed

the spiritual

is

of the appearance of

represented as fivefold with reference to the

is

is

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, "The

son of Buddha Amitabha.

Bhairava

cosmos,

ting the entire

Avalokiteshvara

Maitreya will be the

of Buddhahood which

when viewed

This principle,

the West.
red. (Cf.

former

The principleof Buddhahood is the Adi-buddha.

timeless.

represented by

is

in a future aeon

in the idea

rests

is

"Buddha.")

Lord

Buddha

In

is

and enlightened sages had taught

"historical" sequence

of Buddha
is

of the royal

a sage

Lord Buddha. He embodies Buddhahood.

xons other

associated with

is

wrath. (Cf "Buddha.")

Amitayus

is

his right

The "Enlightened" was

a flying celestial represented

celestial being.

155

Devi

Goddess.

Garuda
Garuda

Gauri

The mythical

"The

Hindu god

name of

Brilliant", a

the consort of the

An image named

Shiva.

Lhamo

is

torm

ot Kali

who

Mahagauri, the

their

a consort ot Shiva.

is

one of the four "Defenders of the Law"

(Dharmapala). She was armed

represented as part man, part bird.

is

Sun-bird, vehicle ot Vishnu,

Lhatno

weapons

her ornaments. She

as

Yama,

the twin sister and wife o{

the year 1205 in Deo-Patan corresponds, in general, in

Lokeshvara

the position of her hands with the images called "Gauri"

Shiva identitied with Avalokiteshvara.

in this catalogue.

Mahakala

Shyama

Tara, also called Khadiravani

the

belongs to the family of Buddha Amoghasiddhi, whose

Maitreya

color

is

The

tierce aspect

Buddhas has

Heruka

his

of

Buddha. Each ot the

aspect, the

Buddha nature

Manjusri

who

is

Buddha Amitabha. He

in

union with

his

partner

tl-malc

Indra,

Buddhism

the

the

is

He

Existence.

and

Hmdu

Lord of gods,

Buddha of one of

in

Tantrik

the Six Spheres of

plays a special part in the legends,

life

of Nepal. His image, with hands extended

art

laterally,

is

set

up annually during the Indra

His other type of representation shows

similar to a Bodhisattva. His frontal eye

horizontally,

is

the Creator

Bodhisattva
is

of Nepal
is

(see

Vajra-

the

of other

third eye

him
is

Festival.

seated and

always shown

divinities

being

the Ender of Death.

Maya The
:

measurable or

""

phenomenal" world. Also

name of the mother of Buddha Shakyamuni.

Nairatma "No-self" is a fierce goddess who represents
the

Shunya, the Void. She dances on

Navatmaka Heruka Cf
Padmapani Bodhisattva
:

Heruka.
"Lotus in hand,"

of Buddha Amitabha.

The god of Wealth belongs

to the fantily

Buddha Ramasambhava whose name means "Jewel-

bom" and whose symbol

is

of

a jewel.

goddess associated with Akshobhya. She

cures and prevents snake bite.

Krishna The Hindu god, Krishna,

:

as a

great serpent Kaliya

is

Lakshmi

of Vishnu.

young boy was

who

"Gnosis"

Buddha with
and she

Among his many

embodiment of

of the

Yamuna.

prosperity, consort

e.

who

he

is

form of

the spiritual son

wisdom), the consort

spiritual

whom

is

united. In relation to

of Buddhahood, he

is

means

the

the end.

is

Prajnaparamita

his defeat

(i.

her, within the state

an avatar, (earthly

lived in the river

The Hindu goddess of

(iipaya)

manifestation or "descent") of Vishnu.

deeds of valor

Prajna

She belongs

a corpse.

of Buddha Akshobhya.

to the family

Jambhala

156

Introduction). In his fiercest manifestation he

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara,

Janguli

is

of Buddha Akshobhya or of

regularly placed vertically in the middle of the forehead.

ot

Eternity.

bhairava "the Adamantine Fearful" called Yamantaka,

iprnjiui).

Indra

Hindu god

the

belongs to the family of Buddha Vairocana; he

Navatmaka Heruka.)
Heruka

of

In the present dispensa-

The "Glorious Gentle One"

also attached to the family

form of

is

a Bodhisattva.

being dual. Each Heruka also has several aspects. (Cf.

Hevajra

The Future Buddha.

tion of time he

green. (Cf. Buddha.)

Heruka
five

(the "Savioress")

death.

a defender

is

embodiment of "Great Time" or

Shiva, an

of Tara,

that aspect

is

The "Great Black One"

god of

the

The "Lord of the World" Lokeshvara

Law. Originally he was

which

Tara,

of

a consort

is

Mahakala. Before her conversion to Buddhism she was

Great Gauri, on which there appears an inscription of

Green Tara

and wears

the gods

b\'

"Perfection of

Wisdom." She

the Prajnaparamita scripture

and

is

the

form

of the Supreme goddess. She belongs to the family of

Buddha Aksobhya.
Puja Devata
up next

to the

An image
main

of an ancillary divinity

set

divinity to receive worship {puja).

Samvara The Yidam Samvara is a form of Hevajra.

He belongs to the family o( Buddha Akshobhya. His

essence of the five kinds of

Prajna

on

Vajravarahi.

is

Sarasvati

"Our Lady of the Waters," Hindu Goddess

of Speech and consort of Brahma

who was

taken over

Sridhara

ot the cult

Stupa

"The upholder of Sri," one of

the varieties

image of Vishnu.

The

architectural

(total decease)

The

the

symbol

ot the Parinirvana

of Buddha Shakyamuni; the most sacred

head of a boar.

Varuna

Vairocana, her color

is

As the prajna of Buddha

white.

her forehead, palms, and

Amoghasiddhi her color

Her

soles.
is

The Regent of

attributes are eyes

As the

prajna of

on

Buddha

green. There are in addition,

Vidyadhara

^just

enough

Vishnu

of her manifestations has further

is

everywhere. Each

(adj.)

Tantra, a

body of Revelation on which

the rites

by which Buddhahood or the

Referring to a

class

the Ultimate can be attained in this

of

Vishnu

in

the

liis

flying.

manifestation or "de-

brahman boy who pervades

to stand

on

the

from the piece of

that he had begged the

to give him.

The "Pervader", one of

Demiurges (Brahma, Vishnu,

sub-varieties.

Tantrik

is

of corn.

attribute: ears

in three strides, stepping out

Buddha

Saviouress

scent" {avatar) as a tiny

Demon King

The

Her

of celestials always represented

the

Carrier of magic knowledge, or spells,

Vikranta Murti

land

is

(the Earth), belongs

of Buddha Ratnasambhava and

consort of Jambhala.

cosmos

mount

monster).

(sea

yellow, blue and red Taras, belonging to the respective

families.

the West. His

Vasudhara The "Giver of Wealth"

a class

"Saviouress."

an excrescence

is

of her head, which has the shape of die

left side

to the family

Buddhist monimient.

Tara

of "the Sahaja pleasure". Her attribute

Makara

by the Buddhists.

wisdom, the embodiment

He

Shiva).

the

He

Hindu

three

preserves and

descends {avatarati) from his

texts

called

restores the universe.

are laid

down

transcendental state in order to restore the world when,

realization

of

because of all the evil in

it, it is

threatened with destruc-

tion.

life.

Ucchushma Jatnbhala A fierce variety of

Uma-Maheshvara The Hindu god Shiva

Jambhala.

Yidam The "Yidams"

in his to-

the practising Tantrik Buddhist. As chosen divinities

getherness with his shakti (creative power) as

Uma.

they are guarantors to the worshipper of his union in

Vajradhara

The Adi-buddha, "Holder of

(thunderbolt),

is

the Vajra"

iconographically distinguished from

Vajrasattva.

Vajrasattva

The Adi-buddha "Vajra-Being"

from Vajradhara

in the position

of the hands holding

the Vajra (thunderbolt) and Ghanta (bell).

the male
bell, the

symbol standing

for the

differs

"means"

The

vajra

is

{npaya), the

female symbol for the doctrine {prajna).

Vajravarahi

The "Adamantine She-boar" belongs

Buddhahood with

of

importance to

essential

the particular one of the five

to

whom

he

is

markedly drawn by

to

which he

is

most prone. His

Buddhas

human
may be

that

failing

failing

wrath,

malignity, desire, envy, or stupidity. Contrasting with

the serenity of the

"Buddha image"

is its

fierce,

Heruka

form. Through the divine mechanism of these Heruka-

Yidams

the failing of the practiser

that special kind

to

are

is

of wisdom represented by the particular

Buddha. Thus there developed the

Buddha Vairocana's family. She is entrancingly beautiful,

Akshobhya and

being the indestructible female element of intuition, the

Samvara,

transmuted into

fierce

forms of

the different forms of Heruka, Hevajra,

etc. (Cf.

Buddha.)

157

107.

158

Khadga

(sword).

L:

341/2'

SHORT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barrett, D.,

"The Buddhist Art of Tibet and Nepal,"

Oriental Art, 1957, p. 90f.

Bhattacharyya, B. B., The Indian Buddhist Iconography.

Bhattacharyya, B. B.,

(ed.) Nishpannayogavali.

Bhattacharyya, B. B.,

(ed.)

Brough,

J.,

Bruhl, O.

Sadhanamala, Vols.

Calcutta, 1958.

Baroda, 1945.
I

and

II,

Gaekwad's

'"Legends of Khotan and Nepal," Bulletin of the School oj Oriental and African Studies,

Monod, "Une

Peinture Nepalaise au

Musee Guiniet,"

"A Painted Scroll from Nepal," Bulletin of

Two Lamaistic Pantheons. Cambridge, 1937.

Chandra, Moti,
Clark,

W.

Oriental Series. Baroda, 1925, 1928.

E..

Coomaraswamy, A.

Foucher, A., Etude sur F Icoiwgraphie Bouddhique de Flnde.

Pt.

I,

p.

333

f.

Arts Asiatiqnes, 18, 1955, p. 297f.

the Prince of

New

K., History of Indian and Indonesian Art,

London XII,

Wales Museum,

York, 1927, pp. 141

I,

1955, p.

6.

146.

Paris 1900.

Furer-Haimendorf, C. V., "Elements of Newar Social Structure," Journal of the Royal Anthropological

Institute,

LXXXVI,

p. 15.

Gnoli, R., Nepalese Inscriptions

in

Gupta

Rome,

Characters.

Goetz, H.. "Early Indian Sculptures from Nepal," Artihus

Goetz. H., "Arte del Nepal," Le Civilta dell'Oriente, YV,

1956.

^-{siae,

Roma,

Khandalawala, K., "Nepalese and Tibetan Bronzes," Marg, IV,

Kramrisch,

Stella,

Peitites {pata)

Landon, Perceval, Nepal, 2

London, 1928.

vols.

U Nepal, Vols.

Lippe, Aschwin, "Vishnu's

Conch

Pott, P. H., Introduction

to the

Ancient Nepal.

le

1.

of Oriental Art,

I,

1933, p. 129f.

Manjusrinnilakalpa. Paris, 1930.

Rome,

la

New

Collection du

Series VIII - 3

Musee

(Autumn, 1962)

p. 2.

dc Geneve, 1954.

1958.

Tibetan Collection of the National

The Tibetan and Nepalese

L.,

dans

in Nepal," Oriental Art,

Petech, L., Mediaeval History of Nepal.

Regmi, D.

p. 21

Paris, 1905, 1908.

I-III.

Lobsinger-Dellenbach, M., Nepal: Catalogue de

Poet, P. H.,

1962.

"Nepalese Painting," Journal of the Indian Society

Lalou, M., Iconographie des Etojjes

Levi, Sylvain,

78, 1955, p. 61.

Collection of the Baroda

Museum

of

Ethnology. Leiden, 1951.

Museum, IX, 1952

1953,

p. If.

Calcutta, 1960.

Snellgrove, D. L., Buddhist Himalaya. Oxford, 1957.

Snellgrove, D. L., "Shrines and Temples of Nepal," Arts Asiatiqnes, VIII, 1961. pp. 3f., 93 f.

Tucci, G., The Theory and Practice of the Mandala.

Tucci, G., Tibetan Painted

Walsh,

E. E.,

Scrolls,

3 vols.

"The Coinage of Nepal,"

Wright, Daniel, History of Nepal.

Rome,

London, 1961.
1949.

Journal ofthe Royal .-isiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland,

London

1908, p. 755.

Cambridge, 1877.

159

The following photographs

2, 8, 11, 15, 17,

20

are

by Otto

E. Nelson:

(in color), 22, 33, 35, 40, 41, 42, 43, 49, 52, 53, 55, 57, 58, 64, 67, 68, 69, 70, 74,

75, 76, 79, 80, 83, 84, 85, 86 (in color), 87, 88 (in color), 89, 90 (in color), 92, 100, 102, 104, 105, 106, 107.

The

color photograph

No. 65

is

Catalogue designed by Virginia

by William Abbcnseth.
Field, Assistant Director, Asia

House Gallery,

RAJPUT PAINTING
Ue, 190. 96 pages (7112" x 10114") hoards,
67 illustrations, including 15 in full color, and map. price $8.00
Among the most beautiful publications of the Asia House
Gallery, this volume commemorates the loan exhibition of
110 Rajput paintings. The text by Sherman E. Lee, Director'
of the Cleveland Museum of Art, illuminates the history of
this bold and colorful miniature art.
by Sherman E.

GANDHARA SCULPTURE FROM PAKISTAN

MUSEUMS
hy Benjamin Rowland,

Jr.,

1960. Foreword by Paul C. Sherbert,

64 pages (8" x 8"). 44 illustrations.

price $2.00
This valuable publication introduces the most comprehen-

of Gandhara sculpture ever brought from Asia

America. Dr. Rowland, Gleason Professor of Fine Arts,
Harvard University, offers a full account of the sculptural
art of Gandhara, whose artists adapted their Buddhist imagery
from Graeco-Roman models of the West.
sive exhibition

to

IRANIAN CERAMICS
by Charles K. Wilkinson, 1963. 144 pages (9314" x 83l4")
99 illustrations, including 9 in full color, and map.

cloth binding,

PRICE $8.50

Mr. Charles K. Wilkinson, Curator Emeritus of Near

Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has written
this beautiful, unique catalogue of Iranian ceramics from the
4th millennium B.C. to the mid-1 9th century. The introduction
gives a brief, but illuminating, account of the development of
the potter's art in Iran.

THE ART OF MUGHAL INDIA

by Stuart Gary Welch, 1963.
cloth binding.

111

180 pages (IO3I4" x 8 ll4")

illustrations, including

13

in full color.

PRICE $9.75

handsome volume, Mr. Welch,

Lecturer in Fine Arts at Harvard University, relates the arts of
the great Mughals to their colorful dynasty (1526- 1858). The
arts of the Muslim courts have been neglected and few publications are available on the dynasty that created the Taj Mahal.
This volume will fill a serious gap on all library shelves.
Superb book and album paintings, vessels of jade, glass and
crystal, jeweled objects, elaborately wrought arms, exquisite
In this important and

fabrics,

embroideries and rugs are shown.

The Asia House Gallery is pleased to announce that sets of color

based upon the evolution of the buddha image and
THE ART OF MUGHAL INDIA exhibitions are available for purchase.
slides

These

sets

are

produced by

14 Cooper Square,

New

York

Portable
3,

Gallery Golor

Slides,

N.Y., and may be ordered

at

directly

from them or through the Asia House, 112 East 64th Street, New
York 21, N.Y. Sets of 75 color slides are offered for $75.00. This
includes a catalogue of the exhibition. The set based on the Buddha
Image exhibition presents a selection of about 50 figures of Buddha,
a number of which are photographed from the side os well as from
the front. There are also several enlarged details. The set based on
the

Mughal exhibition

includes photographs

of miniatures and

PRINTED IN AUSTRIA

objects.

MAIN TEMPLE SQUARE, PAT AN, NEPAL.

Tite author.

Photographed by H.B.Price

Dr. Stella Kramrisch, a leading authority on Indian

made a special study of the art of Nepal, high

Himalayas between the borders of India and Tibet.
art,

has

Dr. Kramrisch was Professor of Indian Art

of Calcutta for

many

years.

At

at

the present time

the

in the

LnivtTmy

Dr. Kramrisch

of South Asian Art at the University of Pennsylvania

and Curator of Indian Art at the Philadelphia Musetim of Art.
Among her books are principles of Indian art, a survfst
OF PAINTING IN THE DECCAN, INDIAN SCULPTURE, THE HINDU
TEMPLE, KERALA AND DRAVTDA, THE ART OF INDIA, From 1932
is

Professor

1950 she was the Editor of the journal of the Indian

SOCIETY of oriental ART, Calcutta.

to