Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia 9780520954885

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Publication of this book has been aided by a grant from the Millard Meiss Publication Fund of the College Art Association.

R e c e p tac l e o f t h e S ac r e d

S ou t h As i a Ac ro ss t h e Di sc i p l i n e s Edited by Dipesh Chakrabarty, Sheldon Pollock, and Sanjay Subrahmanyam South Asia Across the Disciplines is a series devoted to publishing first books across a wide range of South Asian studies, including art history, philology or textual studies, philosophy, religion, and interpretive social sciences. Contributors all share the goal of opening up new archives, especially in South Asian languages, and suggesting new methods and approaches, while demonstrating that South Asian scholarship can be at once deep in expertise and broad in appeal. Funded by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and jointly published by the University of California Press, the University of Chicago Press, and Columbia University Press. Read more about the series at http://www.saacrossdisciplines.org. Extreme Poetry: The South Asian Movement of Simultaneous Narration, by Yigal Bronner (Columbia University Press, 2010) The Social Space of Language: Vernacular Culture in British Colonial Punjab, by Farina Mir (University of California Press, 2010) Unifying Hinduism: Philosophy and Identity in Indian Intellectual History, by Andrew J. Nicholson (Columbia University Press, 2010) Secularizing Islamists?: Jama‘at-e-Islami and Jama ‘at-ud-Da‘wa in Urban Pakistan, by Humeira Iqtidar (University of Chicago Press, 2011) Islam Translated: Literature, Conversion, and the Arabic Cosmopolis of South and Southeast Asia, by Ronit Ricci (University of Chicago Press, 2011) Conjugations: Marriage and Form in New Bollywood Cinema, by Sangita Gopal (University of Chicago Press, 2011) The Powerful Ephemeral: Everyday Healing in an Ambiguously Islamic Place, by Carla Bellamy (University of California Press, 2011) Receptacle of the Sacred: Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia, by Jinah Kim (University of California Press, 2013)

Receptacle of the Sacred Illustrated Manuscripts and the Buddhist Book Cult in South Asia

Jinah Kim

University of California Pr ess   Berkeley  Los Angeles  London

University of California Press, one of the most distinguished university presses in the United States, enriches lives around the world by advancing scholarship in the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. Its activities are supported by the UC Press Foundation and by philanthropic contributions from individuals and institutions. For more information, visit www.ucpress.edu. South Asia Across the Displines University of California Press Berkeley and Los Angeles, California University of California Press, Ltd. London, England © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data   Kim, Jinah, 1976  Receptacle of the sacred : illustrated manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult in South Asia / Jinah Kim.    pages  cm. — (South Asia across the disciplines)   Includes bibliographical references and index.   ISBN 978-0-520-27386-3 (cloth : alk. paper)   1. Buddhist illumination of books and manuscripts—South Asia—History.   2. Books— Religious aspects—Buddhism.   3. Manuscripts, Sanskrit—South Asia—History.   4. Buddhism— South Asia—Rituals—History.   I. Title. ND3246.K56 2013 745.6'708829430954—dc232012027299 Manufactured in the United States 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13  10 9 8 7 6 5 4  3 2 1 The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (R 2002) (Permanence of Paper). 8

To my parents, Drs. Kim, Seongsoo & Kim, Jeong-guk

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Contents

Acknowledgments      xi List of Figures in the Printed Book      xv List of Figures and Diagrams Online      xxi



Introduction: Text, Image, and the Book      1

Part One. The Book

1. Buddhist Books and Their Cultic Use      23



2. Innovations of the Medieval Buddhist Book Cult      43

Part Two. Text and Image

3. Representing the Perfection of Wisdom, Embodying the Holy Sites      73



4. The Visual World of Buddhist Book Illustrations      113



5. Esoteric Buddhism and the Illustrated Manuscripts      149

Part Three. The People

6. Social History of the Buddhist Book Cult      213

Epilogue: Invoking a Goddess in a Book      271 Notes      287 Bibliography      351 Index      367

Acknowledgments

On one sunny afternoon on Berkeley campus more than eleven years ago, I sat down with my advisor and mentor Joanna Williams on a bench outside the Kroeber Hall, asking a question about the lecture she just gave. In her erudite lecture, Joanna showed the class a number of images of Indian Buddhist manuscript paintings, many of which I saw for the first time, and mentioned that some images are placed in reverse direction to the text. This perplexing, paradoxical phenomenon of unrelated nature of the text and images in Buddhist manuscripts was enough to hook me to delve further into the world of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts. It is hard to believe that I spent more than ten years working on illustrated manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult, but it is equally hard to believe that the book is done. From this quotidian beginning, Joanna has been a great mentor and an enthusiastic supporter of my project. I thank her for her wisdom and warm support throughout my graduate years and beyond. I was fortunate to have another great mentor, Patricia Berger, and I thank Pat for her continuous encouragement and insights. I thank Alexander von Rospatt, also at Berkeley, who has provided much needed guidance and resources for this project in its initial stage. Perhaps due not to my own merit but to the merit of the project, I have met many scholars of great wisdom and erudition whose research and intellectual rigor have improved my



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understanding of the material at hand. I thank Gregory Schopen for always inspiring me to look and think beyond the obvious with wit and rigor. I also thank Rob Linrothe for his scholarship on Esoteric Buddhist iconography and for answering my endless questions and queries. I am grateful to Christian Luczanits, who has been extremely patient and generous with resources. My understanding of the Pāla manuscripts owes much to Janice Leoshko’s rigorous studies of the Pāla material. My initial introduction to the field of Indian Buddhist art owes much to Juhyung Rhi, who remains a great mentor. I am grateful for the generous help I got from Phyllis Granoff, Tamara Sears, and Andrew Quintman in solving various problems this book posed to me. Further away from home, Gerd Mevissen, Eva Allinger, and Jorrit Britschgi have been generous with their time and resources, and I thank them sincerely. Much writing for this book was done at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, where I held a Mellon fellowship for assistant professors during 2009–2010. The Institute provided a perfect environment for writing this book, and I am most grateful for their generous support. I thank the staff members of the School of Historical Studies for their kind help with my book, in particular, Marian Zelazny, Terrie Bramley, and Maria Mercedes Tuya. I’ve benefited greatly from participating in various seminars and colloquia of the School of Historical Studies, in particular, Art History seminar run by Yve Alain-Bois, East Asian Studies seminar run by Nichola di Cosmo, and the Medieval Table run by Caroline Bynum. I thank all the participants of these seminars for their insightful feedbacks and critical comments. Lauren Minsky became a good friend and provided much moral and intellectual support throughout the writing of this book. While at the Institute, I was also fortunate to meet Sarah Fraser, whose continuous encouragement and wise advice have kept me focused on this book.  

I continued to write this book while on full-time faculty duty at Vanderbilt University. The kind support of my former colleagues and friends in the History of Art department at Vanderbilt has been invaluable in finishing this manuscript. I thank James Bloom, Vivien Fryd, Leonard Folgarait, Christopher Jones, Tracy Miller, Betsey Robinson, Anne Hill, and all the members of that fine department for the cheers and encouragements that they have given me over the years. Tracy has

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been a great guide for many knotty corners that I had to navigate in writing this book, and talking with Betsey about our respective books over sushi dinners made the process more enjoyable. In Nashville, I was fortunate to make great friends whose emotional and moral support helped me write this book. I thank Lisa and Mickey Julien, Miss Ann Lee, Miss Shirley, Miss Betsy, and Katarina Tsai. I can still hear Lisa and Miss Ann, albeit not knowing each other, always asking me the same question, “Where is your book?” I am glad that I can finally tell them here it is. Also in Nashville, Shubhra Sharma became a close friend, and her cheers and moral support have been indispensable in working on this book. The Vanderbilt Research Scholar Grants, American Institute of Indian Studies Junior Fellowship, and Asia Cultural Council Research Grant have funded research trips to many different locations where the Indian and Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts are currently kept. Many institutions in India and Nepal generously granted me access to their precious collections and allowed me to take photographs, many of which appear throughout this book. I thank the staff members of the following institutions for their help during my research: Asiatic Society Kolkata; Asiatic Society Mumbai; Indian Museum; National Museum New Delhi; Orissa State Museum; Baroda Picture Museum and Gallery; Bharat Kala Bhavan (Banaras Hindu University); Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) site museums at Nālandā, Antichak (Vikramaśīla), Ratnagiri, and Sarnath; National Archive Kath­mandu; and Kaiser Library, Kathmandu. In India, I was fortunate to meet so many kind friends and colleagues who openheartedly welcomed me into their homes: Arundhati di, formerly of ASI; Anasua di of Indian Museum; Sarla di formerly of Bharat Kala Bhavan; and late Mr. Tagore and Mrs. Tagore, who have been great supporters of my project. My Bengali didi, Sharothi Roy, not only provided nutritious meals but also traveled to many sites with me as research assistant. I also thank Min Bahadur Shakya and ten Vajrācārya priests of the Kwā Bāhā guthi for their service and help with my field research. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey kindly provided financial support for the images included in this book. At Rutgers, Joan Marter, Catherine Puglisi, and Carla Yanni have given much needed practical advice on securing resources for publication of images. Support from the Andrew

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W. Mellon Foundation for the South Asia Across the Disciplines Series made the publication of this book possible. I thank Reed Malcolm of the University of California Press for believing in this project and for convincing me to make the book more streamlined and focused. Insightful comments from the readers and the faculty editorial committee of the UC Press proved much helpful in this last process. My dear friends from graduate schools deserve a fair share of the merits accrued in completing this book. I thank Catherine Becker, Bokyung Kim, Sonal Khullar, Nancy Lin, and Wenshing Chou for freely lending their ears to listen to me. Catherine, in particular, has seen me through many phases of crisis that I faced working on this project from its inception, and deserves a bodhisattva medal, if there is one. In terms of my own karmic debt, I should have started this note with thanking my parents, Drs. Seongsoo Kim and Jeong-guk Kim, who not only raised me to be a functioning yet headstrong person but also provided generous emotional and financial support throughout this project. My mom has showered me with confidence and love often expressed through many express-mailed packages of organic, often homemade food and other goodies, and my dad, a disciplinarian in the family and an admirable master in his profession, has been a role model for a successful professional career. The Kim family fund coming out of my father’s pocket has funded a number of figures in this book. I am also fortunate to have amazing and loving siblings, my sister, Hyoyeon, and my brother, Jaebum, whose constant cheers and emotional support have kept me focused on working on this book. The most credit in completing this book should go to my wonderful husband, Myungkoo Kang, who is truly my better half, and whose sense of humor, insight, and critical spirit always keep me balanced and grounded, and to our beloved son Aroon, whose wit and mischievousness have given me many blissful moments of break from writing this book, and who despite his tender age thoughtfully tries to understand that mommy needs to work. Without them, this book would not have seen completion. With much love, I thank them. Jinah Kim Princeton, January 2012

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List of Maps and Figures in the Printed Book

M ap

3-1 Map of medieval (late tenth–thirteenth centuries) South Asia  91  

Figur es

0-1 13th-century manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra  3 0-2 12th-century illustrated manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra (AsP)   4 0-3 Jain monk (Vimalaprava) instructing a princely figure (Raji) with a book, a folio from a Kalpasūtra Ms, ca. 1300  4 1-1 Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, the main priest (Cakra Raj Bajracharya) invoking the goddess Prajñāpāramitā into the book, Kwā Bāhā  24 1-2 A monk with a book, detail of the Mahāmāyūrī panel, antechamber, Cave 6, Ellora, ca. early 7th century.  26 1-3 Goddess Prajñāpāramitā with Māyūrī (left), Jaṅgulī (right), and two bodhisattvas, folio 1v, center panel, AsP Ms, ca. 1151 CE  32 1-4 Stele of Goddess Prajñāpāramitā with a scene of pustaka pūjā on the pedestal  34



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2-1 Five folios (1v–2r, 299v–300r, 301v) from the AsP Ms (Ms A4), Vigrahapāla III’s 15th year and Gopāla IV’s 8th year, Nālandā monastery, Bihar, India  44  

 

2-2 Sculpted panels surrounding the lower part of Temple 2, Nālandā monastery  50 2-3 First and the last folios of an AsP Ms (Ms A3), Nālandā monastery, Bihar  51 2-4 Signs of worship on a book cover, a Nepalese manuscript of the Karaṇḍavyūha sūtra dated 1641 CE  63 2-5 Painted book covers of an AsP Ms (Ms D5), Nālandā, Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE)  64 2-6 Lotus maṇḍala with the Buddha and eight bodhisattvas, ca. 12th century  67 2-7 Buddha’s enlightenment/Bodhgayā icon, left panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D9), ca. 1207 CE  68 2-8 Vajrāsāna Buddha/Bodhgayā icon, center panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D10), ca. 1226 CE (Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year)  69 3-1 Ms A1: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 6th year (ca. 983 CE)  77 3-2 Votive stūpa with eight life scenes, Site 12, Nālandā, ca. 9th–10th century  81  

3-3 Ms A6: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043–1069 CE)  83  

3-4 Buddha’s life scenes on folio 101v and folio 102r, AsP Ms (Ms A6), ca. mid-11th century  84 3-5 Goddess Cundā in Buṅkaranagara, Lāhṭadeśa (Southern Gujarat, Broach region), right panel, folio 188r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE  89 3-6 Samantabhadra in China (left panel), Kanyārāma-Lokanātha in Rāḍha (center panel), folio 127r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135)  92 3-7 Ms B2: AsP, NS 191 (1071 CE)  100 3-8 Abhayapaṇī subduing Rāhu in the Great Ocean, folio 34r, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE  102

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3-9 Four-armed Cundā in a rocky setting, folio 178v, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE  102 3-10 Avalokiteśvara in a Bengali hut-like shrine (Campitalā-Lokanātha in Samataṭa), folio 417r, Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā (PvP) sūtra Ms (Ms B3), ca. 1100  105 3-11 Campitalā-Lokanātha in Samataṭa, left panel, folio 96r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE  105 3-12 Avalokiteśvara paying homage to a stūpa, folio 111r, PvP Ms (Ms B4), ca. early 12th century  107 3-13 Preaching Buddha supported by elephants, folio 351v, bodhisattva riding an elephant, folio 361r, PvP Ms (Ms B4), ca. early 12th century  107 4-1 Folios 163v and 164r, AsP Ms (Ms C4), Gopāla’s 15th regnal year (ca. 1147 CE), Vikramaśīla monastery  114 4-2 The donor, Vijayakīrti (left) and the dharmabhāṇaka, Kanakamunijāgeśvara (right), center section, full page depiction of the monks of Nālandā, AsP Ms (Ms C1), Rāmapāla 37th year (ca. 1114 CE)  119 4-3 Ms C4: AsP, Gopāla’s 15th year (ca. 1147 CE)  129 4-4 Maitreya, folio 20r, left panel, Pañcarakṣā Ms (Ms D1), Nayapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1042 CE)  135 4-5 Ms D1: Diagram showing the mandalic relationship between the panels, Pañcarakṣā, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1042 CE)  138 4-6 Vajrapāṇi, folio 92v, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE)  141 4-7 Ms D2: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE)  142 4-8 Preaching Buddha and Ānanda relegating the teaching, folios 187v–188r, center panels, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE)  143  

4-9 Folios 92v–93v, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE)  145  

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4-10 Uṣṇīṣavijayā maṇḍala, with the dhāraṇī written in gold on blue, painted wooden panels, ca. early 13th century, Tangut state of Xi-Xia, Khara-Khoto  147 5-1 Vajrasattva and Vajradhātvīśvarī-Mārīcī, folios 89v–90r center panels, AsP Ms (Ms D3), Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE)  152  

5-2 Ms D3: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE)  154 5-3 Ms D4: AsP Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE)  160 5-4 Sadāprarudita’s self-mutilation, merchant’s daughter and Indra in disguise as a Brahman, folio 204v, left panel, AsP Ms (Ms D4), Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE)  163 5-5 Ms D5: AsP, Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE?)  171 5-6 Illustrated folios (1v–2r, 101v–102r, 203v–204r), AsP Ms (Ms D6), Govindapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE)  175  

 

 

5-7 Illustrated folios (1v–2r, 109v–110r, 228v–229r), AsP Ms, Govindapāla’s 30th year or earlier (ca. 1205 CE; late 12th or early 13th century)  181  

 

 

5-8 Illustrated folios and painted interior of book covers, AsP Ms (Ms D8), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE)  188 5-9 Sambara, folio 106v, and Vajravārāhī, folio 107r, left panels, AsP Ms (Ms D9), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE)  195 5-10 Ms D10: AsP, Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE)  198 5-11 Vajravārāhī, folio 142r, center panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE)  201 5-12 Hevajra, folio 141v, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE)  204 5-13 Kālacakra, second last folio, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE)  205 6-1 Preaching Maitreya with the scribe/the ritual master, Svameśvara, and the donor, Rāmajīva, AsP Ms (Ms A3), folio 184r, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE), Nālandā monastery, Bihar  214 6-2 Changes in patronage pattern between the 11th century and the 12th– 13th centuries  228  

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6-3 Monk doing a pūjā, folio 70r, Pañcarakṣā manuscript (Ms D1), Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE)  229 6-4 Examples of chapter-ending marks in 12th-century Nālandā manuscripts  236 6-5 Donor Rāmadeva and a monk worshipping a book, folio 560r, PvP Ms, ca. 1100 CE (Harivarman’s 8th year)  239 6-6 Historical trend of production pattern  252 6-7 Folios from the Guhyasamāja  255 6-8 Unfinished panel depicting bodhisattva (Avalokiteṣvara), folio 43v, AsP Ms, ca. late 12th century  258 7-1 Vajracārya priests reciting different sections of the manuscript simultaneously, Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.  274 7-2 First two folios of the AsP ms, originally prepared in NS 345 (1225 CE), restored with late 20th-century paintings, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.  278 7-3 A golden box donated in NS 948 (1828 CE) and a gold-plated throne donated in NS 1020 (1900 CE) made for the 13th century Prajñāpāramitā manuscript, Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.  283

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List of Figures and diagrams Online

Images are provided at www.ucpress.edu.

Figur es

1-1 Monk holding a book, detail of the Mahāmāyūrī panel, Cave 10, Ellora, ca. 7th century. Photo by author. 1-2 Scene depicting a pustaka pūjā (worship of a book), donors on the left and a priest on the right, detail of the Prajñāpāramitā stele, Mangalpur, Orissa, ca. 11th century. Orissa State Museum. Photo by author. 2-1 Folio 1v–folio 2r, AsP Ms (Ms A1), Mahīpāla’s 6th year (ca. 983 CE), Nālandā monastery, Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.4713. Photo by author.  

2-2 “Prayer wheel” outside the entrance to the main temple, Wanla monastery, Ladakh, ca. 19th–20th century(?). Photo by author.  

2-3 Sculpted cover of an AsP Ms in worship during restoration of the manuscript, Patan, Nepal. July 19, 2004. Photo by author. 2-4 Vajra Tārā lotus maṇḍala, Chandipur near Pātharghāta in Bhagalpur district, Bihar, ca. 12th century. Bronze. Indian Museum, Kolkata. Photo by author.



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3-1 Buddha’s life scenes, Tārā and Avalokiteśvara, folios 207v–208r, AsP Ms (Ms A6), ca. mid-11th century, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043– 1069 CE), Wellcome Library (Sansk ε 1).  

 

3-2 Mañjuśrī, center panel folio 2r, AsP Ms (Ms A4), Gopāla IV’s 8th year (ca. 1140 CE), Nālandā. Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund, 1987.1. Image courtesy of Asia Society Museum. 3-3 Avalokiteśvara on Mt. Kuṭa in Gandhara (left panel) and Vajrapāṇi of Maṅgakoṣṭa in Oḍḍiyana, Swat valley (right panel), folio 89r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135). Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. 3-4 Tārā of Vaiśālī in Tirabhukti, left panel, folio 157v, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library. 3-5 Tārā in Potalaka (caption: potalake-bhagavatītārā), folio 113r, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE (NS 191), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15. Photo by author. 3-6 Sitātapatra (caption: sitātapatrabhaṭṭārakaḥ), folio 168r, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE (NS 191), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15. Photo by author. 3-7 Twelve-armed Avalokiteśvara (Lokanātha of Tulakṣetra in Varendra?), folio 267v, Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā (PvP) sūtra Ms (Ms B3), ca. 1100 CE (Harivarman’s 8th year). Baroda Picture Gallery and Museum. Photo by author. 3-8 Buddha worshipped by four elephants (Gandhavatī Kalasavarapura?), folio 368r, PvP Ms (Ms B3), ca. 1100 CE (Harivarman’s 8th year). Baroda Picture Gallery and Museum. Photo by author. 4-1 White dot with a vague sign of a letter on the reverse side of Mahāmāyūrī panel, folio 88r, Pañcarakṣā Ms (Ms C2), dated 1135 CE (NS 255). Edwin Binney 3rd Collection. The San Diego Museum of Art, 1990.156 http://www.SDMArt.org. 4-2 Bodhisattva Dharmodgata preaching the Prajñāpāramitā (top, folio 295v), Sadāprarudita and merchant’s daughter paying homage to the

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List of F igu r es a n d di agr a ms On li n e

Prajñāpāramitā (bottom, folio 296r), AsP Ms (Ms C3), dated ca. 1148 CE (NS 268). Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.4203. Photo by author. 4-3 Mahāśītavatī and Amoghasiddhi, folios 70v–71r, Pañcarakṣā Ms (Ms C6), Govindapāla’s 16th year (ca. 1191 CE). National Archive, Kathmandu Acc. No. 5.83. Photo by author.  

4-4 Six bodhisattvas, folios 63v–64r, Pañcarakṣā Ms, Madanapāla’s 13th regnal year (ca. 1156 CE). Museum Rietberg, Zurich, Gift of Fritz and Monika von Schulthess.  

5-1 Folios 1v–2r, AsP Ms (Ms D3), Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE), Victoria and Albert Museum IS4.1958-IS5.1958. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  

5-2 Illustrated folios (from top to bottom: 95r, 206r, 1v, 94v, 2r, 205v) of the AsP Ms (Ms D4), Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Acc. 20.589. Photograph © 2013 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. 5-3 Virupa, central Tibet (Sakya monastery), consecrated by Sakya Paṇḍita (ca. 1182–1251 CE), the Kronos Collection.  

5-4 Illustrated folios (1v–2r, 107r–106v, 222r–221v; note that 107r– 106v and 222r–221v are switched in their order.), AsP Ms (Ms D9), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Asiatic Society, Mumbai, Acc. No. I-210. Photo by author.  

 

 

 

 

5-5 Vajra Tārā, folio 222r, center panel, AsP Ms (Ms D9), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Asiatic Society, Mumbai, Acc. No. I-210. Photo by author. 5-6 Folios 1v–2r, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi. Photo by author.  

5-7 Folios 141v–142r, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi. Photo by author.  

5-8 Sambara, folio 141v, center panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi. Photo by author. 5-9 Last two folios, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi. Photo by author.

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6-1 Jewel-giving (Cintāmaṇi) Avalokiteśvara with devotees, folio 139v, end of chapter 15, AsP Ms, late 12th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift 2001. (2001.445l). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Source: http://www.metmuseum.org/. 6-2 Jewel-giving (Cintāmaṇi) Tārā with devotees, folio 140r, AsP Ms, late 12th century. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift 2001 (2001.445i). Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 6-3 Unfinished panels depicting Buddha (top) and Prajñāpāramitā (bottom), folios 1v–2r, AsP Ms, ca. late 12th century, Kaiser Library, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 9.102. Photo by author.  

6-4 Unfinished panels depicting bodhisattvas, folios 29v–30r, AsP Ms, ca. late 12th century, Kaiser Library, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 9.102. Photo by author.  

6-5 Sambara panel, last folio of an AsP Ms, prepared by ācārya Prajñābala, Govindapāla’s 18th year (ca. 1193 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.9989A. Photo by author. 7-1 Paying homage to the book prior to the beginning of the ritual, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004. Photo by author. 7-2 Main priest Cakra Raj Bajracharya (Vajrācārya), Min Bahadur Shakya (patron, jajmān), and the book on its throne-like seat in front of the main priest with offerings and ritual implements, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004. Photo by author. 7-3 Vajrācāryas gathered to restore the Prajñāpāramitā manuscript, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, July 19, 2004. Photo by author. 7-4 Folios 127v–128r with original 13th-century painted panels, AsP Ms, NS 345 (1235 CE), Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal. Photo by author.  

7-5 Folios 296v–297r with painted panels added during the 20th century, folio 297r shows more severe damage and restoration on the folio, AsP Ms, NS 345 (1235 CE), Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal. Photo by author.  

7-6 A 9th–10th-century image of bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara with signs of worship, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal. Photo by author.  

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List of F igu r es a n d di agr a ms On li n e

7-7 Front part of the lineage deity shrine in the center of the courtyard with sculptural and decorative additions from different times, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal. Photo by author.

Diagrams

2-1 Structure of an AsP manuscript (Group A). 3-1 Ms A4: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s 15th year (ca. 1058 CE) and Gopāla IV’s 8th year (ca. 1140 CE), Asia Society, New York. 3-2 Ms A5: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 5th year (ca. 1074 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1464. 3-3 Ms B1: AsP, NS 135 (1015 CE) during the joint rule of Bhojadeva, Rudradeva, and Lakṣmīkāmadeva, restored in NS 259 (1139 CE) during the reign of Mānadeva, Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. 4-1 Ms D1: Pañcarakṣā sūtra, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1042 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688. 5-1 Ms D7: AsP, Govindapāla’s 30th year or earlier (ca. 1205 CE; late 12th or early 13th century), British Library, Or. 14282. 5-2 Ms D8: AsP, Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Musée Guimet, Paris, MA 5161, formerly Fournier Collection. 5-3 Ms D9: AsP, Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Asiatic Society, Mumbai, BI-210. 5-4 Ms D10: AsP, Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University.

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Introduction Text, Image, and the Book Therefore then, Ānanda, aspirants to awakening [i.e., followers of the Mahāyāna], aspirants to what is great who want to obtain the knowledge of an omniscient [i.e., a Buddha] must practice in this Perfection of Wisdom. This Perfection of Wisdom must be heard, taken up, preserved, recited [or read], mastered, taught [or displayed], exhibited, declared, repeated, copied, and after it has been well written in a great book (mahāpustaka) with very clear letters through the sustaining power of the Tathāgata [i.e., the Buddha] it must be honored, treated as Guru, highly esteemed, worshipped, adored, venerated with flowers, incense, perfumes, garlands, unguents, aromatic powders, clothes, music, covers, umbrellas, flags, bells, banners, and garlands of lamps all around with many forms of worship. This, Ānanda, is our direct instruction.1 —Buddha’s instruction to Ānanda, Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom) sūtra, chapter 32

 

This book is an art historical and material cultural study of the Buddhist book cult in South Asia, whose adherents consider a book not only a text but also a sacred object of worship. The core materials examined in this study are illustrated Buddhist manuscripts prepared during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries in the ancient regions of Magadha, Aṅga, Varendra (Gauḍa), Vaṅga, and Samataṭa (present-day Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh; see map 3–1). During this period of late Indian Buddhism, books containing important Mahāyāna sūtras, especially the Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom) sūtra, were produced in abundance, some with beautiful paintings. The cult of the book (Sanskrit, pustaka), the core idea for which dates to the inception of Mahāyāna Buddhism during the early centuries of our Common Era, witnessed its heyday during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, when Tantric or Esoteric strands of Buddhism were in full bloom in the region. At the heart of this age-old cultic practice, which still contin 



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ues today in Nepal, lies the book, a physical object that we can touch, carry, open and close, read, use, and even worship.2 Worship of a book is not unique to the Buddhist tradition. Other world religions, especially Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the so-called religions of the book, put much emphasis on their respective scriptures—the Torah, the Bible, and the Qur’an—as sacred objects. In Sikhism, another Indic religion, the book, the Guru-Granth, is the central focus of worship and the ultimate teacher. In Jainism, too, the books are treated as sacred and ritually worshipped in jñānapūjā. What may be unique to the Buddhist tradition is that in the long history of the Buddhist book cult in South Asia, an individual, physical book has survived in worship for over eight hundred years (fig. 0–1). This study investigates the ways in which Buddhist books were constructed and maintained as sacred objects in medieval South Asia and locates them in their historical context. In particular, I consider the mutually reinforcing roles of text, image, and book as the major impetus behind the longevity of the book cult in South Asia. The book’s objecthood, that is to say, its nature as a three-dimensional object that can be animated by various means, is one of the primary concerns of this study. That one can animate a book is not just a rhetorical proposal. A book’s inherent function is to be read, and the act of reading requires both the physical handling of a book and the turning of its pages by the reader. The simple act of going from one page to the next involves sound and motion. In a ritual context, for example in recitation, the accompanying sound can amplify the motions involved in the use of the book. When a book is not bound as a codex (the format used for modern books with the pages more or less permanently bound together) but is made in pothi format (which allows for separation of the individual leaves), the possibility for movement increases considerably. Moreover, the spatial limits of a book in pothi format are rather fluid. A book in traditional pothi format, like those from ancient and medieval India, was made from birch bark or palm leaves cut to a uniform shape and size, often in long rectangular folios. Once the scribing and illustrating were completed, the folios were bound with a cord or metal sticks through one or two holes in each folio and often enclosed between two wooden end boards. While a book in codex format is confined to the physical limits set by its binding, a book in pothi format enjoys a certain  

 

 

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Figure 0-1  A 13th-century manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra taken out for ritual worship, Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, Kwā Bāhā (Golden Temple), Patan, Nepal. June 30, 2004.

fluidity and flexibility in its physical dimensions, allowing for a greater range of uses (fig. 0–2), just as a sari is a loose garment that fits almost any body type. Using a book of this type involves a lot of active motions. As a user opens a palm-leaf manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom sūtra, unfolding its cloth wrapper and untying the cord or pulling the metal rods out of their holes, she can pick up and put the wooden end board to the side and lift the first folio from the stack of two to three hundred folios. Flipping it horizontally, she reveals the text that runs from left to right on the two open pages—the verso of the first folio and the recto of the second folio—as well as any illustrated panels if the manuscript was commissioned with paintings. This action is repeated with subsequent folios, and if the user has been careful about putting the folios down neatly, she will have two stacks of equal height in front of her when the middle of the text has been reached. But a user can also divide the text into sections and put them into separate stacks, or remove a single folio for special study. The fluidity in the structure thus means that it  

 

 

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Figure 0-2  A 12th-century illustrated manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra (AsP) laid out during research, National Archive, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 5.196. July 5, 2004.

Figure 0-3  Jain monk instructing a princely figure with a book, a folio from a Kalpasūtra Ms, ca. 1300. Edwin Binney 3rd Collection. The San Diego Museum of Art, 1990.179.

is easy to deconstruct and reconstruct a book. This is demonstrated in a thirteenth-century painting from a Kalpasūtra manuscript in which a Jain monk, instructing a princely figure, holds a folio in his right hand while the rest of the book remains on a book stand (fig. 0–3).3  

A Book That Does Wonders

A book is a semiotically interesting object, as it foregrounds “the oxymoron of the sign.”4 A book is simultaneously content (text) and form (object) and thus embodies the classic tension between idea and material. When we talk about a book, we are often concerned with the book as idea, not as material. In this age of digital texts and electronic books, a book’s materiality may soon become an obsolete concern for many of us, and it may seem that the book as idea is ultimately prevailing over its materiality. But the invention of digital reading devices such as the Kindle and the iPad also suggests that a book’s material aspect will not disappear easily. What all the digital readers have in common with a traditional book is the fundamental function of the book as a vessel or container of content (i.e., text). Like traditional books, they are compact and portable, yet they can contain hundreds of texts or e-books at once. Using digital books may seem to diminish the kinds of physical interactions hitherto typical of book use, but the introduction of a touch-sensitive product like the iPad ensures that our interaction with a book remains as tactile and “real” as possible. The concept of a book as an application, or app, designed for an electronic device in fact introduces the possibility of truly interactive books, as seen in the “Alice in Wonderland” app, a virtual storybook that translates physical inputs by the user into visual responses: Tilt your iPad to make Alice grow big as a house, or shrink to just six inches tall. . . . Throw darts at the Queen of Hearts—they realistically bounce off her. Witness the Cheshire Cat disappear, and help the Caterpillar smoke his hookah pipe. . . . Watch as full screen physics modeling brings illustrations to life.5  

Here a “book” becomes a magical, wonder-working device. Although not as interactive as a virtual storybook of Alice in Wonderland, books that

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are perhaps just as magical and wondrous are mentioned in an eighteenthcentury Tibetan account of the manuscripts made at Nālandā, a famous Buddhist monastery in Bihar (eastern India): In Ratnōdadhi, which was nine-storied, there were the sacred scripts called Prajñāpāramita-sūtra, and Tantric works such as Guhyasamāja, etc. After the Turushka raiders had made incursions in Nālandā, the temples and Chaityas there were repaired by a sage named Mudita Bhadra. Soon after this, Kukuṭasiddha, minister of the king of Magadha, erected a temple at Nālandā, and while a religious sermon was being delivered there, two very indigent Tīrthika mendicants appeared. Some naughty young novice-monks in disdain threw washingwater on them. This made them very angry. After propitiating the sun god for twelve years, they performed a yajña, fire-sacrifice, and threw living embers and ashes from the sacrificial pit into Buddhist temples, etc. This produced a great conflagration which consumed Ratnōdadhi. When all of them were ablaze, streams of water gushed forth [i.e., miraculously] from the Prajñapāramitā [manuscript of the great Mahāyānist sūtra] and the Guhyasamāja [manuscript of a Tantric work] from the ninth storey of the Ratnōdadhi temple and many pothis [manuscripts] were saved.6

This fascinating account of a grand library building called Ratnōdadhi (lit. “ocean of jewels”) at Nālandā shows how books of certain Buddhist scriptures were considered so powerful and miraculous that they could spurt water to save other books from being consumed by fire. These manuscripts did not need any human input. They were like automated water sprinklers gushing water out to extinguish fire and thus saving the contents of the library. The historical origin of this account is unknown, but the Buddhist book cult in South Asia was indeed based on the idea of the book as an object possessing sacred power. The illustrated manuscripts examined in this study testify to the sacred and magical potential of the book because in the medieval South Asian Buddhist context, illustrating a manuscript charged it with divine power and made it a suitable tool for the spiritual transformation of medieval Buddhist practitioners. While the earliest mode of illustrating manuscripts in eastern Indian Buddhist monasteries was to construct a book like a stūpa, the most

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ancient symbol of the Buddha, some manuscript makers took a more creative approach and designed a book as a three-dimensional maṇḍala (lit. “circle”; a sacred diagram often used for meditation). In the latter, the makers took full advantage of the three-dimensionality of the book as object and of the movement inherent in a book’s function by lining up deities in a hierarchical and systematic order to be revealed as a user went through the leaves of the book. If such a book was used in a ritual practice in which a practitioner would recite the text, flip the folios, and visualize the images in three-dimensional form in his mind, the experience may have been similar to that invoked by the three-dimensional interactive book installation Without a Special Object of Worship, realized in 1994 by artist Jacquelyn Martino.7 Thus, I use the metaphor of moving pictures as a fitting analogy throughout my analysis of the iconographic programs to emphasize this aspect of performance in handling a book and the resulting animation of the text and the images. Although it is anachronistic, I also employ the analogy of Internet and hypertext, using terms like hyperlink to emphasize the fluidity of structure and the flexibility of space in a Buddhist manuscript.8 By doing so, I aim to position Buddhist book design in medieval South Asia as comparable to technological innovations of the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries. In an object that is often no bigger than 22 inches by 2 inches by 3 inches, the medieval book makers managed to contain the Buddha’s teaching written in beautiful letters and the Buddha’s physical presence in the visual depictions of moments from his life. In addition, they often conveyed an array of divinities forming a maṇḍala, and sometimes even the entire universe of Buddhist sacred sites known to them. The Buddhist book cult is not just about the materiality of a book. A book in worship, a narrow, rectangular object frequently depicted on a pedestal in sculptures and paintings, does not seem to have any functional value as a text. However, the illustrated manuscripts made in the context of the Buddhist book cult are not pure objects, at least not in the sense of an object that “abandons the realm of use value and enters an ornamental realm of exchange value.”9 The book’s cultic value is very much rooted in its textual content. A manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra is a sacred object precisely because it is the text of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra spoken by the Buddha. While I put the visual

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material at the core of our reading experience as I analyze the iconographic program of each book, the text is not just a beautiful backdrop, a sea of letters, but the matter that substantiates the sacred structure that is being read. Moreover, as an object used in ritual worship and practice, the Buddhist book is never outside the realm of use value. Although it is often assumed that illustrated manuscripts were crafted to earn religious merit (puṇya) and were stored away and never meant to be read, traces of physical use on the body of each manuscript— copyediting marks, fingerprints, drops of sandalwood paste and vermillion powder on both the folios and the book covers—suggest otherwise. The post colophons on a twelfth-century manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā (Five Protectresses) sūtra, for instance, demonstrate that this book was taken out again and again by generations of users for the ritual worship of the goddesses residing within its leaves.10 The invocation of these goddesses often involved reading the text of the sūtra. The application of vermillion powder dots on the foreheads of the five goddesses in another twelfth-century Pañcarakṣā manuscript suggests that the images of the goddesses were considered to embody the divine presence. In other words, an illustrated Buddhist manuscript is more than a material container for text and images in the Buddhist book cult in South Asia: it is a sacred space, a temple in microcosm, not only imbued with divine presence but also layered with the memories of many generations of users. But in one notable instance, the materiality of the book has prevailed. Rahula Sāṅkṛtyāyana, an Indian pandit who visited Tibetan monasteries in the early 1930s in search of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts, reports a story about a Tibetan Buddhist monk who dispensed chopped fragments of palm-leaf manuscripts to the richest devotees as medicines of miraculous healing power.11 Like the legendary water-spouting books of the Nālandā monastery, here the book as material object performs wonders: even a drop of water in which a book’s smallest material fragment had been dipped could heal the sick. Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s report does not tell us which Buddhist text the healing fragments came from, but from his appalled reaction to the “atrocious” treatment of the manuscripts, we may speculate that some of them were old Sanskrit palm-leaf manuscripts.12 A skeptic may point out that this was just a trick played on ignorant devotees by an enterprising monk, but the story makes  

 

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clear that there is something special about the Buddhist book as object that a blank sheet of paper cannot replicate. That efficacy stems from the book’s inherent textuality.

Text and Image

Among the thousands of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts prepared in medieval South Asia, the manuscripts of three Mahāyāna sūtras, the Karaṇḍavyūha, the Pañcarakṣā, and the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras, were often chosen for illustration.13 The Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, mentioned in the Tibetan account of Nālandā’s library, seems to have been the central focus of the book cult in medieval Indian Buddhist context. Among the thirty-five dated illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from Bihar and Bengal examined in this study, twenty-five are of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, and all of these but one are the version known as the AṣṭasāhasrikāPrajñāpāramitā sūtra (Prajñāpāramitā sūtra in Eight Thousand Verses, henceforth AsP). According to the AsP, a person gains more merit by copying, reciting, illuminating, honoring, and worshipping the Prajñāpāramitā text than by making thousands of stūpas filling the entire Jambudvīpa (lit. “land of the Jambu tree”; the Indian subcontinent).14 It is curious that the AsP was the most favored text for making illustrated manuscripts during the period when Tantric Buddhism was in full bloom, for the core of this sūtra dates all the way back to the first century of the Common Era. If the later Tibetan accounts of Indian Buddhism are a reliable indication of the status of texts in eleventh- and twelfthcentury Buddhist India, then we can conclude that the Prajñāpāramitā and the Tantra, such as the Guhyasāmaja tantra and even the Kālacakra tantra, were held in equal esteem. The AsP text provides the fundamental basis for the doctrinal aspect of the Great Tradition of Mahāyāna, on which the philosophical foundation of what is categorized as Vajrayāna or Tantric Buddhism lies.15 There exist at least six Chinese translations of the AsP of varying dates, evidence that the text did not remain static over time. It is within the context of developing Tantric Buddhist schools in India that we find the renewed interest in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and the emergence of the medieval Buddhist cult of the book in which a book is not just a symbol of knowledge and authority but also a central object of worship, often serving as a great vehicle for

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the achievement of Tantric ritual means. The existence of carefully designed book-maṇḍalas from the twelfth century in which powerful Tantric Buddhist deities are aligned in a systematic manner also suggests that the paintings could transform the Mahāyāna text into the cultic object of the Vajrayāna schools, in essence realizing new interpretations of older doctrinal values through visual means. The popularity of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra for the production of illustrated manuscripts is also an unexpected phenomenon when we think about the images in relation to the text. The Prajñāpāramitā sūtra would seem to be a very difficult text to render visually, because of its highly metaphysical content, summarized in the famous axiom “Form is empty, emptiness is form.” Indeed, the images in the painted panels of the Prajñāpāramitā manuscripts seem to have little connection to the text. For example, among the most common subjects depicted in the AsP manuscripts are scenes from the life of the Buddha, even though the story of the Buddha’s life is not recounted in the AsP text. More puzzling perhaps are images that appear in the reverse direction to the text. This seeming lack of coordination between text and images underlies the prevailing interpretation that the images were included only for the sake of increasing religious merit and that they have nothing to do with the text. But when considered within the context of the book cult, the images do much more than increase a donor’s religious merit. The images make the book more wondrous and powerful and increase the book’s cultic value. It is through the systematic placement of certain types of images that a book becomes a suitable object of worship for the Buddhists in medieval South Asia. The images define and determine the book’s cultic efficacy, whether as a relic-container comparable to a stūpa, as a three-dimensional map of the Buddhist sacred sites, as a physical symbol of the text, or as a book-maṇḍala. In a more rhetorical sense, we may even suggest that the lack of relationship between the text and the images may be read as a clever visual pun on the text’s paradoxical main thesis, which on the one hand argues for the emptiness (śūnyatā) of the phenomenal world while on the other hand arguing for the worship of a material object, that is, the text.16 It is certainly clear that the book’s dual, paradoxical strategy for its own survival and proliferation has been successful, since some books still

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remain in worship and many are well cared for, while others are treasured for their artistic value.

Genealogy of Illustrated M anuscripts

The illustrated manuscripts analyzed in this study are dispersed in libraries and museums in Britain, Ireland, India, Nepal, and the United States. Over the course of ten years of research, I have examined roughly over 220 Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts from eastern India and Nepal, some of which survive only in fragments in the form of illustrated folios scattered around different collections. Only about half of these manuscripts belong to the medieval period of the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries concerned here. I do not claim to cover all the surviving illustrated Buddhist manuscripts prepared in medieval South Asia in this study, partly because the number of such manuscripts will be close to a hundred examples or more. Most manuscripts analyzed in detail in this study are those that I could physically examine in person, for a methodological reason. I consider each manuscript like an archaeological site, in which one finds layers of traces of use and whose structure guides our interpretations.17 At the outset, I acknowledge that my own narrative is a historical construct of the early twenty-first century. It is my contention that our present attempts to understand the past can in certain ways be helped more by historical imagination than by historical truism. If every one of the hundreds of manuscripts written and illustrated at the Nālandā monastery during the two hundred years concerned in this study survived and were available for study, the story told might be different. I have worked with only seven manuscripts from Nālandā, one of which has only four surviving illustrated folios. Yet each of these seven manuscripts has much to tell about the people who made and used them. Some have valuable colophons that identify the makers, patrons, or users; others contain physical traces left by previous users. Some of these traces are visible only on microfilm or digital copies of the manuscripts; some can be found only when a researcher handles a manuscript as it was used many times in the past.18 When we start weaving these pieces of evidence together, we can discern patterns of production and use that illuminate actual human experience with

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these illustrated manuscripts and the Buddhist book cult, histories that may not be recorded in any surviving textual sources. While my interest in the materiality of the book as object frames this study, this is ultimately an art historical study of illustrated manuscripts. The majority of the paintings I analyze are miniature in size, most measuring 2 inches by 2 inches, and high-resolution digital images were extremely helpful in the study of certain details. But a researcher cannot hope to uncover the full story of a manuscript through digital and print reproductions alone. The object under study, a book, has a structure that can be two-dimensional and three-dimensional simultaneously, and in fact requires a four-dimensional approach, encompassing the elements of time and movement, to fully appreciate its structure and value. As suggested above, the paintings in a Buddhist manuscript are like paintings and sculptures in a temple, and they survive within a constructed environment. Viewed in this context, the paintings can elucidate the mechanisms and goals of Indian Buddhist sacred structures, many of which are in ruins, and the role of images in medieval Indian Buddhist practices. They not only form a bridge between the famed murals of Ajanta and later Indian manuscript paintings, but when understood in the context of the book, Buddhist manuscript paintings also provide the missing link for understanding Buddhist thangka paintings as well as other artistic productions from the period of phyi-dar (the second or later transmission of Buddhist teaching to Tibet) in central Tibet and beyond. The iconographic programs in these manuscripts further help us understand some of the idiosyncratic iconographic choices made in early Tibetan paintings. Based on a close investigation of the formal relationships between the images and of their relation to the text and the book, I argue that practical concerns— the availability of space, the compositional balance, the context of the text, and the needs and means of the donors—govern the iconographic choices and overall programming as much as, if not more than, ritual manuals such as the Sādhanamālā and the Niṣpannayogāvali. While I emphasize the connection with Tibet in understanding the Buddhist book cult in medieval India, for example the impact of phyidar in sparking the interest in illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, my research mainly follows the developmental trajectory of the Buddhist book cult in Nepal. There are two reasons for this, one related to the  

 

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accessibility of the manuscripts and the other related to the sociohistorical characteristics of the Buddhist book cult in medieval India. Many historical factors have conditioned the accessibility and availability of the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from South Asia, including the colonial practice of collecting Buddhist knowledge and major political events in the region. Persian and Tibetan sources report the violent destruction of monastic centers by the Islamic army of Muhammad Bakhtiyar circa 1193 CE, and despite the wishful eighteenth-century accounts of libraries magically saved by water-gushing manuscripts, countless Buddhist manuscripts were lost as a result.19 But while not literally emitting water, the Prajñāpāramitā manuscripts, especially those containing illustrations, did in fact contribute to the survival of Buddhist manuscripts from Indian monasteries. As portable objects, the illustrated manuscripts could easily be taken on long journeys. Thanks to the monks and lay pilgrims who transported them from eastern India to the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal and the Ü and Tsang regions of central Tibet, Buddhist manuscripts prepared in medieval India survived for another thousand years. The demands for illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from these Himalayan visitors seem to have contributed to the increased production of illustrated manuscripts in India. A beautifully made copy of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra was sure to become a treasured and sacred object in the community that received it. Many manuscripts were steadily transported in this manner during the two centuries of their production. Some were whisked from their homes during the final days of the monasteries, when news of the approaching Islamic army forced devotees to take flight. It is not difficult to imagine a Buddhist monk or lay caretaker grabbing a cherished copy of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra from the Khasarpana temple in Nālandā before seeking refuge for himself and the book.20 The manuscripts that survived in Nepal were the first to be introduced to the West. Brian Houghton Hodgson, the British Resident at the Kingdom of Nepal, inaugurated the field of Sanskrit Buddhist manuscript study with his “Sketch of Buddhism, derived from the Bauddha Scriptures of Nipal,” published in August 1828 and by presenting the manuscripts he had procured to the Royal Asiatic Society of London in 1835 and 1836.21 Early scholars like Cecil Bendall and Daniel Wright noted the existence of pictures in these manuscripts. In addition to the

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“brilliantly coloured” paintings, Wright also writes about marks of worship on the wooden covers: “they are covered with small hard cakes or lumps of rice, sandalwood dust, and red and yellow pigments, used by the natives in ‘doing pūjā.’ ”22 Yet the paintings in these manuscripts and the ritual use of the book were not taken seriously at this early stage in the study of Buddhist manuscripts. The Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts surviving in the Buddhist monasteries of Tibet came to the notice of the West almost a century after the introduction of the Sanskrit manuscripts from Nepal. This was due in part to Tibet’s remote location and to its role as a buffer zone between colonial powers and Qing China. Indian pandits of the early twentieth century, like Sāṅkṛtyāyana mentioned above, report the existence of many Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts in Tibetan monasteries, and Giuseppe Tucci, who visited Tibetan monasteries in 1939, returned there in 1946 to photograph many of these manuscripts.23 From Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s report and accompanying photographs we know that a number of illustrated Sanskrit manuscripts of Nepalese and Indian origin were in the collections of Tibetan monasteries. But following the Chinese Cultural Revolution, individual folios with illustrations started to leave Tibet, prompted in part by the demand from Western art markets.24 Because the manuscripts’ format allows for easy deconstruction, illustrated folios could be removed without causing much scandalous physical damage to the book. It is within this historical and political context that many individual folios from Buddhist manuscripts came to the West as art objects.25 A few illustrated manuscripts from India now in the Tibet Autonomous Region have been published and have traveled to the West, and these precious examples are included in my analysis. The sociohistorical characteristics of the Buddhist book cult as practiced in medieval India and the similarity in the patterns of illustrated manuscript production in India and Nepal provide more important reasons for framing my historical narrative around the later Nepalese practice of the Buddhist book cult. First of all, the patronage of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in the twelfth century affirms David Gellner’s observation that Newar Buddhism as it is practiced today may be “a direct lineal descendent of the Mahayana and Vajrayāna Buddhism in north India.”26 While many illustrated Buddhist manuscripts were pre-

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pared in Buddhist monasteries in India, the most prominent of which was Nālandā, patronage patterns suggest that the Buddhist book cult in medieval India was largely a lay-based cult. As a recent study by Gregory Schopen suggests, the Mahāyāna cult of the book seems to have begun as a lay-oriented practice,27 and when illustrated manuscripts were introduced to the “market” of religious piety towards the end of the first millennium, the laity, both male and female, remained the strongest proponents of this practice, while monastic interest in these manuscripts was limited to visitors from the outside. During the twelfth century, an important lay donor group that I designate as “lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners” emerged, and their manuscripts were commissioned with complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography. In this group, we find married householder Buddhist practitioners, some of whom may have been lay Buddhist masters (gṛhasthācārya)28 comparable to the married householder monks/Tantric priests (vajrācāryas) of Newar Buddhism.29 In addition to the sociohistorical connection, the business of illustrating manuscripts took off in Nepal almost contemporaneously with the beginning of this practice in India. One unique iconographic scheme for illustrating manuscripts was developed in eleventh-century Nepal and later emulated in India. From the beginning of the twelfth century, the iconographic scheme for illustrating Buddhist manuscripts in Nepal becomes more or less standardized and simplified to render a book as a physical and visual symbol of the text, a mode also employed in some Indian manuscripts. I have included a few Nepalese manuscripts in my discussion of the iconographic programs, to explain the general pattern of iconographic innovations in the design of Buddhist manuscripts in medieval South Asia, but my historical analysis of patronage and production patterns is focused mainly on dated illustrated manuscripts from Bihar and Bengal.30

Overview of the Chapters

This book is divided into three parts. Part 1, The Book, explores the core issue of this study, the materiality of a book in the Buddhist book cult in relation to the introduction of illustrated manuscripts in medieval South Asia. Chapter 1, Buddhist Books and Their Cultic Use, examines how Buddhist books were ritually used historically

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and locates the Mahāyāna Buddhist book cult in practice in medieval India. I propose that there was a renewed interest in the Prajñāpāramitā from the mid-ninth century onwards in the context of the developing Tantric Buddhist thought, and it is only after the tenth century or later that the cult of Prajñāpāramitā, both as book and as goddess, became popular and more elaborate. This chapter also explores the relationship between the Buddhist book cult and the development of the cult of the dharma relics, and locates the function and significance of the illustrated manuscripts in the larger context of the production of Buddhist sacred objects. The use of the dharma verse in the production of Buddhist manuscripts ultimately affirms the book’s status as a physical container of the Buddha’s true relic, that is, his teaching, and ultimately contributes to a book’s qualification as a Buddhist cultic object par excellence. Chapter 2, Innovations of the Medieval Buddhist Book Cult, examines the historical context behind the introduction of illustrated manuscripts at the turn of the first millennium and identifies the general developments in book design from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. I suggest that the increased interest from the Himalayan visitors (i.e., from Nepal and Tibet) provided a likely impetus for the production of illustrated manuscripts in Indian monastic centers. While the idea behind illustrating text folios may have originated elsewhere, possibly in Central Asia or even further east, the format of illustrating a palm-leaf folio was firmly rooted in the indigenous tradition of constructing sacred structures. I also discuss the iconographic programs of illustrated manuscripts as strategies developed to make a book a more effective and powerful cultic object. I divide the manuscripts into four groups: Group A manuscripts are designed like a stūpa, while Group B manuscripts are designed as a container of holy sites, like a three-dimensional pilgrim’s map. Group C manuscripts are true to their texts, and the images directly refer to the text. Group D manuscripts are designed as a three-dimensional maṇḍala. In this regard, I emphasize the three-dimensional book’s potential for animation and compare it to other Buddhist sacred objects, such as paṭa paintings and lotus maṇḍalas, which are designed to invoke the sense of movement and transformation. Part 2, Text and Image, examines the iconographic programs of illustrated manuscripts according to the parameters identified in chapter 2.

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One of the major concerns in part 2 is to understand the relationship between the text, the image, and the book. To this end, I have prepared diagrams of iconographic programs to help the reader understand the iconographic structures under discussion, and they accompany the text whenever possible in chapters 3 through 5.31 Chapter 3, Representing the Perfection of Wisdom, Embodying the Holy Sites, examines the first two groups of manuscripts. I explain how the scenes from the life of the Buddha, often seen to be unrelated to the text of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, illustrate the main message of the text when understood together as a group. When taken together with the Prajñāpāramitā deities, the Buddha’s life scenes in these manuscripts clearly articulate the intertwined relationship between the Prajñāpāramitā and enlightenment. If we consider the manner in which the illustrated panels are systematically arranged in a book, we can see how a book was designed just like a stūpa. This chapter also examines the group of manuscripts in which we see an array of illustrated panels depicting famous images and holy sites. I suggest that the seemingly random placement of many holy sites within a single manuscript can invoke a mental journey or an imagined pilgrimage to these sacred sites, thus allowing a Buddhist practitioner to roam freely beyond the spatial boundaries and physical limits of his surroundings. I contend that the rationale behind this rather haphazard yet ambitious iconographic programming is replication, which is a cultic strategy of the Buddhist book cult. We find a system of interpretive replication at play in the Indian copies of the Nepalese “prime object.” Chapters 4 and 5 investigate the iconographic programs of illustrated manuscripts in relation to Esoteric Buddhist practices. In chapter 4, The Visual World of Buddhist Book Illustrations, I discuss possible ritual uses of the illustrated manuscripts. Considering the iconographic programs in Group C manuscripts, I argue that these books could have been used for meditation, much like paṭa paintings discussed in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, with the images serving as a mnemonic device. I also analyze how a Buddhist book was constructed as a three-dimensional maṇḍala, transforming a manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra into a powerful cultic object. Chapter 5, Esoteric Buddhism and the Illustrated Manuscripts, focuses on the manuscripts that employ Esoteric Buddhist iconography. This chapter explains the rationale behind the introduction of powerful Tantric Buddhist deities of the mahāyoga and yoginī

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tantras in the iconographic programs of the AsP manuscripts. I analyze the iconographic program of each manuscript in detail and suggest how each case reflects the new interpretations of the Prajñāpāramitā, both the goddess and the text, in the context of Esoteric Buddhism. I suggest that the upside-down placement of images with respect to the text was not accidental but rather a conscious design choice made to emphasize a book’s three-dimensional nature and the movement that is necessary in its use. It is my contention that the iconographic programs of the latetwelfth- and early-thirteenth-century AsP manuscripts were designed with the same level of creativity that we see in the technological innovations of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Part 3, The People, concerns sociohistorical aspects of production of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts. In chapter 6, Social History of the Buddhist Book Cult, I examine the human agents behind the medieval Buddhist book cult—the donors, makers, and users of the illustrated manuscripts. I chart the general historical patterns for patronage and production based on a collective analysis of the colophons of thirtysix dated illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from India. The percentage of female donors is surprisingly high, indicating that the Buddhist book cult provided a channel for women’s participation in religious matters in medieval India. The involvement of monastic donors, with the exception of monks from Tibet and elsewhere, is unexpectedly low, indicating that the Buddhist book cult remained a lay-based cultic practice despite monastic production. My analysis also suggests that there is a clear esotericization of the Buddhist book cult during the twelfth century, which coincides with the increased participation by lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners in commissioning illustrated manuscripts. From the evidence of the illustrated manuscript colophons, it seems that Esoteric Buddhism, or Vajrayāna, never became part of a self-proclaimed religious identity in India, and Mahāyāna remained an umbrella term for the majority of Buddhists who participated in devotional activities. In discussing the production pattern, I examine the scribal colophons and painted representations of donors and ritual masters in manuscripts. The production pattern suggests that the monastic centers managed to control the practice of the book cult, even though it was mainly a lay-based and lay-driven cult, by remaining the dominant suppliers of illustrated manuscripts for more than a century. A  

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shift in the production pattern from monastic centers to nonmonastic, provincial sites occurred during the mid-twelfth century, a period that coincides with the esotericization of the iconographic programs. While the monastic productions remained conservative in their iconographic programs, nonmonastic productions employed highly complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography. The illustrated manuscripts prepared by non­ monastic ritual specialists during the late twelfth and early thirteenth centuries in fact demonstrate how lay Buddhists claimed and affirmed their Buddhist identity through participation in the Buddhist book cult, an age-old Mahāyāna practice, when Buddhist monastic institutions were falling apart. I suggest that the Buddhist book cult in practice, as seen through the analysis of the colophons and the iconographic programs, exemplifies how Mahāyāna Buddhism adapted to the changing religious and political conditions. I argue that many Esoteric Buddhist practices were designed to encourage lay participation in Buddhism by householders, not to drive them away. The epilogue, Invoking a Goddess in a Book, ends the book with a brief analysis of the contemporary ritual of the Prajñāpāramitā pūjā performed in Kwā Bāhā (Golden Temple) in Patan, Nepal. The ritual and the restoration carried out today not only testify to the changing yet unchanging cultic value of the book as a sacred object with great adaptability but also provide a mirror to reflect on the voices and actions of the people long lost in the body of the book. With this ethnographic account of the ritual, the study comes full circle to the question of how and why the Buddhist book cult has remained in practice for nearly two millennia.

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Part One

The Book

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1 Buddhist Books and Their Cultic Use

The Book and the Goddess

In today’s ritual worship of a Buddhist scripture performed in Kwā Bāhā, or the Golden Temple, in Patan, Nepal, a Vajrācārya priest invokes the goddess Prajñāpāramitā to come into a book (fig. 1–1). The contemporary ritual that takes place around a treasured thirteenthcentury black-paper manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses) sūtra, henceforth AsP, may not date back to the inception of the Buddhist book cult in the early centuries of our Common Era.1 But it reveals an intriguing issue regarding the relationship between the goddess and the book. In this twentieth-century version of pustaka pūjā, or the ritual worship of the book, the book serves as a vessel for the goddess to come into, and it becomes an icon of the deity throughout the ritual. There is almost a promiscuous absence of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, the personification of the famed Mahāyāna philosophical text of the same name. Of course, her presence is clearly palpable through the sound of the text recited loudly and through physical communications that occur between her and her devotees. It is her form that is absent in this ritual. As a personification of the perfected (pāramitā) wisdom (prajñā) that embodies the profound Mahāyāna concept of emptiness (śūnyatā), perhaps the absence  



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Figure 1-1  Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, the main priest (Cakra Raj Bajracharya) invoking the goddess Prajñāpāramitā into the book, Kwā Bāhā (Golden Temple), Patan, Nepal. June 30, 2004.

of her visual manifestation itself represents her presence. But why is there a book in worship instead of an image of the goddess? How can a book replace a goddess when the possibility of “darśan (the divine grace through mutual gaze or seeing the divine),”2 the most quintessential aspect of devotional practices in Indic religions, practically disappears with this replacement? We will seek answers to these questions in subsequent chapters by exploring the history of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in India. We will examine how a medieval Buddhist book was constructed as a sacred object and how its sacrality was intensified through various iconographic means and ritual interventions. Before entering the world of medieval Indian Buddhist manuscripts, understanding the historical process in which certain types of books emerged as the foremost sacred objects for Mahāyāna Buddhists will guide us to address this study’s central theme, the significance of a book as a material object. In this chapter, we will first examine how Buddhist books were used in ritual context historically and consider the nature of the Buddhist book cult in practice.

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Ritual Use of Buddhist Books

As written and material records of the Buddha’s teachings, books were important doctrinal assets for the Indian Buddhist traditions, especially for Mahāyāna Buddhists. In addition to the passages in the sūtras and vinayas, we could glance at how some of the surviving manuscripts might have been used in cultic context in ancient and medieval India by examining the visual evidence that depicts books in ritual use. Scholastic use of manuscripts is easily attested from as early as the second to third century in a Gandharan relief where we see monks holding a manuscript in their hands and discussing the contents.3 It is in the Buddhist caves of Ellora excavated during the seventh century where we find some of the earliest surviving visual evidence for cultic use of a manuscript. Here we see a manuscript being used to invoke a goddess, paralleling the contemporary Nepalese practice mentioned above. Upon entering the antechamber of Cave 6 at Ellora, we meet two impressive standing goddesses, Mahāmāyūrī and Bhṛkuṭī, flanking either end of the room. Mahāmāyūrī is clearly identifiable, thanks to the presence of a peacock (māyūr) with his fanned trains on the midleft section, right next to the goddess.4 Below the peacock sits a monk on a bench to the lower left corner. His shaven head and red monk’s robe covering only the left shoulder bear out his monastic identity (fig. 1–2). He is seated with a narrow cross-legged table in front. On top of this table lies a book, a long, narrow rectangular object, represented in a typical pothi format of birch bark and palm-leaf manuscripts. This is most likely a manuscript of the Mahāmāyūrī sūtra. What is a monk doing with a manuscript at the feet of a goddess? With his head tilted slightly downwards, the monk appears almost indifferent to the presence of the glamorous goddess. His mind is focused on the book in front of him. It is difficult to make out what he holds in his hands. It could be either an offering to the book as he worships the sūtra or a folio of the book that he lifted up from the stack in front of him while reciting it to invoke the goddess. The book on the table is visually and physically connected to the goddess as one end of the book extends to the back and meets the end of her robe draped  



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Figure 1-2  A monk with a book, detail of the Mahāmāyūrī panel, antechamber, Cave 6, Ellora, ca. early 7th century.

from her raised right arm. It is as if she has been generated from the book. As Mevissen speaks of this panel, “the monk, by virtue of his imaginative powers causes the divine energy of the text . . . to appear in his mind’s eye and materialize before him in an anthropomorphic form.”5 This panel seems to represent a process of transformation from a text to a goddess through a monk as a mediator. A simple ritual of beholding and reading a book with no elaborate ritual implement is so efficacious as to invoke an impressive protector goddess. The devotees can easily follow the monk’s activity as an exemplary model when they need the mercy of Mahāmāyūrī’s presence. Although there is no textual instruction accompanying the panel, the visual message seems quite clear: to invoke the goddess Mahāmāyūrī, one should worship and/or recite a book of the Mahāmāyūrī sūtra. The panel establishes an interesting semiotic relationship between the book and the goddess. The goddess may be a symbol of the book, but it can be vice versa. Both the book and the goddess are, in fact, signs of the text, the Mahāmāyūrī sūtra, one indexical and the other symbolic, if we are to employ Piercean terms.6 The Mahāmāyūrī sūtra is an apotropaic text in which the Buddha explains the power of Mahāmāyūrī against various disasters, including snake bites. Amoghavajra’s (705– 774) Chinese translation of the Mahāmāyūrī sūtra, Fo-mu-da-kong-qiaoming-wang-jing, which dates to the eighth century, begins with the story of a bhikṣu named Svāti (莎底) who was stung by a poisonous black snake. The snake bit his right foot and the venom quickly spread through his body. Ā nanda sees Svāti in great pain and reports the situation to the Buddha and asks what is to be done. Hearing this, the Buddha mentions the great power of the Mahāmāyūrī-buddhamatṛikavidyārājñī dhāraṇī (摩訶摩瑜利佛母明王大陀羅尼, lit. “Great dhāraṇī of Mahāmāyūrī, the Buddha mother-wisdom queen”7 ), which destroys all sorts of poison, fear, calamity, and anguish. He instructs Ā nanda to protect Svāti from calamity using this dhāraṇī.8 While the Chinese translation makes it clear that the text concerns the power of a dhāraṇī, in a later Sanskrit manuscript made in the eleventh century, the text is more ambiguous about what is signified in the epithet “mahāmāyūrī vidyārājñī,” because the word dhāraṇī is omitted in the Buddha’s instruction to save poor Svāti with this powerful tool. 9 The context makes  



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it clear that it denotes the dhāraṇī, but the term mahāmāyūrī-vidyārājñī could also be an epithet of the goddess Mahāmāyūrī as well as that of the entire text of the Mahāmāyūrī sūtra. Later in eastern India and Nepal, Mahāmāyūrī was subsumed into a group of five protective goddesses, called Pañcarakṣā, and all five goddesses are symbols of the texts that they are supposed to personify.10 In the context of the Pañcarakṣa cult, which eventually developed within the frame of the Buddhist book cult, the goddess is the text, and the book becomes a container of both the goddess and the text.11 But this interpretation is not applicable yet in Cave 6 at Ellora. Here the book still remains a sign of the text, and the book and the goddess retain a more or less parallel semiotic relationship to the text. If the nature of the monk’s activity was not entirely clear in Cave 6, the Mahāmāyūrī panel in Cave 10, completed a few decades later, makes it clear that he is reading, or perhaps reciting, a book (see web 1-1). The panel is smaller in scale, and it is not as glamorous in its presentation. The body of the goddess also appears more robust in style. But the basic iconographic scheme remains the same. Mahāmāyūrī is standing in the middle, with a strutting peacock in the mid-left section. The monk squats in the lower left corner, and it is clear that he is holding a manuscript in his two hands with his eyes downcast, as if reading carefully from the text. One end of a long pothi manuscript hangs low from his right hand over the rectangular object underneath. This rectangular object may be a bookcase that sits on a simple cross-legged book stand. Our monk is probably reciting the sūtra, as his mouth seems slightly open, as a small gap in between his lips suggests. The efficacy of a dhāraṇī, and any mantra, is in sound. Given that surviving Sanskrit Buddhist manuscripts are written in scriptura continua, which would have made “silent reading” quite difficult, it is only sensible to assume that these texts were recited and vocalized.12 This panel, then, also suggests to us that Indian Buddhist monastic establishments were probably not as quiet as one might imagine, with many monks and novices reciting and reading out loud different texts simultaneously. According to this panel, the ritual of using a book for a cultic purpose required only two essential elements: a special book on a book stand to recite from and a reciter with an ability to read the text.

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Historica l Developm ent of the Prajñāpāramitā Cult

Emergence of a book as a special object of worship is closely tied to the renewed popularity of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtras in medieval India. The Prajñāpāramitā literature deals with the most fundamental Mahāyāna Buddhist philosophy for many Mahāyāna Buddhist schools.13 But was this text a super hit from the time when it originally appeared in the beginning of our Common Era? It had an enormous impact on the philosophical development of Mahāyāna Buddhist schools and had enthusiasts, but it seems to have attained “no great cult,” at least not until the ninth century.14 The later, received status of the text contributed to its legendary historical importance in our understanding. The composition of the Prajñāpāramitā text has been dated to the early centuries of the Common Era, largely based on the dates of Chinese translations.15 The earliest Chinese translation of the Prajñāpāramitā literature was the translation of the AsP, done in 179–180 CE by Lokakṣema (Taisho 220).16 The AsP seems to have enjoyed a privileged status as a favored text of scholastic Buddhism from early on: it was translated into Chinese six times beginning with Lokakṣema’s translation and ending with Dānapāla’s translation in 985 CE. However, the earlier Chinese translations do not exactly match the surviving Sanskrit manuscripts of the AsP, most of which date from the eleventh and the twelfth centuries.17 The fact that the AsP was translated six times in eight hundred years not only reflects the enthusiasm over this text but also suggests the possibility that this text may have evolved and changed in India, reflecting the changes in Buddhist doctrine and practice.18 When compared with the Chinese translations, the extant Sanskrit form of the AsP corresponds loosely to Dānapāla’s translation, with later interpolated sections that could have been included after the seventh century and well into the Pāla period (ca. eighth–twelfth centuries) when the Pāla kings ruled in the area of the modern day Bihar and West Bengal. During the Pāla period, almost eight hundred years after its proposed inception, the Prajñāpāramitā became one of the two foremost doctrines promoted in eastern India. According to Tāranātha, the Prajñāpāramitā  

 



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was extensively propagated during the reign of the second Pāla king, Dharmapāla (reign ca. 775–812 CE):  

He (Dharmapāla) accepted as his preceptors Haribhadra and Jñānapāda and filled all directions with the Prajñāpāramitā and the Śrī-Guhyasamāja. . . . Immediately after ascending the throne, the king invited the teachers of the Prajñāpāramitā. He had great reverence for Hari­ bhadra in particular. This king built in all about fifty centres for the Doctrine, of which thirty-five were centres for the study of the Prajñāpāramitā. He also built the Śrī Vikramaśīla vihāra.19

Tāranātha’s account is to be read with caution because, as a sixteenthcentury Tibetan scholar, he tends to idealize the north–east Indian Buddhist world with nostalgic notions that lack accuracy. His historical details are not trustworthy, but this passage suggests that the Prajñāpāramitā texts (re)surfaced as one of the two primary doctrinal principles, paralleling the clearly esoteric teachings of the Guhyasamāja in the early ninth century. Tāranātha also records that there was a belief at his time that Dharmapāla was a reincarnation of a master of the piṭaka who was reborn for the purpose of propagating the Prajñāpāramitā.20 According to our Tibetan source, the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra needed an official, royal boost in the ninth century to restart the support system. A revival of the doctrinal interest in the Prajñāpāramitā texts may also be seen from the dates of the major commentators of the AsP. One of the two major commentators, Haribhadra (the Abhisamayālaṃkāra), was active during the reign of King Dharmapāla at the beginning of the ninth century, while Abhayākaragupta, a famed scholar of the Vikramaśīla monastery, was active during the reign of King Rāmapāla at the beginning of the twelfth century. The cult of Prajñāpāramitā was already in practice earlier in the fifth century, as reported by the Chinese pilgrim Faxian (ca. 377–422 CE), but it is difficult to ascertain what the focus of this cultic practice was, whether it was the goddess or the book. Faxian reports that he saw that Mahāyānists worshipped the Prajñāpāramitā in a monastery he visited in Madhyadeśa, somewhere between Mathura and Sāṃkāśya. This reference has been taken as evidence for the existence of the god 

 

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dess Prajñāpāramitā in the fifth century, but what Faxian meant by “Prajñāpāramitā (般若波羅蜜)” is not clear: he could have meant a book of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra or an image of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā. This passage indicates that the Prajñāpāramitā cult was established as a specifically Mahāyāna practice. Faxian reports Mahāyānists worshipped Prajñāpāramitā, Mañjuśrī, and Avalokiteśvara, in comparison to other groups worshipping other objects, namely texts: Vinaya masters worshipped the Vinaya, and Abhidharma masters the Abhidharma. Contrary to the popular perception that identifies Prajñāpāramitā as a quintessential Buddhist mother goddess,21 Prajñāpāramitā’s goddess identity seems to emerge much later than the appearance of the Prajñāpāramitā text. Western scholarly understanding of Prajñāpāramitā as a Buddhist mother goddess originates from the analogies in the AsP text where the Buddha compares the relationship between Prajñā­ pāramitā and Buddhas to that of a mother and her children. But these references are metaphorical analogies that emphasize the importance of “Prajñāpāramitā” in achieving enlightenment.22 Her qualities in these passages do not fit the general conception of a mother goddess with a loving, nurturing, and sometimes wrathful character. For example, the AsP explains how the “Prajñāpāramitā” should be treated and respected like their mother by all the Buddhas because it is from her that enlightenment originates. Yet there is no mention about what she can do for her spiritual sons. If Prajñāpāramitā had ever been a mother figure, it would have been a very remote and reserved one. 23 Such a simile played a role in determining Prajñāpāramitā’s anthropomorphic form as a goddess (fig.1–3). In a twelfth-century manuscript painting from Nālandā, a voluptuous goddess bedecked with ornaments sits in vajraparyaṅka (cross-legged posture), displaying the gesture of preaching. She is regal and serene, symbolizing the perfection of wisdom, the foremost requirement for one’s enlightenment. The mother analogy in the AsP comes to the forefront in understanding and representing the goddess Prajñāpāramitā with the development of Esoteric Buddhism in India, in which the female principles became important for one’s spiritual success.24 Surviving epigraphic and art historical evidence suggests that Prajñāpāramitā’s identity as the mother of all Buddhas was established by the tenth century.25 The fact that only the late-tenth-century  



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Figure 1-3  Goddess Prajñāpāramitā with Māyūrī (left), Jaṅgulī (right), and two bodhisattvas, folio 1v, center panel, AsP Ms, ca. 1151 CE (Gopāla IV’s 8th year), Nālandā monastery, Bihar. Pāla period. Ink and opaque watercolor on palm leaf. Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund, 1987.1 (95a). Image courtesy of Asia Society Museum.

Chinese translation of the AsP (Taisho 228) by Danapāla in 985 CE uses the term Fo-mu or “Buddha mother” in its title (Fo-shuo-fo-mu-chusheng-san-fa-zang-ban-ruo-bo-luo-mi-duo-jing, 佛說佛母出生三法 藏般若波羅蜜多經) also suggests this.

Locating the Goddess and the Book as Cultic Foci

Once the images of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā appear in the scene, we might expect to see her becoming the main focus of the Prajñāpāramitā cult. Yet, we do not find a dramatic shift of the cultic focus: most of the surviving images of the goddess found in Nālandā and in other eastern Indian monastic sites are made of bronze and are relatively small, with their heights less than 10 inches, most of which were made for

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personal devotional practices. Instead, we see the explosion of Buddhist book production, especially of the illustrated manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā, from the late tenth century, in the monastic sites in the ancient regions of Magadha, Gauḍa, and Varendra (modern Bihar, West Bengal, and Bangladesh). The goddess Prajñāpāramitā is featured prominently as a beautifully bejeweled voluptuous goddess in these manuscripts, marking the opening of the text and serving as a symbol of the entire manuscript (see fig. 1–3). But the object that actually garnered devotion and worship was probably the book, not the goddess. The goddess Prajñāpāramitā did not seem to have earned much cultic importance in Bihar and Bengal, especially after the booming of illustrated manuscript production there. Interestingly, in nearby Orissa where we do not find any surviving Buddhist manuscripts from the period, the goddess Prajñāpāramitā seems to have emerged as an important cultic deity, as exemplified by a number of stone images of considerable sizes (measuring between 30 and 65 inches in height) made in the eleventh century or later, some of which are still in worship.26 Although no Orissan Buddhist book survives, a book in worship is commonly included in these representations of the goddess. One such image, an eleventh-century image of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā from Orissa, contains a full-fledged ritual worship of a book. The image was found in Mangalpur (Puri), Orissa, and is currently installed in the Orissa State Museum in Bhubaneshwar (fig. 1–4). It is a rectangular stele made of sandstone, a common format and medium used in early medieval sculptures from Orissa. The size of the image is considerably large, measuring 128 by 65 centimeters (with 31 centimeters in depth). It probably dates to the latter half of the eleventh century.27 A two-armed female deity sits in the center with her legs crossed (vajraparyaṅka-asana). The two arms of the stele are broken, but the remaining parts suggest that the deity held her hands in front of her chest in the preaching gesture (dharmacakrapravartana mudrā). She wears many ornaments, including a tall, bejeweled crown with ribbons flying upward on either side. Her shawls also fly upward from her arms, as if indicating her buoyancy. The trace of vermillion powder on her forehead and crown suggests that she was in worship as a cultic object before coming to the museum. She probably remained in worship as a local goddess even after the demise of Buddhist institutions in the  

 



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Figure 1-4  Stele of Goddess Prajñāpāramitā with a scene of pustaka pūjā on the pedestal, found spot: Mangalpur (Puri), Orissa, ca. 11th century, Orissa State Museum.

region, partly because of her impressive size and sculptural quality.28 Despite some extensive damage to the surface, it is possible to see the gracious yet commanding presence conveyed in the image. The composition of the stele is quite busy, with many figures appearing in the background. Five tathāgatas with Amitābha in the center appear along the trefoil-shaped halo of the goddess, and four human figures stand offering garlands in between these five Buddhas. Two celestial beings also offer garlands flying amidst clouds on either side of the very top of the stele. Two more human figures, most likely monks, appear on either side of her legs, looking upward reverently. Below her double lotus seat appears saptaratna—seven jewels of the universal monarch, cakravartin, that is, wheel (cakra), wish-granting jewel, sword (i.e., general), treasurer, queen, elephant, horse—each element appearing in the middle of a vine. Although the image is identified as Tārā in the museum label, it represents the goddess Prajñāpāramitā. The preaching gesture and the two lotuses on either side (now damaged) are typical iconographic attributes of Prajñāpāramitā. In addition, it is important to note that the Buddha who sits right above her crown is Amitābha, instead of Amoghasiddhi, the usual spiritual sire of Tārā. Most importantly, the bottom register under the band of seven jewels contains a scene of a ritual, not just any ritual but that of the worship of a book. The book in worship is most likely the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, the book of the Buddhist book cult. The bottom register is divided into three squares with the center part protruding about an inch from the rest (see web 1–2). A long rectangular pothi-type book is in the center on a pillar-shaped stand with flowers on top. Two cone-shaped food offerings are on the ground on the right side. Its central position and the remarkable size suggest that the book is the central object of the ritual. A man with a beard sits right below the book, paying homage to the book and holding a lotus bud in his hands. Three women kneel behind him with their hands folded together in añjali mudrā and holding lotus-bud-like offerings just like the man. The man’s hairdo and beard resemble those of the kings in contemporary sculptures, and we may infer that he was a wealthy patron, possibly followed by three female members of his family. The right side panel shows a ritual master (i.e., ācārya or paṇḍita) seated at the far right end with three ritual offerings in front, two of which might  

 

 



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be butter lamps. He seems to hold ritual implements, that is, vajra and ghaṇṭa, in his hands, and although his head is damaged, the shape of the remnant of his head suggests that he might have worn a cone-shaped hat, a common feature found in the representation of ritual masters in medieval eastern Indian Buddhist sculptures.29 We may compare this ritual scene with the scene showing a simple ritual of reciting a book by a monk depicted in the Mahāmāyūrī panels of Ellora (see fig. 1–2 and web 1–1). The ritual depicted in the eleventh-century stele of Prajñāpāramitā seems to be more elaborate and cultic, involving a ritual master and wealthy lay patrons. The book is clearly a prominent object of worship in this scene, whereas the book in the Ellora panels is a small utility object that could be held in hand to read.30 The composition of the stele makes the goddess the center of our attention just like Mahāmāyūrī in Ellora. The goddess remained in worship until the twentieth century, albeit in a non-Buddhist context. Although the book is considerably smaller in size than the goddess, the book and the goddess sustain parallel existences in this stele, one in the earthly realm and the other in the divine realm. In fact, her divine presence originates from the ritual recorded underneath, and the book in worship establishes her identity as the goddess Prajñāpāramitā. The juxtaposition between the book and the goddess as represented in this stele also demonstrates the book’s potential as a manageable, portable sacred object, unlike a stone image that would have been installed in one spot and remained more or less immovable. The stele clearly represents the increased cultic status of a Buddhist book.  

 

The Buddhist Book Cult

Considering a Buddhist book as an object of worship is not a new idea that emerged during the ninth and the tenth centuries. A number of early Mahāyāna sūtras in fact promote their own worship as if reflecting the authorial anxiety about their survival without the material vessel of a book and proper care given to it.31 The most elaborate prescription for the worship of a book is given in the text of the AsP, the book of the medieval Buddhist book cult in South Asia. It is almost counterintuitive to find the AsP the book of the Buddhist book cult, because the text expounds the empty nature of existence (the concept of śūnyatā) to

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the extent that existence (saṁsāra) and extinction (nirvāṇa) are essentially the same, and ultimately void. This philosophical text suddenly talks about the virtue and the merit one acquires by honoring and worshipping the book of the AsP. It states that one gains more merit by copying, reciting, illuminating, honoring, and worshipping the Perfection of Wisdom text than by making thousands of stūpas (hemispheric mounds containing the Buddha’s relics) filling the entire world of Jambudvīpa.32 The text suddenly drops the mode of listing contradictory pairs of counterstatements as a way to show the idea of śūnyatā (emptiness or voidness) and becomes affirmative about stating the methods of worshipping the book physically and the merit one acquires from such actions.33 Having a book means that one has a physical, palpable container for the profound Buddhist philosophy. If the doctrine of emptiness had been entirely formless, its propagation would not have been as effective, as it proved in its long history of immense popularity. For a text that is not too user-friendly with complex concepts expounded, extoling the merit of its multiplication and proliferation through production and cultic use seems to have been a wise strategy for its survival. The AsP dictates the worship of the book in a concrete manner: a book of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra is to be worshipped with numerous material objects such as “flowers, incense, scents, wreaths, unguents, aromatic powders, strips of cloth, parasols, banners, bells, flags and rows of lamps.” It is difficult to prove, however, how much of what is prescribed in the AsP was in fact practiced during the early centuries of the Common Era. Faxian’s report and the monks with books at Ellora suggest cultic use of Buddhist books but the ritual was rather simple. In practice, the full potential of a book as a cultic object as described in the AsP text was realized after the ninth century although the AsP text signals the early date of the Mahāyāna Buddhist book cult as an idea, as Schopen suggests.34 With the renewed interest in the Prajñāpāramitā literature from the ninth century onwards in Pāla India, as explained above, the cultic aspect of the AsP seems to have been reemphasized. An explosion of the production of the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in the eleventh century, a considerably late date for the Prajñāpāramitā cult, supposedly in practice almost for a millennium by that time, may be a culmination of this post-ninth-century development. In addition, the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, a ritual text of the eighth century or later, seems



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to have provided an inspiration for designing the Buddhist books as sacred objects. Another piece of the puzzle that could help us locate this later boom of the Buddhist book cult in practice in the historical context is the development of the cult of relics, especially of the “dharma relics” during the early medieval period. The early medieval development of the cult of the dharma relics, in which the Buddha’s teaching, epitomized in one single verse of the Pratītyasamutpādagāthā, is deposited as relics inside stūpas and images, is understood as an important product of a synthesis between the stūpa cult and the book cult.35 The Mahāyāna book cult as explained in the early Mahāyāna texts made the Buddha’s teaching materially and practically venerable, and it contributed to the emergence of the cult of the dharma relics, which in a way revolutionized the Buddhist practices, with Buddha’s true relics readily available for anyone who desired to get one. The cult of the dharma relics opened up the door to everyone for ready access to the Buddha’s true relics, and perhaps it is a truly Mahāyāna intervention. The fundamental similarity between the Buddhist book cult and the cult of the dharma relics, relying on the materiality of the text as an embodiment of the Buddha, may obscure any distinction between the two cultic practices.36 It is easy to assume that the Buddhist book cult, supposedly an early Mahāyāna cult, was subsumed under the cult of the dharma relics that developed after the sixth century.37 However, in practice, this was not necessarily the case. The linear developmental model of the Mahāyāna cultic practices stems partly from understanding the Buddhist book cult as an early Mahāyāna institutional response to the stūpa cult, the oldest Buddhist cultic practice.38 In juxtaposing the Buddhist book cult and the stūpa cult, we implicitly acknowledge that the Buddhist books functioned as relics that sanctified the space where they were placed. However, Buddhist manuscripts were rarely deposited as relics in South Asia. There is very weak archaeological support for the practice of depositing manuscripts in stūpas in early South Asia.39 The archaeological and art historical evidence for the booming of the book cult in practice appears around the turn of the first millennium, in the form of lavishly illustrated manuscripts and the representations of a book in worship in stone steles and manuscript paintings (see web 1–2, fig. 6–5). Passages explaining the theological and practical grounds of the book cult in the  

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AsP, in fact, argue that a book is an object of worship in its own right, just like a stūpa. More importantly, Buddhist manuscripts from medieval South Asia have the dharma relic at the ends of their texts before the donor colophons. Whether it is a doctrinal text like the AsP or an apotropaic text like the Pañcarakṣā sūtra, this dharma verse appears in the same manner regardless of the doctrinal affiliations. In fact, this verse is found not only in illustrated manuscripts of the Mahāyāna sūtras but also in nonillustrated manuscripts of various Buddhist texts, including tantras, such as the Heruka tantra,40 the Abhidhānottara,41 and the Guhyasamāja,42 and ritual manuals, such as the Sādhanasamuccaya.43 If the Buddha’s teaching contained in any of these manuscripts is to be understood as the Buddha’s dharma body, it seems rather redundant to have this dharma verse added at the end of each manuscript. The inclusion of the dharma relic in Buddhist book production seems to affirm a book’s status as a physical container of the Buddha’s true relic, that is, his teaching. Its presence ultimately contributes to a book’s qualification as a Buddhist cultic object par excellence. Just as the inscription of the dharma verse on an image is often paired with a donor inscription, a donor colophon often follows the dharma verse in a manuscript. Although this configuration becomes rather formulaic, the motivation behind such pairing of the dharma relic and the donor colophon might have been to increase the religious efficacy of the donation, be it an image or a manuscript. The dharma verse also marks the end of a text, as if sealing the text with a magical, invincible guard. In this regard, the dharma verse is not too different from dhāraṇīs and protective mantras. It gets classified as one of the “Five Great Dhāraṇīs” in the Tibetan tradition.44 The rigorous use of the dharma verse in manuscript production also affirms a book’s cultic status as a physical container of a complete unit of the Buddha’s teaching. Perhaps with the advent of so many different types of text relics, such as seals and slabs with the dharma verse and other dhāraṇīs, the status of a Buddhist manuscript was in need of reconfirmation as an object of worship by itself. Adopting the ways of using the dharma relics in the production of sacred objects, such as images and stūpas, could have been a good strategy to this end. While the seals and the slabs with the dharma verse on them were frequently



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deposited inside a stūpa and sometimes in an image, the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from medieval India and Nepal were rarely put inside stūpas. They remained in the custody of monastic communities and of families if they were nonmonastic productions, often serving as cultic foci. As we will see at the end of this study, a thirteenth-century manuscript of the AsP has survived in worship until today, partly thanks to the hidden and not-so-hidden signs of piety that have been accumulated on the body of a manuscript. These ample signs of piety contributed to the survival of the Buddhist book cult in South Asia.

A Book as a Cultic Object

In the context of the South Asian Buddhist book cult, a book consistently tries to retain its identity as an object of worship while its production and cult are modeled after those of stūpas and images. Perhaps there was a concern for losing its cultic status and slipping into the realm of the dharma relics, since the Buddhist book cult and the cult of the dharma relic are quite similar in terms of acknowledging the importance of the materiality of the text. In fact, the fusion of the two did happen and Buddhist books did slip into the realm of relics, as seen in the Tibetan practice of depositing manuscripts inside stūpas and images.45 The tradition of the Buddhist book cult, however, did not disappear. It survives today in Nepal in the Golden Temple with the worship of a thirteenth-century Prajñāpāramitā manuscript. I think the cult’s survival attests to the cultic power of a book. Although I draw a parallel comparison between the dharma relic– donor colophon formula in a manuscript and the dharma relic–donor inscription sequence on an image, a book occupies a special place in the sphere of Buddhist cultic objects. In terms of its cultic potential, a book may be even more powerful than any other cultic object, for it embodies the paradox of the absent presence through the interplay between the visibility and the invisibility of that presence. It is important to remember that a book as an object presents a very dynamic spatial structure in regards to the definition of inside and outside. As a material object, a book is a collection of many movable parts, that is, palmleaf folios, which can be flipped and turned. There is a sense of inside  

 

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and outside, but the sense of space in a book is more fluid and flexible than in a stūpa or in an image. It is not as confined. One could open a book and leave the first two pages open during a ritual. Many traces of worship, such as drops of sandalwood paste and red vermillion paste, on the first two folios of many illustrated manuscripts suggest this. When a book is open to its last pages at the conclusion of a ritual, the dharma verse and the donor colophon are as visible as on an image with inscribed dharma relics. When a book is closed and put on a pedestal for worship, as represented in many steles and slabs surviving from eastern India (see fig. 1–4, web 1–2), the dharma verse and the donor colophon are completely hidden from view, just like a hidden dharma seal on an image and relic deposits in a stūpa.46 A book, then, is in itself a relic as a sacred text, and at the same time, it encases a true relic of the Buddha, his teachings written in beautiful letters. In other words, a book can be a relic and a reliquary simultaneously. Although drawing heavily on other cultic trends of the time, especially the relic cult, the Buddhist book cult found its niche for patronage in medieval eastern India, thanks partly to its multilayered cultic potential. The realization of the innate spatial fluidity of its threedimensional structure, perhaps similar to the ideas on space and time expressed in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, seems to have contributed to a book’s elevated status as the cultic object par excellence of the time. As we will see in subsequent chapters, the iconographic programs in the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts are often designed to emphasize the three-dimensional nature of a book as an object, and they help transform a manuscript into a physical container of the Buddha’s dharma body.  



 

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2 Innovations of the Medieval Buddhist Book Cult

Opening an illustrated manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra (AsP) now in the Asia Society, New York, we encounter six brilliantly painted panels on the first two pages (fig. 2–1).1 Four decorative bands divide each folio into three compartments, and a rectangular panel is placed in the middle of each section. The colorful painted panels shine like studded jewels against the earthy color of palm leaf, although the pigments used on these panels are not luminous. Despite their miniature size, each panel measuring only roughly 2 by 2 inches, the paintings’ presence is visually powerful and commands our attention. The sea of black letters seems a purposeful backdrop for these stunning pictures. Written in siddhamātṛkā script with very controlled and pronounced hooks on the bottom of each letter, the calligraphy presented in this manuscript also showcases the masterful skill of Ānanda, who wrote this manuscript. Ānanda was no ordinary scribe, as the colophon tells us: he was a dharmabhāṇaka (reciter or preacher of the doctrine) at the illustrious Nālandā monastery.2 Both the text and the images on these folios suggest that achieving outstanding visual quality was a main concern for the makers of this manuscript. Perhaps, the purpose of including images in a manuscript of a philosophical treaty like the AsP was just to embellish a book. Whoever commissioned a  



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Figure 2-1  Five folios (1v–2r, 299v–300r, 301v) from the AsP Ms (Ms A4), Vigrahapāla III’s 15th year (ca. 1058 CE) and Gopāla IV’s 8th year (ca. 1140 CE), Nālandā monastery, Bihar, India. Pāla period. Ink and opaque watercolor on palm leaf. Each, approx., H. 2⅞ × W. 22⅜ in. (7.3 × 56.8 cm). Asia Society, New York: Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund, 1987.1. Image courtesy of Asia Society Museum.  

 

book of the Buddhist scripture would want it made beautifully, especially when the text explains the great merit one acquires from copying and worshipping the book, as in the AsP. Then, it seems reasonable to assume in the context of the Buddhist book cult that the paintings were added to increase the religious merit (puṇya)3 of the donor. The emphasis on the religious merit in understanding the reason behind inserting images is not entirely misplaced. In a purely materialistic sense, the more resources put into the project, that is, expensive pigments and more skillful artisans and scribes, the greater the merit

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claimed in the donor’s mind and the community that encountered the end result, that is, the beautifully illustrated manuscript of the AsP.4 Merit making must have been one of the major motivations behind donating an illustrated manuscript. After all, the manuscripts were the “pious gifts” (deya dharma) made to accrue puṇya to benefit all sentient beings. However, merit making alone cannot explain why elaborate iconographic schemes were developed during the course of the two centuries when the production of illustrated manuscripts in eastern India saw its heyday. As we will see, the manuscript makers in medieval South Asia responded to the changing doctrinal and cultic environment of Esoteric Buddhism with innovative iconographic schemes. Seen in this context, the images do more than just decorate a book. They do not exist entirely superfluous to the text, nor do they defy the context of a book. On the contrary, the iconographic programs are designed to symbolize the teaching of the text, and the images define a book’s material context as a three-dimensional sacred object. To emphasize their function in the book as more than mere embellishment, I have chosen the term illustration to refer to the paintings. The term illustration does not exclude the meaning of decoration, and their decorative aspect is part of our discussion. Before examining the innovative strategies introduced in making Buddhist books, let us first investigate the historical circumstances that led to the introduction of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in South Asia to understand the rationale behind illustration.

M apping the Historical Origin

The earliest surviving illustrated manuscript from South Asia dates to the late tenth century (ca. 983 CE).5 Painted book covers from the Gilgit region may date to the ninth or tenth century, but no surviving manuscript with images on folios dates to earlier than the tenth century. As seen in the previous chapter, this late introduction of the illustrating practice may relate to the flourishing of the Prajñāpāramitā cult in the ninth century in eastern India. Where did this practice originate? Why did the Buddhists in eastern India suddenly begin to illustrate their manuscripts at this time? While the historical origin of the practice of illustrating manuscripts in Buddhist tradition is beyond the

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scope of the current study, I would like to offer a few remarks regarding this issue to provide the historical context for the development of iconographic schemes identified below. Sanskrit manuscripts of South Asian origin survive from much earlier dates. Some of the Gilgit manuscripts date to the fifth or sixth centuries,6 and the manuscripts from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, now in the Schøyen collection, have some palm-leaf fragments that are reported to date to the second century.7 A few painted wooden boards that served as book covers accompanied the manuscripts found at Naupur near Gilgit.8 Varying dates between the seventh and the ninth centuries have been proposed for these painted covers,9 and whichever date we accept, the painted covers certainly predate the earliest known surviving illustrated manuscript from the South Asian subcontinent, dated circa 983 CE (see web 2–1). It is intriguing to find vertical compositions on the book covers made for the Gilgit manuscripts, because the pothi format manuscripts were usually written horizontally from left to right and later book covers also follow this format (see fig. 2–5). As Pratapaditya Pal remarks, the vertical format found on two sets of these covers may suggest their connection to a preexisting tradition of banner paintings.10 I wonder if this may also reflect the influence from the north, that is, from China via Central Asia, where a manuscript would have been written vertically from right to left.11 Manuscripts from Dunhuang suggest that illustrating manuscripts was rigorously practiced by the ninth century in China and Central Asia.12 Inserting an illustrated frontispiece comparable to the painted book covers was in practice by the mid-eighth century in East Asia, as an illustrated frontispiece of the Avataṁsaka sūtra from Korea (Unified Silla) dated 754–755 CE suggests. Among the great number of early manuscripts in Indian language and script found in Central Asian sites and Dunhuang, a few manuscripts contain a forerunner to the idea of illustrating a text folio, with images of the Buddha appearing in roundels.13 All of these early examples point to the possibility that the idea traveled to South Asia from Central Asia, especially to eastern India in the case of illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts, suggesting multi­ directionality and mutuality of cultural influence on the development of Buddhist practices in India and elsewhere. With many international pilgrims and foreign monks coming to the land of the historical Bud 

 

 

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dha, especially to the area of ancient Magadha and Gauḍa (Bihar and Bengal), where all the major Buddhist pilgrimage sites were located and where many Buddhist monastic institutions thrived under the royal support of the Pālas and the Candras during the early medieval period (especially the ninth through the tenth centuries), new ideas about how to make a Buddhist book could have traveled a great distance. This is not to argue that the exact manner of illustrating manuscripts traveled from Central Asia or China to eastern India. The mode of illustration developed in South Asia is unique and quite different from its counterparts in Central Asian and Dunhuang examples. But I emphasize the multidirectionality in the pattern of interaction and contacts to suggest the possibility that the idea of putting the images inside the text folios was shared in different culture zones through frequent travels and trades undertaken by many Buddhists during the early medieval period. Such travels by the devout in turn enabled the survival of the manuscripts from Bihar and Bengal as they faced unfavorable conditions with the demise of Buddhist monastic institutions there from the late twelfth century onwards.

Introduction of the Illustrating Practice in South Asia

If the tradition of illustrating text folios was inspired by the practice established in Central Asia and China, it is easy to assume that it was transmitted through the northwestern region of the South Asian subcontinent, such as Gilgit and Kashmir, where a number of earlier manuscripts were found and where the archaeological evidence for Buddhist book cult in practice from earlier centuries is available.14 However, a relatively late date for the surviving material from India, the late tenth through the thirteenth centuries, makes us look for an alternate traveling route, for Buddhist activities in Gilgit had dwindled considerably by the tenth century.15 We may look to the neighboring Himalayan region, especially to the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal where the production of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts was equally on the rise in the early eleventh century and increased dramatically by the thirteenth century.16 The similarity in format and size and the use of palm leaf as the main material of choice put the Nepalese and eastern Indian illus-

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trated manuscripts in the same tradition of bookmaking, despite their stylistic, iconographic, and sometimes paleographic differences.17 The Kathmandu Valley was not as politically stable during this time, with periods of joint rules and short-lived kings. Yet it is remembered as a Buddhist paradise in contemporary Tibetan literature, and Buddhist artistic productions indeed thrived during this time.18 Perhaps, the unstable political condition provided a perfect ground for cultural experimentations and heightened religious zeal that accommodated increased movements of people to and from India, not only Nepalese, but also Tibetans, such as Nagtso Lotsāwa, traveling to India in search of a teacher, and Indian Buddhist masters, such as Atīśa, traveling to Tibet. Among these travelers were the donors of the earliest known surviving illustrated manuscripts from the South Asian subcontinent. The second earliest surviving illustrated manuscript from Nālandā (ca. 1041 CE), now at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, was a manuscript of the AsP commissioned by a Nepalese lay donor named Rāmajīva. The donor of the earliest surviving AsP manuscript, now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, (G.4713) is identified as a monastic elder (sthāvira) named Sādhugupta, whose unique title, śākyācarya, raises that tantalizing possibility that his monastery, Tāḍivāḍi Mahāvihāra, may have been in Nepal.19 Another AsP manuscript, made during Mahīpāla’s twenty-seventh regnal year, was transported to Nepal and was in the Kathmandu Valley by NS 355 (1235 CE).20 While the social and historical significance of the donor and scribal colophons is analyzed in detail in chapter 6, it is important to note here that Nepalese Buddhists played an active role in the initial stage of illustrated manuscript production in eastern India. With such frequent movements of people and manuscripts between eastern India and the Himalayan region, the inspiration for illustrating a Buddhist manuscript could have easily traveled between the regions. Although no Nepalese manuscript predates the earliest Indian example, the practice of inserting painted panels in Buddhist manuscripts seems to have gotten established in both places contemporaneously. Also, the distinctive iconographic scheme (Group B) of the earliest surviving illustrated manuscript from Nepal, now in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1643, dated NS 135, 1015 CE), was followed later in twelfth-century India, suggesting multidirectionality of cultural influence in Buddhist artistic productions.

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This geographical connection also helps us understand the late date for the introduction of the practice of illustrating. It may be no coincidence that the period in which we see an explosion of the production of the Buddhist illustrated manuscripts corresponds with the beginning of chidar (phyi-dar, ca. 960–1400 CE), the second great transmission of Buddhism in Tibet. The heightened demand for Sanskrit manuscripts that were rigorously translated into Tibetan during this period also meant thriving scriptoria in Bihar and Bengal, which would have provided a fertile ground for the proponents of the Buddhist book cult. Long before the Tibetans, there were Chinese pilgrims looking for Buddhist manuscripts in India, but the scale of movement of people and manuscripts seems to have been unforeseen. For example, the manuscript now in the Asia Society, New York, with which we started this chapter, was commissioned by a lay donor named Nāesutaṣohāsitta in Nālandā during Vigrahapāla III’s fifteenth regnal year (ca. 1058 CE). The donor’s non-Sanskrit name and the manuscript’s later luminary Tibetan monastic owners claimed in the post colophons suggest that Nāesutaṣohāsitta may have been from Tibet as well. According to the post colophons, the manuscript was in Tibet by the beginning of the thirteenth century.21 An increase in volume of production does not necessarily translate into artistic advancement and quality refinement. It may have the opposite effect in terms of quality, as in mass-produced contemporary souvenir items. Compromising quality for quantity may well have been the case in eastern Indian manuscript productions. Albīrūnī (ca. 973–1048), a Persian scholar, who traveled in India during the early eleventh century, notes that Indian scribes were notoriously careless and inattentive. According to him, “The Indian scribes are careless, and do not take pains to produce correct and well-collated copies. In consequence, the highest results of the author’s mental development are lost by their negligence, and his book becomes already in the first or second copy so full of faults that the text appears as something entirely new, which [no one] could any longer understand.”22 Frustrations and complaints expressed by Tibetan translators regarding the often haphazard and faulty nature of Indian manuscripts also suggest that providing high-quality products was not the top priority of the Indian manuscript makers.23 The production of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, many of which were writ 

 

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Figure 2-2  Sculpted panels surrounding the lower part of Temple 2, Nālandā monastery. Notice the decorative columns used to demarcate the space between each panel, which is also contained within an individual frame.

ten carefully in siddhamātṛkā script, may have been a collective attempt to adhere to the older values in response to this unruly situation. The sustained use of siddhamātṛkā script in the face of developing regional scripts, such as Gauḍi (proto-Bengali), and the formalized and ornamental style of calligraphy seen in illustrated manuscripts reflect the degree of conservatism that existed among the supporters of the Buddhist book cult in medieval India when the illustrating practice was first introduced.24 Compared with the careless presentation of texts in so many contemporary Sanskrit manuscripts, illustrated manuscripts formed a class of their own with their controlled and refined production process. While the idea of illustrating text folios may have originated elsewhere, the format of illustrating a palm-leaf folio with symmetrically arranged square or rectangular panels seems to be rooted in the indigenous tradition of constructing sacred structures. The images in Central Asian manuscripts appear in roundels, perhaps in compositional harmony with the simple representations of dharmacakra (wheel of dharma)

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Figure 2-3  First and the last folios of an AsP Ms (Ms A3), Nālandā monastery, Bihar. Nayapāla’s14th year (ca. 1041 CE). Scribe (lekhaka): Svameśvara. Donor: Rāmajīva. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M72.20.a-b. Digital Image © 2012 Museum Associates / LACMA. Licensed by Art Resource, NY.

that were frequently inserted in early Sanskrit manuscripts.25 The square or rectangular format chosen for inserting paintings on a manuscript folio of a medieval South Asian book is comparable to the shapes of niches on a contemporary stūpa (Buddhist relic mound) or shrine, many of which are laid out in rectangular grids and often demarcated by plastered and decorated pillars, as seen on the stūpas and temples, especially Temple 2 and Temple 12, at Nālandā (fig. 2–2). The illustrated panels, too, often have border frames that demarcate the space and are placed at regular spatial intervals. The aforementioned mid-eleventh-century Nālandā manuscript donated by a Nepali, Rāmajīva, shows this feature quite distinctively. Two folios from this manuscript now in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M72.1.20a-b) show thick embellished bands placed on either side of each illustrated panel (fig. 2–3). All the illustrated panels in this manuscript are framed in square shapes just as in the visual program of a temple structure, a good example of which is seen on Temple 2 in Nālandā (see fig. 2–2). The earlier practice of inserting dharmacakra symbols coexisted with the new mode of illustration, as we can see from the two large roundels containing geometric designs appearing in the middle of the text in between the rectangular illustrated panels in the same manuscript.26 Locating the illustrated manuscripts’ designing mechanism in the indigenous context of constructing sacred structures is historically important because Buddhist manuscript paintings are the earliest manuscript paintings surviving from South Asia. It can help us locate the development of later manuscript painting traditions in historical context, linking the mural-painting tradition of Ajanta and the later painting schools. Their historical connection goes beyond their stylistic and artistic merits. The paintings can be understood as transforming a sacred space, be it a temple or a manuscript.  

 

 

Anatomy of a Buddhist Sacr ed Object: Param eters of Analysis

Not all the Buddhist manuscripts made in medieval eastern India and Nepal were illustrated. The manuscripts of a few selective Mahāyāna sūtras, such as the Kāraṇḍavyūha, the Gaṇḍavyūha, the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka, the Pañcarakṣā, and the AsP and other Prajñāpāramitā sūtras,27 were commissioned with paintings. It is interesting to note that the AsP remained

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the most illustrated text in medieval South Asia because the AsP, while geared towards sensory experiences, that is, worship of a book as a physical object, is the least visually inclined among this group of Mahāyāna sūtras, especially compared with the visual worlds of the Lotus sūtra and the Avataṃsaka (Gaṇḍavyūha) sūtra.28 The resplendent visual imagery of the Saddharmapuṇḍarīka sūtra (popularly known as the Lotus sūtra) provides bountiful possibilities for illustrations.29 The Gaṇḍavyūha sūtra is also a visually inclined text, as it narrates the story of Sudhana’s pilgrimage, visiting various teachers and divinities of different worlds.30 Yet these two sūtras were only occasionally commissioned with paintings in medieval South Asia, and the images did not quite meet the visual potential of the text.31 It is as if they did not earn enough currency in the circle of the promoters of the medieval Buddhist book cult. The Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra (Kv) and the Pañcarakṣā sūtra (PC) concern a more cultic aspect of Mahāyāna Buddhism in which the visual world is much emphasized. The Kv eulogizes the virtue of Avalokiteśvara, who could save the devotees even from the burning hell (avīci), while the PC is about the five protective goddesses who could be propitiated for protections against worldly disasters. The Kv, in particular, has narrative moments that demonstrate Avalokiteśvara’s heroic and fantastic actions, which could be easily translated into a visual narrative. An eastern Indian Kv manuscript now in the British Library (Or. 13940) is indeed richly illustrated and includes a few panels representing the narratives from the text.32 But this text, too, was not as frequently commissioned with paintings in medieval eastern India.33 The PC was the second most popular text for illustration in medieval eastern India, and the demand for illustrated manuscripts of the PC actually superseded the demand for the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra in Nepal by the sixteenth century. The relationship between the text and the images in an illustrated manuscript of the PC is perhaps most straightforward, since it is an apotropaic text proclaiming the efficacy and the power of the five protectresses. From the twelfth century onwards, the iconographic program of the PC manuscripts is more or less standardized, and a manuscript of the PC contains the images of the five goddesses accompanying their respective texts.34 The PC’s standardized one-on-one iconographic scheme, however, did not arise without various attempts to imbue the manuscript with the sacred presence in India.35

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In comparison to the visually translatable contents of these Mahāyāna sūtras, the AsP provides little visual material to illustrate, for it is a philosophical treaty on emptiness. But perhaps the lack of visionary accounts in the text contributed to its malleability as a cultic object. When the text’s main goal is to expound a philosophical concept, how to represent it visually has many possibilities. The various iconographic schemes developed during this period suggest that the makers of these manuscripts were aware of the challenge of representing an unrepresentable text and sought ways to incorporate the message of the text in constructing their manuscripts as sacred objects. The fact that this metaphysical text was chosen for commissioning illustrated manuscripts, over other more visually oriented texts, attests to its status as the book of the Buddhist book cult. The cultic importance of the AsP, a more traditional Mahāyāna text, in the face of the fully developed forms of Esoteric Buddhism also reflects the conservatism that we see in the choice of a more archaic and formalized script. This conservatism and a desire to be more securely connected to the root of the tradition may also explain the popularity of the Buddhist book cult among the lay Buddhist practitioners in the late twelfth century when the monastic establishments were falling apart, as we will see in chapter 6. My analysis of the iconographic programs focuses on the illustrated manuscripts of the AsP with occasional examples of the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts. Some iconographic choices, such as the choice of the Buddha’s life scenes, do suggest the conservative tendency to remain true to the core value of the Buddhist traditions. But the makers of medieval Buddhist books quickly adapted to the ever-changing cultic and demographic environments of eleventh- and twelfth-century eastern India. Many bookmakers developed strategies that made their books valuable cultic objects that could be animated and enlivened through the divine presence. Some manuscripts were designed to embody famous tīrthas (sacred sites, Group B manuscripts) and some to manifest maṇḍalas (lit. “circles,” plans or diagrams representing the hierarchical ordering of the divine presence, Group D manuscripts) in their respective threedimensional spaces. If we consider how each manuscript was constructed as a sacred object, we can categorize the surviving illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from South Asia into four groups based on their iconographic structure: Group A, embodying the enlightenment expe-

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rience of the Buddha; Group B, embodying the Buddhist sacred geography; Group C, representing and symbolizing the text; and Group D, manifesting a maṇḍala. The manuscripts (Ms) in Group A usually have three illustrated panels per folio. Four of them (Ms A1–Ms A4) have two pairs of two illustrated folios placed at the beginning and the end of the text, and three (Ms A5–Ms A7) have three pairs of illustrated folios placed at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the text. Both Group B and Group C manuscripts have a single panel per illustrated folio, except for occasional irregularities in Group B manuscripts (Ms B1 and Ms B2), and these two groups have the illustrated folios placed at the beginning and the end of each chapter or each section of the text, except for two Group C manuscripts (Ms C3 and Ms C4). Most manuscripts categorized under Group D have three illustrated panels per folio and three pairs of two facing illustrated folios placed at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the text, just as in Group A manuscripts. My categorization covers both Indian and Nepalese productions, but the main focus of the analysis is on eastern Indian manuscripts. The list of manuscripts in each group is by no means comprehensive. By dividing relatively well-known manuscripts into these four groups, we can understand better their cultic significance in historical context. It can also provide a useful analytical framework to understand the complex iconographic programs of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts.  

 

Four Iconographic Tr ends

Makers of Group A rendered a book comparable to a reliquary or a stūpa. The iconographic program of Group A systematically represents the Buddha’s life scenes and the Prajñāpāramitā deities along with the cultic deities. This trend was the earliest iconographic scheme to develop in eastern India, possibly at the famous monastery of Nālandā, and all the subsequent trends more or less developed in reference to this one. The following manuscripts are examined as part of Group A: Ms A1: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 6th year (ca. 983 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata G.4713 (fig. 3–1, web 2–1) Ms A2: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 27th year (ca. 1007 CE), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M86.185a-d  

 

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Ms A3: AsP, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE), Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M72.I.20a-b36 (fig. 2–3) Ms A4: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s 15th year (ca. 1058 CE) and Gopāla’s 8th year (ca. 1140 CE), Asia Society, New York (fig. 2–1, W-diagram 3–1) Ms A5: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 5th year (ca. 1074 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1464 (W-diagram 3–2) Ms A6: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043-1069 CE), Wellcome Library, London, Sansk ε 1 (fig. 3–3, 3–4) Ms A7: AsP, Madanapāla’s 17th year (ca. 1160 CE), Detroit Institute of Arts, Acc. No. 27.586  

 

 

 

 

 

Of these seven manuscripts, Ms A5 and Ms A6 stand out from the group because their iconographic programs most clearly allude to the idea of a three-dimensional maṇḍala, articulated in Group D. Ms A7 dated to the second half of the twelfth century (ca. 1160 CE), and many manuscripts in Group D suggest that the Buddha’s life scenes remained the most popular theme in illustrated manuscript production until the beginning of the thirteenth century in eastern India. Group B manuscripts consider a book as an embodiment of holy sites, and their iconographic programs characteristically represent famous images and sacred sites. This tradition initially developed in Nepal in the early eleventh century in parallel with Group A, which developed in Magadha (Bihar), and was adopted in Bengal by the beginning of the twelfth century. Group A and Group B are rooted in the same idea of embodying sacred sites in a book, if we understand the eight life scenes of the Buddha in Group A’s iconographic program as the eight major Buddhist pilgrimage sites.37 The major difference between the two groups lies in the structure of iconographic programming. If the makers of Group A manuscripts considered a book as a stūpa and placed the eight scenes systematically to encase the text, the Group B makers had a more ambitious vision of holding and replicating all the famous Buddhist holy sites, or tīrthas, in a book. The sites identified in these manuscripts are located not only in the South Asian subcontinent but also in faraway Buddhist lands of Sri Lanka, Java, Sumatra, Central Asia, and China. This group is comparable to a paṭa (or paubhā in Nepal) painting that

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commemorates one’s pilgrimage to the holy sites, which could serve as a pictorial guide for imagined pilgrimage.38 Many sites are located in Bihar and Bengal, but some are in western India (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Sindh), the northwestern region (Peshawar, Swat valley), China, Java, Sri Lanka, and other faraway places. This vision also reflects what sites the Buddhists in the Kathmandu Valley considered more important and powerful. The following manuscripts are considered in Group B: Ms B1: AsP, NS 135 (1015 CE) during the joint rule of Bhojadeva, Rudradeva, and Lakṣmīkāmadeva, restored in NS 259 (1139 CE) during the reign of Mānadeva, Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643 (W-diagram 3–3) Ms B2: AsP, NS 191 (1071 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15 (fig. 3–7) Ms B3: Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā (PvP), Harivarman’s 8th regnal year (ca. 1100 CE), Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery (fig. 3–10) Ms B4: PvP, early 12th century, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, and Metropolitan Museum, New York (fig. 3–12, 3–13) Ms B5: Kv, early 12th century, British Library, Or. 13940  

 

 

 

 

The images in the manuscripts categorized under Group C collectively symbolize the text. The relationship between the text and the images in this group is most straightforward, as images refer directly to the text. The images serve as indexical signs of the text and provide a visual index or a site map for each book. Through the presence of these images, a book becomes an icon of the text that could help open up the text in one’s mind even when the book is closed. This scheme seems to have become popular from the beginning of the twelfth century, and Nepalese Pañcarakṣā manuscripts follow it most closely.39 This iconographic trend in its simplistic form subsequently became the most popular method of illustrating a Buddhist manuscript in Nepal. This group would comprise a large number of manuscripts if we include all the surviving eastern Indian and Nepalese manuscripts from the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. Thus I have limited the discussion to a few examples:

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Ms C1: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 37th regnal year (ca. 1114 CE), Tibet Museum, Lhasa (fig. 4–2) Ms C2: Pañcarakṣā, NS 255 (1135 CE), San Diego Museum of Art, Acc. No. 1990:156, formerly Edwin Binney 3rd Collection (web 4–1) Ms C3: AsP, NS 268 (1148 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.4203 (web 4–2) Ms C4: AsP, Gopāla’s 15th year (ca. 1147 CE), British Library, Or. 6902 (fig. 4-1, 4–3) Ms C5: Pañcarakṣā, Madanapāla’s 13th year (ca. 1156 CE), Rietberg Museum, Zurich (web 4–4) Ms C6: Pañcarakṣā, Govindapāla’s 16th year (ca. 1191 CE), National Archive, Kathmandu (web 4–3)  

 

 

 

 

 

In Group D, a book becomes a three-dimensional maṇḍala through the presence of images. The seed for this trend is already seen in Group A, and its earliest manifestation appears in a mid-eleventh-century Pañcarakṣā manuscript (Ms D1). This iconographic mode is most inventive of all. It marks the culmination of the Buddhist book cult in medieval eastern India. The idea of making a book into a three-dimensional maṇḍala was experimented with and articulated in the practice of the Buddhist book cult during the twelfth century. Interestingly, although these Indian manuscripts containing the world of Esoteric Buddhist divinities were transported to Nepal and Tibet and survived there until the nineteenth century, this scheme was never seriously picked up in Nepal:40 Ms D1: Pañcarakṣā, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1648 (fig. 4–4, 4–5, 6–3, W-diagram 4–1) Ms D2: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE), Bodleian Library, Oxford, Sansk a.7 (fig. 4–6, 4–7, 4–8, 4–9) Ms D3: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE), Victoria and Albert Museum, IS4.1958-10.1958 (fig. 5–1, 5–2, web 5–1) Ms D4: AsP, Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 20.589 (fig. 5–3, 5–4, web 5–2)  

 

 

 

 

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Ms D5: AsP, Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE?), Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) (fig. 5–5) Ms D6: AsP, Govindapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE), Royal Asiatic Society, London, Hodgson Ms 1 (fig. 5–6) Ms D7: AsP, Govindapāla’s 30th year or earlier (ca. 1205 CE; late 12th or early 13th century), British Library, Or. 1428241 (fig. 5–7, W-diagram 5-1) Ms D8: AsP, Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Musée Guimet, Paris, MA 5161, formerly Fournier Collection (fig. 5–8, W-diagram 5–2) Ms D9: AsP, Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Asiatic Society, Mumbai, BI-210 (fig. 5–9, web 5–4, 5–5, W-diagram 5–3) Ms D10: AsP, Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU (fig. 5–10, 5–11, 5–12, 5–13, web 5–6, 5–7, 5–8, 5– 9, W-diagram 5–4)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the main characteristics of Group D manuscripts is the inclusion of Tantric Buddhist deities that belong to what Rob Linrothe identifies as “Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism” and “Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism.”42 The unrelated nature of the text–image relationship marked by the appearance of the highly charged forms of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities, such as Hevajra, Cakrasamvara, and Kālacakra, in the manuscripts of the AsP led previous scholars to consider these images just as a protective measure. With some images placed upside down to the direction of the text, the text–image relationship in this group seems the most distant. This distant relationship, however, makes this group the most interesting. The Group C trend, that is, images functioning as indexical signs and ultimately serving as iconic symbols of the text, became the norm in the later Nepalese manuscript production. During the twelfth century, however, many experiments were conducted in manuscript production, as seen in the Group D manuscripts. There is a sense of freedom in experimental design of Group D manuscripts, which may reflect the social and cultural situation of Buddhists in twelfth-century eastern India because many of the Group D manuscripts were provincially made and their production was not controlled by monastic institutions.  

 

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These four groups are by no means exclusive categories. For example, a manuscript with Buddha’s life scenes that belongs to Group A could also belong to Group B in terms of embodying the pilgrimage sites. Group B and Group C share similarities in their iconographic structures. Many manuscripts in these two groups have images marking the beginning and the end of each chapter. The importance of the Buddha’s life scenes in illustrating the AsP manuscripts is common to all these four groups. Regardless of their iconographic characteristics, images in an illustrated Buddhist manuscript serve as a visual index of a manuscript.

Pictur es, Movem ents, and a Cultic Object

The Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa and the Illustrated Buddhist Books

Another common trait in book design in medieval South Asia is the idea of constructing a maṇḍala, comparable to the construction of paṭas as elaborated in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa (Mmk). As scholars like Matthew Kapstein and Rob Linrothe suggest, the bearing of the Mmk as a ritual manual (kalpa) on the production of Buddhist art in eastern India and Tibet is clear.43 The goal of the following discussion, of course, is not to argue that the Buddhist book cult practitioners used the Mmk as their manual. The Mmk provides a useful analytical frame to understand the medieval practice of the Buddhist book cult because what is described in the Mmk reflects the general cultic attitude towards the construction and the use of sacred objects in medieval India.44 The illustrated manuscripts provide art historical support for Kapstein’s theoretical construction of the process of paṭa production in India when no paṭa from Pāla India survives to prove it.45 Although only Group D is identified as the manifestation of a three-dimensional maṇḍala, the manuscripts in all four groups have a characteristic of a maṇḍala, as the illustrated panels are systematically placed to represent the various fields of power and to articulate the hierarchical relationship among them. For example, in the case of Group A manuscripts, at least four different visual fields of power, that is, the Buddha’s life scenes, the Prajñāpāramitā deities, the cultic deities, and the letters of the text, all come together in a book and create the collective field manifesting the spiritual power of the enlightenment (see W-diagram 2–1).  

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Even a manuscript with the most diverse spatial arrangement, like Ms B1 (Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643), in which famous images and sites from all over the Buddhist world are arranged in a maze-like fashion, can be understood as a linear maṇḍala that ultimately creates a vast space of Buddhist universe in one’s mind (see W-diagram 3–3).46 If we consider a book as an object with many movable parts, the folios, which could be animated under its normal use, that is, opening of a book and flipping the folios, we can understand a book’s cultic potential as an animatable object. If paṭa is an “animated cult image” in Glenn Wallis’s “interpretive translation,” an illustrated manuscript is an animatable cult object without any interpretive intervention.47 A manuscript with its many images can assist “the adept to traverse great distances of space rapidly [Groups A, B], overcome the force of time [Groups A, B, D], heal sickness [Groups C, D, especially the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts],” and attain enlightenment (Groups A–D).48 Invoking the Mmk in understanding the Mahāyāna cult of book in medieval South Asia is particularly relevant when we see the demographic change of its patronage in the twelfth century. As will be discussed in chapter 6, some donors of the illustrated manuscripts in twelfth-century eastern India identify themselves as sādhu. As a lay Buddhist practitioner, this sādhu may be understood as a real-life equivalent of the sādhaka, the ideal practitioner of the Mmk. In addition, the presence of the donors in manuscripts in the form of colophons, and sometimes in the form of visual representations (see figs. 2–3 and 6–1), may be comparable to the Mmk’s prescription that requires the sādhaka be integrated into the painted space of a paṭa.49 A monk with his hands folded together in añjalī mudrā, with ritual implements in front of him, on the last folio of Ms D1, the Pañcarakṣā manuscript in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1686), does not seem too different from the image of the sādhaka, as described in the Mmk, kneeling piously in the periphery of the divine space (see fig. 6–3 and 4-5). Although the sādhaka here is a monk, not a lay donor, this simple ritual scene renders the transcendental divine space created within a manuscript accessible and immediate. The sādhaka of the Mmk, in fact, does not seem too different from the donor figures appearing in the eastern Indian Buddhist sculptures from the ninth century onwards, in terms of his attitude and relative position (see web. 1–2). It would be wrong to identify all the  

 

 

 

 

 

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donors on sculptural productions as equivalents of the sādhakas of the Mmk. But both the prescription in the Mmk and the donor images represented in illustrated manuscripts and sculptures reflect a strong desire to be part of the divine world and to go beyond the human limitation of the here and now. If we understand controlling the uncontrollable as one of the main objectives of Esoteric Buddhist rituals, the human figures plugged into the divine space bring the abstract, visionary world into the concrete world of materiality. This practice was even more concretized in Nepal, and including visual representations of the donor figures in manuscript illustration and the practice of recording more elaborate, personalized accounts of the donors’ actions in the colophons became a norm in Nepalese illustrated manuscript production. Moving Text

The sacred space unfolding in a book of the AsP can also transform the here and now into the field of enlightened visions that reveal the reality that lies “beyond” what is in front of one’s eyes.50 This transformative power of a book is unusual for a Buddhist sacred object, for no other single cultic object, be it a sculpted image, a stūpa, or a relic, provides a mechanical possibility of movements and promises a structural potential for deconstruction without destruction that only the pothi format of the South Asian manuscripts allows. Although I do not know of any textual source that discusses a book’s mechanical potential directly as an object that can be animated, the awareness and interest in movements necessary for using a book can be glimpsed from the development of the so-called Tibetan prayer wheels or the revolving cylinders that enable “mechanized recitation” of sacred texts (see web 2–2).51 The origin of this practice has long been sought in China, but Gregory Schopen’s analysis of a verse in a praśasti (eulogistic donative) inscription from Nālandā opens up the possibility of its Indian origin.52 Found in monastery no. 7 at Nālandā, written neatly in siddhamātṛkā type script, the inscription records the monastic lineage and the meritorious deeds of the Buddhist monk Vipulaśrīmitra.53 In verse 6, the inscription refers to the mother of the jinas ( jananījinānāṃ), that is, Prajñāpāramitā, which was constantly in motion (bhramatyavirataṃ) thanks to Vipulaśrīmitra’s meritorious act. That Prajñāpāramitā here refers to the AsP is clear from the context, as verse 4 mentions “the Mother of the Buddhas in eight thou 

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Figure 2-4  Signs of worship on a book cover, a Nepalese manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra dated 1641 CE. Cambridge University Library, Add. 1330. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

sand (verses).” Since texts generally do not “incessantly move(s) about” on their own, Schopen suggests, this moving text refers to the revolving movement created using a mechanical device. Rereading the text of verse 6, Schopen proposes a new translation, which reads, “a copy of the AsP constantly revolves . . . by means of a contrived (book) case,” and suggests that a revolving bookcase invented for the purpose of continuous “mechanized recitation” of the text existed in eleventh-century India.54 While I find Schopen’s brilliant analysis convincing, I also wonder if it isn’t possible to think that a beautifully produced book with its encasing book covers was in itself conceived as a case (mañjuṣā) in the context of the medieval cult of Buddhist books. As suggested in the previous chapter, if we consider the fluidity between the inner and outer space of a book, a book can be both a relic and a relic case. The visual representations of a book in worship show a long rectangular object on a pedestal with flowers and ribbons on top. The Prajñāpāramitā manuscript represented in the Orissan stele of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā examined in chapter 1 has two knobs on top that would have held together the manuscript, along with two flower offerings (see fig. 1–4).55 Surviving wooden book covers that have heavy accumulations of sandalwood paste and vermillion powder suggest that manuscripts have been in direct worship, just as seen in the representations of ritual scenes (fig.2– 4). It became a common practice by the mid-twelfth century to have  

 

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Figure 2-5  Painted book covers of an AsP Ms (Ms D5), Nālandā, Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE). Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi.

the inside of the wooden book covers painted and illustrated and to incorporate this space into the iconographic design of the whole manuscript (fig. 2–5, see fig. 5–5). The outer surfaces of these wooden book covers were also painted and decorated, and the more elaborate, sometimes sculpted, wooden book covers that developed later in Nepal and Tibet may reflect this tendency to consider a book as encasing or packaging a relic, in this case, the Buddha’s teaching (see web 2–3).56 While keeping in mind this development of almost three-dimensional embellishment of book covers, let us look at verse 6 again: “śrīmat­ khasarppaṇamahāyatane prayatnāt [sic] mañjūṣayā vihitayā jananījinānāṃ / yena bhramatyavirataṃ pratimāś catasraḥ sattreṣu parvvaṇi samarppayati sma yaś ca.” A beautifully produced book with its encasing book covers might in itself be conceived as a case (mañjuṣā) in the context of the medieval cult of Buddhist books. We may also consider jananījinānāṃ as referring to the text of the Prajñāpāramitā. If this text “incessantly moved about” through the “continuous effort” (prayatnāt) of Vipulaśrīmitra(yena) in the great temple of Khasarpaṇa (Avalokiteśvara), we may propose that a ritual turning of folios of a manuscript that accompanied a continuous recitation of the text could have created such movements.57 Of course, this reading is even more fanciful than an imaginative construction of a revolving bookcase. What is important for our discussion here is that the inscription talks about a text in motion, and whether in a revolv 

 

 

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ing case or not, this implies the awareness of the movements involved in using a manuscript. Mechanical Animation of a Three-Dimensional Ma ṇ ḍala

Reading a Buddhist book as a three-dimensional maṇḍala that can be animated can be historically situated by comparing it with another innovative ritual object made during this period, the so-called lotus maṇḍala. It is a bronze cast lotus with eight movable petals that can open and close. In addition to being a truly three-dimensional maṇḍala, its small size, measuring around 6 to 8 inches in height, and the possibility of closing the lotus with the deities systematically arranged within may permit the classification of this object as a portable miniature shrine.58 In this regard, the lotus maṇḍala belongs to a category of objects that developed much earlier. Portable shrines made of wood, ivory, or lightweight stone, many of which date between the eighth and the tenth centuries, have been found in northwest India, Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan.59 But the lotus maṇḍala adds an innovative technological twist that could amplify its effect as a three-dimensional maṇḍala: a true sense of transformation is conveyed through opening the eight petals of a lotus bud and revealing the inner reality residing within. A few of these bronze lotus maṇḍalas survive from eastern India, and they all seem to date to the eleventh or twelfth century, the same period as the illustrated manuscripts discussed here. Their iconographic programs also show common features with those seen in Buddhist manuscripts. Let us examine two examples. A lotus maṇḍala containing Vajra Tārā now in the Indian Museum, Kol­kata, was found in Chandipur next to a Devīsthāna, an old Devī temple, near Pātharghātā in Bhagalpur district, Bihar.60 Its reported height when the lotus is closed with a cap on top is about 8 inches. The eight petals were cast separately and inserted into holes to achieve the effect of a blooming lotus once the cap is removed and the petals are released. As the lotus blooms, it reveals a seated image of Vajra Tārā in the center with her troupe of eight goddesses on eight petals, one on each (see web 2–4). Vajra Tārā, an eight-armed form of Tārā, was extremely popular among medieval South Asian Buddhists, for she  

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could help the devotee achieve anything that he or she desired.61 Eight attendant goddesses surround her on eight petals, four siting crosslegged and the other four standing in āliḍha posture with left leg bent and right leg stretched. The petals are incised with numbers, and the four two-armed goddesses are seated on petals number 1, 3, 5, and 7, marking their places in the four inter-cardinal corners of Vajra Tārā’s maṇḍala.62 They may represent the four offering goddesses, namely, Gandha (no. 1, holding flowers), Dīpa (no. 3, holding a lamp), Dhūpa (no. 5, incense burner), and Puṣpa (no. 7, holding an utpala lotus). The four standing goddesses all hold a tarjanī gesture in the left hands, and they may be four yoginīs guarding the four cardinal directions of the Vajra Tārā maṇḍala, called Vajraghaṇṭā (no. 2, holding vajra and ghaṇṭa), Vajra­pāsī (no. 4, holding pāśa, or a noose), Vajrasphoṭī (no. 6, holding cakra, or a wheel), and Vajrāṅkuśī (no. 8, holding aṅkuśa, or an elephant goad). The outer surface of the petals have incised outlines of images that may represent the “shadow” or male counterparts of the goddesses represented within.63 When the lotus is closed, an elegantly made lotus bud sits on a beautifully molded pedestal with a swirling flower pattern from which two vines shoot upwards supporting two dancing female figures on each. In this state, Vajra Tārā and her retinue are hidden from view, just like the images in a book when a book is closed. Just as a book is a beautifully made object of worship when closed, the lotus is a thing of beauty in itself that could have emanated the powerful light that it contains within. Another lotus maṇḍala, now in the British Museum (OA 1982.8-4.1), also made with extremely fine craftsmanship, demonstrates that illustrated manuscripts and lotus maṇḍalas were designed with common iconographic idioms that reflect shared doctrinal and cultic concerns (fig. 2–6). Made with a copper alloy, with silver and copper inlay detailing on figures, this carefully constructed lotus must have been a precious thing to behold and to be surprised by. It is dated to the twelfth century on stylistic grounds, and it bears an inscription that identifies the donor as a lay devotee named Dantanāga (upāsakaśrīdantanāgasyayadatra-puṇyaṃ||). Even when the lotus is closed, active movements are implied by the swirling stems of lotus buds that surround the upper part of the pedestal and by the two naga (serpentine) figures about to climb up the stem in avid devotion. Stepping up from the small sprout 

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Figure 2-6  Lotus maṇḍala with the Buddha and eight bodhisattvas, ca. 12th century. Bronze. British Museum, OA1982.8-4.1. Photograph © Trustees of the British Museum.

ing lotus stems, the nagas turn their faces upwards ardently and have one hand out as if trying to receive the blessing at the minute the lotus opens up. Right under the main lotus connected to the supporting lower petals sit two figures in relaxed pose with their right feet down. They represent Jambhala and Vasudhārā, two of the most common cultic deities in medieval India that usually occupy the outer orbit of a sacred space, including illustrated manuscripts (Ms A5, Ms A7, Ms D3, Ms D6, and Ms D10). The one on the left, from our view, is Jambhala, a chubby figure holding a mongoose and a jewel, and the one

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Figure 2-7  Buddha’s enlightenment/Bodhgayā icon, left panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D9), ca. 1207 CE (Govindapāla’s 32nd year), Asiatic Society, Mumbai BI-210.

on the right is the goddess Vasudhārā, holding a jewel and a lotus. As their attributes suggest immediately, they are associated with granting worldly wishes of the devotees. Their placement in the outer layer and their proximity to the donor inscription clearly visible on the pedestal suggest that the bookmakers and the makers of the lotus maṇḍalas had a shared idea regarding the structure of a sacred space and employed the cultic deities accordingly. This helps us understand the hierarchic relationship implied in the layout of the deities in Group D manuscripts. As if responding to the ardent devotion expressed in the space below, opening the lotus petals reveals a seated image of the Buddha, displaying the characteristic gesture of enlightenment with his right hand touching the earth (bhumīsparśa mudrā). Although sometimes identified as Akṣobhya,64 one of the five transcendental Buddhas (pañcatathāgata or pañcajina), who displays the same gesture and whose iconography ultimately derives from that of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni as a blissful manifestation (saṁbhogakāya), this image represents a specific image of the Buddha Śākyamuni once in the central shrine of the Mahābodhi temple.65 The identification of this image as Akṣobhya can still be entertained, partly because of the presence of the eight bodhi-

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Figure 2-8  Vajrāsāna Buddha/Bodhgayā icon, center panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D10), ca. 1226 CE (Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year). Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi. No. 4920.

sattvas surrounding him.66 Eight bodhisattva figures sit in relaxed pose (rājalalitāsana), holding various attributes on eight petals.67 We should note the formal characteristics of the Buddha image: he has an unusually wide forehead, a very short neck, a diadem-like headdress marked with inlaid copper and silver, and a trefoil-shaped copper-inlaid jewel on his uṣṇiṣa. There survive a number of such “robust” or “short-necked” Buddha images that display the same formal features, including two manuscript paintings (fig. 2–7 and 2–8). As recent scholarship has shown, it is safe to conclude that they may all represent an actual image of the Buddha that was in the Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā.68 Thus, the Buddha image seated in the center of the British Museum lotus maṇḍala represents a famous image of the Buddha Śākyamuni that was actually at Bodhgayā, while appropriating the eight bodhisattvas of Akṣobhya. In addition to the context of threedimensional maṇḍala, the choice of the Bodhgayā Buddha in this configuration provides an interesting visual clue for understanding the central theme of iconographic programs in illustrated Buddhist books, that is, the enlightenment of the Buddha Śākyamuni represented through illustrated panels depicting his life, sometimes arranged together with a group of deities from a maṇḍala. It does not seem to be a coincidence that this specific iconographic type of Bodhgayā Buddha emerged only in the eleventh to twelfth centuries when the manuscripts began to be  

 

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illustrated with the life scenes of the Buddha. Copying a famous image, perhaps with an intention of emulating its power rooted in its locality, suggests a general shift in the goals of constructing Buddhist sacred objects in medieval South Asia, including Buddhist manuscripts, which aimed at evoking more concrete, material, personal, and perhaps visceral associations of the divine presence for the practitioners. With this understanding in mind, let us consider the first group of manuscripts.

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Part Two

Text and Image

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3 Representing the Perfection of Wisdom, Embodying the Holy Sites

The images in an illustrated manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñā­ pāramitā sūtra (AsP) do not seem to be related to the text at all at first glance. Eight panels out of twelve painted panels in the illustrated manuscript of the AsP now in the Asia Society, New York, depict the eight scenes from the Buddha’s life (see fig. 2–1), whereas the accompanying text does not narrate the stories from the Buddha’s life. Even more challenging to understand is the inclusion of a number of images that are identified by captions as specific images of specific localities, as seen in the Nepalese AsP manuscript now in the Cambridge University Library (Ms B1, W-diagram 3–3), when these sites and images are not mentioned in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. The reason behind the choice of these specific types of images at first seems to be purely instrumental: the chosen images were perfect for accruing religious merits (puṇya), one of the most important purposes of religious donations in Mahāyāna Buddhist context. Their systematic placement in a manuscript calls for further investigation regarding the religious and art historical significance of the images in Buddhist book production. These images also provide excellent art historical evidence for studying Buddhist iconography as it was understood and realized in the eleventh century. For example, a caption accompanying the image of the Goddess Cundā on folio 188r of Ms B1 reads “lāhṭadeśevuṅkaranagarecundā,” or “Cundā  

 



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in Buṅkaranagara in Lahṭa country,” and the panel represents a fourarmed goddess seated with a bowl on her lap, holding a rosary and a manuscript (see fig. 3–5). The surrounding elements, such as four nonmonastic devotees who look like wandering ascetics, a bull, three small shrine structures, an elephant, and a monk (or Buddha), indicate the specific locality of Buṅkaranagara in Lahṭa. In fact, these manuscripts have often been used as source books for iconographic studies since Alfred Foucher’s pioneering study in 1900.1 But this art historical approach often discounts the fact that the manuscripts were made as sacred objects of worship in the context of the Buddhist book cult. When we consider these images in the context of a three-dimensional object, a book, as I propose to do in this study, we can appreciate their art historical and religious value more fully. I believe these images help us understand the process and the rationale behind the construction of Buddhist sacred objects in the medieval South Asian historical context. As we open the manuscripts and enter into their visual worlds, let us examine the roles of images in constructing a book as a cultic object par excellence of the time.  

Prajñāpāramitā and the Enlightenment

The text of the AsP does not tell us about the Buddha’s life stories, yet the main subject matter of the manuscript paintings is the Buddha’s life scenes, as seen in Group A manuscripts.2 When we probe the relationship between the text and the images in the AsP manuscripts, they are not as unrelated as they first appear. One of the main goals of the text is to explain the importance of the Prajñāpāramitā as the root cause of the Buddha’s enlightenment. In chapter 3 of the AsP, the Buddha equates the spot of earth on which Prajñāpāramitā is placed with the seat of enlightenment, that is, vajrāsana at Bodhgayā. Further, where this perfection of wisdom has been written down in a book, and has been put up and worshipped, where it has been taken up, etc., there men and ghosts can do no harm, except as a punishment for past deeds. This is another advantage even here and now. Just, Kausika, as those men and ghosts who have gone to the terrace of enlightenment, or to its neighbourhood, or its interior, or to the foot of the tree of enlightenment, cannot be hurt by men or ghosts, or be injured by

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them, or taken possession of, even with the help of evil animal beings, except as a punishment for former deeds. Because in it the past, future and present Tathagatas win their enlightenment, they who promote in all beings and who reveal to them fearlessness, lack of hostility, lack of fright. Just so, Kausika, the place in which one takes up, etc., this perfection of wisdom, in it cannot be hurt by men or ghosts. Because this perfection of wisdom makes the spot of earth where it is into a true shrine for beings, —worthy of being worshipped and adored—, into a shelter for beings who come to it, a refuge, a place of rest and final relief.3  

 

What Edward Conze translates in this passage as “the terrace of enlightenment,” bodhimaṇḍa in Sanskrit, refers to the place where the Buddha attained enlightenment, that is, Bodhgayā. The spot of earth where the book of the AsP is located (sa pṛthivīpradeśa) is equated to “not just a caitya, but with the bodhimaṇḍa,” in its power, firmly established as the mahā-caitya by the eleventh century when the illustrated manuscripts were made.4 The predominance of Pāla-period life-scene steles privileging the Māravijaya (the Buddha’s enlightenment, lit. “the Buddha’s victory over Māra”) scene suggests the status of Bodhgayā as the mahā-caitya;5 so does the popularity of Bodhgayā as a pilgrimage site where numerous votive objects datable to the periods between the eighth and the twelfth centuries were found.6 The text of the AsP further explains the relationship between enlightenment and the Prajñāpāramitā. In chapter 4, the Buddha asks Indra which one he would choose, tathāgata relics or a written copy of the Prajñāpāramitā, upon which Indra answers: Just this perfection of wisdom [Prajñāpāramitā]. Because of my esteem for the Guide of the Tathāgatas. Because in a true sense this is the body of the Tathāgatas. As the Lord has said: “The Dharma-bodies are the Buddhas, my body. Monks, you should see Me from the accomplishment of the Dharma-body.” But that Tathāgata-body should be seen as brought about by the reality-limit, i.e. by the perfection of wisdom. . . . As come forth from this perfection of wisdom are the relics of the Tathāgata worshipped, and therefore, when one worships just this perfection of wisdom, then also the worship of the relics of the Tathāgata is brought to fulfillment. For the relics of the Tathāgata

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have come forth from the perfection of wisdom. It is as with my own godly seat in Sudharmā, the hall of the Gods. When I am seated on it, the Gods come to wait on me. But when I am not, the Gods, out of respect for me, pay their respect to my seat, circumambulate it, and go away again. For they recall that, seated on this seat, Śakra, the Chief of Gods, demonstrates Dharma to the Gods of the Thirty-three. In the same way the perfection of wisdom is the real eminent cause and condition which feeds the all-knowledge of the Tathāgata.7

Here, it seems clear that the all-knowledge that leads tathāgatas to enlightenment originates from the Prajñāpāramitā: Prajñāpāramitā is the cause of enlightenment. The famous simile of Prajñāpāramitā as the mother of the Buddhas from chapter 12 explains this point further as the Buddha emphasizes that the Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā) is the root of enlightenment like a mother to her son. The iconographic program explicitly articulates this important causal relationship between Prajñāpāramitā and the Buddha’s enlightenment through a visual pairing between the Prajñāpāramitā deities and the Buddha’s life scenes. The life scenes in illustrated manuscripts are often placed at the beginning and the end of the text on two facing folios, as seen in figure 3–1. The four scenes of the birth, the enlightenment, the first sermon, and the miracle appear on the first two folios of most Group A manuscripts, flanking central panels that often have Prajñāpāramitā deities (see fig. 2–1, web 2–1, W-diagram 3–1). The four scenes of the descent, the taming of the mad elephant, the monkey’s offering of honey, and the Parinirvāṇa are placed on the last two folios, mirroring the first four panels. The pairing of the first sermon and the miracle, and that of the descent and the taming of the mad elephant, suggest that compositional balance was one of the main principles governing their placement, sometimes superior to the chronological order of the events, as the first pair, that of the first sermon and the miracle, has the Buddha seated in a preaching gesture (see fig. 2–1, web 2–1) and the second pair, that of the descent and the taming, has the Buddha standing in action (see fig. 2–1, 3–4). From the popularity of the life scene steles privileging the enlightenment, we may suggest that the Buddha’s life scenes collectively signify  

 

 

 

 

 

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Figure 3-1  Ms A1: AsP, Mahīpāla’s 6th year (ca. 983 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata G.4713.

the Buddha’s enlightenment.8 That the focus of the program was to represent the Buddha’s enlightenment is also evident in our manuscripts, as the scene of the enlightenment is placed foremost in the sequence of the life scenes in Ms A1 and Ms A5 (see fig. 3–1, W-diagram 3–2). The makers of Ms A5 and Ms A6 placed the life scenes in the center of the manuscripts rather than in the outer layer (see W-diagram 3–2, fig. 3– 3). As seen in figure 3–3, Ms A6 goes further with the theme of emphasizing the Buddha’s enlightenment and places the enlightenment panel in the structural center of the manuscript on folio 102r (see fig. 3–4), with two additional panels that depict two more events that happened at Bodhgayā, the Buddha’s meditation under Nāga Mucilinda (folio 207v) and the harassment of the goatherds (folio 208r), centrally aligned on the last two folios (see web 3–1). The systematic placement of these scenes in the side panels of Ms A1, Ms A2, Ms A3, and Ms A4 is designed to frame the central panels (see fig. 3–1). The central panels of the first two folios feature the  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Prajñāpāramitā deities, that is, the goddess Prajñāpāramitā and bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, a male personification of wisdom (Ms A2, Ms A3, Ms A4), or Amitābha and Prajñāpāramitā (Ms A1, Ms A7). Then, the iconographic program visually relates the Buddha’s enlightenment (represented by the Buddha’s life scenes) and the Prajñāpāramitā (represented by the Prajñāpāramitā deities and the text itself ) by putting them on the same plane of existence. The relationship between the Prajñāpāramitā and the Buddha’s enlightenment is central to the Buddhist book cult because it provides the foundation of the cult: a book of the Prajñāpāramitā is worthy of veneration because the Prajñāpāramitā is the root of one’s enlightenment. This fundamental reason for the worship of a book is illustrated on the body of a book through the Buddha’s life scenes and the Prajñāpāramitā deities. It is also important to note that the text also emphasizes the “seat,” or a locus. In the above-cited passage from the AsP, Indra explains the worship of his own seat in Sudharmā. Just as Indra’s empty seat is worthy of worship as a symbol of his presence, the visual representations of the Buddha’s life sites are all worthy of worship. The painted panels of the life scenes physically and visually locate the mahā-caityas inside a book. The eight life scenes of the Buddha not only represent the eight great moments but also signify the eight pilgrimage sites where these events took place. If the life-scene steles are designed to invite a practitioner on a symbolic pilgrimage to the eight sacred sites,9 the Buddha’s life scenes systematically placed in a manuscript, too, invoke a mental journey to these sites materialized in the space of a book. One may go through these sites on a symbolic pilgrimage, the goal of which is achieving enlightenment. In addition, the eight narrative scenes stand for the eight great caityas of the eight major Buddhist pilgrimage sites10 (as in the Aṣṭamahāsthānacaitya stotra).11 Since the eight life scenes collectively signify the Buddha’s enlightenment,12 these illustrated panels visually transform a book into the site of enlightenment. If the mahācaityas were worshipped with great vigor because the Buddha was powerfully present, so were these books. The presence of the Buddha’s life scenes enhances the cultic status of a book: the book is to be worshipped following the well-known code of worship of the Buddha, by offering flowers, incense, perfumes, and others. The AsP is well-known for its paradoxical rhetoric, later epitomized

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by one simple paradoxical phrase of “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.”13 One of the main means employed to explain the philosophy of the Prajñāpāramitā is contradiction as exemplified by such sentences as “the perfection of wisdom is neither form nor other than form” or “the perfection of wisdom is neither feeling, perception, mental activities, consciousness, nor other than them.”14 Contradictions and negations are commonly used along with various similes as a didactical method to explain śūnyatā, or emptiness. This rhetorical strategy operates also at the meta level: two main themes of the text, emptiness and book cult, are contradictory, yet deeply interdependent. The text promotes its own cult and emphasizes the importance of worshipping the materiality of the book, when it also tries to show the ephemeral nature of the perceived world. The dichotomy between the two themes is not easily discernible in the text despite the abruptly inserted interpolations.15 Both the elaboration on the book cult and the discussion of emptiness are about the Perfection of Wisdom, and they are certainly interdependent in their didactic goals. The paintings illustrate these two big themes of the AsP text: the Buddha’s life scenes illustrate the practice of the book cult, while the Prajñāpāramitā deities represent the doctrinal teaching. At the meta level of a book, the images could collectively stand for the practice of the book cult as explained in the text, while the written words of the Buddha stand for the doctrinal teaching. In other words, it is not that the images are not related to the text but that our common perception of the text–image relationship in the modern book illustrations has perhaps hindered us from seeing the obvious relationship between them in the context of the South Asian Buddhist book cult.  

Book as a Stūpa

The placement of the life scenes in the outer folios of a manuscript, that is, the first and the last two folios, as seen in Ms A1, Ms A2, Ms A3, and Ms A4, renders a book comparable to a votive stūpa with the life scenes. A votive stūpa at site 12 in Nālandā has eight niches with architectural frames containing the eight scenes from the Buddha’s life (fig. 3–2). If we consider the panels in the clockwise order from the birth panel, the order is this: the birth, the enlightenment, the taming of the elephant,  

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the miracle, the gift of honey, the Parinirvāṇa, the descent, and the first sermon. If we understand their placement according to their cardinal positions, we can discern a clear logic behind this arrangement of the scenes. As Hiram Woodward suggests, the enlightenment and the Parinirvāṇa form the primary east–west axis, and the intermediate events are ordered according to a visual symmetry that “seems to smooth the practitioner’s inward digestion of the path” to enlightenment.16 The fact that each scene is given an equal weight makes our comparison to the manuscript illustrations more compelling. That the arrangement of the life scenes in a manuscript are almost identical to what we see on a stūpa also suggests that the text was truly taken as the relic of the Buddha, a book was in a way conceived as encasing a relic. This is literally the case because the text on the first two folios of these manuscripts is not the text of the AsP. Almost all the AsP manuscripts from the period begin with the hymn to the goddess Prajñāpāramitā (Prajñāpāramitānāmastuti) composed by Nāgārjuna, and the actual text usually begins on the verso of the second folio with the famous phrase “evammaya śrutam,” or “thus I heard.” Likewise, the last two folios usually bear colophons, including the “ye dharma . . .” verse and the donor colophon. For example, in Ms A1, the last chapter of the AsP ends in the third line on folio 202 verso, and the rest of folio 202v and folio 203r are devoted to colophons. Despite the damage and loss on the final folio of Ms A2, it is possible to determine that the AsP text also ends on the verso of the penultimate folio, as in Ms A1. In Ms A3, the last folio of this manuscript has long been wrongly identified as a folio from a manuscript of the “Dharaṇīsaṅgraha (collection of dhāraṇīs),” because written on this folio is the Uṣṇiṣavijayā dhāraṇī along with the date and the donor colophon.17 Based on Eva Allinger’s recent study, which identifies two manuscript folios in a private collection as a part of this manuscript,18 we can safely confirm that the text of the AsP ends on the recto of folio 183. Here, too, the illustrated panels are next to the text of cultic importance, that is, a dhāraṇī and a donor colophon. Even when the text on the last illustrated folios reads that of the AsP, as in Ms A4, the final chapter of the AsP is cultic and practical in its character, since the Buddha emphasizes the merit of worshipping the Prajñāpāramitā one last time and transmits the teaching to Ānanda. The images placed on the last two folios, the life scenes and Avalokiteśvara (folio 299v center)  

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Figure 3-2  Votive stūpa with eight life scenes, Site 12, Nālandā, ca. 9th–10th century (?).  

and green Tārā (folio 300r center) in their boon-giving gestures, befit the text in their cultic signification (see fig. 2–1). If we rearrange the illustrated panel around the text of the AsP as seen in Web diagram 2–1, we see the idea of images encasing the textrelic more clearly. The Prajñāpāramitā deities can be taken as the visual manifestations of the relic, or the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā, and the life scenes of the Buddha surround this text-relic in a manner similar to what we see on a votive stūpa from Nālandā (see fig. 3–2). A number of votive stūpas from Nālandā have the eight life scenes of the Buddha evenly placed on the drum of a stūpa, suggesting the popularity of this iconographic program. In fact, the standardized pattern of placing the life scenes encasing the text probably originated from Nālandā in the late tenth to early eleventh centuries, as three manuscripts with the life scenes encasing the text (Ms A1, Ms A3, and Ms A4) were prepared in Nālandā.  

 

 

Enlightenm ent in the Heart of the Prajñāpāramitā

Reading a Buddhist book as a reliquary or a stūpa may relegate the images on a superficial plane of existence in relation to the text. But placing illustrated panels on the outer folios of a manuscript was not the only mode of illustration devised during this period. The power of images and the materiality of a manuscript as a sacred object were important aspects that the medieval Buddhist manuscript makers took into consideration as they utilized the center space of a book. Some manuscripts have a pair of illustrated folios in the center, where chapter 11 ends and chapter 12 begins in the case of the AsP, in addition to the first and last two folios. In Ms A5, the Buddha’s life scenes are placed in the center of the manuscript on folios 101v and 102r, with the enlightenment panel and the Parinirvāṇa panel opening and closing this sequence on the second folio and the penultimate folio (folio 207v) respectively (see W-diagram 3–2). This innovative arrangement figuratively locates enlightenment in the heart of the Prajñāpāramitā: the Buddha’s enlightenment emerges from the letters of the Prajñāpāramitā. Interlocking of the enlightenment and the Prajñāpāramitā is even more clearly demonstrated in Ms A6. The first two folios of the man 

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Figure 3-3  Ms A6: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043–1069 CE), Wellcome Library, London, Sansk ε 1.  

uscript have six panels depicting the goddess Prajñāpāramitā (folio 2r, center) with five tathāgatas, or transcendental Buddhas, a surprisingly rare combination. As identified on figure 3–3, Ratnasambhava (yellow, varada mudrā), Akṣobhya (blue, bhūmīsparśa mudrā), and Amitābha (red, dhyāna mudrā) occupy the three panels on folio 1 verso while Vairocana (white, dharmacakrapravartana mudrā) and Amoghasiddhi (now white but possibly once light green, abhaya mudrā) occupy the two side panels on  

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Figure 3-4  Buddha’s life scenes on folio 101v and folio 102r, AsP Ms (Ms A6), ca. mid 11th century, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043–1069 CE), Wellcome Library, Sansk ε 1.  

folio 2 recto. Prajñāpāramitā shown with her characteristic preaching gesture with two lotuses on either side of her shoulders sits in the central panel of folio 2 recto facing Akṣobhya. The appearance of the five tathāgatas paired with the goddess Prajñāpāramitā is unusual in manuscript illustration and signals that we are in the world of Esoteric Buddhism, perhaps what Linrothe categorizes as Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism whose characteristics include the emergence of the fivefamily system. A few sādhana texts designate Akṣobhya as her sire,19 while others have her wear a five-tathāgata crown (pañcatathāgatakuṭī). The goddess Prajñāpāramitā in this context, then, is the cognate mother of the five tathāgatas, if we employ the traditional understanding explained in the AsP, but there is an implied courtship with Akṣobhya as her spiritual consort, reflecting the basic tenets of Esoteric Buddhism that we will see in twelfth-century manuscripts belonging to Group D. The manuscript’s makers placed the Buddha’s life scenes in the heart of the manuscript, with the enlightenment panel in the very center on folio 102r (see fig. 3–4). Amplifying the importance of the enlightenment, two additional scenes related to the Buddha’s enlightenment at Bodhgayā are placed in the central panels of the last two folios (see fig. 3–3, web 3–1). The Prajñāpāramitā group (folios 1 and 2) and the life scene group (folios 101, 102, 207, and 208) exist in parallel but are connected through the teaching of the AsP that the Prajñāpāramitā is the root cause of enlightenment. In other words, the goddess connects the transcendental Buddhas (or five tathāgatas) with the historical Buddha and his enlightenment as a causal root of both. She encompasses time and space, and so does the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā text. This arrangement shows how illustrations were strategically used to transform a manuscript of the fundamental Mahāyāna principles to fit the garb of the new religious environment, while remaining true to its core message.  

 

 

M ahāyāna Cultic Deities and the Conservatism of the Buddhist Book Cult

In addition to the Prajñāpāramitā deities and the Buddha’s life scenes, bodhisattvas and cultic deities form the third main component of the iconographic programs in Group A manuscripts. Mañjuśrī appears

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commonly as one of the Prajñāpāramitā deities, while Avalokiteśvara and Tārā claim their seats at the end of manuscripts responding to the donors’ desire to earn religious merits. Vasudhārā and Jambhala are also commonly seen right next to the donor colophons, reflecting the worldly benefits sought in donating these manuscripts, although the formulaic colophons are usually silent about them (Ms A5 and Ms A7).20 Different forms of bodhisattvas in the illustrated AsP manuscripts reflect the doctrinal changes that occured following the development of Esoteric Buddhism in eastern India, but in Group A manuscripts their traditional Mahāyāna characteristics are clearly sustained, as bodhisattvas appear in more conservative forms. For example, Mañjuśrī in eleventh-century manuscripts is easily identifiable, as he is shown with a preaching gesture and holds a blue lotus sometimes with a book on top, as in Ms A1 (folio 202v center), Ms A2 (folio 2r center), Ms A3 (folio 2r center), Ms A4 (folio 2r center), and Ms A5 (folio 2r right). All the Mañjuśrī images in Group A manuscripts are represented as riding a lion.21 The Mañjuśrī panel in Ms A4 now in the Asia Society (see fig. 2–1), in particular, gives us a chance to examine the articulation of Esoteric Buddhist iconography in manuscript illustrations because this manuscript was originally prepared during Vigrahapāla’s reign in the mid-eleventh century and repaired in the mid-twelfth century. The Mañjuśrī panel belongs to this later period of repair.22 The panel depicts a golden Mañjuśrī bedecked with ornaments and jewelry. He sits on a blue lion and displays the gesture of preaching while holding a blue lotus that shoots over his left shoulder (see web 3–2). On the left sits Sudhanakumāra kneeling in homage, and on the right sits Yamāntaka looking up to the bodhisattva. It is remarkable how closely the iconography of this panel resembles the description of the Mañjughoṣa form of the deity in the Sādhanamālā, a collection of sādhana texts that contain detailed instructions for rituals. One sādhana reads, “The worshipper should meditate himself as the deity Mañjughoṣa who rides a lion, and is of golden yellow color. He is decked in all ornaments, and his hands are engaged in forming the vyākhyāna mudrā [preaching gesture]. He displays the night lotus in his left, and bears the image of Akṣobhya on his crown. On his right there is Sudhanakumāra and on the left Yamāntaka.”23 This description reads as if the author had our image in front of him. The pro 

 

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posed compilation date of the Sādhanamālā in the early twelfth century is close to the date of this painting, and the image and the sādhana text naturally complement each other in providing a “period-eye.” The iconography of Yamāntaka suggests that this panel closely follows its eleventh-century predecessor because the iconography of Yamāntaka in this panel belongs to what Linrothe categorizes as Phase One wrathful deities.24 Although Yamāntaka is in his wrathful form with big belly, blue-colored body, yellow-orange hair, tiger skin, and a staff, he is subservient to Mañjuśrī and his expression appears sweet, just like Sudhanakumāra’s. The flame that surrounds Yamāntaka is not intense red. Rather, it is painted a softened peach color, which suggests the subdued and subservient character of Yamāntaka in this panel. By the twelfth century, the wrathful deities in all their various manifestations were known in Nālandā, where this manuscript was restored with new paintings.25 The restorers and the users of the manuscript in Nālandā were probably aware of the Phase Two type of Yamāntaka images with three heads and six arms, trampling a buffalo, since such image survives from Nālandā.26 While this fascinating new iconography of Yamāntaka loomed in the image-making scene with a newly acquired independent status, the earlier form of the deity was still much entertained.27 While highly developed systems of Esoteric Buddhist schools made their way vigorously into the visual culture of Nālandā, the earlier forms of deities were vigilantly sought after and constantly reintroduced, just like the continued popularity of the illustrated manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā. The Buddha’s enlightenment, the fundamental subject of both the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and many Esoteric Buddhist texts, never went out of fashion, as it is the adamantine truth that Buddhist practitioners of all time uphold.

Embodying Tīrthas and R eplicating Famous Images

By mid-eleventh century, a standardized scheme for representing the Buddha’s life scenes in an AsP manuscript was established in eastern India, probably at a monastic center like Nālandā. The characteristic iconographic program of Group A manuscripts provided a basis for many manuscripts made in the following two centuries. In comparison

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to this controlled and systematized employment of images in Group A, the Group B manuscripts appear to have a random iconographic program. But if we understand the images in the context of a threedimensional space of a book and employ the concept of four-dimensionality, that is, three-dimensional space plus time, taking into consideration the factor of movement, we can reckon the innovative strategies behind the iconographic programs of Group B manuscripts. Moving Beyond the Spatial and Temporal Boundaries

The earliest Group B manuscript (Ms B1) now in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1643) was initially prepared by Sujātabhadra at a monastery named Śrī Hlam in Nepal during the joint rule of Bhojadeva, Rudradeva, and Lakṣmīkāmadeva in 1015 CE (NS 135).28 A second colophon adds that it had fallen into the hands of nonbelievers; one Karuṇāpūrva-vajra saved the manuscript with piety in 1139 CE (NS 259) during the reign of Mānadeva (ca. 1137–1140 CE).29 Ms B1 has eighty-five illustrated panels scattered throughout the manuscript. The illustrated folios are placed roughly at the end of each chapter, and each illustrated folio has two panels placed on either side, with a few exceptions (see W-diagram 3–3). Unlike any other illustrated manuscripts of the AsP, a few painted panels are placed in the middle of chapter 1 (folios 2v, 5v, 8v, and 13v) and in the middle of chapter 31 (folios 216v, 218v, and 220v). The illustrated folios of chapter 1 (folios 2v, 5v, 8v, 13v, and 14r) have single panels, whereas most other illustrated folios have two panels per folio. Yet a few folios (folios 120-b r, 127r, 222r, and 223v) have three panels per folio, and folio 224r, where the second donor colophon appears, has five panels on a single folio. Such inconsistency in the layout of illustrated panels makes it difficult to understand the governing iconographic principle, if any. Another unique feature of this manuscript is that the illustrated panels are accompanied by captions that identify the images and edifices and their geographic locations. Placed right next to the panel, the caption helps us understand each image. For example, a caption next to a panel depicting a four-armed goddess holding a rosary, a book, and a bowl on folio 188r reads “lāhṭadeśevunkaranagarecundā,” thus identifying the image as that of the goddess Cundā in a town named  

 

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Figure 3-5  Goddess Cundā in Buṅkaranagara, Lāhṭadeśa (Southern Gujarat, Broach region), right panel, folio 188r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135). Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

Vuṅkaranagara in southern Gujarat (Lāhṭadeśa) in western India (fig. 3– 5). Since many toponyms are given, it may be possible to imagine a virtual map where one could follow the book on an imaginary pilgrimage to these sacred sites, as in a thirteenth-century medieval Christian manuscript.30 Unfortunately, once we start mapping the place names on an actual map, according to their appearance in the manuscript, it is almost impossible to get a sense of spatial movements. For example, on folio 80v where chapter 7 ends, we are met with an image of Bhagavatī Tārā in Candradvīpa, an island located in southeastern Bengal at the mouth of the Bay of Bengal, in the left panel, and we see an image of Jambhala from Siṅhaladvīpa, that is, Sri Lanka, in the right panel. The next set of images, on folio 96r where chapter 8 ends, takes us back to southeastern Bengal in the region of Samataṭa where a special Avalokiteśvara called Campitalā-lokanātha was located, as shown in the left panel, and in the right panel on the same folio, we are again in Sri Lanka to meet another famous Avalokiteśvara whose epithet “ārogaśālā (ārogyaśālā, disease-free abode)” testifies to his efficacy in curing illness. If this repetition of two localities attests to a certain internal logic to their arrangements in pairing southeastern Bengal and Sri Lanka, the next group ensures that we move far away from any discernable spatial pattern. On folio 89r where chapter 9 ends, the two illustrated panels take us to the northwestern region of the South Asian subcontinent, namely Gandhara (left panel) and the Swat valley (right panel). In Gandhara, we meet Avalokiteśvara on the Kuṭa mountain, seated  

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inside a blue shrine structure with a śikhara-like superstructure and two white stūpas on either side of the shrine, surrounded by geometric shapes representing rocky hills (see web 3–3 left panel). In Oḍḍiyana in the Swat valley, we meet an image of Vajrapāṇi who sits inside a white shrine whose superstructure has three stepped tiers and a domeshaped finial (see web 3–3 right panel). Our journey takes yet another turn to southwestern Bengal in the next set of images, at the end of chapter 10 on folio 99v, as the left panel represents an image of Avalokiteśvara in Suvarṇṇapura near the modern city of Dhaka, and the right panel has an image of Tārā in Tārapur in the Lāhṭa country, in southern Gujarat. The physical distance between the represented sites becomes even greater when we see a panel depicting a famous caitya, called Śrī Kanaka-caitya, in the city of Peshawar (puruṣapuramaṇḍale) in the northwestern region, in the left panel of folio 123 verso and then find the right panel on the same folio locating the depicted image, an unusual representation of Avalokiteśvara in the guise of a Buddha (buddha­rupakalokanātha), in China (mahācine). The next set takes us back from China to western Bengal: the left panel is identified as an image of bodhisattva Samantabhadra in China (mahācine), depicted as a green bodhisattva in preaching gesture riding an elephant in a rocky mountainous setting (fig. 3–6 left panel). The caption of the central panel locates a unique image of Avalokiteśvara paying homage to a white stūpa outside his shrine while seated inside a multitiered shrine with a finial shaped like a śikhara (lit. “tower, peak,” a common shape of the upper structure of northern Indian temples) in Rādhya, possibly referring to the Rāḍha region in western Bengal (the area roughly corresponding to Birbhum and Burdwan districts) (fig. 3–6 right, see map 3–1). Such drastic turns in direction and wide coverage of areas suggest that a gradual process of physical journey through these sites is not what is intended here. The iconographic program is more about a mental journey or an imagined pilgrimage to these sacred sites depicted in the illustrated panels. As he goes through the book, turning the folios, a Buddhist practitioner could roam freely beyond the spatial boundaries and physical limits and absorb all the cultic power that these sites embodied. Ultimately, the manuscript could help him achieve the transformative power that many medieval Esoteric Buddhist prac 

 

 

 

 

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N GANDHARA KAMBOJA

CINA (TIBET)

Brahmaputra

NEPALA

Ya mu na

´ Kusinagara ´ Vaisali

a

ANGAi Nalanda ´ Vikramasila Bodhgaya Rajagrha Vikramapura i GAUDA G SAMATATA anga MAGADHA i i i RADHA VANGA i

A/

Varanasi i

LATA

U T TA R A PAT H A

ng Ga

´ Sravasti

AN DH AR / AV DRA DR N N RE PU VA

Lumbini

us Ind

ada Narm

God avari

M

P AT H A S I N A D A K

i

i

ahan

adi

i KONGODA

i

Kr i shna

Kaveri

0 0

100

200 250

300 mi 500 km

Map 3 – 1  Map of medieval (late tenth–thirteenth centuries) South Asia identifying major centers of illustrated Buddhist manuscript production (i.e., Nālandā and Vikramaśīla) and patronage in eastern India, and primary Buddhist cultic and pilgrimage sites and regions represented in the manuscripts’ iconographic programs.  

 

Figure 3-6  Samantabhadra in China (left panel), Kanyārāma-Lokanātha in Rāḍha (center panel), folio 127r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135). Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

tices sought to generate, getting closer to transforming one’s body into a lighter, enlightened body. The space unfolding in this manuscript is in a way comparable to the cyberspace of the World Wide Web in which one can make a leap from one place to the other with a single click beyond any spatial or temporal boundaries. Although the web surfing that we are now so used to makes the layered and embedded design of this manuscript a less astonishing achievement, the makers of this manuscript were quite ambitious as they tried to locate so many famous images and holy sites in one manuscript, making it a potent cultic object. Jumping from Oḍḍiyana (Swat valley) to Suvarṇṇapura (near Dhaka) to Lahṭadeśa (Broach, Gujarat) and to Kahṭāhadvipa (Kedah near Penang, Indonesia) within a few chapters, and going through this maze-like space as if treading a linear maṇḍala, the user of this manuscript could create a vast space of the Buddhist universe in his mind. Cultic Efficacy of Famous Images in Manuscript Illustration

We have already examined the cultic significance of including pilgrimage sites, such as the eight life sites of the Buddha, for illustrating the AsP in Group A examples. Group B manuscripts expand the concept further to include the famous images replicated because of their cultic power rooted in individual localities. As my descriptions of the panels suggest, the makers of Ms B1 endowed each illustrated panel with different structural and iconographic elements to convey a sense of geographic and cultic specificity in their representations. For example, different shapes of shrine structures housing the deities suggest an awareness of various regional architectural styles.31 On folio 89r, the left panel shows a dark-blue-colored single-cell shrine with a śikhara-like superstructure in Gandhara, while the right panel locates a white shrine structure with tri-lobed arch-shaped opening and a bulbous dome and golden finials in the Swat valley (Oḍḍiyana) (see web 3–3). We are not talking about verisimilitude in representations of these sites, for most paintings probably do not represent actual sites as seen by the painters. But, much effort was made to differentiate and contextualize the images, and it seems clear that they represent specific, albeit idealized, cult images and sites that were known to the makers of this manuscript. For example, the caption of the left panel of folio 127r identifies  

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the image as the “Dharmarājikā-caitya” in Rāḍha. In the panel, we see a monk seated in the balcony of a flat-roofed, single-story building with a checkered window on the side, probably paying homage to an image inside. A white ornamented stūpa almost as high as the temple stands next to it, to the left side of the panel. Further left, behind this stūpa is a pillar topped by a human-headed bird. Pillars of this type, the most famous of which are the pillars erected by Aśoka, the Mauryan emperor, are commonly found in the monastic courtyards along with a caitya (stūpa) in the Kathmandu Valley even today.32 It is difficult to identify the represented site with an archaeological site, for at least two famous Dharmarājikā stūpas are known in South Asia, one at Taxila and the other at Sārnāth. If the reading of rāḍhya as indicating the region of Rāḍha in Bengal is correct, it is possible that there was another Dharmarājikā stūpa in northwestern Bengal. The issue is not whether this image is faithful in representing the actual site, but that the representational elements chosen here are detailed and individualized enough to represent a specific monument. Although identifying each site represented in this manuscript on a topographic map may be impossible with our limited knowledge of ancient names, some sites and images can be identified with surviving archaeological remains. These examples make it possible to speculate on how and why certain cultic images and sites were chosen. Some images were famous partly because they were located in well-established preexisting tīrthas, as in the case of the Tārā image in Vaiśālī on folio 157v (see web 3–4).33 The left panel depicts a two-armed standing Tārā with an attendant inside a shrine that has a three-tiered, flatroof superstructure with a stūpa-shaped finial. Interestingly, next to this shrine comes the scene of the monkey’s offering of honey with the Buddha seated under a tree, making a clear reference to the site of Vaiśālī. The caption identifies the scene as the “Tārā of Vaiśālī in Tīrabhukti” (tirabhuktau vaiśālī tārā).34 It is not possible to identify this image with any particular image or a shrine structure from Vaiśālī, but the report of a thirteenth-century Tibetan pilgrim, Dharmasvamin, suggests that there was a famous image of Tārā at the site, “known to be endowed with great blessing, and the mere beholding of the goddess’ face relieved devotees from distress.”35 Some famous images were established through association with cer 

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tain historical figures, in which case their cultic efficacy often relies on the biographical narratives regarding their miraculous power. Examples in this category, that is to say, those related to a person, are much fewer than those related to physical sites. Nonetheless, this important category can help us understand the process of proliferation of many forms of Buddhist divinities. The proliferation of Esoteric Buddhist iconography was partly driven by personal and individual experiences, and ritual texts like the Sādhanamālā record many sādhanas that identify the originators of many iconographic types of Esoteric Buddhist pantheon as powerful spiritual teachers and masters.36 One good example is an image of Avalokiteśvara at Nālandā on folio 157v, whose caption, “śrīnā lendrāyāṃcandragomiṇalokanāthaḥ,” suggests the image’s association with a well-known lay Buddhist master, Candragomī at Nālandā. According to Tāranātha’s account, Candragomī was blessed by Avalokiteśvara and used to sit in the temple of Avalokiteśvara to pray before his debate with another Nālandā master Candrakīrti. There is nothing special about the represented image itself, as it depicts Avalokiteśvara in standard iconography. He is seated, showing the gesture of boon giving with one hand and holding a lotus in the other and attended by two female figures, Tārā and Bhṛkuṭi. The bodhisattva sits under a shrine structure with a three-tiered flat roof. One noticeable feature is the presence of two white stūpas on top of the field in the background, but the inclusion of stūpas is not unique to this panel. One general observation we could make about the localities chosen for representation in this manuscript is that they form a map of specific sacred geography preferred by the makers and the patron. Sites in different regions of eastern India predominate, about thirty-two out of seventy-six panels with captions, if we count the regions identified with ancient names such as Magadha (Uttar Pradesh and Bihar: 3), Varendra (Bihar and West Bengal: 6), Samataṭa (southeastern Bengal: 2), Rāḍha (western Bengal: 6), Oḍradeśa (Orissa: 3), Tīrabhukti (Tirhut district, Bihar: 2), and others (Varddhamāna, Yanavyūha, Candradvīpa, Suvarṇṇapura, Daṇḍabhuktau, Nalendrā, Koḍgomaṇḍala, Pattikera, Harikelladeśa, and Puṇḍavarddhana: 1 each). Given the geographical proximity to eastern India and its importance for Buddhist sacred geography, it is not surprising to find so many sites from eastern India. The number of Buddhist sites in the western part of the subcontinent is sig-

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nificant, as four sites are located in Lahṭadeśa (Broach region, southern Gujarat) and six in Koṅkan (coastal Maharashtra).37 At least five sites can be located in the northwestern part of the South Asian subcontinent, with two in Oḍḍiyana (Swat valley) and one each in Gandhāra maṇḍala (Pakistan), Puruṣapura (Peshawar, Pakistan), and Kambojadeśa (northwestern Afghanistan). The manuscript also includes three images from China (mahācina). Inclusion of these sites far from the makers’ physical location in Nepal suggests the geographic extent of the makers’ knowledge of the Buddhist world. It also suggests an authorial ambition to control and personalize this vast space.38 Interestingly, we do not find any Buddhist site in Kashmir and western Himalayan regions, some of which were contemporaneously developed (i.e., Tabo and Alchi). Their exclusion perhaps supports the hypothesis that the selection of the sites and the images was predicated by their established cultic fame and by their political importance.

R eplication as a Cultic Strategy of the Buddhist Book Cult

The iconographic program in this manuscript (Ms B1) may seem to have nothing to do with its text, the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. However, if we understand “replication” as a main mode of iconographic programming since the painted images aim to “replicate” the cultic efficacy of the represented, we see how it captures rather brilliantly the main message of the text. Replicating famous images and sacred sites is a common strategy used in constructing sacred objects and structures in Buddhist traditions, for it enables the latecomers to appropriate the authority and efficacy of the cultic power of well-established images and sites. The text may not directly mention replication of images and sites, but replicating is a highly promoted cultic strategy of the AsP. The passages that impart the cultic significance of the text always recommend copying a manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and worshipping it. The impulse to emphasize the material aspect of the text itself suggests an anxiety over losing its audience and being forgotten. The AsP’s cultic strategy proved successful, as the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā has proliferated in different branches of Mahāyāna Buddhism, and everywhere it has reached, hundreds and even thousands of manuscripts

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of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra in different recensions have been prepared throughout history. Replication as practiced in this manuscript, however, is not aiming at creating an exact copy. It is an interpretation of a famous image or a well-known sacred site. Having the freedom to manipulate and represent according to one’s needs makes it possible to assert one’s own identity. As such, interpretive replication can certainly be a political device, as seen in the case of production of inexact copies of Tsongkapa’s portrait sculpture in Qianlong’s court in the eighteenth century.39 What kind of political statement iconographic programming in a manuscript could have made is unclear, but its political potential is undeniable because through selective and interpretive replicating, the iconographic program controls and structures one’s view of the world. Ms B1 may have been created as a masterpiece of the Śrī Hlam monastery, which, claims the colophon, is “a place where the Buddha’s teaching eternally shines (yasmin vibhātivacanaṃ sugatasyaśaśvat) and the ocean of new treaties (nayaśāstrasāgara).” If Śrī Hlam was a leader institution in introducing new doctrinal treaties in Nepal at the turn of the eleventh century, a manuscript of the AsP strewn with famous pilgrimage sites known to them, which included new iconographic forms and elements of various deities from different parts of the world, would have been a perfect object to signal and support their ambitious institutional status. The monastery, perhaps being a relatively new institution, seems not to have survived the unstable political currents of eleventh-century Nepal, as the second colophon, written in 1139 CE (NS 259), claims that the manuscript had fallen into the hands of people without “faith” (śraddhāhīnajanasya hastapatitā) since its production in 1015 CE (NS 135 CE). As for the manuscript, it did survive the ordeal of falling out of its sacred sphere and was rescued by one Karuṇavajra and restored as an object of worship. Its cultic efficacy, established through replication of famous images and sites, must have been highly recognized, since a few manuscripts seem to copy this manuscript. System of Interpretive Replication: Inexact Copies of the Prime Object

Replicating a particular manuscript is certainly in the spirit of the Buddhist book cult. None of the later manuscripts that I identify as

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belonging to Group B is an exact copy of Ms B1. Just like Ms B1’s own replicating strategy, later manuscripts are inexact copies of the prime object.40 Compared with the phenomenon of replication in Japanese Buddhist sculptures, the most famous of which is the lineage of Seiryōji Shaka images,41 our data may be too limited to attempt an analysis using George Kubler’s prime object/replication paradigm, since we have only a few manuscripts and the available historical information regarding their production is extremely sparse. However, analyzing a group of manuscripts as related through a system of copying can still help us determine specific choices made at specific moments in time, which in turn can provide a few clues to determine the cultic significance of each manuscript’s design. Another Nepalese manuscript, now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15 (Ms B2), prepared about two generations after the Cambridge manuscript, provides a good example for analyzing the system of replication in this group.42 It was prepared by one Kiraṇasiṃha in 1071 CE (NS 191) during the reign of Śaṅkaradeva, according to the colophon on folio 185r.43 It shares many unique characteristics of Ms B1, including the choice of famous images and the use of captions. Out of thirtyseven illustrated panels, twenty-three are almost identical to those in Ms B1 in their iconographic content, although they are not placed in the same place in the text. For example, a panel depicting the Dīpaṅkara Buddha in the island of Java (the caption reads, “ javadvipedīpaṅkara”) appears on folio 2v of Ms B1 at the beginning of the first chapter of the AsP, and the same subject with an identical caption appears at the end of chapter 10 on folio 83r in MS B2 (W-diagram 3-3, fig. 3–7). Similar examples are numerous.44 The iconographic identity of many images in these two manuscripts suggests that the makers of Ms B2 were aware of Ms B1 and possibly had a similar manuscript, if not the very manuscript, in front of them when designing their book. Ms B2 is in many respects a betterdesigned manuscript, as it streamlined its iconographic structure, a huge improvement from an almost haphazard appearance created by the overwhelming number of images in the Cambridge manuscript (see fig. 3-7). It has thirty-seven illustrated panels instead of eighty-five as in the Cambridge manuscript. The beginning and end of each chapter are marked by a single illustrated panel, and the beginning and end of  

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the text are marked with two facing illustrated folios. Its iconographic structure is consistent with a single illustrated panel per illustrated folio throughout the manuscript, except for the last folio where the donor colophon appears. The makers of the Kolkata manuscript also made an effort to coordinate the images with the text. The preaching Buddha opens the text on the first folio. The caption “yānavyūha bhagavān dharmadeśana” and a number of bodhisattvas and monks depicted in the panel as listening to his teaching suggest that this scene depicts the event of the text where the Buddha preaches the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra to many bodhisattvas and monks. This panel is paired with the scene of the Buddha’s enlightenment. The enlightenment panel refers not only to the most important event of his life but also to the enlightenment as an abstract concept, the ultimate goal of Buddhist practitioners. The end of chapter 1 is marked by the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on the vulture peak. This panel also has multiple meanings: an actual image of the goddess on the vulture peak, and the event of the preaching of the Prajñāpāramitā on the vulture peak. They are strategically lined up to mark the beginning of the AsP text, from which we could gather a basic narrative of the text: the Buddha preaches the Prajñāpāramitā, the root of the enlightenment, on the vulture peak. The paintings show more artistic achievements than those in Ms B1. The illustrators of Ms B2 had a more controlled and meticulous hand in their use of fine lines. They were skilled at modeling body parts and physiognomy (fig. 3–8, 3–9). They understood better how to mix different pigments, as the use of more varied hues and subtle pastel colors suggests (fig. 3–8). As we can see in the panel on 113r folio titled “Tārā in Potalaka,” depicting green Tārā with attendants, they were more successful in the portrayal of volume and depth (see web 3–5). More importantly, although copying many iconographic contents of the Cambridge manuscript, they made specific iconographic choices to render the manuscript unique and their own. The Kolkata manuscript shows less interest in the locations of the images and more emphasis on the iconography of the deities depicted. Many toponyms are dropped in the image captions, and five panels do not have captions. An image of Cundā on folio 178v may be a copy of the image of Cundā of Buṅkaranagara in Lahṭadeśa of the Cambridge manuscript  

 

 

 

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Figure 3-7  Ms B2: AsP, NS 191 (1071 CE), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15.

(see fig.  3–5), given the iconographic similarity, but it could be any image of the goddess Cundā without a caption (fig. 3–9). The inclusion of complex Esoteric forms of Buddhist deities, such as Ṣaḍakṣarī Lokeśvara, Sitātapatrā (folio 168r), and Halāhala Lokeśvara (folio 185r), not associated with specific localities, suggests that the makers of Ms B2 introduced images whose magnificent power relied more on their iconography. We find unique Esoteric emanations of a popular bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in this manuscript that do not match any known textual descriptions in ritual texts. On folio 168r where chapter 29 ends, we have an eleven-headed and multiarmed Avalokiteśvara with  

 

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Figure 3-7 (continued)

two celestial beings appearing in red clouds (see web 3–6). The caption identifies it as an image of “Sitātapatra” (sitātapatra-bhaṭṭārakaḥ).45 Sitātapatrā in later Nepalese and Tibetan pantheons is a goddess,46 and no other known sādhana text seems to claim this specific iconography as a male. Toponyms that had geopolitical connotation in Ms B1, such as those referring to Lāhṭadeśa, Koṅkan (in relation to the movement of the Kalyāṇi Cālukya), and south India (in relation to the expansionism of the Cōḷas), are completely dropped in this copy. Instead, more emphasis is given to the local sites within the Kathmandu Valley. Specific refer 

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Figure 3-8  Abhayapaṇī subduing Rāhu in the Great Ocean (caption: mahāsamudra-rāhukṛta-abhayapāṇi), folio 34r, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE (NS 191), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15.

Figure 3-9  Four-armed Cundā in a rocky setting (no caption), folio 178v, AsP Ms (Ms B2), ca. 1071 CE (NS 191), Asiatic Society, Kolkata, A.15.

ences are made to the famous cultic images of Nepal, such as Buṅgamati Lokeśvara (fol. 18r), Matsyendranath (fol. 49r), and Svayambhū caitya (fol. 185r), and their inclusion reflects the desire to locate this manuscript in the familiar world of the makers’ and donors’ own time and space rather than relying solely on the famous images known only

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in memory. Thus the manuscript’s iconographic program uses many images personally known to the makers and constructs a sacred space by demarcating their own space. Eastern Indian Replications of the Prime Object

The mode of replicating famous images and sacred sites for illustrating a manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra was established in Nepal, but complete examples like Ms B1 and Ms B2 are rare among surviving manuscripts. In addition, from the early twelfth century onwards, Nepalese manuscript production began to follow the standardized illustration scheme that we see in Group C manuscripts. But the creative and cultic appeal of this design did not just disappear. As Claudine BautzePicron suggests, a few eastern Indian examples adopted this system of illustration.47 At least two manuscripts of the Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-five Thousand Verses) sūtra, henceforth PvP, (Ms B3 and Ms B4) and one manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra (Ms B5) can be identified as belonging to the lineage of the Nepalese AsP manuscript of 1015 CE (Ms B1). Although there is no caption in these eastern Indian examples, and although the images are much more generic and abstract compared with Ms B1, the eastern Indian manuscripts still bear some similarities to the prime object in the overall iconographic structure and the iconographic contents. Examining the manuscripts in the analytical framework of prime object/replication makes it possible to understand the manuscripts’ cultic significance and to identify a broad network of medieval Buddhist book production that shared their innovative design schemes. They show a seemingly random arrangement of numerous cultic images inside shrine structures, as seen in Ms B1, and some panels make clear visual references to the images in Ms B1. Unfortunately, none of these manuscripts are complete, and it is challenging to see them as cultic objects with a governing iconographic scheme, especially because the folios from the PvP manuscripts are dispersed among different collections and not all of them survive.48 I have attempted to reconstruct their structure, but the picture remains incomplete. Given these shortcomings, identifying them in the lineage of the Nepalese manuscripts as inexact copies can help us go beyond attributing the formal, iconographic similarities and understand their religious and historical significance as cultic objects.

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Twenty-two folios from a PvP manuscript now in the Baroda Picture Gallery and Museum (Ms B3) were prepared during the eighth regnal year of Harivarman who ruled in southeastern Bengal (i.e., Comilla district, ancient regions of Vaṅga and Samataṭa) for a lay donor named Rāmadeva. Each folio is marked by a single illustrated panel in the center and four bands, two containing stūpas (or caityas) placed on either end of the folio and two with a decorative pattern placed on the columns around the holes. When we align the surviving folios in the order of appearance, their placement seems rather random. A number of images depict deities inside shrine structures, not too different from the examples in Ms B1. Although there is no caption, it is possible to identify some images with those in Ms B1 based on their unique iconographic configuration. For example, the twelve-armed Avalokiteśvara standing inside a shrine structure on folio 267v (see web 3–7) closely resembles the image of Lokanātha (of Tulakṣetra in Varendra) on folio 174v of Ms B1. The Baroda manuscript’s painting is more generic and schematic with less attention to detail, but the iconography of a standing Avalokiteśvara with twelve arms under a trefoilarch-shaped opening of a shrine structure is shared in the two paintings. More striking similarity to Ms B1 is found in the panel depicting a preaching Buddha surrounded by four white elephants on folio 368r in Ms B3 (see web 3–8). An identical configuration appears in the image of Buddha in Gandhavatī of Kalasavarapura on folio 44r of Ms B1.49 A Bengali hut-like structure with a sloped roof (similar to a chala, a thatched roof commonly seen on Bengali village huts) and projecting eaves in which two-armed Avalokiteśvara stands on folio 417r of Ms B3 (fig. 3–10) is comparable to the structure shown in the panel depicting Avalokiteśvara of Campitalā in Samataṭa on folio 86r of Ms B1 (fig. 3– 11).50 We can find parallel examples for at least half of the images in Ms B3’s surviving folios in Ms B1’s iconographic program. The same could be said of the surviving folios of another PvP manuscript (Ms B4) now dispersed between the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and private collections.51 A total of fifty-eight folios are in Dublin with seventeen illustrated folios, and a total of twenty-six folios are in the Metropolitan Museum with sixteen illustrated folios.52 Painted wooden book covers (or end boards) with interesting iconographic details are also in the  

 

 

 

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Figure 3-10  Avalokiteśvara in a Bengali hut-like shrine (Campitalā-Lokanātha in Samataṭa), folio 417r, Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā (PvP) sūtra Ms (Ms B3), ca. 1100 (Harivarman’s 8th year). Baroda Picture Gallery and Museum.

Figure 3-11  Campitalā-Lokanātha in Samataṭa (caption: campitalālokanāthaḥ samātaṭe), left panel, folio 96r, AsP Ms (Ms B1), 1015 CE (NS 135). Cambridge University Library, Add. 1643. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

Chester Beatty collection. No colophon page is known to survive from this manuscript, but based on stylistic and paleographic similarities, the provenance of this manuscript could also be attributed to southeast Bengal, possibly prepared by the same group of manuscript makers as the Baroda manuscript (Ms B3) around the turn of the twelfth century.53 Illustrated folios show the same design scheme as Ms B3, with a single illustrated panel accompanied by four narrow bands marking borders

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and columns per folio. A yellow frame surrounds each panel, giving the illustrated folios a uniform, standardized appearance. This framing device contributes to creating a more iconic and formal impression of each panel’s iconographic content. This, in a way, washes out the reference to a specific cultic site. But some images do bear out their relation to Ms B1 in their iconographic details. For example, a unique iconography of Avalokiteśvara on folio 111r of Ms B4 is almost identical to the one on folio 127r of Ms B1. In Ms B4, we see bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara worshipping a stūpa seated inside a bhadra-type shrine structure with an āmalaka top (fig. 3–12). The central panel on folio 127r of Ms B1 shows a similar iconography where Avalokiteśvara pays homage to a stūpa outside a multitiered, bhadra-type shrine structure (see fig. 3–6). The caption on Ms B1 identifies the panel as Kanyārāma Lokanātha in Rāḍha. Likewise, the iconographic inspiration for a yellow bodhisattva figure riding on a white, red-trunked elephant on folio 361r of Ms B4 (fig. 3–13) can be found in an image of Samantabhadra also riding a large white elephant in a mountainous setting on folio 127r of Ms B1 (see fig. 3–6, left panel). It becomes immediately clear when the images are compared side by side that those in the eastern Indian manuscripts are quite different from those in the Nepalese manuscripts, both stylistically and iconographically. However remote their relationship, some images make reference to the images in Ms B1, and possibly, the iconographies of specific images articulated in Ms B1 gained popularity among the subsequent generations of the Buddhist bookmakers. They became idealized types. It is questionable to assume that the users of Ms B4 recognized the image of Avalokiteśvara paying homage to a stūpa on folio 111r as that of the Kanyārāma Lokanātha in Rāḍha. Regardless of their relation to an actual site, that the painting represents a specific cultic image is still conveyed. While idealized and distilled in terms of its formal qualities, probably due to the multiple levels of copying, its cultic specificity is still replicated in this manuscript. The most remote example in this lineage is a manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra (Kv) now in the British Library, Or. 13940 (Ms B6). No colophon folio survives, but based on stylistic and paleographic analysis, the provenance has been attributed to early twelfth-century southern Bengal.54 Every folio has an illustrated panel in the center  

 

 

 

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Figure 3-12  Avalokiteśvara paying homage to a stūpa (Kanyārāma-Lokanātha?), folio 111r, PvP Ms (Ms B4), ca. early 12th century, Chester Beatty Library InE 1463.

Figure 3-13  Preaching Buddha supported by elephants (Buddha in Kalasavara­pura?), folio 351v (top), bodhisattva riding an elephant (Samantabhadra?), folio 361r (bottom), PvP Ms (Ms B4), ca. early 12th century, Chester Beatty Library InE 1463.

with flanking illustrated bands around the holes on both recto and verso. Fifty-three folios with 105 illustrations survive, and when complete, the manuscript must have consisted of sixty-three folios, probably with 125 painted panels. I identify this manuscript as most remote from Ms B1 because its text is not of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. However, in terms of its iconographic contents, it makes more substantial visual references to the images in Ms B1 than any other eastern Indian example. Many images of Avalokiteśvara under various shrine structures and specific iconographies of Avalokiteśvara seen in Ms B1 are found in this manuscript. For example, the panel on folio 5r (f.3a)55 depicts a twoarmed standing Avalokiteśvara surrounded by four attendants inside a shrine structure with a short triangle-shaped roof and projecting eaves. Not only is this structure similar to the Bengali hut-shaped structure (Samataṭa type) discussed earlier about the panel on folio 86r of Ms B1, but the overall configuration and the iconographic details are also extremely similar to the rendition of Campitalā Lokanātha (fig. 3–11). The painting on the verso of the same folio, folio 8v (f.6b), is rubbed and the details are difficult to see, but this also represents an image similar to Kanyārāma Lokanātha in Rāḍha on folio 127r of Ms B1, as a white bodhisattva figure sits under a shrine structure paying homage to a stūpa (see fig. 3–6 left).56 Comparable examples are quite numerous among the 105 paintings.57 Comparative analysis of iconographic contents and compositions reveals that the eastern Indian manuscripts discussed here (Ms B3, Ms B4, and Ms B5) were closely related to each other, with a possibility of Ms B3 and Ms B4 being prepared by a same group of bookmakers and artisans. Ms B5 shows the closest kinship to Ms B1 among the three in our current state of knowledge, partly because more illustrated folios from Ms B5 survive than from the other two. It is unlikely that the eastern Indian manuscript makers had an access to Ms B1, but the idea behind Ms B1’s design seems to have gained some popularity among the bookmakers in southern Bengal during the late eleventh and the early twelfth centuries. It is not impossible that they were choosing images from a common iconographic source book, in which case the rationale behind the chosen images mainly lies in their efficacy in enhancing the book’s cultic value. It is also possible that movements of the illustrated  

 

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manuscripts along with their makers and patrons enabled a manuscript’s design to be replicated between different regions and times. With these examples of replication, we can understand the appeal of the iconographies articulated in Ms B1 for the later eastern Indian bookmakers. We should first note that the texts of these manuscripts are not exact copies, as Ms B3 and Ms B4 are of the longer redaction of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and Ms B5 of the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra. In the case of the PvP production, it is not surprising to find that the manuscript makers adopted the strategy of replication in designing a manuscript, because this vast text was prepared over 500 folios, in which one would be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of letters. By marking chapter endings with a set of different famous images and sites, they could easily punctuate the space while imbuing the manuscript with cultic efficacy. When they looked for a set of seventy images to mark each chapter ending with two illustrated folios per chapter—sixty-eight images for thirty-four chapters and two images for the beginning of the text— a manuscript like Ms B1 with as many as eighty-five illustrated panels in one manuscript would have provided a perfect source book for selecting the images. Marking chapter endings as well as the beginning and the end of the whole text became a popular mode of illustrating a Buddhist manuscript in the late eleventh century, as seen in Group C manuscripts, and this trend might have been prompted by the popularity of the Group B type manuscripts. As for the Kāraṇḍavyūha manuscript (Ms B5), in which the most ambitious project of illustration was carried out—a probable total of 125 illustrated panels, each folio of the text marked with illustrations on both recto and verso—the appeal of Ms B1’s iconographic program might have been the availability of different forms of Avalokiteśvara, the “superstar” of the sūtra, because Ms B1 includes at least thirty-two images of Avalokiteśvara (“Lokanātha”) from various locales, providing a good set of examples.  

 

 

 

On Illustrations and the Aura of the Sacred Text

The Kāraṇḍavyūha manuscript in the British Library (Ms B5) is also notable for the narrative panels representing the text, a rare occurrence among illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from medieval South Asia. About fifteen folios, from folio17 recto (f.15a) to folio 30 verso (f.26b),

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have panels depicting the adventures of Avalokiteśvara, including his encounter with the king Bali, whose interaction with Vāmana (a dwarf incarnation of Viṣṇu)-Trivikrama (a colossal manifestation of Viṣṇu, taking three steps) is shown on folio 17 recto (f.15a) and Avalokiteśvara as a magic horse (Bālāha) saving the future Buddha, Siṃhalarāja, whose story is represented on at least three panels (folio 19 recto and verso, folio 22 recto).58 The story of Bali is related in chapter eleven, part 1 of the Kv, while the story of Bālāha is told in the first chapter of part 2 of the Kv.59 While depicting the stories in the text, the narrative panels are rather out of order. For example, the story of Siṃhalarāja and Bālāha is represented in a reverse sequence, with the final episode of escape from the island on folio 19 recto (f.17a) and the scene of the shipwreck that happened before the escape appearing on folio 22 recto (f.18a).60 As in the Group A manuscripts with the Buddha’s life scenes, the relationship between the text and the images in this case seems quite distant.61 However, if we understand the manuscript production in the larger early medieval Indic context in which the written emerged as a fit vessel for the transmission of authority,62 it is not difficult to see the text and the images in an illustrated Buddhist manuscript working in tandem. As Daud Ali notes, a new style of writing history emerges in inscriptional texts after the Guptas, an excellent example of which is the “Order of the King Rājendra Cōḷa (Rājendra I),” prepared during the sixth year of Rājendra’s reign (1012/1014–1044 CE).63 Ali rightly urges us to shift our attention from the inscription’s intention towards its literary qualities to consider it as a historical writing. While I appreciate this suggestion, I would like to linger on the object and consider its physical and visual presence. The copper plates and stone inscriptions that record land grants and/or eulogies (praśasti) for a royal person or a religious master are carefully and often beautifully constructed carved objects. They often demonstrate physical presence and aura, not only through size and material, as in the case of many stone inscriptions, but also through calligraphy and ornaments such as royal emblems on top of copper-plate grants,64 and many are meant to be seen in public as a permanent display of a historical statement. The inscription of Vipulaśrīmitra found at Nālandā discussed in the previous chapter, for example, is meticulously and beautifully written on a sizable piece of  

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stone, almost 2 feet wide.65 The two-to-one ratio between the width and the height makes it horizontal in format, not too different from a horizontally long palm-leaf folio. Written in a siddhamātṛkā type script and written by a neatly controlled hand, the text looks just like a section of a folio of an AsP manuscript prepared in Nālandā. In fact, it is common to see contemporary praśasti inscriptions written in scripts similar to the supposedly illegible ornamental scripts of illustrated manuscripts. Letters written in ornamental scripts contribute to creating an uncontestable aura. The choice of more archaic and formalized scripts in the production of illustrated manuscripts also creates a sacred aura for a manuscript, transforming a handwritten text into a Buddha’s true relic. In this regard, the ultimate role of images is identical to the text, as they, too, help transform a manuscript, a man-made object, into a sacred object, and whether they relate to the text or not may not matter so much for our understanding of the production and the use of these manuscripts. But I insist on finding this relationship and locating the images in the context of the text, partly because the most common art historical model for studying the South Asian Buddhist manuscript paintings finds the artisans working on their production as ignorant and uninformed and thus responsible for the random placements and seemingly unrelated nature of the images. The images may not illustrate the accompanying text on the same page, but this happens in book production everywhere, whether in manuscripts of medieval Europe or in printed books of our time. Once we acknowledge that the manuscripts were not made for the sole purpose of merit making and to be stored away, we can start locating the South Asian medieval manuscript productions in their historical and cultural context. As seen in the manuscripts discussed here, specific, conscious choices were made for designing a manuscript to befit the context, and the images were not placed randomly. The various modes of iconographic programming we see in medieval South Asian Buddhist manuscripts are innovative in spirit and ambitious in execution. The experimental rigor was pushed even further throughout the twelfth century and into the thirteenth century, as we will see in the subsequent chapters.

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4 The Visual World of Buddhist Book Illustrations

Thr ea ding a Book

The two holes in a palm-leaf manuscript of the AsP are supposed to accommodate a cord or two metal sticks that bind the book together. There survive a few manuscripts with the original binding material of two metal sticks,1 but almost no manuscript survives with its original cord. The Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra (AsP) manuscript now in the British Library (Or. 6902) shows how a manuscript could have been strung together with a cord, although the cord here is a twentiethcentury addition to the manuscript (fig. 4–1).2 If we think of 227 palmleaf folios containing the text of the AsP strung together by a cord as in the British Library manuscript, the manuscript literally embodies the idea of a sūtra, as the first meaning of sūtram in Sanskrit is a “thread, string, line, or cord.” Each folio contains hundreds of letters hanging from five or six ruled lines, and together they form a vast sea of letters all written without any break, in the form of scriptura continua.3 In this endless string of letters, the images and other formal devices, such as an extra empty space left to mark the end of each chapter ending, geometric symbols, and decorative bands around the holes and borders, all contribute to constructing a sacred structure with a rhythmical spacing. The images, in particular, make it possible to perceive a book as a whole, be it a relic-container, an interactive map of the Buddhist universe, or a three-dimensional maṇḍala. In this chapter, we will examine book-design mechanisms developed during the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. As the increased  



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Figure 4-1  Folios 163v and 164r, AsP Ms (Ms C4), Gopāla’s 15th regnal year (ca. 1147 CE), Vikramaśīla monastery. British Library, Or. 6902. © The British Library Board.

appearance of a book in worship in sculptural representations of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries suggests, as discussed in chapter 1, a book’s potential as a sacred object with an uncontestable authority grew even further during this period. It served as a distinctive marker of a Buddhist identity. The bookmakers tried to realize the sacred and cultic potential of a book to the fullest. In the case of Group C manuscripts, the iconographic program is designed to symbolize the essence of the text succinctly. When the production is elaborate as in Ms C1, the images serve as a visual thumb index for each chapter of the text. Group D manuscripts are designed as three-dimensional maṇḍalas, creating a structured, hierarchical sacred space within a book. Although the theme of a book-maṇḍala is the same throughout, the way in which each manuscript was designed as one is different. Thus, each example of Group D manuscripts is discussed in detail in chapter 5. While my analysis is purposefully framed to emphasize the threedimensional nature of each manuscript, this does not forsake the artistic and aesthetic merits of the paintings. An art historical inquiry would not be complete without looking closely, and this is precisely what I have done. Analyzing the artistic choices, often reflected in minute details in these miniature paintings, informs us of the process of designing and of the rationale behind the iconographic program. The Buddhist manuscript paintings do provide an important historical link between the famous murals of Ajanta cave temples of the fifth century and the later Indian manuscript-painting traditions. By examining the paintings in the context of a maṇḍala, we can appreciate their historical value even more and relate the Indian Buddhist manuscript paintings directly to the development of the painting traditions in central Tibet and the Tibetan cultural zone beyond central Tibet, such as Tangut, during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. For this reason, comparisons are made with a few thangka paintings and other painted objects from Nepal, Tibet, and beyond.

Study of Maṇḍalas: The Sādhanam āl ā and the Niṣpaṇṇayogāvalī

In the context of the Buddhist book cult of the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, a manuscript was designed as a physical maṇḍala

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laid out in a three-dimensional space. Here, I do not mean that each manuscript had a specific maṇḍala configuration found in contemporary ritual texts of the period, such as the Sādhanamālā (SM), a collection of sādhanas (instructions for meditation practice), the earliest surviving manuscript of which dates to 1164 CE (NS 285), and the Niṣpannayogāvalī (NsP), an early twelfth-century manual for maṇḍala makers (maṇḍalācāryas) written by Paṇḍit Abhayākaragupta of the Vikramaśīla monastery. The SM contains over three hundred sādhanas of varying length describing the ritual procedures designed to help a practitioner to identify with different manifestations of Buddhist divinities of his or her choice. The NsP contains the compositions of twentysix maṇḍalas. The language of the NsP is more straightforwardly descriptive than that of the SM. While these texts provide indispensible information on iconographic details of various deities, the rules prescribed in them did not necessarily govern the image-making process. In fact, these texts, especially the Sādhanamālā (or “Sādhanasamuccaya” as some manuscripts title the text), are exactly what the titles indicate, a compilation of different practices performed by prominent teachers and visionary practitioners, sometimes incorporating iconographies of famous images, as discussed in the previous chapter with Group B manuscripts. They are not necessarily authoritative sourcebooks for Esoteric Buddhist iconography as they are commonly used in today’s scholarship. I have relied on these contemporary ritual texts for identifying iconography of different deities, but at the same time I must emphasize how the artistic merits, such as compositional balance and formal similarities, were one of the main concerns in designing a manuscript. My analysis suggests that practical and aesthetic concerns played a key role in determining the iconographic program of each manuscript, perhaps even more than the concerns for textually authorized “correct” iconography.

Visual Thumb Index and Meditation on a Book

A beautifully crafted manuscript of the AsP now in the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, was prepared during the thirty-seventh regnal year of Rāmapāla (Ms C1).4 It was prepared by a dharmabhāṇaka (religious preacher) named

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Kanakamuni-jāgeśvara for a Tibetan monk (bhikṣu) Vijayakīrti 5 who resided in the city of Nālandā.6 The extraordinary quality of paintings, shown in the execution of fine lines and in the use of exuberant pigments, makes the illustrated folios appear jewel studded, similar to the impact of the first two folios of another AsP manuscript from Nālandā, now at the Asia Society, New York (Ms A4, see fig. 2–1). The paintings in this manuscript show the height of accomplishment in pictorial representations by Nālandā artisans in every aspect. The use of primary colors such as white, yellow, vermillion red, and blue is vivacious, and the shading on each figure is subtle. The artisans’ command over the white color is striking: not only is the white pigment used liberally for halos, mandorla, and cushions to give vivid contrast to other colors, but it is also mixed with primary hues, expanding the palette considerably with a variety of secondary pastel colors.  

System of Visual Indexing

Each illustrated folio is marked by a painted panel in the center, and four vertical decorative bands frame the text columns. The manuscript has at least sixty-six illustrated folios, with two facing painted folios marking the end of each of the thirty-two chapters and the beginning of the manuscript. The function of the paintings in this manuscript is similar to that of the thumb index of a dictionary or a bible. In some cases, a painted panel literally serves as an indexical sign and an icon of a chapter. For example, at the end of chapter 2, the panel depicts the Buddha preaching to Indra who is easily identifiable with his many eyes spread all over his body. Placed right next to the chapter-ending colophon that reads “this is the second chapter of the AsP titled, Śakra,” the painting serves as an “icon” of this chapter title as “Śakra” is Indra. The most effective example in terms of the indexical and iconic role the painting plays may be the panel placed at the end of chapter 30.7 The painting in the center of folio 191 verso depicts a noble man seated to the left while cutting his right thigh with a sword and pulling the bone marrow out while a Brahman stands in front of him followed by a woman who looks at him reverently.8 This gruesome event is observed by a figure of Buddha appearing in the sky amidst four-colored clouds in the upper right-hand corner. This scene represents the narrative of bodhisattva Sadāprarudita told in chapter 30, whose title reads “sadāprarudita.” The

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essence of the narrative is succinctly delivered in a tiny space by choosing the most dramatic moment of Sadāprarudita’s self-mutilation. The painting not only is a visual icon of the chapter title, “Sadāprarudita,” but it also captures the content of the chapter rather vividly, reminding the user of the selfless devotion of Sadāprarudita to the teaching of the Perfection of Wisdom. Only a few painted panels are explicit about relating the content of each chapter, due to the obvious limitation of representing a discursive content, for example, the nature of śūnyatā. Nonetheless, even the panels that depict generic images of the Buddha in various gestures represent the main event of the text, the Buddha preaching the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, perhaps shown in different moments. Because the images are differentiated enough and systematically placed, one could recollect each image and reconstruct the manuscript as a whole in his mind by using the images as a visual mnemonic device. Suggesting how an illustrated manuscript might have been used based on an iconographic program may be jumping a step too far from investigating a rationale behind the general layout of images and the iconographic choices. This particular manuscript from Nālandā gives us a chance to consider this issue, for it supplies a rare example of a full-page illustration depicting twelfth-century Buddhist monks of Nālandā engaged in various activities, including meditation on a book. Meditation on a Book

The folio is divided into three compartments marked by four decorative bands, two of which are placed around the binder holes. Each section is again divided into three panels, and in the middle of each group is a panel depicting an image of the Buddha (fig. 4–2). Six monks appear on this page, each occupying an individual panel. The level of individualization and differentiation between the figures is astonishing, and they are comparable to early portrait paintings of Tibetan hierarchs in terms of what I would call idealized individualism.9 The painters probably did not strive for the mimetic verisimilitude of the subjects, but they did capture idiosyncratic features of individuals in an idealized manner. The monk seated in the far left panel is shown washing his right hand with the water poured by a male attendant using a kunditype vessel. His hair and beard are painted in bluish gray with white  

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Figure 4-2  The donor, Vijayakīrti (left) and the dharmabhāṇaka, Kanaka­ munijāgeśvara (right), center section, full page depiction of the monks of Nālandā, AsP Ms (Ms C1), Rāmapāla 37th year (ca. 1114 CE), Tibet Museum, Lhasa.

dots, possibly suggesting his age, as the other monks on this page have black hair. He wears the red robe exposing his right shoulder. He is neither chubby nor skinny, perhaps slightly round around the belly. In the third panel from the far left sits another monk with bluish gray hair who holds a rosary, but he is rather slim and a bit more fit and muscular than the previous monk, as his defined abdomen under the robe suggests. Both monks are seated with their legs crossed on a chair with a throne-like curvilinear support. The back support of the monk in the far left panel is slightly more ornate with decorative fixtures. White halos, white cushions, and white mats frame both their bodies, and this visual device is used for all six. On the right section of the folio, two monks who seem younger than the ones on the left side occupy the panels on either side of the central panel depicting the Buddha stretching his right hand out towards lower right. Their hair and beards are black, and their skin color is almost red, whereas the monks on the left side are painted in golden yellow, the skin color of the Buddha. The monk in the far right panel holds a flower garland in his two hands. His eyes are alert and wide open, and he looks slightly upwards to the left. His beard looks more like a goatee and he has a few short hairs of mustache. The monk in the third panel from the far right is depicted as preaching to a male figure in a yellowish green robe in front of him who kneels in añjalī mudrā. His robe is in a lighter shade of orange, and he seems heavier than his neighbor, with a potbelly. His face is also rounder than his neighbor’s, and his nose is bigger and slightly hooked

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in shape. His mustache hair is slightly longer as well. White dots on his otherwise black hair may indicate that he is senior to his neighbor. A sense of rank is conveyed in their seats: the younger monk on the far right does not have any back support other than the white cushion and a halo, while the more plump figure on the third panel from the right sits on a seat elevated with stepped feet and a with curvilinear back support, all in white. The monk in the fourth panel from the left is green in color and wears a yellow lower garment with a diaphanous outer garment in orange covering his upper body and part of the lower garment. He is bearded and has a mustache. His hair is black, and white dots on his head and beard suggest his age. He is seated in quarter profile like the others, and his right ear is big and long, just like the Buddha’s in the panel next to him, and he has a long straight nose. He also preaches to a male figure of orange skin and black hair kneeling in front of him. In the center is the panel depicting the Buddha seated with his right hand raised towards the right. The fourth panel from the right depicts a monk in golden yellow skin and bluish gray hair like the monks of the left section. He has a very small beard at the tip of his chin, almost like a goatee, and this differentiates him from the other two monks on the left section of the folio. He might be a bit younger than the other two and has a slightly more square face. The most interesting of all is the activity that he is engaged in. His hands are folded on his lap in meditation, and he looks intently at a book on a simple cross-legged stand in front of him. The slightly tilted head and the protruding right eye suggest that his gaze is fixed upon it. The book’s cultic status is clearly indicated by the presence of the strip of cloth and flowers on top as well as the small circle of a maṇḍala on which the bookstand is placed. This painting suggests that “meditating” on the book was one of the ways in which the monks of the monasteries around Nālandā used a book, especially the illustrated manuscripts of the AsP. This monk seated in meditation with a book in front of him seems to be in the middle of recalling each chapter and its content. By meditating on a book, he may be internalizing the entire manuscript, both the text and the images. The paintings can function as mnemonic devices and may help him remember the structure of the book and the text more easily. Through this mental practice, he may be invoking the teaching of Prajñāpāramitā, just

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as the main priest of today’s Prajñāpāramitā pūjā invokes the goddess Prajñāpāramitā through a ritual (see fig. 1–1). It is questionable how much individuality we could draw from these paintings. But the effort to differentiate each figure and to portray idiosyncratic features is undeniable. The difference in skin colors may suggest the difference in the monastic ranks and status. It can also indicate their regional or ethnic origins. If it does the latter, the green monk in the central section may be our donor Vijayakīrti, who was from Tibet, thus given a different skin color from the rest. The monk engaged in meditation on a book may be our “dharma preacher” Kanakamunijāgeśvara who prepared the manuscript (see fig. 4–2). One day we may find a textual description of monks from Nālandā of the twelfth century that tells us Vijayakīrti was a fit, slender man with an elongated earlobe like the Buddha’s, but until then, linking the donor and the scribe with the paintings is tenuous at best. Meditation on a book as a ritual activity is a plausible hypothesis especially if we consider how a book’s iconographic program was designed to realize a maṇḍala in a three-dimensional space, comparable to the structure of a paṭa, a two-dimensional cloth painting, whose mandalic configurations were designed to be used for meditation as described in a ritual text like the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa (Mmk).  

 

The Five Icons of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra

If dhāraṇīs are “condensations of texts that can function as mnemonic aids or as substitutes,”10 images in a manuscript of the AsP function just like dhāraṇīs although there is no dhāraṇī in the text. When the text contains dhāraṇīs, as in the case of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra, it is not surprising that the relationship between the text and the images should be straightforward. The Pañcarakṣā sūtra is a collection of the five sūtras of the five protectresses (rakṣā). As an apotropaic text that explicates the power of each goddess against various diseases, calamities, and personal misfortunes, which are embodied in their respective dhāraṇīs, it can be categorized as an “efficient text” like many other dhāraṇī texts. The images of five goddesses in many Nepalese Pañcarakṣā manuscripts herald their respective texts, and each image serves as an icon of each text in the broadest sense, while simultaneously functioning as an indexical sign of the text.11 A Pañcārakṣā manuscript now in the San Diego

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Museum of Art (Acc. No. 1990:156, formerly in the Edwin Binney 3rd Collection) provides a good example of this relationship. According to the colophon on the verso of folio 102, the manuscript (Ms C2) was prepared during the reign of Indradeva in 1135 CE (NS 255) for a monastic donor named Ānandabudhi of Kṛṣṇagupta Mahāvihāra. The location of the Kṛṣṇagupta monastery is given as in “Kāṣṭamaṇḍapa,” from which the later seventeenth-century version of the name Kāṭhmāṇḍu (Kathmandu) is derived. “Kāṣṭamaṇḍapa” refers to a large-scale “public rest house (sattal, dharmaśālā)” built at the crossing of two trans-Himalayan trade routes in Maru-tol in the western part of old Kathmandu.12 This colophon is the earliest known record that uses the term kāṣṭhamaṇḍapa, pushing the terminus ante quem of the building’s construction to the early twelfth century.13 Built on the “western main road” next to the rest house, as the colophon tells us, the Kṛṣṇagupta monastery probably benefited from offering rituals for merchants traveling along the trade routes. A beautifully made manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra like this one could have been a treasured possession of the monastery that could be brought out for a ritual worship of the five goddesses to wish for the safe journeys. There are 5 illustrated folios among 102 folios, and an illustrated folio is placed at the beginning of each rakṣā text. Each contains a single panel depicting the respective goddess. There is no decorative band around the holes, but the goddess panels are framed with relatively thick and decorated borders. Either end of each illustrated page is also marked with a wide band of decorative patterns. The same design is used for all the decorative bands throughout the manuscript, creating a sense of unity among the illustrated folios. The five goddesses in this manuscript appear in the following order: Mahāsāhasrapramardanī (fol. 1v), Mahāmāyūrī (fol. 30v), Mahāpratisarā (fol. 88v), Mahāśītavatī (fol. 94v), and Mahāmantrānusāriṇī (fol. 98v). The iconography of the five goddesses follows the description given in SM 206 titled Pañcarakṣāvidhānam almost word for word.14 Unlike chapters in an AsP manuscript, each text is considered a separate unit, perhaps being true to the nature of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra as a collection of five texts: each rakṣā text begins with a blank page on the recto of the first folio, and if the text ends on recto, a blank page is left on the verso of the last folio. Interestingly, the blank recto side of each illustrated folio is marked

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with a white circle in the center of the page that would more or less correspond to the heart of the goddess represented on the other side of the page (see web 4–1). Vaguely visible underneath the white ink may be a letter sign of each deity framed by a circle. Such “sealing” on the back of an image may be comparable to the practice of consecrating a Tibetan thangka painting with dharma relics written on the back.15 In the case of Tibetan thangkas, once consecrated with written relics of the dharma verse, and sometimes with a biographical narrative functioning as a relic, the painting is the divine, and a practitioner in front of a thangka faces the Buddha or a deity in life. Likewise, with the consecrating seal mark on the back imbuing the paintings with the divine essence, the painted panels representing the five goddesses are not just the icons of their respective texts, but they are the goddesses. Each consecrated with a seal letter, the five goddesses are invoked to reside in a book. A new level of cultic potency is achieved here: a book can be activated as a divine living space. Each goddess presides over her own text, marking its beginning serving as an icon as well as a visual thumb index.  

Iconizing the Text: The Role of Visual Narratives

The practice of placing the five goddesses at the beginning of their respective texts as seen in Ms C2 perhaps grew out of the Nepalese tradition of marking the beginning and the ending of each chapter with illustrated folios, seen in Group B manuscripts. By the beginning of the twelfth century, the principles of iconographic programming were more or less standardized in Nepal, and iconographic choices were made to accommodate the trend of “iconizing” the text. Preparing over thirty illustrated folios, in the case of a single-illustrated folio per chapter in an AsP manuscript, or sixty illustrated folios, in the case of a double-illustrated folio per chapter, is an expensive undertaking, and a more economic and efficient way to achieve the goal of indexing and symbolizing the text was sought. This may be characterized as “iconizing” the text through images, not too different from its meaning in contemporary web design. One obvious iconographic choice made to this end was to represent the event of the text, that is, the Buddha’s preaching the Prajñāpāramitā. And this is precisely the subject represented at the beginning of an AsP manuscript now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata G.4203 (Ms C3).

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This manuscript was prepared in 1148 CE (NS 268) during the reign of Ānandadeva in Nepal for a luminary from Kashmir named Tilaka.16 The manuscript has six illustrated folios placed in the beginning, the middle, and the end of the text.17 Each illustrated folio has a single panel placed in the center section. The first two folios suffered from much damage, but it is clear that the illustrated panels represent the preaching Buddha on folio 1 verso and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on folio 2 recto. The preaching Buddha is attended by a monk on the left and a celestial being on the right. The celestial being on the right may be Indra, one of the interlocutors of the AsP, and the monk may represent one of the disciples, that is, Subhūti, who is the main interlocutor of the sūtra. There stand two palm trees behind the two attendants and the background is colored vermillion red. The facing panel on folio 2 recto shows the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in her four-armed form. Two hands are held in front of the chest in preaching gesture and the other two are raised, holding a book and a mālā (rosary). Two celestial attendants sit on either side of the goddess, paralleling the composition of the preaching Buddha panel. A harmonious balance between the two panels is sought in the choice of colors and settings. The blue background of the Prajñāparamitā panel seems to have been purposefully chosen to counter the red background of the Buddha panel. The orange color given to the goddess does not follow any known sādhana description but rather mirrors the body color of the Buddha. The two panels are inevitably seen together and they speak for the content of the entire text: the Buddha preaches the Prajñāpāramitā. That the preaching Buddha and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā were chosen to herald a manuscript of the AsP is not a surprise. It is surprising that such a straightforward decision was not made earlier. That this design came into use relatively late in the production of illustrated manuscripts may suggest that the main concern of the eleventh-century Buddhist bookmakers in introducing illustrations in manuscript production was how to construct a book as a powerful sacred object rather than to correlate the text and the images. During the first half of the twelfth century, a few new approaches to book designing emerged, and some bookmakers went back to the book’s literary content for inspiration. The images chosen to mark each chapter ending in the Nālandā manuscript now in the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, (Ms C1) do reflect this desire to coordinate the text and the

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images, albeit at a cursory level. Some twelfth-century Buddhist bookmakers found a specific narrative from the AsP text, the story of bodhisattva Sadāprarudita told in chapters 30 and 31, befitting the purpose of illustrating the manuscript. In chapters 30 and 31 of the AsP, the Buddha tells Subhūti a story of bodhisattva Sadāprarudita, whose selfless devotion to the teaching of Prajñāparamitā is an exemplar for all on the path to enlightenment. Although Edward Conze condemns this story as an avadāna (edifying tale) “tucked on at the end” that was subject to many more changes and alterations than any other part of the AsP,18 it crystallizes the cultic aspect of the AsP through a rather shocking, traumatic narrative element of self-mutilation, and as such, the narrative was chosen to serve as the icon of the Buddhist book cult.19 The two facing panels on folio 298 verso and 299 recto at the end of Ms C3 may represent the culminating event of this narrative: bodhisattva Dharmodgata preaches the Prajñāpāramitā in Gandhavatī, and Sadāprarudita, along with his companion, merchant’s daughter (śreṣṭidārikā), pays homage to the Prajñāpāramitā. The panel on folio 298 verso shows a bodhisattva figure preaching while seated on a lotus seat on a pedestal with a blue-colored throne back with a canopy or an umbrella spread over him (see web 4–2 top). He is positioned on the left side of the panel facing to the right. Right next to his fingertips in the center of the panel is a yellow rectangular object on a pedestal, representing a golden book on a raised seat. This is bodhisattva Dharmodgata, who preaches the Prajñāpāramitā in the beautiful town of Gandhavatī. To the right side of the panel, two celestial figures sit facing the preaching bodhisattva, paying homage to him. A green roundel in front of them represents a maṇḍala, drawn to mark the sacred ground of the teaching. In the facing panel on folio 299 recto, we see an enlarged version of the golden book placed on a flat seat supported by two bulbous legs with a stūpa-shaped structure hovering over it (see web 4–2 bottom). This stūpa-shaped structure represents the “pointed tower (kuṭāgara), made of the seven precious substances, . . . adorned with brightly colored garlands which hung down in strips” made for the Prajñāpāramitā by Dharmodgata, as described in chapter 30 of the text. Below this bookstand is a green roundel with nine flowers spread evenly as if marking cardinal and inter-cardinal directions. This roundel again represents a maṇḍala drawn to mark the  

 

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sacred ground and as a ritual offering to the teacher.20 On the right side of the panel sit two devotees, male and female, both in añjalī mudrā. The woman kneels while the man sits with his left knee raised and right knee on the floor. A couple on the last folio of the AsP manuscript can represent the donor, Tilaka, and his wife, as this outer space is often given to the representations of the donors in later Nepalese manuscripts and in contemporary sculptural productions. That the Sadāprarudita narrative is a story of a model devotee and his female companion that any donor couple could plug themselves into explains its appeal for the promoters of the medieval Buddhist book cult. Although the merchant’s daughter’s relationship to Sadāprarudita is not conjugal, the unnamed “merchant’s daughter” could easily be likened to the wives and female members of the family who are represented but often remain unnamed in inscriptions of image donations.21 Women’s involvement in Buddhist religious practices in medieval India is often understood to be minimal, but the representations of female donors are considerable in number. In this historical and cultural context, Sadāprarudita and the merchant’s daughter could be the ultimate role models for lay donors of the book of the Prajñāpāramitā. The donors are to honor and worship the book of the Prajñāpāramitā as Sadāprarudita and the merchant’s daughter did. It is fitting, then, to have the two panels representing the iconic moment of the narrative, which emphasizes the cultic value of the book with two enlarged and elevated representations of the book, mark the ending of the AsP. The story of Sadāprarudita ends a few pages before the illustrated pages, and the text on these two pages is that of the end of chapter 32, in which the Buddha transmits the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā to Ānanda, followed by the end colophon. In this last moment of teaching in the sūtra, the Buddha reemphasizes the cultic aspect of the Prajñāpāramitā. The main concern of the text seems to be to ensure its own survival rather than to relate the essence of the philosophical teaching. If the images representing the event of the Buddha preaching the Prajñāpāramitā open the front door of the manuscript, the images representing the event of the preaching of the Prajñāpāramitā by Dharmodgata, whose generic iconography could easily relocate and transpose the event of preaching in the time and the place of the users of the manuscript, close the back door of the manuscript. The four

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panels together serve as the icon of the text as they tell us that, in here, inside the book happens the teaching of the Prajñāpāramitā by the Buddha, and that this teaching is perpetuated regardless of time and space if one worships the book and its teacher.

Icons of Wisdom

The main iconographic mode for illustrating manuscripts in twelfthcentury eastern India was to configure a book as a three-dimensional maṇḍala, a mode that grew out of the Group A model—a book as a relic/stūpa model—which first appeared in Nālandā at the turn of the first millennium. The awareness of the three-dimensional space inside a book is a key in this construction, as seen in the placement of illustrated folios in the middle section. The mode of iconizing the text through a few selective images that became the norm in Nepalese manuscript production also gained some currency in Bihar and Bengal. One superb example of this kind is a manuscript prepared during the fifteenth year of Gopāla’s reign in the Vikramaśīla monastery (Ms C4). The manuscript, now in the British Library (Or. 6902), was donated by a monastic elder (śakyabhikṣu-sthāvira) named Sumatiśrīmitra.22 It shows one of the finest hands in writing the text among the AsP manuscripts of the time. The scribe took great care in creating a visually pleasing manuscript, by writing in ornamental siddhamātṛkā type script with subtly pronounced hooks on the bottom of letters. He sometimes embellished letters, as some of his medial vowels are playfully curved with extra strokes, and simple vine-like designs are drawn around the pagination numerals. In addition to the six illustrated folios and the exquisite writing, an attempt was made to adorn the recto side of every folio with four decorative bands, two around the holes and two on either end of each page, employing geometric and flower patterns. If this project had been completed, it would have made the manuscript appear even more stunning as a whole, but perhaps the resources did not allow this ambitious plan to materialize. The quality of the paintings, especially in the use of pigments and coloring, is not as fine as the writing. Figures are well proportioned and skillfully modeled, but colors are applied rather casually, and the pigments used are not as vibrant as those used in the Nālandā production of the early twelfth century.  

 

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Each of the six illustrated folios in this manuscript bears one illustrated panel in the center of the folio (fig. 4-3). The overall iconographic program is predominantly governed by the desire to represent what I would like to call the wisdom deities related to the Prajñāpāramitā. The panels on the first two folios show the same subject matter as the previous manuscript (Ms C3) from Nepal: the Buddha preaches the Prajñāpāramitā. The first folio shows the preaching Buddha with two monks attending in añjalī mudrā, and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā again in preaching gesture with two green female attendants occupies the facing page.23 The compositions of the two panels are almost identical, and each group is framed under a shrine structure surrounded by schematically represented trees and vegetation. Three out of the remaining four panels represent the wisdom deities: all but Siṃhanāda Lokeśvara on folio 164r show the preaching gesture; Maitreya is on folio 163 verso, Mañjuśrī on folio 226 verso, and green Tārā on folio 227 recto. The iconographic details of these bodhisattvas are clear and straightforward, as we may expect in a monastic production with the abundant resources from ritual experts, doctrinal masters, and possibly, monastic painters. Although the painted panels are dispersed at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the manuscript, their uniformity is clearly indicated through the shared composition, that is, a triad under a shrine structure, and the shared iconographic feature, that is, a preaching gesture. In other words, all the illustrated panels except for one collectively and uniformly represent and symbolize the teaching of Prajñāpāramitā. They form the icon of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. We should also note that many manuscript makers put much effort into making a unique, one-of-a-kind piece in the context of medieval Buddhist book cult. No two manuscripts are exactly alike, and the iconographic programs make them unique and even more individualized. The makers of Ms C4 chose a simple method of iconizing the text by signifying the message of teaching and wisdom through the wisdom deities, but there is one unique element: the inclusion of a powerful cultic deity, Siṃhanāda Lokeśvara, in the center of the manuscript on folio 164 recto (see fig. 4–1 bottom). The Siṃhanāda (lion’s roar) form of bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is known for his cultic efficacy in curing diseases, especially leprosy. His power in quenching the leprosy epidemic is related in Tāranātha’s  

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Figure 4-3  Ms C4: AsP, Gopāla’s 15th year (ca. 1147 CE), British Library, Or. 6902.

account of Candragomī who put an end to the spread of leprosy in Siṃhala (Sri Lanka) by building a temple dedicated to Siṃhanāda.24 His cultic efficacy is that of a well-established Mahāyāna bodhisattva, but his iconography is a product of Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism, given its connection to the five jinas (pañcatathāgata or pañcajina) and the iconographic appropriation of Śaiva elements.25 While the wrathful deities of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism are shown as

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trampling upon Śaiva deities, in both texts and images, Avalokiteśvara, a compassionate and benign bodhisattva, achieves this submission of Śaiva deities through “friendly (or condescending) conversion,” in the Kāraṇḍavyūha sūtra. Appropriating Śiva’s prominent attributes such as a trident (triśūla) and a snake might have been a way to express the superiority of this benign yet powerful bodhisattva over Hindu deities, appropriating the attributes of Śaiva identity. Siṃhanāda’s iconography in this manuscript is well articulated and strikingly similar to the description of a Siṃhanāda sādhana collected in the Sādhanamālā (SM 22). In this painting, he is seated on a white lion in a relaxed manner (mahārājalīlā: one leg raised with the other bent in the usual position of the Buddha). His body is white and he is clad in tiger skin. He has a third eye and his hair is matted high ( jaṭāmukuṭa). Although not readily visible, a white trident entwined by a white snake has been drawn using a fine brush to his right. On his left, there is a bowl of flowers, while a lotus with a sword on top rises from his left hand. He is surrounded by blazing flame. This image matches the description of the bodhisattva in the SM rather precisely.26 It is as if the person who had composed this verbal vision of Siṃhanāda were looking at this very image at the time of composition or the artist was instructed by this very text. This impression of contemporaneity is further confirmed when we note the proximity in dates between the earliest surviving manuscript of the SM (1163 CE) and Ms C4 of Śrīmitra (ca. 1147 CE). In addition, the most elaborate version among the six Siṃhanāda sādhanas is attributed to an eminent scholar and Tantric teacher Advayavajra (known as Maitrigupta or Maitrīpa in Tibetan traditions, proposed dates: 1007– 1085 CE) who was active at Vikramaśīla in the second half of the eleventh century.27 Surviving stone sculptures of Siṃhanāda Lokeśvara all show iconographic conformity to the text just like the painting, and all are datable to the late eleventh and the twelfth centuries. Most of them hail from the regions of Aṅga and eastern Magadha (today’s districts of Gayā, Nālandā, Monghyr, and Bhagalpur), including one from Sultanganj in the Bhagalpur district, not too far from the proposed archaeological site of the Vikramaśīla monastery in the village of Antichak.28 If we put together all the pieces of the puzzle, we can see the picture in which Siṃhanāda’s iconography was actually articulated in or in the vicinity of Vikramaśīla and its cult quickly gained popu 

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larity in the nearby regions during the twelfth century. The painting in our manuscript suggests that it was popular at Vikramaśīla as well. Given that the center of the manuscript is often reserved for the most powerful esoteric deities and/or the most important deities in twelfthcentury manuscripts, as seen in Group D manuscripts (Ms D1–D4, Ms D7–D10), Siṃhanāda’s placement in the center suggests its cultic importance. The six panels in this manuscript do not form a specific maṇḍala described in a text. The images are closely linked to the text, as five of them are the Prajñāpāramitā deities, emphasizing the aspect of wisdom in different bodhisattvas all shown displaying the preaching gesture. By physical proximity to this group and to the text, Siṃhanāda seems to become one of the Prajñāpāramitā deities. Siṃhanāda, a powerful cultic deity as a famous curer of leprosy and other illness, who shows a very peaceful appearance amidst fire on a white lion with Śaivite attributes of a trident and a snake, may have been a favorite deity (or personal deity) of the donor. The placement of Siṃhanāda in the center may reflect the donor’s desire to make this manuscript more potent and significant for him. Whether it is the donor’s intention or not, Siṃhanāda, placed in the center, plays an important role in making this manuscript unique and potent.  

 

Icon of a Book

The mode of iconizing the text through a selection of a few images became the most common way to design an illustrated Buddhist manuscript in subsequent centuries. It is not difficult to understand the appeal of this design, as it is straightforward in its reference to the text, and one could make a unique cultic object quite efficiently and economically. From the beginning of the twelfth century, it became the standard mode for illustration in Nepalese Buddhist book production as mentioned above. The popularity of this mode in Nepal is also related to the higher demand for the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts there than for the Prajñāpāramitā manuscripts.29 In India, the mode of iconizing texts began to be used more frequently in the production of the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts, with five goddesses collectively serving as the icon of the book in which they reside. However, it was never standardized and we do not find the one-on-one relationship between the

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text and the images as seen in the Nepalese Pañcarakṣā manuscripts. For example, in one manuscript prepared at the end of the twelfth century (Govindapāla’a sixteenth year, ca. 1191 CE, MS C6) for a lay female donor, Hīrākā, wife of a ṭhakura Bahudhana, no goddess heralds her own text.30 Six illustrated folios with a single panel on each are placed at the beginning, the middle, and the end of the manuscript, similar to the iconographic program of the AsP manuscript discussed above (Ms C4, see fig. 4-3). The six panels represent the five goddesses and a Buddha in the following order: Mahāmantrānusāriṇī (blue, fol. 1v), Mahāmāyūrī (green, fol. 2r), Mahāsāhasrapramardanī (white, fol. 57v), Mahāpratisarā (yellow, fol. 58r), Mahāśītavatī (red, fol. 70v), and Amoghasiddhi (green, fol. 71r). Each goddess is endowed with six arms and with more or less the same attributes—a sword, a bow, varada mudrā, a noose, an elephant goad, and an arrow—as if to emphasize their group identity. Inclusion of Amoghasiddhi is an unusual but significant iconographic choice because his presence links the five rakṣā goddesses with the primordial Buddhist goddess, Tārā, whose many forms invoke Amoghasiddhi as her sire (see web 4–3). Despite the lack of text–image coordination in this manuscript, the images indirectly stand for the content of the text when understood collectively as a unit, and the book becomes a portable shrine of the five goddesses. The idea of a book as a portable three-dimensional sacred space was cultivated more deeply in eastern India as some bookmakers experimented with their designs to transform a book into a truly animatable threedimensional maṇḍala.  

 

 

 

A Book-M aṇḍala

Sometime in the mid-eleventh century, Buddhist manuscript makers began to utilize the inner space of a book by placing illustrated folios in the center of a manuscript, as we have seen in late eleventh-century Group A manuscripts (Ms A5, Ms A6). This strategy was taken further to transform a book into a three-dimensional maṇḍala that could be activated through physical use as well as meditation. Paintings may occupy flat, two-dimensional space, but if we understand the painted panels in a book as layers systematically embedded in a threedimensional space of a book that would appear and disappear but still

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be there, it is not difficult to imagine the high cultic value of a welldesigned illustrated manuscript for the Buddhist practitioners in medieval South Asia. As a sacred object with movable parts and fluid spatial boundaries, a book could serve as a powerful cultic object that could literally evoke the sense of transformation that many esoteric, yogic practitioners in medieval South Asia sought to achieve.31 Integrating the deities from the pantheon of full-fledged Esoteric Buddhism, and maximizing a book’s mechanical potential as an animatable object, medieval Buddhist bookmakers transformed a manuscript of an early Mahāyāna sūtra into a powerful and desirable cultic object for Buddhist practitioners in medieval South Asia. I have chosen ten dated manuscripts from eastern India (Group D) to discuss the new, innovative design schemes developed for the medieval Buddhist book cult. The iconographic structures of the first two manuscripts of the group, Ms D1 and Ms D2, show how the makers utilize the three-dimensional space in a book to create an interactive maṇḍala. The earliest and one of the most elaborate attempts to design a book as a three-dimensional maṇḍala is found in a Pañcarakṣā manuscript now in the Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688 (Ms D1). It is the earliest surviving dated illustrated manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra, and it was prepared during the fourteenth year of Nayapāla (ca. 1041 CE) for the queen Uḍḍakā. The makers of this manuscript took an inventive approach in designing this manuscript at an early stage of illustrated Buddhist book production in eastern India, thanks to the royal patronage. There are twelve illustrated folios with three painted panels per folio, and the end colophon of each rakṣā sūtra is marked with clearly drawn geometric symbols (fig. 4–4). As seen in W-diagram 4–1, illustrated folios are placed at the beginning of each rakṣā text and the end of the manuscript. This follows the same pattern as in an AsP manuscript with the beginning and the ending of each chapter marked with a pair of illustrated folios. The images form a maṇḍala-like configuration, but the makers of this manuscript, and of any other illustrated Buddhist manuscript for that matter, do not seem to have consulted any known ritual text such as the Sādhanamālā and the NsP for iconographic programs. The iconographic details of each image may show some conformity with the textual tradition, as we have seen, but a more creative and innovative approach was taken to design the book as a whole. We  

 

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do see conventional elements of designing Pañcarakṣā manuscripts, as the five goddesses herald the beginning of their own texts and their iconography is more or less identical to the descriptions given in the text of SM 194–200, following the “Indian tradition.”32 But when the manuscript is opened, the unusual nature of its iconographic program is clear from the first two pages. The first two pages have five Buddhas surrounding the goddess Mahāpratisarā. It is common to see the five rakṣā goddesses (Pañcarakṣā) appear together with the five tathāgatas (pañcatathāgata) in Nepalese Pañcarakṣā manuscripts. The three panels on folio 19v in the next set of illustrated folios (fol. 19v–20r) opposite Mahāmāyūrī (fol. 20r, center) confirm that they form a group of eight Buddhas of the past, present, and future, with a clearly identifiable Śākyamuni and Maitreya on the central and the right panels on folio 19 verso, respectively (see fig. 4–4 and W-diagram 4-1). Despite the physical gap between them, separated by sixteen folios of text, shared compositional elements and formal features, such as white mandorla, blue halo, and a tree above, help us recognize the Buddha panels as a group of eight. The innovative design of this manuscript lies in the use of the space beyond the confinement of two facing pages, interconnecting different sections of a book. Going beyond the spatial limit of two facing pages opened a door to more elaborate designing that could accommodate a group of deities laid out in a hierarchical spatial order as in a maṇḍala. Another unusual element is the scene of stūpa-worship located in the center of the manuscript. The scene placed on the center panel of folio 46 recto, facing Mahāsāhasrapramardanī, represents two celestial beings approaching a stūpa and paying homage to it. Surrounding these two central panels are four chubby, seated figures, representing the four heavenly kings: Dhṛtarāṣṭra holding a lute (vīṇā?) on folio 45v left panel, Virūḍhaka holding a sword on folio 45v right panel, Virūpākṣa on folio 46r left panel, and Vaiśravaṇa holding a staff on folio 46r right panel.33 Their presence certainly highlights the worship of a stūpa in the center rather than the goddess Mahāsāhasrapramardanī on folio 45v. The two unusual iconographic elements of this manuscript, locating the scene of stūpa worship in the center and choosing the eight Buddhas of the temporal dimension over the five transcendental Buddhas, reveal the conservative orientation on the part of the mak 

 

 

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Figure 4-4  Maitreya, folio 20r, left panel, Pañcarakṣā Ms (Ms D1), Nayapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1042 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

ers, that is, the master­m ind behind the design, perhaps the monk who is represented poignantly kneeling at the end of the manuscript performing a ritual, officiating over all the deities represented within (see fig. 6–3). The manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra is cultic in nature, and we are in the world of powerful multiarmed deities. That the makers were aware of their visual and doctrinal environment is clear from the presence of Esoteric Buddhist deities such as Vajrasattva (fol. 20r, left), various forms of Tārā (fol. 20r, 65r), and wrathful deities (fol. 66v–67r, 69v–70r). Yet, a stūpa, the most ancient symbol of the absent Buddha’s presence, is located in the center of a manuscript and, in a way, provides a foundational support for the power of the goddesses sought in the production of the manuscript. The choice of the eight Buddhas over the five jinas with whom many ritual manuals of the time match the five goddesses also reflects the desire to connect to the older concept of multiple Buddhas rather than relying on the five-Buddha system.34 The next group with Mahāśītavatī in the center panel (fol. 64v) flanked by Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara on left and right panels, respectively, does not seem to be immediately related to the group on the facing folio (fol. 65r) where we see three two-armed female deities occupying the three panels. Each goddess holds an attribute and it is difficult to identify their exact identities. Their modest appearance complements Mahāśītavatī as the center of their universe while they serve as  

 

 

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iconographic partners for the two male bodhisattvas. The iconographic indistinctness and muted appearance of three goddesses convey a hierarchical relationship among the deities on these two facing folios. In fact, they seem to form a demarcating line between different zones in the overall iconographic program. The next two sets of illustrated folios suggest that the makers were conscious of conveying the spatial and hierarchical relations among the deities in this book. Interconnecting two layers of illustrated space, as seen in the eightBuddha group, also happens at the end of the manuscript. The five panels surrounding Mahāmantrānusāriṇī, the last goddess of the group, on folios 66v and 67r have chubby, wrathful deities (krodhas) that are almost identical in their forms: they stand in pratyālīḍha (the right leg is bent and the left leg stretched) amidst flames, and all wear tiger skin clothes and skull ornaments. Their group identity is clearly announced in their almost identical appearances, and the individual identity is rather suppressed. Another set of five krodha deities surrounds the scene of pūjā on the last two folios of the manuscript (fol. 69v–70r). From their nearly identical appearance and the formal features, it is immediately recognizable that the two groups belong together. A ritual scene in the center of the last folio (fol. 70r), where a monk in añjalī mudrā kneels with a maṇḍala (or an offering tray like pujābhaḥ), a conch shell on a tripod, a cone-shaped rice offering on a tripod, and a fire pot (homa) on a tripod, grants the interpretation that these ten deities form the ten krodha deities of ten directions that protect the ritual ground (see fig. 6–3). According to the contemporary ritual texts like the Mañjuvajramaṇḍāla, the ten krodha deities guard all corners and play an essential role in protecting the purified ground for rituals to take place. They are evoked at the beginning of a ritual right after the introduction of Mañjuvajra/ Vajrasattva as the lord of the maṇḍala and protect the purified ground for further rituals to take place.35 The scene of pūjā that these protectors guard may represent a ritual of paying homage to the deities visualized in the manuscript, of which the Pañcarakṣā goddesses are central, thus perpetually honoring the book itself. It may also represent a consecration ritual that evoked the presence of the deities that reside in the book in the first place. Placed at the end of the manuscript next to the dharma verse and the donor colophon, this scene makes it possible to locate an eleventh-century illustrated manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra  

 

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in the larger tradition of Buddhist image making in which ritual scenes become integrated in representational fields to validate the divine presence, as seen not only in the sculptures of the time but also in many later Nepalese paubhās. We can see that a governing iconographic principle of center–periphery or mandalic relationships among deities employed in contemporary sculptural productions is at play in organizing images in this manuscript. However, unlike a sculpture with the main deity enlarged in the center or a paṭa painting with hierarchical order as described in the Mmk, all the deities in an illustrated manuscript exist on the same plane or grid because all illustrated panels are equal in size, as are the deities contained therein. But a sense of hierarchy and spatial relationship among the deities is conveyed through visual devices and relative positions in the overall iconographic program, as discussed above. Although the deities may never have been viewed simultaneously in their entirety as laid out in W-diagram 4–1, the makers certainly made much effort to signal their collective identity and spatial relationship. If one can meditate on a book, the practitioner may recall them in the order of appearance and construct them into a maṇḍala in his or her mind. Given the layers of iconographic/doctrinal meanings imbued in each section of the manuscript—that is, the eight Buddhas in the beginning, the worship of a stūpa in the center, Esoteric deities in intermediary positions, a scene of pūjā protected by the ten krodhas at the end, and the Pañcarakṣā goddesses in the center of it all—it is possible to suggest that the iconographic program was designed to keep all the deities in harmonious order in the three-dimensional space of a book, what we may call a book-maṇḍala. Figure 4-5 shows the result of my analysis of the relationships among the deities. In this figure, Mañjuśrī and Avalokiteśvara are parallel to Vajrasattva and Tārā in their respective relations to the stūpa in the center and to the five goddesses. Their role is to interlock the two different iconographic fields of the eight Buddhas above and the ritual scene below with the five goddesses. The three goddesses on folio 65r occupy a boundary space separating the deities from the ritual ground at the end. The eight Buddhas occupy an outer space or the topmost tier of the Pañcarakṣā field, while the stūpa, the quintessential symbol of Buddhism, occupies the center. The ritual scene surrounded by  

 

 

 

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Figure 4-5  Ms D1: Diagram showing the mandalic relationship between the panels, Pañcarakṣā, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1042 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688.

the ten krodha (wrathful) deities of ten directions (fol. 69v–70r) marks another outer tier or the lowest tier. When put into a diagram following the analysis of the hierarchical relationship among the deities with the consideration of their respective positions in the manuscript, each of the five goddesses seems to occupy a cardinal direction, but with the main directional axes arranged in parallel, that is, Mahāpratisarā (S)–Mahāmāyūrī (N), Mahāśītavatī (W)–Mahāmantrānusāriṇī (E), surrounding Mahāsāhasrapramardanī as the center. Such a parallel arrangement of the Pañcarakṣā goddesses is commonly seen in the Nepalese paubhā paintings.36 In fact, my diagram does not look so different from an iconographic diagram drawn from a Nepalese paubhā painting. My construction of the visual field in the manuscript is not only informed by contemporary sculptural representations and descriptions given in ritual texts but also inspired by later Nepalese paintings on cloth (Newari: paubhā, Sanskrit: paṭa), such as the late seventeenth-century Pañcarakṣā maṇḍala paubhā in the Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin,37 the Bhīmaratha commemoration paubhā in the Rijksmuseum voor Volkenkunde ( National Museum of Ethnology), Leiden,38 dated to 1720, and the Lakṣacaitya and Svayambhūnātha paubhā in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco,39 dated to 1809, all of which contain images of the Pañcarakṣā goddesses. The stylistic similarities in the paubhā paintings and manuscript paintings in thirteenth-century Nepalese examples suggest that the same group of artisans participated in the production of both types of painted objects.40 Although we do not have a surviving paṭa painting securely attributed to an eastern Indian provenance, the same could be said of the Indian examples. Then, what we have in this manuscript allows us to have a glance at a finished product of the “ritual art” of paṭa making in eastern India described in the Mmk 41 and makes it possible to locate the illustrated Buddhist book production in a larger tradition of painting production and of their ritual use. Ms D1 is the only Pañcarakṣā manuscript that achieved such an elaborate and innovative design scheme. Its hitherto unseen iconographic program fits its stature as a royal donation by a queen, as will be discussed in chapter 6. In medieval India, Pañcarakṣā manuscripts continued to be made with different experimental schemes, while in Nepal the design scheme was more or less standardized as seen in Ms C2. One  

 

 

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other eastern Indian Pañcarakṣā manuscript that might come close to the innovative and ambitious design of Ms D1 is a manuscript now in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich (Ms C5). The manuscript was prepared for a lay donor named “Sarvānanda,” a son of Vārayicintāmaṇi, who was a resident of the town of Pañcakoṭi during the thirteenth regnal year of Madanapāla (ca. 1156 CE), possibly somewhere in Magadha given the stylistic affinity to other manuscripts of the provincial Magadha origin.42 This manuscript follows a standard one-on-one indexical relationship between the text and the goddess as in other Group C manuscripts, with each goddess paired with her respective tathāgata consort heralding her own text. It also includes Akṣobhya’s maṇḍala in its iconographic scheme distributed between the first two folios and the last two folios, creating a powerful protective field for the entire manuscript (see web 4–4). It is also unique in that it has another layer of iconographic fields painted on the inner space of the wooden book covers (end boards). The front cover has a gloriously crowned and bejeweled Buddha preaching in the center, attended by two monks and flanked by ten Buddha-like figures, possibly setting the scene for preaching and for invoking the powerful Pañcarakṣā goddesses in the text. The inner space of the end board is devoted to the depiction of the eight life scenes of the Buddha, with the scene of enlightenment in the center. The Buddha’s life scenes are not commonly seen in Pañcarakṣā manuscripts, but their inclusion certainly increases the cultic value of the manuscript. This iconographic choice also locates a Pañcarakṣā manuscript within the tradition of the medieval Buddhist book cult that upheld the Buddha’s life scenes as the most important iconographic element.  

Hyperlinking and Three-Dimensional Layering

The first manuscript to charge the inner space of the manuscript with the deities of the Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism is a late eleventhcentury monastic production made in Nālandā. The manuscript, now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, was prepared during the fifteenth regnal year of a Pāla king Rāmapāla, roughly datable to 1092 CE, by a scribe (lekhaka) named Ahanakuṇḍa in Nālandā.43 The manuscript was originally prepared for a lay female donor whose name was later retouched to read “Rājyapāla.” Ahanakuṇḍa was a very skillful scribe and his writing in the ornamental script is even and confident. At the

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Figure 4-6  Vajrapāṇi, folio 92v, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE). The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Sansk a.7.

end of each chapter he inserted geometric symbols in the shape of a lotus flower as a visual device to mark the chapter ending. These symbols are finely drawn as if made with a compass. The paintings in this manuscript also show the masterful hands of the Nālandā artisans in the late eleventh–early twelfth century. The body of each figure is beautifully modeled and drawn in fine lines, and physiognomic features are gracefully and elegantly drawn. Vajrapāṇi on the right panel of folio 92 verso captures the essence of a heavenly bodhisattva through his dreamy and warm facial expression with downcast eyes, framed by well-shaped eyebrows and nose, and slightly upturned lips (fig. 4–6). While the curlicues of his hair freely flow down the shoulders, his body is drawn with controlled clean lines and painted sheer green over yellow with delicate shading almost like chiaroscuro modeling. The color palette is also rich in saturated vermillion orange, golden yellow, and dark blue, with white and black as accent colors. There are six illustrated folios, two at the beginning, two in the middle, and two at the end of the manuscript. Each has three illustrated panels and four decorative bands. Each illustrated panel is framed by a thin band of beads on either side. As identified in figure 4-7, the Buddha’s life scenes, as a set, frame the rest of the images and the text,  

 

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Figure 4-7  Ms D2: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE), Bodleian Library, Oxford, Sansk a.7.

just as in Group A manuscripts. As seen in the figure, the chronological order of the event is slightly garbled in their arrangement, as the last two scenes of the Buddha’s life scenes appear on the second to last folio (fol. 187v), instead of the last folio (fol. 188r). The order of the life events is deliberately switched to emphasize the message related on the last two folios while following the principle of compositional balance. The central panels of the two last folios represent the event of the last

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Figure 4-8  Preaching Buddha (top) and Ānanda relegating the teaching (bottom), folios 187v–188r, center panels, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE). The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Sansk a.7.  

chapter of the AsP, the transmission of the teaching from the Buddha to Ānanda with an image of preaching Buddha on folio 187v and a greenish monk figure relating the teaching to the monks on folio 188r (fig. 4–8). The green monk must represent Ānanda in the context of the book, but this last panel could well be located in twelfth-century Nālandā where an eminent monk preached the Prajñāpāramitā, continuing the monastic lineage going back to the historical Buddha and his disciples. On the left panel of folio 188r where the Buddha’s taming of the mad elephant is represented, a monk behind the Buddha looks out to us as if telling the story of what happened when the mad elephant attacked the Buddha. Having a Buddha’s life scene with a story-telling monk and a panel depicting a preaching monk on the same folio emphasizes the connection between the monastic community of twelfth-century Nālandā and the first disciples of the Buddha by a visual analogy. The scene of the descent was moved down to this last folio and keeps the compositional balance, as both scenes have the standing Buddha fac 

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ing towards the center, thus perfectly framing the central scene of the preaching by a monk. In addition, one must not forget that the descent scene includes a monastic figure, albeit a nun, Utpalavarṇā, who is represented as a blue figure kneeling at the Buddha’s feet. Having the life scenes frame the rest of the images and the text was an already established iconographic trend, as seen in Group A manuscripts. What is more unusual and inventive about this manuscript is its use of the central space. The makers of Ms D1 made this space very special by embedding a mini-maṇḍala of Vajrasattva (fig. 4–9). Vajrasattva, sometimes understood as the sixth or supreme transcendental Buddha and the preceptor of the five transcendental Buddhas, is surrounded by a retinue of bodhisattvas, Maitreya (fol. 92v, left), Vajrapāṇi (fol. 92v, right), Candraprabha (fol. 93v, left), and Jālinīprabha (fol. 93v, right).44 This specific configuration of bodhisattvas is not accounted for in any known ritual text, nor does any of their specific iconography match a textual description word for word.45 Despite the lack of iconographic “accuracy” in comparison to the text, the identification of these images may well have been straightforward for the monks and others who frequented the monastery, as the clear representations of the attributes signaled their identities as if they were visual “labels”: nāgapuṣpa (nāga flower) and kuṇḍī (a spouted water vessel) for Maitreya, vajra and ghaṇṭa (bell) for Vajrasattva, vajra for Vajrapāṇi, crescent moon (candra) for Candraprabha, and sun disc (sūrya-maṇḍala) for Jālinīprabha. This group establishes the hierarchical center–periphery relationship of a maṇḍala as the bodhisattvas seated on the side panels face towards the center of the folio. This compositional element alerts us to read the painted panels that are seemingly on the same plane and identical in size, as dispersed in a space with different weights. Although not highly esoteric in their iconography, hidden in the center of the manuscript, Vajrasattva’s maṇḍala empowers the book with the lineage of wisdom deities in Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism. Specific visual and iconographic choices also confirm Vajrasattva’s status as the ultimate wisdom deity. In certain ritual texts, such as the Mañjuvajramaṇḍalam in NsP 1, Vajrasattva is identified with Mañjuvajra, a form of Mañjuśrī. Interestingly, Vajrasattva and Mañjuśrī, who appears in the central panel on the second folio opposite Prajñāpāramitā, have a striking similarity in their appearance in terms of body color, head 

 

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Figure 4-9  Folios 92v–93v, AsP Ms (Ms D2), Rāmapāla’s 15th year (ca. 1092 CE). The Bodleian Library, University of Oxford, Sansk a.7.  

dress, hairstyle, and ornaments. This visual affinity between them may be intentional to claim the identity of Vajrasattva as part of the wisdom deity lineage, emphasizing his character as the ultimate guru discussed in the Esoteric Buddhist scriptures and commentarial texts.46 The Buddha’s life scenes and the Vajrasattva’s troupe do not seem to be related at all, nor do they relate to the text. But these images are clearly interlocked and interrelated, not just because they are physically on a same manuscript but because some panels are designed to hyperlink different parts of the manuscript.47 For example, the visual similarity between Vajrasattva on folio 92v and Mañjuśrī on folio 2r establishes their connection beyond spatial boundaries. The gaze of every deity on folios 92–93 lead one to look at the central panel of folio 93, where the Buddha is preaching to Indra, identifiable by many eyes on his body (fig. 4–9 bottom center). It seems as if all the bodhisattvas and Vajrasattva are eagerly listening to the Buddha preaching to Indra. Indra, addressed as Śakra or Kauśika in the text, appears frequently in the AsP text as an interlocutor. This panel can be easily connected to the central panels on the last two folios, which also deliver the simple yet crucial narrative of the last chapter of the book, the transmission of the Prajñāpāramitā from the Buddha to Ānanda (see fig. 4–8). This panel, located at the very center of the manuscript, also makes a clear reference to the Buddha’s life scenes, as the event of the Buddha preaching to Indra also happened right after his enlightenment at Bodhgayā, and reminds the viewer to bring the Buddha’s life scenes to the center of the manuscript. In other words, the visual strategies and iconographic choices surrounding this panel enable us to imagine and locate the enlightenment, represented by the eight life scenes, in the heart of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, illustrating the main message of the text: the enlightenment is born from the Prajñāpāramitā. The images in three different sections of this manuscript are thus interconnected and hyperlinked through various visual devices. The images, in a way, make a book an interactive three-dimensional object going beyond its physical presence. When a Buddhist practitioner masters this manuscript, the text, and the iconographic program, he or she should be able to reconstruct this complex, layered three-dimensional space that simultaneously unfolds and disappears in mind. The mental picture that emerges  

 

 

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Figure 4-10  Uṣṇīṣavijayā maṇḍala, with the dhāraṇī written in gold on blue, painted wooden panels, ca. early 13th century, Tangut state of Xi-Xia, Khara-Khoto. The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Inv. No. X-2406. Photograph © The State Hermitage Museum. Photograph by Vladimir Terbenin, Leonard Kheifets, Yuri Molodkovets.

from understanding the iconographic structure of this manuscript may be similar to an early thirteenth-century Tangut version of a painted Uṣṇīṣavijayā maṇḍala with the dhāraṇī text in the background (fig. 4– 10). This painted maṇḍala, now in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg (X-2406), was prepared by putting together seven narrow rectangular wooden panels to form a large rectangular maṇḍala (130 by 108 centimeters).48 The background is colored blue while the text is written in gold. As a two-dimensional painting, the overall format of the Tangut maṇḍala may seem to have nothing to do with a book-maṇḍala. But the idea behind constructing a painted maṇḍala using individual parts of narrow wooden panels, which look similar to  

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the folios of a pothi manuscript in format, suggests a conceptual connection to a book-maṇḍala. The blue background and golden letters also suggests an illustrated book as a possible inspiration behind the Tangut Uṣṇīṣavijayā maṇḍala, for blue-black paper manuscripts written with golden ink survive from twelfth-century Nepal.49 The text of the AsP is much longer and complex than that of the Uṣṇīṣavijayā dhāraṇī, and thus, the mental image that emerges from using Ms D2 may also be a lot more complex and layered in a three-dimensional space than in the Tangut maṇḍala, since the letters of the text in a manuscript would fill any space in between the images. All of the letters and images may appear and disappear simultaneously when a user “flips” the folios in one’s mind, almost like the image of human existence revealed as endless streams of code in the Wachowski brothers’ science fiction film The Matrix (1999). Comparison between a lateeleventh-century Indian Buddhist manuscript and a late-twentiethcentury American film is anachronistic, but in terms of their creative and innovative spirit, they have a lot in common, including the effort to realize the grand Mahāyāna Buddhist idea of “voidness.” As we will see in the next chapter, ultimately, this creative spirit drove the development of iconographic strategies that transformed a Buddhist book into a powerful cultic object that suits the goals of a medieval Esoteric Buddhist practitioner.

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5 Esoteric Buddhism and the Illustrated Manuscripts

Looking inside a Book-M aṇḍala

A new trend that emerges during the early twelfth century in the Buddhist book production circle is the active inclusion of more powerful forms of Esoteric Buddhist deities, belonging not only to the Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism (yoga tantra) but also to the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism (yoginītantra or yoganiruttaratantra).1 We start seeing the deities like Cakrasamvara and Heruka with their respective consorts, Vajravārāhī and Nairatmyā, in the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (AsP) manuscripts, and the Guhyasamāja manifestations of five tathāgathas and bodhisattvas, especially of Mañjuśrī, also appear frequently. These deities are often frightful and yogin/yoginī-like in appearance, and they do not seem to belong to a manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, the most important text of Mahāyāna Buddhism, the fitting visual symbol of which is a serene goddess, Prajñāpāramitā. The esotericization of the iconographic programs in the manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra during the twelfth century suggests that Buddhist practitioners, especially lay practitioners who donated many of these manuscripts with Esoteric Buddhist iconography, actively embraced the newly emerged tantra texts, such as the mahāyoga tantras and the yoginī tantras. We will discuss in detail the historical significance of the co‑relationship between the esotericization of the iconographic programs and the



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lay involvement in Buddhist manuscript production in chapter 6. In this chapter, we will look inside the manuscripts and examine how they were designed as book-maṇḍalas, which could help practitioners employ important speedy means (upāya) for enlightenment, promoted in Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. We will begin our investigation with Ms D3 prepared during the early twelfth century. The manuscripts dated to the first half of the twelfth century (such as Ms D3 and Ms D4) demonstrate the shift towards esotericization of iconographic programs. Ak ṣ obhya/Vajrasattva’s Ma ṇ ḍala

Charging the center space of an AsP manuscript with a maṇḍala of Vajrasattva, as seen in Ms D2, was also used in designing another twelfth-century manuscript, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ms D3). The Vajrasattva maṇḍala in Ms D3 makes a more direct reference to the contemporary ritual texts than the Vajrasattva’s troupe in the Bodleian manuscript (Ms D2), as it reflects theological concerns regarding the ascendency of Akṣobhya’s lineage in Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts. Six illustrated folios and a text folio were acquired by E. Vredenburg in 1920 and later by the Victoria and Albert Museum, where they currently reside (IS.4.1958– IS.10.1958). When the manuscript first appeared in the art market, the folios were together with a set of painted book covers, whereabouts of which we do not know.2 This manuscript was prepared for a lay donor named Udayasiṃha during Rāmapāla’s thirty-sixth year, and the donor is identified with a title vāsāgārika-rāṇaka (minister of the inner chambers?), suggesting he was a high-ranking official.3 No information regarding the scribe or the place of production is given, but the paleographic and stylistic similarities between this manuscript and Ms D2 suggests Nālandā or a monastic center in Nālandā area as a possible site of its production. The letters are written evenly by a steady hand, and the hook on the bottom of each stroke is quite pronounced. In painting, the modeling of the bodies is smooth and well proportioned, just as we see in Ms D2. The color palette of Ms D3 lacks the vivacity of Ms D2 or Ms D5, with more predominant use of vermillion and light yellow (see web 5–1). The masterful treatments of physiognomies and the  

 

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details of the ornaments and hair all suggest the involvement of welltrained artisans. The careful attention given to articulating the iconographic details also points to a monastic workshop. The manuscript contains a maṇḍala of eight bodhisattvas surrounding Vajrasattva on the center panel of folio 89v (see fig. 5-2). Four of the eight bodhisattvas are placed on the first two folios and the other four are depicted in the middle two folios. All of them are placed on the outer panels framing the center panels. It may be that there are two “minimaṇḍalas” placed at the beginning and in the middle, as Losty once suggested,4 since no group of eight bodhisattvas surrounds Vajrasattva in textual descriptions.5 But if the first two folios were designed to form a “Lokanātha maṇḍala,” it is difficult to explain the repetition of Avalokiteśvara in the center and the right panels on folio 2r. The eight bodhisattvas are differentiated through colors, attributes, and gestures, yet not all of them are clearly identifiable. The first four are the more well-known bodhisattvas: Vajrapāṇi (fol. 1v, left), Mañjuśrī Vadirāṭ (fol. 1v, right), Maitreya (fol. 2r, left), and Lokanātha (fol. 2r, right). The next four bodhisattvas are not as common and their attributes are harder to identify, but they may represent Sarvanivarṇaviṣkambhin (fol. 89v, left), Samantabhadra (fol. 89v, right), Kṣiṭigarbha (fol. 90v, left), and Ākāśagarbha (fol. 90v, right), the bodhisattvas of the Akṣobhya maṇḍala listed in Niṣpannayogāvalī (NsP) 2.6 If they represent a group of eight bodhisattvas, a troupe that usually accompanies Akṣobhya, the two sections of a manuscript are linked through the images, just as in Ms D1 and Ms D2. Upon reaching the middle of the text, the user of the book is reminded of the foursome that appeared earlier in the book by visual association and by his or her prior knowledge about the eightbodhisattva group. Interestingly, the central position of this maṇḍala, which is also the center of the book, is occupied not by Akṣobhya but by Vajrasattva (fig. 5–1 top). Vajrasattva represented on folio 89v center shows a simple, straightforward iconography: he has two hands, with the right one in front of the chest with a vajra and the left one on his lap holding a ghaṇṭa (bell). His surroundings are unique and represent a specific diagram. He is seated inside a roundel, framed with a row of vajras, which is placed in the center of a square with four protruding gates. This square is divided into four reverse-triangular shapes that are  

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Figure 5-1  Vajrasattva and Vajradhātvīśvarī-Mārīcī, folios 89v–90r center panels, AsP Ms (Ms D3), Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE), Victoria and Albert Museum IS.6-7.1958. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.  

carefully painted in four colors: red (top), yellow (left), green (right), and white (bottom). It represents an architectural inner quarter of a maṇḍala that one would expect to see in a thangka or paṭa painting of a maṇḍala. If the blue color is indeed missing in this scheme, there may be something more to peruse in this iconographic program regarding some theological meaning that is not overtly visible. Losty rightly observes that Akṣobhya is “assimilated into Vajrasattva.” Then, why is Vajrasattva chosen in place of Akṣobhya, when clearly every other choice seems to suggest the Akṣobhya lineage? Vajrasattva’s theological meaning and his role in eastern Indian Buddhist context have not been understood clearly and need to be explored further. Bhattacharya assigns at least three concepts/origins to Vajrasattva: 1) that of Vajradhara, the Ādibuddha elaborated in the Kālacakra tantra, a Phase Three text; 2) that of a developed form of Vajrapāṇi as an emanation of Akṣobhya; and 3) that of the sixth “dhyāni Buddha” as the

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priest of the “five dhyāni Buddhas” (pañcatathāgata) whose white color suggests Vairocana as his spiritual sire.7 Despite the theologically varied identity of Vajrasattva, the visual representations of Vajrasattva in India show an easily identifiable iconography with one face and two arms, the right one held in front of the chest holding a vajra, and the left one holding a bell (ghaṇṭa) placed on his thigh, as we see in this manuscript. One of the sixteen “vajras” that surround the four tathāgatas in the Vajradhātumaṇḍala shows this iconography, but in most Indian examples, Vajrasattva’s role is not of a minor, attendant deity. It seems most likely that Vajrasattva became important in Esoteric Buddhist practices as the ultimate guru/teacher of a Buddhist practitioner and the originator/preceptor of the five tathāgatas. The Newar Buddhist tradition, where Vajracārya priests are often depicted in the same attire and manner as Indian images of Vajrasattva, and the Tibetan traditions, where Vajradhara is considered the primordial lineage teacher as in the early Kagyu lineage, suggest that Vajrasattva’s aspect as the ultimate guru must have been central in medieval Indian Buddhist practices. It can also be confirmed by the representations of the priestly figures in the ritual scenes, holding a vajra and a ghaṇṭa and wearing a cap, clearly invoking the image of Vajrasattva in life (see fig. 1–4, web 1–2). In the ritual texts of the time, there are competing statements made about the supremacy of Akṣobhya over Vajrasattva (NsP 3) and vice versa (NsP 2). In the iconographic program of Ms D3, we can propose that Vajrasattva took over the position of Akṣobhya, claiming Akṣobhya’s eight bodhisattvas as his own. The dual status of Vajrasattva as the essence of Akṣobhya and an emanation of Akṣobhya articulated in the contemporary ritual text like the NsP (NsP 2 and NsP 3) also claims Vajrasattva as one of the wisdom deities belonging to Akṣobhya’s lineage, despite his body color remaining white, the color of Vairocana. In this sense, the iconographic program of this manuscript may reflect the ideas of the Guhyasamāja tantra, a Phase 3 Esoteric Buddhist text, where we find Akṣobhya in the center of “vijayamaṇḍala” as the foremost emanation of the Mahāvajradhara, instead of Vairocana.8 From our discussion so far, it should be apparent to the readers that the Vajrasattva maṇḍala in neither manuscript (Ms D2 nor Ms D3) matches any description in surviving ritual texts. The Vajrasattva maṇḍala in Ms D2 has four bodhisattvas from the Mañjuvajra maṇḍala of NsP 20,  

 

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Figure 5-2  Ms D3: AsP, Rāmapāla’s 36th year (ca. 1113 CE), Victoria and Albert Museum IS4.1958-10.1958.


while the one in Ms D3 claims the eight bodhisattvas of Akṣobhya of NsP 2. Vajrasattva’s character as the ultimate teacher/guru came to the forefront as a perfect representative of the wisdom deities through these mandalic configurations placed in the center of the AsP manuscripts, not necessarily through the ritual texts that are often consulted for understanding Esoteric Buddhist iconography.

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Prajñāpāramitā’s Esoteric Identity

While Vajrasattva’s maṇḍala provides a core sacred structure of the entire book, interestingly, the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, the progenitor and the ultimate symbol of the book, does not appear on any of the illustrated folios. Her usual location facing Amitābha on the second folio is taken up by a preaching Avalokiteśvara. This Avalokiteśvara, who may be identified as potalake Lokanātha, or preaching Avalokiteśvara in his mountain abode, Potalaka, shows a teaching gesture while holding two white full-blown lotuses (padma) shooting up above either shoulder, which reminds us of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā since she always has padma lotuses on either side (see web 5–1 bottom center).9 Having the image of preaching Avalokiteśvara taking the seat of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā to face Amitābha is unique to this manuscript, but the relationship between Amitābha and Avalokiteśvara is straightforward, since the former is established as the latter’s spiritual sire from early on in the Mahāyāna Buddhist tradition. In fact, in comparison to the unusual nature of the pairing of Prajñāpāramitā and Amitābha, which is not attested in any text, matching Amitābha with Avalokiteśvara may reflect a desire to codify the iconographic program with more “correct” visual idioms. The goddess Prajñāpāramitā, of course, is not absent in the iconographic program of Ms D3. When we open this manuscript, the inner space of the book cover reveals the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in a glorious setting: she is seated in the center of the composition amidst adoring devotees and is also attended by the eight Buddhas of past, present, and future.10 When we go to the end of the book and close the last folio, we see the Buddha’s life scenes, another component that is absent in the iconographic program of Ms D3, on the inner space of the other book cover (fig. 5-2). In the discussion of Group A manuscripts’ iconographic programs, we have already seen how the Buddha’s life scenes frame the text in the outer layer as if encasing the text as a relic. The images, both the Buddha’s life scenes and the Prajñāpāramitā deities, in a way, provide a frame structure for constructing a book as a sacred object in Group A manuscripts. The makers of Ms D3 made these two sets of images literally frame the text by utilizing the inner space of the book covers and assigning them in this space. Here, the  

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images truly encase the body of the text. This shift in iconographic program enabled the more powerful group of deities, such as those in the Vajrasattva/Akṣobhya maṇḍala, reflecting the tenets of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism, to occupy the prominent seats within the manuscript. The goddess Prajñāpāramitā is not absent from the manuscript’s inner space so much as she is “hidden” inside the manuscript. If we look at the very center of the manuscript, the center panel of folio 90 recto, facing Vajrasattva is a magnificent six-armed goddess striking a heroic pose under a trefoil-shaped arch (see fig. 5–1 bottom). She has three faces, with the main face round and beautiful in a golden yellow color with a slightly orange hue like the rest of her body. The left side (her right) shows a menacing green face, while the right side (her left) is a boar head with snout in blue color. In her six hands, spread out like a fan, she holds a vajra, an arrow, and a needle in her right hands, and a thread in tarjanīmudrā (threatening gesture), a bow, and a branch of aśoka flowers in her left hands. This goddess represents Mārīcī, a popular Buddhist warrior goddess of dawn, but this particular combination of iconographic attributes with the arch structure, representing a caitya, does not follow any known description of the goddess in the sādhana literature.11 Her placement facing Vajrasattva qualifies her identification as Vajradhātvīśvarī, whom Vajrasattva embraces as his consort, according to the Akṣobhyamaṇḍala of the Piṇḍīkrama included in the NsP (NsP 2).12 There is a formidable twelve-armed, six-faced form of Mārīcī, named “Vajradhātvīśvarī-Mārīcī” in the Sādhanamālā (SM 136), whose wrathful and terrifying appearance would be out of place in the context of a Vajrasattva/Akṣobhya maṇḍala in this manuscript. By combining elements from different manifestations of Mārīcī, the artisan successfully created a suitable form for Vajradhātvīśvarī as Vajrasattva’s female counterpart. This Vajradhātvīśvarī, I believe, represents the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in her Esoteric manifestation, especially if we recognize the undercurrent of the Guhyasamāja tantra in the iconographic program as suggested with the possible dual identity of Vajrasattva. The Pradīpoddyotana, Candrakīrti’s commentary on the Mūlaguhya­ samāja tantra, comments on the verse on the mother of the Buddha in chapter 5 of the Guhyasamāja tantra: “Having drawn forth the (lady)  

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Prajñāpāramitā (from the Clear Light) dwelling in his own heart who is the mother of the Buddha, he should engage in union with her, because it is said (in the Sarvarahasyatantra, verse 46): The great goddess dwelling in the heart, causing the yoga of the yogin, the mother of all the Buddhas, is called ‘Queen of the Diamond Realm.’ ”13 This “Queen of the Diamond Realm” is Vajradhātvīśvarī, whose name literally means “the lord (īśvarī, feminine form of īśvara) of the Diamond Realm (vajradhātu).” Then, in the Guhyasamāja context, Prajñāpāramitā, the mother of all Buddhas, is recast as Vajradhātvīśvarī. Assuming her Esoteric identity of Vajradhātvīśvarī, Prajñāpāramitā resides in the very heart of the book, while radiating light by appropriating the form of the solar-warrior goddess, Mārīcī. The iconographic program in Ms D3 demonstrates how a book of the AsP could remain an important cultic object in the context of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism in India. By employing the Akṣobhya/Vajrasattva maṇḍala with the Vajradhātvīśvarī-Prajñāpāramitā in the center, the bookmakers transformed a book of an early Mahāyāna sūtra into a suitable cultic object for Esoteric Buddhist practitioners knowledgeable with the Guhyasamāja theology, who must have seen the new meaning of the Prajñāpāramitā materialized in this book.

R ea ding the Prajñāpāramitā in the Esoteric Buddhist Context

Another interesting feature in the iconographic programs of the twelfth-century AsP manuscripts is the ascendency of Tārā. In a manuscript now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Ms D4), the first two folios are completely taken over by the female deities, especially by different manifestations of the goddess Tārā. Ms D4 was prepared for a lay donor named Kamalapāṇisiṃha during the fourth regnal year of Gopāla IV (ca. 1136 CE). There is no scribal colophon to locate the site of production, but it was probably prepared in the area of Varendra, given the use of the architectural frame surrounding the deities.14 The quality of the paintings suggests that this project involved a master artisan who could control a micro-thin brush to depict even the tiny dots of hanging garlands from the ceiling of a framing shrine structure

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(see web 5–2). Six female deities occupy the six panels of the first two folios. The center of the group is still the goddess Prajñāparamitā, represented on folio 1v center, who is shown in preaching gesture with two white lotuses on either side. But her surroundings have changed considerably, as all other panels surrounding her represent different manifestations of Tārā, as if appropriating Prajñāpāramitā as one of Tārā’s manifestations. In twelfth-century manuscripts, we notice that Prajñāpāramitā’s iconography appropriated that of Tārā, as the goddess Prajñāpāramitā is shown with two well-known attendants of Tārā, Jaṅgulī and Mahāmāyūrī.15 This phenomenon, first seen in a manuscript prepared during Śurapāla’s reign in the late eleventh century, is clearly visible in a mid-twelfth-century painting of Prajñāpāramitā on folio 1v of Ms A4, a Nālandā production, now in the Asia Society, New York (see fig. 1–3). Mahāmāyūrī and Jaṅgulī are well-established attendants of various forms of Tārā in the sādhana literature, especially Mahāśrī Tārā.16 In Ms D4, Prajñāpāramitā has two green female attendants, Jaṅgulī who holds a snake on her proper right and Mahāmāyūrī who holds a peacock feather on her proper left. The connection between Tārā and Prajñāpāramitā is clearly made as we see different forms of Tārā, including Durgottāriṇī Tārā (fol. 1v, left panel), Khadiravaṇī Tārā (fol. 1v, right panel), and Vajra-Tārā (fol. 2r, right panel).17 In this configuration, the goddess Prajñāpāramitā is the center of the Tārā group, and these five Tārās serve as the Prajñāpāramitā’s emanations. Alternatively, Prajñāpāramitā has become “one of them” and is being considered a form of Tārā. It is during the eleventh and twelfth centuries when the variations on Tārā iconography, such as her eight-armed form of Vajra-Tārā, became popular in the image-making scene in India. By the mid-twelfth century when this manuscript was made, the reconfigured relationship between Tārā and Prajñāpāramitā as close iconographic kin must have been in place, possibly Tārā reabsorbing Prajñāpāramitā as one of her manifestations. The close relationship between Prajñāpāramitā and Tārā is clearly announced on the front page. Here, we may be witnessing the supremacy of Tārā, the ultimate cultic goddess, over Prajñāpāramitā, the Mahāyāna goddess of wisdom, in the Esoteric Buddhist climate.  

 

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Hidden Deities of the AsP

High-ranking Esoteric deities occupy the center of Ms D4, as if the center of the book is the most secret place. When a book is closed and installed as an object of worship as represented in the manuscript paintings and sculptures, the physical center of the book is the least accessible, thus most secret, space, and the makers of medieval Buddhist books utilize this space to its full secretive potential. The principal deities of the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist traditions such as Hevajra and Sambara now claim the center space of Ms D4 on folios 94v and 95r, with the end of chapter 11 on folio 95 recto (fig. 5-3, and see web 5– 2). In the left panel of folio 94v, we see a six-armed deity in wrathful appearance in pratyālīḍha attitude on a buffalo in the midst of flame. He has three faces, red, blue, and green, and he holds a dagger (kartri) and a skull cup (kapāla) in his principal hands crossed in front of his chest. In the remaining right hands are a wheel (cakra) and a sword, while in the left he holds a vajra (?) and a lotus. He is Kṛṣṇa-Yamāri as described in NsP 15, the Yamāri maṇḍala.18 The right panel of folio 94v shows a blue wrathful deity striking Gaṇeśa, the elephant-headed Hindu god, representing Vighnāntaka, literally the destroyer of Gaṇeśa.19 Attended by these two protectors, the Buddha seated inside a shrine structure displaying the earth-touching gesture occupies the center panel of folio 94v. Just like the images of Tārā and Prajñāpāramitā on the first folio, two attendants, Avalokiteśvara and Maitreya, sit on either side keeping the triad composition. The Buddha representing enlightenment attended by two protector deities is a common iconographic choice in manuscript illustration, but their placement in the center of the book along with powerful Esoteric Buddhist deities as immediate neighbors on the facing folio marks the originality of the iconographic program. In the left panel of folio 95r, we see a blue wrathful deity who has sixteen arms and four legs. This represents Hevajra holding a skull cup in each of his sixteen hands while crushing four Māras in the form of four Hindu gods, Brahma, Viṣṇu, Maheśvara, and Śakra. It is unfortunate that the paintings on this folio have suffered such damage that the details of this fantastic representation are mostly lost. Despite the loss, it is clear that this representation closely follows the description  

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Figure 5-3  Ms D4: AsP Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston No. 20.589.

given in the Hevajra maṇḍala described in the NsP (NsP 8, Navātmaka herukacatuṣṭayamaṇḍalam, and NsP 5, Saptadaśātmakahevajramaṇḍalam).20 Another wrathful deity stands firmly in āliḍha pose amidst flame on the right panel of the same folio. With twelve arms and three faces, of yellow, blue, and green, and trampling Bhairava and Kālarātri and holding an elephant skin in his two uppermost hands, this image represents Sambara, almost identical to the description given in the NsP (NsP 12, Sambaramaṇḍalam).21 That the complex forms of the Esoteric Buddhist deities are represented “accurately” in accordance with the descriptions in the text suggests that the makers who designed the manuscript and executed the paintings had a good understanding of the Esoteric forms of the deities and had access to the iconographic knowledge of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. The center panel of folio 95r presents a deity also depicted with a clear iconographic understanding, but perhaps with an intentional ambiguity. A six-armed yellow male deity seated inside a shrine structure is paired with the enlightenment panel. His two principal arms are crossed in front of the chest and the remaining four hands hold a sword, an arrow, a bow, and a flower, possibly a lotus. This may represents the six-armed form of Mañjuvajra, an emanation of Vajrasattva in the Mañjuvajramaṇḍalam (NsP 1). We have seen Vajrasattva occupying the central position in the iconographic program in previous examples. But this is the first example where we see Vajrasattva in his Mañjuvajra manifestation with six arms, perhaps adapting to his multilimbed neighbors, the Phase Three wrathful deities. Thus, in Ms D4, the enlightenment and Vajrasattva-Mañjuvajra are located in the very center of the book. The presence of the Phase Three wrathful deities surrounding the enlightenment panel transforms the Buddha’s enlightenment from a historical event to the transcendental goal of a spiritual quest of medieval Indian Esoteric Buddhist practitioners. The arrangement of the five Esoteric male deities surrounding the Buddha finds yet another layer of meaning if we recognize the mechanism of hyperlinking in play in the iconographic program (see fig. 5-3). It is obvious that these two folios create a male-dominated space. As their crossed principal arms suggest, they are to embrace their female counterparts: Hevajra’s Nairātmyā,22 Mañjuvajra’s Svābhaprajñā 23 or Svā­bha­d hātvīśvarī,24 Sambara’s Vajravārāhī,25 and Kṛṣṇa-Yamāri’s Svā­ bha­prajñā,26 but none does. Here we should remember that the goddess

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Prajñāpāramitā and five emanations of Tārā dominate the visual field of the first two folios. The segregation between the two sections of the book makes sense if we line them up in parallel pairs, that is, folio 1v with folio 94v, and folio 2r with folio 95r. In other words, the design of this manuscript calls for hyperlinking on the part of the viewer or the practitioner who is using the book. The absence of the consorts in the strong embracing arms of Hevajra, Mañjuvajra, and Sambara on folio 95r invokes the images of the goddesses in the mind of the viewer. Thus, the female deities in the periphery of the cognitive map of the manuscript’s iconographic program can be regenerated and reintroduced as the absent consorts of these deities. Prajñāpāramitā in the center of the first folio is to be paired with the enlightenment panel, as she is the basis for the enlightenment experience. Two green Tārās, Durgottāriṇī Tārā and Khadiravaṇī Tārā, form couples with two protector deities on folio 94v, Kṛṣṇa Yamāri and Vighnāntaka, respectively. The multilimbed Esoteric Buddhist deities such as Hevajra and Sambara are perfect matches for the eight-armed female deities on the second folio. Vajra-Tārā (fol. 2r right) and the second eight-armed emanation of Tārā or Mārīcī could stand in for the absent consorts that Sambara (fol. 95r, right) and Hevajra (fol. 95r, left) are supposed to embrace. The two-armed chaste image of white Tārā in the center of folio 2r is a perfect match for Mañjuvajra-Vajrasattva. The connection between them beyond the spatial distance is established through their relatively calm appearance in comparison to their immediate neighbors. Analyzed in this manner, the illustrations seem to create their own web of meanings dissociated from the text of the book. However, the center of this web is still Prajñāpāramitā and the enlightenment that are now closely woven together with the prominent deities of the Guhyasamāja and other tantras. In addition, as if the bookmakers were aware of the concerns about the dissociated appearance of the text–image relationship, the last set of images on folio 205v and folio 206r clearly represents the story of Sadāprarudita, the subject of chapters 30 and 31 of the AsP.  

Blood for Devotion and Women for Enlightenment: The Sadāprarudita Narrative Recast

As discussed in chapter 4, Sadāprarudita and his female companion provide the ultimate role models for lay Buddhist practitioners in their

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Figure 5-4  Sadāprarudita’s self-mutilation, merchant’s daughter and Indra in disguise as a Brahman, folio 204v, left panel, AsP Ms (Ms D4), Gopāla’s 4th year (ca. 1136 CE), Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Acc. 20.589. Photograph © 2013 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

practice of the Buddhist book cult. The visual representation of this story in Ms D4 is remarkably detailed in delivering the narrative in sequence and is comparable to the later manuscript paintings of Hindu and Jain traditions. The iconographic and compositional strategy reveals much more than the timeless message of the story. The narrative sequence on folios 205v and 206r begins with the scene representing the most dramatic event of Sadāprarudita’s self-mutilation (fig. 5–4). Sadāprarudita stands to the left of the panel, shown bleeding from his left arm as he cuts it with a sword. In front of him, to the right of the panel, stands a Brahman, indicated by a strand of long hair on the back of his head. Between the two male protagonists is a green female figure whose face is turned to the Brahman with a worrisome expression. She seems to have just walked into the encounter of the two men, asking for explanation. The gist of the event is conveyed visually with minor differences from the text, and this is true for the rest of the narrative panels.27 We can locate a few iconographic choices in this particular version of the visual narrative in the Esoteric Buddhist context of twelfth-century India. The effect of self-mutilation on the first panel is shown power 

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fully with the bleeding arm and with the red color of the background (see fig. 5–4, web 5–2). The choice of the red color for the background of all narrative panels seems deliberate, as if setting the tone of the narrative. Although blood is shown only once at the beginning, the powerful color of blood, the corporeal sign of ultimate selfless devotion, dominates the entire sequence of the narrative. This may be a random, aesthetical choice, but we cannot overlook the theme of self-sacrifice, involving blood and body parts in the context of emerging Tantric goddesses whose iconography incorporates the blood and the red color as their iconographic attributes, such as Vajravārāhī, Sambara’s wellknown consort who is red in color and who drinks blood out of a skull cup, and Chinnamuṇḍā (or Chinnamastā in Hindu context), an awesome form of Vajrayoginī who decapitates herself and feeds her own blood to her followers.28 The image of Sadāprarudita’s self-mutilation could easily find a home among the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist imagery, and its significance could be reinterpreted in the language of spiritual achievement beyond that of devotion. Another interesting iconographic choice that recasts this narrative in the Esoteric Buddhist context is the choice of green skin color of the merchant’s daughter. This unnamed merchant’s daughter is an important figure, or a means (upāya), that enables the spiritual quest of Sadāprarudita because she provides financial and economic support to pursue the trip to Gandhavatī. Although Sadāprarudita and merchant’s daughter do not have a conjugal relationship, they can serve as the ideal models for married lay Buddhist devotees. In other surviving visual representations of this scene, she is depicted as an ordinary human being and is given yellow-peach skin color.29 Her green color in Ms D4 reminds us of the green color of Tārā images and that of the attendants of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on the first page of this manuscript. The narrative context where she walks in and her gesture and body type make her look tantalizingly similar to the green female figure in the famous thirteenth-century painting of Virūpa that was consecrated by Sakya Paṇḍita (ca. 1182–1251 CE) now in the Kronos Collection (see web 5–3). Done by a Nepalese artist for a Tibetan monastic patron, the painting renders Virūpa’s extraordinary power as a great siddha (lit. “attained/ perfected one”), as his raised hand and fierce gaze stopped the sun  

 

 

 

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in its course while he was drunk at a tavern. The physical surroundings given here are transformed from a local bar to a mystic setting as a rocky mountainous frame surrounds him with a red swirling pattern in the background, signaling the intensity of his spiritual and magic power, along with three powerful Esoteric deities, Vajrayoginī (center), sixteen-armed Hevajra embracing Nairātmyā (left), and Cakrasambara with his consort (right), on the three mountain peaks. In front of this daring siddha walks in a green female, bedecked in ornaments, wearing a sheer white sari-like garment with blue borders. Calm and peaceful in her appearance, she gently offers a skull cup to Virūpa. She is not an ordinary barmaid. Rather, she is a spiritual companion and an enabler on the Esoteric Buddhist path, as the skull cup in this context signals the Tantric teaching and the transcendent wisdom.30 Her green color may refer to the goddess Tārā, but the painter tried to convey her this-worldly identity by presenting her in a plain robe. The formal similarities between the two green female figures, one in a manuscript and the other in a thanka painting, as seen not only in color but also in their slender body types and in the manner in which their walking legs are rendered, may be accidental, but the narrative contexts in which they appear and the proximity in the production dates, I believe, make them comparable. That the merchant’s daughter, who in the story offers material and financial assistance, is represented in a manner that makes her very similar to the young woman in the Virūpa episode, who offers spiritual guidance in the form of a skull cup, may signal a new role of spiritual companionship that women could take as lay Buddhist practitioners in medieval India.31 It is also important to note that we find the version of the story almost identical to the story narrated in the medieval Sanskrit manuscripts of the AsP only in later translations, especially in the translation by Dānapāla done in 985 CE (T 228).32 This story’s inclusion in twelfth-century manuscript illustration suggests that it had a special appeal in the Esoteric Buddhist context, especially of the Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts (both yogatantras and yoginītantras), in which a ritualized sexual union (i.e., prajñājñānābhiṣeka) is identified as one of the means to experience the great bliss and the transcendental wisdom.33 In this regard, the comment regarding the sexual practices by Atīśa, the great Indian master of the eleventh century, is quite telling of what the story might

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have meant for the lay Buddhists of the time: Atīśa warned that the erotic rituals are to be performed by the laity and no one else. Atīśa’s goal in this comment was to forbid the introduction of such rituals into the monastic context, not necessarily to encourage them among laity. Nonetheless, we could still take it to suggest that erotic rituals of Esoteric Buddhist paths were available and allowed to the lay practitioners once they were initiated into the paths.

Interlocking Tra ditions, Thr ea ding the Perfection of Wisdom

Encasing the Text

The illustrated folios of Ms D4 survive with a set of painted wooden end boards. Painted book covers made contemporaneously with the illustrated manuscripts are rare among the eleventh-century manuscripts, but we find a few examples among the twelfth-century manuscripts. The examples from Gilgit show that painting the book covers was a practice introduced earlier than painting the folios in the production of South Asian Buddhist manuscripts. When the bookmakers first began to utilize the space inside the text, that is, folios, they focused on making the best use of the allotted inner space to construct a three-dimensional sacred space. With the different experiments in book design during the late eleventh and the early twelfth centuries, there arose a need to expand the horizon and find more space to realize their new iconographic schemes. The increased use of the space inside the book covers—wooden end boards slightly larger than the folios— during the twelfth century suggests this. The makers of Ms D4 incorporated this space into the iconographic field of the book. The overall style and quality of the paintings suggest that they were prepared together with the rest of the manuscript. Unfortunately, the painted surfaces are badly damaged, and we can only imagine how stunning the paintings might have been from the vibrant colors of vermillion orange and yellow, different tones of blue and green, and the delicate rendering of figures and decorative details.34 The outside of the front cover must have been covered with pūjā marks, but it has been cleaned at some point, leaving only traces of worship. The book covers are painted on both sides. Outside is painted with decorative pat 

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terns, possibly a swirly vine pattern and lotus petals. The insides are painted with an elaborate iconographic scheme. In the center of the interior of one cover we see a grand representation of the Buddha’s enlightenment. Seated within a shrine structure, the Buddha in earthtouching posture, signaling his enlightenment, is attended by Maitreya on the right and Avalokiteśvara on the left. This central section seems to conflate the moment of enlightenment (narrative moment) and the site of enlightenment (bodhimaṇḍa), creating a vivid visual testimony to the Buddha’s enlightenment. The shrine structure and the attending images of Maitreya and Avalokiteśvara on either side make a clear reference to the Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā where, according to Xuanzang, huge silver statues of Avalokiteśvara and Maitreya were placed on either side of the entrance. Surrounding this structure there unfolds a detailed narrative scene depicting the attack of Māra’s army and their defeat. The enlightenment scene in the center anticipates a full-scale representation of the eight life scenes common in the Buddhist manuscript illustration, which are absent inside the manuscript, but the makers chose to represent only two scenes, the second scene being that of the birth. They put more energy into representing the enlightenment scene as elaborately as possible. This choice is not out of place, since the Buddha’s life scenes ultimately stand for the enlightenment and vice versa. There are two compartmentalized panels on either side of the center section (see fig. 5–3). While the panel A-4 depicts the lady Māyā giving birth to the Buddha at Lumbini, the parallel panel on the left (A-2) has an image of green Tārā represented in a posture very similar to that of Queen Māyā, almost mirroring her. The left end panel (A-1) shows Mañjuśrī preaching to a big audience inside a shrine structure, while the right end panel (A-5) has green Tārā in profile again preaching to an audience inside a shrine structure. They both look to the center, mirroring each other. In other words, all the side panels are designed to create a compositional balance. Both Mañjuśrī and Tārā preach the Prajñāpāramitā, represented as a golden book on a pedestal in front of each bodhisattva. According to the AsP, the Buddhas of the past, present, and future attain their enlightenment in the bodhimaṇḍa. The conflation of the bodhimaṇḍa (the site of enlightenment) and the moment of enlighten 

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ment as represented on the book cover may signal the enlightenment of many Buddhas of past, present, and future, as explained in the AsP text. As if relaying this idea further, the other cover of the manuscript shows the seven Buddhas of the past and the future Buddha Maitreya coming to pay homage to the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, their spiritual mother, who preaches in the center surrounded by an impressive entourage of bodhisattvas, deities, and monks. On the right side behind the Buddha group is the bodhisattva Samantabhadra, riding on an impressive blue elephant accompanied by his troupe. The air is filled with excitement in this scene: the elephant walks fast to carry Samantabhadra to the scene of Prajñāpāramitā’s teaching, and others run towards the center hurriedly while playing musical instruments. The excitement expressed in this section is contagious, as we find the same sentiment on the other side, where Mañjuśrī and his troupe are making their way to the central scene. Mañjuśrī sits calmly on a roaring blue lion while others are overjoyed. Some of them seem to urge Mañjuśrī to hurry as they look back to him. Their postures convey the eagerness to get to the scene of Prajñāpāramitā’s preaching. The expressive narrative quality of the painting is as expected and befits the context of the book, especially considering the exciting narrative sequences on the last two folios. The preaching of Prajñāpāramitā continues even after the text ends, and the zeal of the devotees is ever higher. Prajñāpāramitā: The Mother to All Buddhas

Another example that demonstrates an excellent use of the inside space of the book covers in illustrating the main message of the text is a manuscript now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) (Ms D5). This manuscript, dated with the fourth regnal year of a king Gomīndrapāla, an otherwise unknown name, has puzzled many scholars.35 It is possible that Gomīndrapāla is a variant spelling of Govindapāla, a Pāla king of the late twelfth century. He could have been an independent king ruling in Magadha, claiming the Pāla lineage. If Gomīndrapāla is Govindapāla, the manuscript would date to the late twelfth century, and we could assign the same date as that of Ms D6 (RAS Hodgson Ms 1), now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London, as it bears the date of the fourth year of Govindapāla. The sophisticated iconographic program certainly signals a twelfth-century date. In fact,

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reading a long, unique colophon of Ms D5 makes it possible to locate the production sites of the two manuscripts in the same town, in the city of Nālandā. The excellent craftsmanship of Ms D5, both in penmanship and in paintings, and the original design of the iconographic program befit its monastic provenance. The use of brilliant pigments similar to the palettes seen in Ms A4, Ms C1, and Ms D2, and competent modeling of the bodies and shading techniques, all indicate involvement of the master artisans of Nālandā. The colophon states that it was prepared for a donor named Puruṣa and his wife by one Kāśyapa. Both book covers are beautifully painted on both sides. The exterior is painted with swirly decorative patterns with lotus petals forming a narrow framing band. The interior of one cover, possibly the front cover, reveals a beautiful image of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā with two green female attendants in the center (see fig. 2–5). The seven Buddhas of past and the future Buddha, Maitreya, are lined up on either side of her. While the earliest version of the AsP text speaks of Prajñāpāramitā as the mother to all the Buddhas, the concept of the multiple Buddhas was limited to those appearing within the temporal realms. As if incorporating the concept of the transcendental Buddhas as articulated in the Esoteric Buddhism into the fold of Prajñāpāramitā’s motherhood, the interior of the other book cover is given to the five tathāgatas and four color-coded bodhisattvas. Because the two interior spaces of the book covers belong to the same layer in the iconographic structure of the book, it is possible to read the goddess Prajñāpāramitā as the spiritual mother of all the Buddhas represented in this space, both the Buddhas of the temporal realms and the transcendental Buddhas of Esoteric Buddhism. Understood as a set, the iconographic program of the covers truly qualifies her epithet, the mother of the Buddhas (i.e., jananījinānām) in Esoteric Buddhist context. The goddess Prajñāpāramitā is glorified in the outermost layer of the iconographic program, but she does not appear again within the text folios, which suggests that images in a book were designed together as a group to form a coherent web of meanings. We may read the arrangement of different Buddhas and bodhisattvas with the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in the center as a maṇḍala, a Prajñāpāramitā–maṇḍala, which is not ac­­ counted for in any known text.36 Whether a maṇḍala or not, the iconographic program of this manuscript successfully translates the signifi 

 

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cance of the age-old text of the Prajñāpāramitā to be meaningful in a more complex doctrinal environment. The images on the folios also fit nicely with the doctrinal and cultic theme presented in the web of the images that encase the text (fig. 5–5). The eight life scenes of the Buddha are included, connecting the manuscript to the root of the Buddhist tradition, the historical Buddha Śākyamuni. Inclusion of the Buddha’s life scenes is nothing out of the ordinary, but the arrangement of these scenes is unique: they are not placed on the outermost layer of the book’s inner space as usual, but rather placed in a linear fashion. Six life scenes are placed on the first two folios, and two scenes are placed on folio 254v, on the second to last folio. As one reads the text from left to right, the images are linearly arranged in sequence, following the direction of reading. The set of the life scenes is followed by four bodhisattvas, again arranged in a linear fashion, with Avalokiteśvara right after the scene of Parinirvāṇa on folio 254v, and Maitreya, Arapacana Mañjuśrī, and Vajrapāṇi lined up from left to right on folio 255r. Except for the Arapacana panel, the bodhisattvas share iconographic and compositional characteristics, as the design of the panels depicting Maitreya and Vajrapāṇi is almost identical to that of Avalokiteśvara on folio 254v. Visual similarities among the panels suggest that they form a group and are to be read as a linear maṇḍala just like the life scenes. It is as if the painted panels are all strung together on a cord, just like the letters hanging from the lines and just like the folios threaded together through a cord. The sense of knitting or threading through time is realized not only in the sense of the layout of the iconographic program but also in the images’ sequential appearance in a book since the panels that are designed to be read together are placed apart, with over two hundred folios in between. Although the iconographic content of the manuscript is not unique, as the Buddha’s life scenes and the bodhisattvas are parts of a common repertoire in medieval Buddhist book illustration, the linear arrangement of the panels makes this manuscript unique. In addition, the makers of this manuscript utilized the decorative bands around the holes for representing a narrative. Much smaller than the usual 2-by-2-inch panels, the space is barely big enough to hold one figure. Yet the makers managed to convey a sense of narrative by representing two figures, a Brahman and a prince,  

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Figure 5-5  Ms D5: AsP, Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE?), Bharat Kala Bhavan.

each in conversation with the opposite figure. The narrative sequence here represents the Vessantara jātaka, a famous story about the generous, selfless giving of the prince Vessantara.37 As the next-to-last incarnation of the Buddha, Vessantara has a special place in different Buddhist traditions,38 and the Vessantara jātaka was a popular subject for narrative representations in early Buddhist sites, as well as in later ones. The

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Vessantara jātaka concerns the virtue of giving (dāna). So does the story of the monkey’s offering of honey to the Buddha. Interestingly, the scene of offering of honey is moved up to the front section of the book on folio 2r, and this choice along with the inclusion of the Vessantara jātaka perhaps emphasizes the importance of giving (dāna), one of the six perfections that one needs to achieve to attain enlightenment. The inclusion of the visual narrative of the Vessantara jātaka, on the other hand, intensifies the book’s cultic significance in both doctrinal and practical terms: Vessantara as the previous incarnation of the Buddha emphasizes the temporality of the Buddha, complimenting the prevalent concept of the transcendental Buddhas, while the story’s moral promotes the virtue of giving and generosity in all pious lay Buddhists. In a way, the book as a whole realizes the varying concepts of the Buddha in different doctrinal contexts and puts them together on the same fabric. All the Buddhas that appear on the book covers converge in, or diverge from, the historical Buddha Śākyamuni, since every Buddhist tradition would treasure his enlightenment and his life as the fundamental root, regardless of their doctrinal orientations. The representations of the Buddha’s life scenes on the illustrated folios locate the historical Buddha inside the book of the AsP. The story of the prince Vessantara as the last of his incarnations in which he perfected his virtues to become a Buddha is a perfect thread to interlace between the historical Buddha and the Prajñāpāramitā that are laid out in the body of the manuscript in the form of the text (Prajñāpāramitā) and the image (Buddha’s life scenes). Although it is a story of one of his previous lives, the Vessantara jātaka could also be understood as representing one of the stages one needs to complete to reach the state of enlightenment. Just as the virtue of giving was upheld as important at earlier Buddhist sites, the makers of Ms D5 reintroduced its importance at the end of the twelfth century to promote the importance of Prajñāpāramitā as the all-encompassing root of all enlightenment experiences. By weaving together the Vessantara jātaka, the Buddha’s life scenes, the Buddhas of all times, and the transcendental Buddhas with the warp of the Prajñāpāramitā (both the goddess and the text), they turned a manuscript of an age-old text into a meaningful sacred object that could convey the principles of enlightenment and the importance of moral behavior in attaining enlightenment to the Buddhist practi-

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tioners of late twelfth-century India. Despite its modest size, the manuscript became a perfect object that links various levels of Buddhist doctrine through its illustrative program, not too different from what we see in a grandiose ninth-century Buddhist monument of Borobudur in Java, Indonesia. Conjoining the Two Ways in a Book

Production of illustrated manuscripts provided a perfect chance to experiment with connecting all the dots of different schools of Bud­­ dhism in one object by the late twelfth century. A manuscript now in the collection of the Royal Asiatic Society, London, (Hodgson Ms 1, Ms D6) in particular shows how the manuscript makers tried to join two sets of imagery, one belonging to the traditional Prajñāparamitā group and the other belonging to Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism, in one manuscript. In a way, the iconographic structure of this manuscript cast the diamond way, or Vajrayāna, as the perfect mirror image of the Mahāyāna (or the Prajñāpāramitā-yāna) but perhaps appearing later in sequence, with a deeper meaning that one could achieve only after delving into the tradition. The manuscript was prepared during the fourth regnal year of Govindapāla for a lay donor named Prince Lakṣmīdhara in Nālandā. Unfortunately, the name of the scribe has been lost due to damage. The whole manuscript survives, including the book covers painted in Nepalese style. There are six illustrated folios, each with three panels, placed at the beginning (fol. 1v–2r), in the middle (fol. 101v–102r), and at the end of the manuscript (fol. 203v–204r). There are eighteen illustrated panels in total (fig. 5–6). We can neatly divide the iconographic space into two, the first half representing the Buddha’s life scenes and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, and the later half representing the deities of Esoteric Buddhism. Three panels are missing in the first sequence of the nine images because the second folio was damaged and replaced early on in its life, and the spaces for illustrations are left empty in the replacement folio.39 The subjects of missing images can be easily reconstructed in the Buddha’s life scene cycle. The first folio shows the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in the central panel, with the birth scene and the enlightenment scene in the side panels. Folio 101 verso shows the descent from the Trayāstriṁśa heaven, the monkey’s offering of honey, and the Parinirvāṇa. The miss 

 

 

 

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Figure 5-6  Illustrated folios (1v–2r, 101v–102r, 203v–204r), AsP Ms (Ms D6), Govindapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE), Royal Asiatic Society, London. Hodgson Ms 1. Reproduced by permission of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.  

 

 

ing three events, the first sermon, the Śrāvastī miracle, and the taming of the mad elephant, must have been on the original folio 2r, most likely in this very order, from left to right. The linear arrangement of the life scenes is similar to the layout in Ms D5 discussed above, but in Ms D6 the goddess Prajñāpāramitā is placed in the center of this sequence, implying a mandalic configuration of the life scenes surrounding the goddess and articulating the main message of the text, the intertwined relationship between the Prajñāpāramitā and the Buddha’s enlightenment. The second group represents different deities of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism, and there is a sense of spiritual advancement conveyed through the progressing secrecy in iconography, from one folio to the next. On folio 102 recto, we see Mahāśrī Tārā in the central panel represented as green Tārā seated in profile, preaching to the audience of attendant deities to the right. On the left panel, we see Siṃhanāda Avalokiteśvara seated on a white lion amidst flame with all other characteristic iconographic traits clearly represented. The right panel of folio 102r has a yellow eight-armed goddess seated in vajraparyaṅka, representing Vajra-Tārā. The image of preaching Mahāśrī Tārā echoes that of preaching Prajñāpāramitā while the Siṃhanāda Avalokiteśvara and Vajra-Tārā form a perfect couple in this stage, since they are the well-known Esoteric manifestations of the most famous cultic deities, Avalokiteśvara and Tārā. The second folio in this group, folio 203v, which is also the second to last folio of the manuscript, shows Vajrasattva in the center: white in color, holding a vajra and a ghaṇṭa and wearing a tiered, pointed crown/cap. He displays all the features that are imitated and assumed by the ritual masters represented on stone sculptures and by the real-life ritual masters/teachers of Vajrācāryas in Nepal. Female deities occupy the two side panels: on the left we see Parṇaśabarī in her usual six-armed manifestation trampling on personified diseases with a menacing face, and on the right we have a red four-armed seated goddess charging an arrow on a bow, representing the popular, benign form of Kurukullā. Vajrasattva may be understood as the center of the second group, but it is equally possible that he may serve as a stepping-stone for the more advanced imagery of Esoteric Buddhism on the facing folio. On folio 204r, the last folio of this group and of the entire manuscript,

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we see Sambara embracing his consort Vajravārāhī (or Vajrayoginī) in the center panel. Both Sambara and Vajrayoginī are represented in their simplest manifestations, in their two-armed, yogi-yoginī-like forms, Sambara in blue and Vajrayoginī in red. This is the first example where we see a manuscript illustrator attempting to represent the deities in sexual embrace (commonly known as yab-yum in Tibetan Buddhist context). The imagery of Sambara and Vajrayoginī in active embrace clearly belongs to Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. Then, the center panels of the second group, Mahāśrī Tārā, Vajrasattva, and SambaraVajrayoginī, are arranged in the order that suggests ascendency of secrecy, reflecting the basic principle of Esoteric Buddhist practices. However, the Sambara-Vajrayoginī couple is not necessarily the center of the second iconographic field. Structurally, the center of the second group is Vajrasattva on folio 203v, and the center of the entire manuscript is Mahāśrī Tārā on folio 102r. As seen in figure 5–6, the SambaraVajrayoginī couple is flanked by the two cultic deities, Jambhala (fol. 204r, left) and Vasudhārā (fol. 204r, right), in their traditional forms. Like the Buddha’s life scenes, Jambhala and Vasudhārā have kept their seats despite the introduction of the new deities who can easily replace them in the context of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist iconography. Their cultic function may have made them resistant to change. It could also have been the case that the donor, Lakṣmīdhara, and the makers of this manuscript were conservative about adopting Esoteric Buddhist imagery in making images. Yet, the makers did not ignore the new interpretations of Prajñāpāramitā and of the means to attain enlightenment, which must have been well articulated at a place like Nālandā, where this manuscript was prepared. When we put these two groups together, the two iconographic fields and, by extension, the Mahāyāna (Prajñāpāramitā way, in folios 1v–2r; 101v) and the Vajrayāna (Esoteric Buddhist way, in folios 102r, 203v– 204r) meet and converge, quite literally and physically, in the center of the manuscript. The iconographic structures of the two groups mirror each other, and a book’s three-dimensionality is cleverly utilized to bring together concepts of different schools of Buddhism harmoniously. Here, a fundamental shift to the Esoteric Buddhist theology happens in the center of the manuscript with Esoteric Buddhist imagery, but conjoining the two trends in one iconographic program suggests that this  

 

 

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“new” Buddhism is also a stage in the same tradition. From the Esoteric Buddhists’ perspective, the placement of the Esoteric Buddhist imagery in the latter half of the manuscript could have a special meaning of secrecy and give a sense of revelation as one gradually moves deep into the object of the manuscript. For more “traditionally” inclined Buddhists, this inventive iconographic program would suggest that the Esoteric Buddhist imagery and its theology are fundamentally a continuation of the great old Mahāyāna.

Why the Esoteric Buddhist Imagery?

Cultic Deities Reincarnated: Wrathful and Erotic for Protecting the Ground

When the wrathful deities were first introduced in the manuscript illustrations, they appeared only at the end of the manuscript near the donor colophons as the protectors of the sacred ground (Ms D1 and Ms D3). This role is comparable to the status of krodha deities in what Rob Linrothe identifies as Phase One Esoteric Buddhism, in which the wrathful deities serve as attendant deities to peaceful and benign bodhisattvas. In Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism, the krodhas come out of the shadows of their overlords and become independent and extremely powerful.40 Phase Three manifestations of krodha deities are a lot more powerful and formidable both in form and in meaning than Phase Two forms. The most distinctive difference between the Phase Two imagery and the Phase Three iconography of wrathful deities is that Phase Three krodha deities embrace their female counterparts, embodying the principle of yuganaddha, the “two-in-one” (i.e., synching of compassion and wisdom in one body and in one moment), the goal of many medieval Esoteric Buddhist practitioners. In keeping with the full-blown development of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist iconography, the twelfth-century Buddhist bookmakers began to incorporate the wrathful manifestations of Phase Two and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism into the central space of the book, as we have already seen in Ms D4. This theological orientation is showcased in the manuscript now in the British Library (Or. 14282, Ms D7). We do not have a colophon folio of this manuscript, as only six illustrated folios were acquired.41 Losty once proposed a date during

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Rāmapāla’s reign ( ca. 1077–1130 CE) based on the invocation to Soma, probably a personal name of the donor, at the beginning of each chapter.42 A recently surfaced AsP manuscript now in the Sam Fogg collection, London, bears striking formal similarities with Ms D7, not only in painting style and color palette but also in paleography, and makes it possible to suggest a late twelfth-century or early thirteenthcentury date, possibly around 1200 CE, for the British Library manuscript (Ms D7).43 The formal elements such as the use of architectural frame in each panel suggest that it was probably prepared in the region of Aṅga or Varendra. The high level of iconographic articulation and the controlled writing may suggest a monastic provenance, but the overall quality of paintings is poorer than in most Nālandā productions, with the use of less vibrant pigments, mediocre execution of lines, and flat treatment in modeling of bodies, all concurring with a late twelfth- or early thirteenth-century date. Opening the first two folios, we see the images on the recto of the second folio placed upside down to the direction of the text. This unusual arrangement of images is striking and immediately draws our attention to the images. Ms D7 is not the only manuscript that has upside-down images, but this may be the earliest among the manuscripts examined here whose makers experimented with the orientation of the images in relation to the adjoining text. The images placed upside down to the direction of the text literally appear “unrelated” to the text. If we were to consider the AsP text as the early Mahāyāna sūtra of “the pure metaphysics,” then the inclusion of the wrathful deities and the upside-down images seems completely out of context. But as I have suggested in the analysis of Ms D3, the introduction of Esoteric iconography in manuscript illustration demonstrates how the AsP text was understood, used, and appropriated in Esoteric Buddhism. The book of the AsP (re)emerged as a powerful cultic object of Esoteric Buddhism in medieval India through the inventive book designing that employed various iconographic strategies. With this context in mind, let us examine the iconographic program. When viewed individually as a single folio, the second folio with its images placed in the reverse direction of the text perplexes the viewer (fig. 5–7). It is as if the three deities represented on this folio are doing a  

 

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Figure 5-7  Illustrated folios (1v–2r, 109v–110r, 228v–229r), Govindapāla’s 30th year or earlier (ca. 1205 CE; late 12th or early 13th century), British Library, Or. 14282 (Ms D7). © The British Library Board.  

 

 

handstand. When viewed together with the first folio as it ought to be, following the orientation of the text, the images placed upside down to the text do not appear so strange, because the images on folio 2r perfectly mirror the images on folio 1v: Vajrapāṇi-Potalaka Lokeśvara (left panels), Amitābha-Prajñāpāramitā (center panels), and MañjuśrīAvalokiteśvara (right panels). The identical architectural frames surrounding each deity create a sense of the two facing images being opened up from the same mold (see fig. 5–7). This is literally the sense one would get while opening the folios, because when the folios were closed together, the architectural frames of facing panels would align perfectly and the two deities who are positioned inside these frames would also align together, with head to head and toe to toe. For the first time, what the images would look like when the book is closed is considered in designing the iconographic program. This is a step forward in utilizing the three-dimensional aspect of a book as a sacred object, because the physical space that the deities occupy is put into serious consideration. In previous examples, a book’s three-dimensionality was implied in the iconographic program, but the sacred structure unfolding in a book had to be reconstructed in one’s mind, following the visual cues. The temporal sequence of flipping the folios added to conjuring up a three-dimensional structure. In Ms D7, the user could recognize the three-dimensionality of the book’s design from the first two folios, as the deities are revealed as living entities that need to be accommodated in the comfortable and respectful company of the facing deities, with head to head, not head to toe. The second set of illustrated folios of this manuscript, folios 109 and 110, follow the same scheme as the first two folios (see W-diagram 5–1). Folio 109v features Mahāśrī Tārā in preaching mudrā (left), VajraTārā with her eight arms (center), and Khadiravaṇī Tārā or Varadā Tārā showing the gesture of boon giving (right). On folio 110r, we see Trailokyavijaya/Sambara with eight arms (left), Tārā showing varada mudrā (center), and Hevajra with sixteen arms, four legs, and eight heads (right). The images on folio 110r are also placed in reverse direction of the text. The images on folio 110r seem to be designed to be consorts of the images on folio 109v. But the two facing deities on the left panels, Trailokyavijaya/Sambara and Mahāśrī Tārā, do not seem to form a compositionally harmonious iconographic couple. The same could be said of  

 

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Hevajra and Khadiravaṇī Tārā. Hevajra is in an active stance with fiery appearance, and Tārā is in a relaxed seated state with benign appearance. The four Tārās in this section in fact form an independent group without relying on the presence of the male wrathful deities. Ms D7’s design scheme shines in this unique use of internal space materializing the ascendancy of Tārā we have observed in Ms D4. Ms D7 has the eight-armed Vajra-Tārā in the center of the manuscript (fol. 109v, center), while three other images of Tārā surround her. The yellow Tārā image on folio 110r, center, facing Vajra-Tārā, in particular reminds us of the image of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, as if she is the shadow of, or a projected image from, the goddess on folio 2r, as both images are placed upside down to the text. In fact, images of Tārā are quite similar to those of Prajñāpāramitā in their appearance. Because they are all seated under the identical architectural frame, the Tārā group’s eminent connection to the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on the second folio is unmistakable. With the Vajra-Tārā visually in the center of the group, we are again reminded of the Vajra-Tārā maṇḍala, the lotus maṇḍala that we discussed in chapter 2 (see web 2–4). Ms D7 presents a manuscript equivalent of the lotus maṇḍala since here, too, Vajra-Tārā’s troupe is hidden inside in the center, and only the “peeling” of the folios would reveal their presence. Although the relationship between Vajra-Tārā (or Tārā in general) and Prajñāpāramitā is not directly mentioned in sādhana texts, a few Vajra-Tārā sādhanas mention how ten pāramitās (daśapāramitā) originate from the ten syllables of the Tārā mantra, “Oṃ tāre tuttāre ture svāhā.”44 We do not have visual representations of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā as one of the ten pāramitās surviving from India, but this concept gained some currency in Nepal, as a few Nepalese book covers have the ten pāramitās with the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in the center.45 A manifestation of Tārā can be a consort of Sambara or Hevajra. But the iconographic program on the last two folios at the end of Ms D7 suggests otherwise. Surprisingly, the last two folios (fol. 228v and fol. 229r) have all illustrated panels placed upside down in relation to the text (see fig. 5–7). On folio 228v, we have ŪrddhvapadiVajravārāhī, Ekajaṭā, and Vajravārāhī (or Vajravārāhī-Nāḍīḍākinī) from left to right.46 On the facing folio appear Heruka in his two-armed form (left), an eight-armed wrathful deity, possibly Hayagrīva in Phase  

 

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Three manifestation (center), and Nairātmyā (right). The inclusion of two Vajravārāhīs, both represented as naked yoginī with disheveled long hair and drinking blood out of a skull cup, on folio 228v gives a clue to understanding why both folios have images that are in reverse direction to the text. The upside-down images of Vajravārāhī serve as consorts of Sambara and Hevajra in the same panels on folio 110r.47 Their eye-catching upside-down placement reminds us to connect them with their respective male consorts already encountered in the center of the book. However, the fierce form of the goddess Ekajaṭā in the central panel of folio 208v does not form a couple with anyone in the center section. Her consort may be counted for in her facing panel on folio 209r, also placed in reverse direction of the text, where we see a blue male deity of equally menacing appearance with eight arms. This may represent Hayagrīva in his Phase Three manifestation.48 The Ekajaṭā-Hayagrīva couple, with both placed upside down to the text as if enclosing the rest of the manuscript, plays a protector role for the book and, more directly, for the Tārā group in the center of the manuscript. Ekajaṭā and Hayagrīva appear together as attendants to Tārā in the sculptures from Bihar and Bengal. The fact that Ekajaṭā, the female, instead of the male deity, appears first also suggests the couple’s connection to the Tārā group. While the central panels are occupied by traditionally cultic deities in more terrifying appearance, the two side panels on folio 229r have the powerful Phase Three deities, Heruka (left) and Nairātmyā (right), both in their two-armed manifestations. Heruka-Nairātmyā marks the third pair of the Phase Three Esoteric deity couples featured in Ms D7, and we have all three major Phase Three Esoteric deities with their respective consorts: Sambara (fol. 110r, left)-Vajravārāhī (fol. 228v, left), Hevajra (fol. 110r, right)-Vajravārāhī (fol. 228v, right), and Heruka (fol. 229r, left)-Nairātmyā (fol. 229r, right). Why are these images included in an AsP manuscript? It is possible that illustrator(s) were trained in Esoteric imagery and introduced to this new type of imagery and that they simply experimented with it. It may also reflect the donor’s respect for these formidable manifestations of Esoteric Buddhist deities. But the seamless interlocking of the wrathful deities and the others, achieved through various visual and iconographic devices in the iconographic program, suggests

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that the choice and the placement of the couples of Sambara, Hevajra, and Heruka were in fact deliberate and theologically reflective. In general, the core concepts of the AsP, such as śūnyatā (emptiness or voidness) and prajñāpāramitā (perfection of wisdom), remained important in the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts.49 There also exists a group of the Prajñāpāramitā texts that Conze categorizes as “Tantric Prajñāpāramitā,” including the Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā and the Svalpākṣarā Prajñāpāramitā.50 As Linrothe summarizes, the goal of the Adhyardhaśatikā Prajñāpāramitā text is “to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Esoteric Buddhist path to ‘supreme enlightenment’ and its identity with Prajñāpāramitā notions of the ultimate ‘sameness’ of all things and emptiness of all the dharmas.”51 It is important to remember that the AsP remained the most sought-after text for the production of illustrated manuscripts against this backdrop of Esoteric Buddhist theology articulating and recasting the earlier Mahāyāna concepts in Tantric texts and commentaries. The Esoteric couples of Sambara, Hevajra, and Heruka represented in Ms D7 transformed a book of the famous Mahāyāna sūtra into a suitable cultic object in Esoteric Buddhist context of twelfth-century eastern India. It is not just their presence and their highly articulated iconography but also the innovative designing strategies that flipped the images around that made the book a more powerful cultic object. Nothing in the text seems to have changed. The text was guarded with utmost care and attention. Many corrections done by different hands suggest that having a correct text was the most important part in commissioning and owning a book of the AsP. The insertion of all the Esoteric deities and different forms of Tārās skillfully translated the foremost Mahāyāna text into a potent sacred object in Esoteric Buddhist context, thus transforming the Mahāyāna book cult into a Vajrayāna one, although the distinction between Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna was never quite rigid and established in India. In terms of their iconography, Sambara, Hevajra, and Heruka all belong to the Akṣobhya lineage whose connection to Prajñāpāramitā has been discussed above. Compared with previous manuscripts, in Ms D7 Akṣobhya’s troupe dominates the manuscript’s sacred structure, and there is no more possibility for Vairocana to claim his seat. What was implied in the Vajrasattva maṇḍala of Ms D3, that is, Akṣobhya’s lineage in disguise, is revealed. The strong presence of the wrathful,

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Phase Three manifestations of Akṣobhya in Ms D7 reflects Akṣobhya’s dominant central position celebrated in Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts like the Hevajra tantra. The Phase Three apotheoses of Sambara, Hevajra, and Heruka have yet to make their way into the very center space of the book, but they have literally made it halfway there, with their consorts held back at the end of the manuscript. As we will see in Ms D9 and Ms D10, the consorts will make their way to the very center, but for now, they remain at bay. Perhaps the images on the last two folios are placed upside down to the text on both pages because the Phase Three Esoteric deities, whose theological meaning would have made them the overlords of the book’s sacred field, are assigned to the end of the manuscript, the place for the protectors and cultic deities. They are, in a way, forced to serve their root function as protectors of sacred grounds, despite their being recast as the apotheosis of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism shown in their terrifying appearance. Esotericizaion of a Book of Mahāyāna Buddhism

As Esoteric Buddhism prevailed in eastern India, the manuscript makers of the late twelfth century actively incorporated the new imagery of the Esoteric Buddhist pantheon into designing the manuscripts of the AsP, the great book of Mahāyāna Buddhism. The most noticeable formal characteristic of the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities is that their appearance becomes more menacing and frightening. Another characteristic of the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist iconography is the ascendency of erotic imagery, often represented by the deities in sexual embrace. These two characteristics of Esoteric Buddhist imagery govern the overall appearance of the book even when the iconographic program retains its straightforward Mahāyāna characters. A manuscript now in the collection of the Musée Guimet (formerly in the Fournier Collection) is a good example of this trend (Ms D8).52 The manuscript was made for a lay donor Gajāka, and it bears a date of thirty-second year of an unspecified era, which is most likely that of Govindapāla, as in Ms D9.53 All the stylistic and formal characteristics of the paintings, such as more slender rendering of the bodies, more pointed physiognomic features, and the overwhelming use of red pigments and darker tones in the palette, are also found in two other manuscripts prepared during Govindapāla’s reign: Ms C6 (see web 4–3),  

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prepared during the sixteenth regnal year, and Ms D9 (see fig. 5–9), prepared during the thirty-second regnal year. The relatively smaller size of the folios also suggests a late-twelfth-century date because the size of the folios seems to shrink in width and grow slightly longer during the twelfth century, which required more folios to write the same text, creating a much taller and heavier book.54 The iconographic program also points to the late-twelfth-century date especially because the Phase Three Esoteric couples of Hevajra and Sambara are prominently featured. It has six illustrated folios, each with a single illustrated panel in the center (fig. 5–8). The illustrated folios are placed at the beginning (fol. 1v–2r), in the middle (fol. 272v–273r), and at the end (fol. 472v–473r) (see W-diagram 5–2). It also survives with the painted wooden book covers. The book covers feature the eight life scenes of the Buddha, four scenes on each. The enlightenment and the birth scenes are placed in the center section of the front cover while the first sermon is depicted on the right section. The left section has the monkey offering honey to the Buddha, with the monkey represented four times engaged in four actions of offering the honey bowl, dancing excitingly, falling into a well (damaged), and flying away as a deva (celestial being). The last panel features the Śrāvastī miracle and the descent from heaven in the center section. The taming of the mad elephant appears in the left section, and the scene of Parinirvāṇa is in the right section. The scenes in the side sections have more narrative details, partly because the four panels are distributed in three equally sized compartments with two scenes squeezed in one central section. Regardless of its narrative characteristics, every scene is framed inside a shrine structure. Here, the Buddha’s life scenes literally encase the text folios, since the life scenes are physically on the outer layer of a book, on the book covers (see fig. 5–8). The makers of Ms D8 made their book truly comparable to a stūpa. The manuscript opens up with the regular stars of the AsP’s iconographic program, Amitābha and Prajñāpāramitā, in their standard forms on folios 1v and 2r. Both of them are seated inside shrine structures, sharing the same architectural motif used in the Buddha’s life scenes, which contributes to creating the visual uniformity between the book covers and the text folios. The rest of the iconographic program holds the Phase Three Esoteric couples, all of whom appear in active  

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Figure 5-8  Illustrated folios (from top to bottom: 1v–2r, 273r–272v, 472v–473r) and painted interior of book covers, AsP Ms (Ms D8), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Fournier Collection, Musée Guimet, Paris MA5161. Photograph courtesy of Mr. Lionel Fournier.  

 

 

stance in the midst of flames: Heruka and Naitrātmā in the center of the book, where chapter 11 of the AsP ends (fol. 272v–273r), and Sambara and Vajrayoginī at the end of the book, where chapter 32 ends and the colophons begin (fol. 472v–473r). Although no architectural frame surrounds the four Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities, the visual uniformity among all the images on the folios as well as on the book covers is unmistakable. The makers of Ms D8 seem to have been particularly interested in making a book visually coordinated. The choice of black background color for every panel locates all the traditional imagery, such as the Buddha’s life scenes, in the Esoteric Buddhist context because the black background is particularly effective in conveying the force of the Esoteric Buddhist deities whose spiritual energy is expressed in the heat of snarling flames that surround them. It is as if the wrathful deities dance in the darkest moment of all to shake and shatter all the shackles of ignorance and attachment. Their dark, frightening appearance, in fact, determines the tone of all the images in this manuscript. Amitābha and Prajñāpāramitā are represented in standard iconography. So are the Buddha’s life scenes, but the formal qualities, such as more pointed, aggressive-looking physiognomy and the prominent use of dark red colors and black background, make these images fit right in with the Esoteric Buddhist deity groups. In other words, esotericization of a Mahāyāna book happens not only through the incorporation of Esoteric Buddhist iconography and the use of iconographic devices that realize Esoteric Buddhist concepts but also through visual assimilation. As seen in the case of Ms D8, these traits visually esotericize otherwise non-Esoteric iconographic content. The iconographic program of this manuscript also articulates the relationship between Amitābha and Prajñāpāramitā in Esoteric Buddhist context as that of spiritual consorts, since all other center panels systematically pair male and female deities that are the divine couples, symbolizing the realization of a spiritual goal.  

 

Secr et Iconography of the Buddhist Book Cult

The late twelfth century is seldom discussed as a period of innovation and technological advancement in Indian Buddhist context. It is often

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remembered as a dark period when the Buddhist monastic establishments met their tragic ending due to the advent of Islam in the region. Persian and Tibetan textual accounts confirm this narrative, and the archaeological remains bear signs of violence. Nonetheless, when we look at the Buddhist artistic production of this period, this is not necessarily the darkest moment. The production of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, in particular, reached its apex in terms of the iconographic clarity and the creative spirit behind the design of the iconographic program that realized the full potential of a book as a movable threedimensional object in the context of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. The Mahāyāna cult of the book that supposedly began at the beginning of the Common Era saw its heyday with the production of the illustrated manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā texts that originally provided the doctrinal foundation for Mahāyāna Buddhism, the concept of “emptiness.” An Iconographic Masterpiece

A manuscript now in the Asiatic Society, Mumbai, (Acc. No. I-210) marks the height of the Buddhist book production in eastern India in its execution, style, and iconographic clarity. According to the colophon on folio 222v, it was prepared during the thirty-second year of Govindapāla for a lay donor Devanidhi.55 Govindapāla was probably no more in power, as indicated by “atīta” (passed) added in front of “samvat.” If we count the date from the beginning of Govindapāla’s reign, the date of the manuscript’s completion falls roughly around the beginning of the thirteenth century (1207 CE). The colophon does not provide any information about the scribe or the production site. The use of the shrine structures for framing each panel and the use of ornamental siddhamātṛkā type script with pronounced hooks, truly befitting the name kuṭila (hooked script), suggest a provenance east of Magadha, possibly in Aṅga or Varendra. All the lines are extremely controlled both in writing and in painting. The decorative details on the framing shrine structures are intricately drawn, and the physiognomic features are clearly delineated (see web 5–4). The prominent use of red and yellow pigments that add to the vivacity of the painted surfaces and the iconographic articulation shown in details of paintings suggest involvement of master bookmakers, possibly with a monastic tie. The icono 

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graphic program, especially the unique arrangement of the Buddha’s life scenes, in fact, suggests a tantalizing connection with the Nālandā workshop.56 The manuscript contains six illustrated folios, each with three illustrated panels. There are a total of eighteen illustrated panels distributed evenly at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end, following the standard iconographic scheme employed in medieval manuscript designing. The illustrated folios are designed to show remarkable uniformity, as each illustrated folio is divided into three compartments by alternating the text with four decorative bands and three illustrated panels (see web 5–4). The overall visual field is dominated by the intense use of vermillion red.  

The Bodhgayā Icon   The outer structure of the iconographic program, that is, the side panels of the first two and the last two folios, contains the Buddha’s life scenes, following an iconographic scheme developed in Group A manuscripts. Opening the first two folios, everything seems ordinary, until we notice the first panel of the entire sequence, the left side panel of folio 1v, which depicts the Buddha’s enlightenment. The switched order of the enlightenment and the birth on the first folio puts the enlightenment foremost of the Buddha’s life scene sequence, and thus an icon of the Buddha’s life. In fact, the enlightenment panel of Ms D9 literally depicts the icon of the enlightenment for medieval Indian Buddhists: the Bodhgayā icon (see fig. 2–7). The Buddha displaying the earth-touching gesture is seated inside a shrine structure attended by two bodhisattvas, probably Avalokiteśvara (white) and Maitreya (yellow). He wears a red, patched robe with flower patterns covering both shoulders. Most intriguingly, he wears an elaborate crown and a necklace. The crowned Buddha iconography was widely circulated during the eleventh and the twelfth centuries in India.57 Many sculptures of the crowned Buddha survive from the region, and the significance of the iconography is sometimes suggested as representing the historical Buddha Śākyamuni encompassing the role of the transcendental Buddhas as the ultimate source for the entire enlightenment experience.58 Although often identified as a Transcendental Buddha Akṣobhya in his sambhogakāya form (enjoyment or bliss manifestation), in medieval India, the crowned Buddha iconography most likely refers to the historical Buddha, as this iconog 

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raphy develops in the context of the life scenes.59 While the reference to the historical Buddha is clear, the crowned Buddha in Ms D9 represents much more than that. In comparison to other images of the Buddha in this manuscript’s life scenes, the Buddha in the first panel stands out, not only because of his beautiful crown and necklace but also because of his prominently large head. His forehead is wider than usual around the temples, and his neck is so short that his earlobes rest on his shoulders (see fig. 2–7). In addition, his eyes are downcast to the extent that they seem closed. Taken together with the architectural structure that surrounds every image in this manuscript, this image represents the Bodhgayā icon, the famous image of the Buddha inside the Mahābodhi temple at Bodhgayā that the Chinese pilgrim, Xuanzang, reported seeing during his visit in the seventh century. This image was reproduced in large numbers outside India, in places like Burma, Nepal, and Tibet.60 The Bodhgayā icon and its replicas feature, characteristically, a very wide forehead and a short neck as seen in this painting. This image represents the enlightenment, not as just one historical moment but as the materialized and localized target of pilgrimage, both symbolic and physical, for pious Buddhists. The painting makes an ultimate visual reference to the enlightenment by representing not only the Buddha at the moment of enlightenment but also the Buddha that was in worship at Bodhgayā. As we have seen with the discussion of the pilgrimage sites and the famous images in Group B manuscripts, it is difficult to determine how “real” or how “idealized” any manuscript painting is in representing a medieval idol or pilgrimage site. It is most likely that the painted image represents an idealized type, the stylistic and formal characteristics of which were understood to replicate the visual essence of the Bodhgayā icon. The “replicas” of the Bodhgayā icon, however, do not feature a crown or a necklace. It is possible that the Bodhgayā icon was actually adorned with a red robe, a crown, and a necklace during certain moments according to a ritual calendar, similar to the Emerald Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand, which gets dressed in different outfits and jewelry according to the seasonal changes.61 It is clear from the uncrowned images of the Buddha that replicate the central icon of Bodhgayā that the Bodhgayā icon was probably not a crowned image, but as suggested  

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from our manuscript painting, the ornamental gears might have been put on it, a common practice throughout the Buddhist worlds.62 Prajñāpāramitā and Vajra-Tārā   The iconographic choice seen in the first and the last sections of the book does not seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Surrounded by the layer of the life scene panels, the center panels of the first section are occupied by Amitābha and Prajñāpāramitā, and the last section has Siṃhanāda (fol. 221v) and Vajra-Tārā (fol. 222r), the Esoteric manifestations of the popular cultic bodhisattvas. The last section is designed to mirror the first section, not only in terms of the iconographic structure but also in the iconographic details and the elaborate iconographic knowledge and clarity in execution. Vajra-Tārā visually echoes the appearance of Prajñāpāramitā at the beginning of the book (see web 5–5). Vajra-Tārā’s red-jewel-bearing headdress, earrings, and other ornaments are almost identical to those on Prajñāpāramitā. The oval shape of the face and the meditative facial expression with a slight grin are also the same in both goddesses. Vajra-Tārā is quite different from Prajñāpāramitā in her iconography, as Vajra-Tārā has three faces and eight arms. All the attributes and other iconographic details are clearly represented, showing the level of mastery of Esoteric Buddhist iconography and confidence on the part of the painter(s). Due to visual similarity, Vajra-Tārā immediately reminds us of Prajñāpāramitā in the first section, allowing a mental rewind of 221 folios. I suspect this visual choice is a deliberate one. Vajra-Tārā and Prajñāpāramitā are not identified as related in any sādhana texts that I know of. In manuscript illustrations, these two deities have a special relationship to each other, often appearing together in a manuscript that contains Phase Three Esoteric deities. Through this visual similarity, Vajra-Tārā, the most popular form of Tārā among “Vajrayānists,”63 becomes the Esoteric manifestation of Prajñāpāramitā in MS D9. It is as if what happens between the beginning and the end of the book transforms Prajñāpāramitā into her Esoteric manifestation. Within the 221 folios of the text in between them, the teaching of the Prajñāparamitā sūtra is delivered, and this teaching on the fundamental Mahāyāna doctrine could bring about the transformation in Esoteric Buddhist context, as seen in Prajñāpāramitā’s makeover as Vajra-Tārā. In addition,  

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in this manuscript, the central layer of the manuscript contains a truly transformed space of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. Transformation of the Prajñāpāramitā   The three powerful deities of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism and their consorts occupy the center space of the book (see web 5–4, W-diagram 5–3). This is the first time that these deities literally made their way into the hidden, interior space of the manuscript accompanied by their consorts. In the center of folio 106v sits a blue six-armed male deity. He has highly matted hair and three faces. He holds a vajra, a cakra, and a padma in his three right hands, and a ghaṇṭa (bell), a cintāmaṇi (wish-granting jewel), and a khaḍga (sword) in his left hands. This image is identical to the description of Akṣobhya given in the Piṇḍīkramoktākṣobhyamaṇḍalam (NsP 2). This six-armed form of Akṣobhya can be understood as one of the Guhyasamāja tathāgatas.64 His principal arms are crossed as if embracing his consort, who appears on the facing folio, 107r. She is a mirror image of Akṣobhya, with the same number of hands and the same attributes. As a split image of Akṣobhya in female form, indicated by the presence of breasts, she is “Svābha-prajñā” (the prajñā born of self ) of Akṣobhya. The side panels of folio 106v are occupied by Heruka on the right and Sambara on the left. Both, represented in two-armed forms, face their respective consorts: Nairātmyā (right, folio 107r) and Vajravārāhī (left, folio 107r). The two-armed form of Sambara tramples on Kalarātrī and Bhairava and holds his hands crossed in front of his chest (fig. 5–9 top). Three-eyed and two-armed Vajravārāhī (or Vajrayoginī), in her awesome appearance of naked yoginī with disheveled hair, bone ornaments, and the jingling bells of a dancer, drinks blood out of a kapāla (skull cup) and balances her khaṭvāṅga on her shoulder while trampling Bhairava and Kalarātrī under her feet (fig. 5–9 bottom).65 She holds a vajra in her right hand, indicating her central role in Esoteric Buddhist (Vajrayāna) practices,66 and her naked red body exudes much yogic heat flaming inside the shrine structure that frames her. Heruka dances ecstatically on a corpse while holding a vajra and a blood-filled kapāla. He also holds a khaṭvāṅga, a ritual staff often associated with yogis. Heruka in his two-armed manifestation, accompanying a consort, is identical with Hevajra of the Hevajra-maṇḍala in the NsP 5. Amplifying the visual impact of the Phase Three deities and  

 

 

 

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Figure 5-9  Sambara (top), folio 106v, and Vajravārāhī (bottom), folio 107r, left panels, AsP Ms (Ms D9), Govindapāla’s 32nd year (ca. 1207 CE), Asiatic Society, Mumbai, Acc. No. I-210.

signaling that we are in their world, each decorative band also has two dancing yoginīs (a total of sixteen yoginīs), naked ladies dancing with disheveled hair, a few of whom have four arms. Thus, the three apotheoses of Phase Three Buddhism, Sambara, Guhyasamāja Akṣobhya, and Heruka/Hevajra, occupy the center of the book. The three couples appear equal and lateral. But the fact that Sambara and Heruka are in their simplest forms, along with their placements in the side panels, should be taken as indicating that Akṣobhya in his Guhyasamāja manifestation is the supreme one. Guhyasamāja Akṣobhya and his consort mark the very heart of the manuscript, and the Sambara-Vajravārāhī couple and Heruka-Nairātmyā couple originate from them.67 While Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities were introduced during the first half of the twelfth century, it is only in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century that they are paired with their consorts on the facing panels, that, too, in the center of the manuscript. Their union in bliss is explicitly suggested, and it is only a matter of time that it will happen. When the book is closed, they will indeed be united, albeit upside down to each other. A book’s material characteristic, that is, that the folios will be stacked together in the order of pagination, is cleverly used to reveal their consort relationship. That the Buddha’s life scenes remain important in book designing till the beginning of the thirteenth century is important in understanding Buddhism in practice. Even after the integration of Esoteric Buddhist deities in the sacred structure of a Buddhist manuscript, that the Buddha’s life scenes remain the most important theme until the thirteenth century is remarkable. The emphasis given to the Buddha’s enlightenment is expressed even more concretely through the introduction of the “Bodhgayā icon.” Interweaving the Esoteric Buddhist imagery and the Mahāyāna imagery in illustrating a book of the most important Mahāyāna sūtra may reflect the desire to locate Esoteric Buddhist traditions and their wildly expanding imagery within the framework of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Lay Buddhist practitioners of medieval India sponsored the Buddhist book cult because making, donating, and worshipping a manuscript of the fundamental Mahāyāna sūtra allowed them a material and ritual outlet to retain their Buddhist identity when the Hindu tantric traditions and Buddhist ones appeared extremely similar in their practical manifestations, as the development of the Esoteric Buddhist pantheon and ritu-

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als were closely intertwined with the Śaiva tantras and śakta cult.68 The inclusion of the Esoteric Buddhist deities in sexual embrace in a manuscript of the AsP not only transforms a book of the Mahāyāna sūtra into a suitable cultic object of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism but also locates the Esoteric Buddhist practices and theology within the age-old tradition of the Prajñāpāramitā. Book Designing as Technological Innovation: Images in Motion

An early thirteenth-century manuscript of the AsP now in the collection of Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, in Varanasi demonstrates the ingenuity of the medieval Buddhist bookmakers in realizing the full potential of a book as a three-dimensional, or four-dimensional if we consider the aspect of movement, sacred object. Bearing a thirteenthcentury date of the forty-seventh year of Lakṣmaṇasena’s gata (passed) samvat (ca. 1226 CE), the manuscript was made after the fall of the great monastic institutions with which we associate the disappearance of Buddhism in India. The pigments used in Ms D10 are not as spectacular as those used in the Nālandā manuscripts, and the paintings are not as finely detailed. The dark tonal quality of the paintings seems to match the doomsday narrative for Indian Buddhism. Despite these shortcomings, Ms D10 contains the most innovative iconographic program with the most complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography, including that of Kālacakra and his consort, Viśvamātā, a rare occurrence in India. The manuscript was prepared for a lay donor, Lakṣmīdhara, by one Mahīdhara who identifies himself as the son of an ācārya (master) named Prajñābala. Innovative Strategies of Buddhist Book Designing   The iconographic structure of this manuscript follows the standard scheme (fig. 5-10). There are six illustrated folios with eighteen painted panels, distributed at the beginning (fol. 1v–2r), in the middle (fol. 141v–142r), and at the end. While it follows an established iconographic structure, various design strategies and iconographic innovations that we have seen so far were cleverly employed in Ms D10. It follows a twelfth-century trend of utilizing the in-between space of the bands around the holes as in Ms B6, Ms D6, and Ms D9. In Ms D10, each band is divided into two com 

 

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Figure 5-10  Ms D10: AsP, Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi.

partments, and each compartment has a deity or a yogi/yoginī inside a shrine structure. The makers of Ms D10 also used the most effective iconography developed during the twelfth century, such as the Bodhgayā icon. The center panels of the first two folios are given to a Buddha in earth-touching gesture and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā. With a wide forehead and a short neck, with ears reaching the shoulders, the Buddha image on folio 1v represents the Bodhgayā icon (see fig. 2–8). The arrangement of the Bodhgayā icon facing the goddess Prajñāpāramitā makes an explicit statement about the relationship between enlightenment and Prajñāpāramitā at the beginning of the manuscript. While the Buddha and the goddess Prajñāpāramitā may be classic Prajñāpāramitā manuscript imagery, the rest of the images on these two folios make us sure that we are entering the world of Esoteric Buddhism. The bands around the holes on the first two folios contain two-armed scantily clad figures, almost like yogis, all except one striking the gesture of Vajrasattva, with the right hand in front of the chest and the left hand on the thigh, seated inside shrine structures (see web 5–6). Four six-armed deities whose two principal hands are crossed in front of the chest and holding a vajra and a ghaṇṭa (bell) sit in the four side panels. They remind us of the image of Guhyasamāja Akṣobhya in Ms D9, and it is most likely that they represent the Guhyasamāja tathāgatas, Ratnasambhava (left panel, fol. 1v), Akṣobhya (right panel, fol. 1v), Amitābha (left panel, fol. 2r), and Amoghasiddhi (right panel, fol. 2r).69 Another important design strategy employed in this manuscript is hyperlinking, as we have seen in Ms D1 and Ms D2, and this strategy is used in conjunction with the mode for creating a linear maṇḍala, similar to the strategy in Ms D6. For example, the sequence of the Guhyasamāja tathāgatas is continued to the center section of the book. The left side panels of folios 141v and 142r have six-armed deities that look just like the group of the six-armed deities in the first two folios (see web 5–7). Their visual similarity to those on the first folios links them together. The figure on folio 141v is yellow in color whereas that on folio 142r is white in color. If the two deities on the left panels of the middle folios belong to the group started in the first folios as suggested here, it is possible to see that illustrated panels are connected in linear fashion. The iconographic structure forms a lateral unit of  

 

 

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six deities, defying symmetry and center–periphery relationship, the two main structural principles of maṇḍala construction. But when we insert a practitioner like a sādhaka of the Mmk in the picture,70 we may see that this linear structure can be followed with the element of time, and one can still construct a maṇḍala, that is, a linear maṇḍala that can unfold into a three-dimensional mental map. Following this design scheme of combining hyperlinking with the idea of constructing a linear maṇḍala, we can identify a second group in the center and the right panels of the middle two folios (folios 141v–142r) and the left panels of the last two folios. And in this group, we see the most amazing iconographic strategy of all time: that of enacting the movement of secret embrace.  

 

Images in Motion   Let us imagine using this manuscript. When we reach the end of chapter 11 of the text and turn the page to folio 141v, we encounter a set of six images on folios 141v and 142r (see web 5–7). The most striking feature is that the deities on folio 142r are placed upside down to the text. Here it is important to remember that in the context of a book, the two facing pages are always revealed together. The center panel of folio 142r has Vajravārāhī, represented in her twoarmed form, dancing ecstatically while holding a skull cup (kapāla), a staff (khaṭvāṅga), and a vajra (?). Her three eyes are wide open and bloodshot, and with eyebrows raised and fangs revealed, her menacing appearance exudes yogic power (fig. 5–11). Vajravārāhī faces Sambara on folio 141v, whose awesome twelve-armed manifestation is articulated in detail, including the elephant skin that he holds in his raised uppermost hands (see web 5–8). His appearance is equally menacing, and they form a perfect couple, not only visually, but also physically. They will come together in perfect union when we flip the folio 142r to the next page: the two will unite, joining head to head and toe to toe, thanks to the innovative design of placing the images on folio 142r in the reverse direction of the text. The act of flipping the folio reenacts the ritual union between the male and the female, and once the action is complete, they stay in the state of bliss until the next time the book is opened. In other words, this iconographic strategy realizes the full potential of a book as an object with movable parts. The same action could apply to the next couple in the group, the frightening sixteen 

 

 

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Figure 5-11  Vajravārāhī, folio 142r, center panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi.

armed, four-legged form of Hevajra on folio 141v (fig. 5–12) and the angry and voluptuous Nairātmyā on folio 142r. Hevajra and Nairātmyā would also come to embrace each other face to face when the pages are closed. In Ms D9, the powerful Phase Three Esoteric deities paired with their respective consorts made their way into the center of the manuscript for the first time. Ms D10’s makers took the concept of coupling one step further to realize the secret embrace between the male and the female deities in a proper, respectful manner. If the two upside-down female images on folio 142r are intended to be united with their respective consorts on folio 141v, we may propose that the relationship between the two deities on the left panels of folio 141v and folio 142r also form a couple. The yellow, seated six-armed deity on folio 141v may represent Mañjuvajra-Vajrasattva, just like the six-armed male deity in the center of the iconographic program of Ms D4 (see fig. 5–3). His eyes are wide open, instead of the contemplative gaze of the image in Ms D4, simulating the facial expression of his frightful neighbors, but all the attributes are the same: his principal hands are crossed in front of his chest, and the remaining hands hold a sword, an arrow on the right, and a cakra or flower and a bow on the  

 

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left, almost identical to Mañjuvajra-Vajrasattva in M s D4. If this identification can be sustained, the seated six-armed deity on the left panel of folio 142r may be the consort of Mañjuvajra-Vajrasattva, that is to say, Vajradhātvīśvarī,71 since she is also oriented in the opposite direction of the text, just like Vajravārāhī and Nairātmyā. Coupling of male-female deities in the twelfth-century AsP manuscripts suggests to us a distinctive pattern: the more Esoteric and complex their forms, the more explicitly their relationship is expressed in simple, recognizable terms. This pattern concurs with the development of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism, which emphasizes the union (yuganaddha) or the “inseparable fusion” between the two polarizing concepts such as wisdom (prajñā) and means (upāya), as well as wisdom (embodied in the vajra kula) and compassion (embodied in the padma kula).72 Very few Indian images showing the Esoteric Buddhist deities in sexual embrace survive, and the examples in the twelfth-century Buddhist manuscripts as seen in Ms D10 help us see that these images were in fact in circulation in the late twelfth to early thirteenth century. It is also important to note that these images were produced not only in monastic circles as we see in Ms D6, where we see a very modest form, but also in nonmonastic circles as in Ms D10, appearing in fully charged forms. Other visual devices also suggest that the two pages are to be read together as a single visual field. For example, the identical appearance of eight yoginī figures on the narrow bands around the holes contributes to creating a unified visual field between the two pages (see web 5–7, fig. 5–12). All of them are two-armed, holding a skull cup in their left hands. Their right hands are raised and their legs appear bent dancing just like Vajravārāhī and Nairātmyā. The yoginīs on folio 142r are also placed upside down to the text, just like the main deities. One of the yoginīs on folio 142r has two-tone body color, the upper half in white and the lower half in blue. This curious body color suggests this represents Ḍombī, one of the eight yoginīs that appear in the maṇḍalas of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities, such as the Herukamaṇḍala (NsP 8), the Nairātmyāmaṇḍala (NsP 9), and the Pañcaḍākamaṇḍala (NsP 24).73 According to the descriptions in the NsP and also in the third chapter of the Heruka tantra, all of them are two-armed and dance in pratyālīḍha.  

 

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Given the color configuration, it is most likely that they represent a group of eight yoginīs who surround the Heruka/Hevajra-Nairātmyā couple.74 In this manuscript, they surround the Sambara-Vajravārāhī couple located in the center. This may suggest the essential identity between the two ultimate Phase Three Esoteric deities of Sambara and Heruka/Hevajra. We could imagine the Heruka-Nairātmyā couple in place of the Sambara-Vajravārāhī couple and have them move to the center and switch their seats when we construct a mental map of the book. It may also be a design strategy to shift our focus to the next pair (Heruka-Nairātmyā) from the central pair (Sambara-Vajravārāhī), which encourages us to construct a linear maṇḍala. Eight dancing yoginīs in the in-between spaces of the narrow bands also amplify the effect of the movement manifested in the iconography of the principal deities. Sambara strikes the active stance of ālīḍha, and his twelve arms are impressively displayed like spokes of a wheel in front of flame (see web 5–8). He looks out to us intensely with three bloodshot eyes, revealing a scary grin. His consort Vajravārāhī, too, dances ecstatically in the nude; so does Nairātmyā, Hevajra’s consort. Hevajra, in his sixteen-armed manifestation, appears particularly active and powerful. The movement in Hevajra’s iconography is even more strongly suggested than in Sambara’s iconography, as he is shown with four legs, two of which are bent as if dancing, and holds a skull cup in every hand, this repetition creating a rhythmic movement (see fig. 5– 12). His wide-open eyes and teeth-revealing smile make him appear rather friendly, despite the garland of severed human heads and ornaments made of human bones. But his wrathful compassion is even more explicitly represented in the flames that burst out of the frame of the panel as if exploding from his yogic heat. This strong sense of movement conveyed in the iconography and in the composition seems to anticipate the movement of the secret embrace that will be activated by the user of the book. Here I find Paul Mus’s suggestion on reading movements in a multilimbed image useful.75 He argues that early medieval Indian religious images were not grotesque or hideous, but rather ingenious in representing a sequence of time in one frame. Following Mus’s insightful analogy, reading these images in a way comparable to the invention of film, we can read the design strategy used in Ms D10  

 

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Figure 5-12  Hevajra, folio 141v, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi.

as a technological innovation. This design strategy shines even more with the detailed rendering of fantastic and complex Esoteric Buddhist deities. The movement that shakes the core of the book does not end there. The sequential appearance of the deities that belong to the same group through hyperlinking continues onto the last section of the book. On the left panel of the second to last folio, we see the most startling iconography of the Indian Esoteric Buddhism: the panel represents Kālacakra (Wheel of Time), the ultimate hypostasis of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism (fig. 5–13). He has twenty-four arms in total in three different colors: eight arms in blue, eight arms in white, and eight more arms in red. His entire body looks tricolored because his legs are given two different colors, white and red, while the rest of his body is colored blue. It must have been challenging to draw distinctive attributes in so many hands inside such a small space, but the makers made an effort to differentiate each of them. The tricolored body of Kālacakra is not only an iconographic trait elaborated in the Kālacakramaṇḍala but also an efficient visual device that amplifies the effect of the rhythmic display of multiple arms. The facing panel on the last folio represents a yellow eight-armed female deity placed upside down to the text (see web 5–9). She is Viśvamātā, the consort of Kālacakra, and her iconography is similar to the description in the Kālacakramaṇḍala in the NsP (NsP 26). She stands in pratyālīḍha, and a garland of severed heads hangs around  

 

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Figure 5-13  Kālacakra, second last folio, right panel, AsP Ms (Ms D10), Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year (ca. 1226 CE), Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi.

her. Her principal arms are crossed in front of the chest, holding vajra and ghaṇṭa, signaling her identity as Esoteric Buddhist mother. In addition to her active stance and many arms, the blazing flames surrounding her and her wide-open eyes suggest her wrathful character. These two panels in the last section of Ms D10 give us a rare opportunity to examine the visual representations of the Kālacakra and Viśvamātā couple.76 Kālacakra embracing his consort is not uncommon in Tibetan context, but this may be the only surviving example where one could see Viśvamātā represented as an individual deity. The book’s design strategy allows the goddess an individual space before her union with her consort, albeit momentarily. Lasting Power of the Cultic Deities   Understood in the context of a linear, sequential arrangement of the deities, the Kālacakra couple marks the apex of the set among the three couples, since they appear the last. The arrangement seen in this manuscript seems to reflect the perceived order of the development of the tantras from the perspective of the Kālacakra tradition. The Kālacakra literature assumes an intimate knowledge of the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts, the Guhyasamāja tantra, the Hevajra tantra, and the Cakrasaṃvara tantra,77 and these three tantras are represented in the center of the manuscript through their imagery. If the three wrathful deities of Sambara, Hevajra, and Kālacakra were to be understood on the same plane,

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the Hevajra-Nairātmyā couple would indeed be in the center, as they appear in the middle of the sequence. The yoginī group surrounding the Sambara-Vajravārāhī couple also encourages us to see the Hevajra couple in the center. In the visual space of the last two folios, the Kālacakra couple is not in the center of the field, either, since they are pushed to the left, in side panels. Who would be powerful enough to push the Lord Wheel of Time, Kālacakra, to the side? On the central panel of the second to last folio sits the chubby Jambhala with a grin (see web 5–9). He does not seem to be a friendly Mahāyāna cultic deity any more. With the fangs and intensely wideopen eyes, he is suitable to guard the door for the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist deities and Prajñāpāramitā. Jambhala cannot be an equal competitor for Kālacakra, since Kālacakra could attract and govern so many deities of different types and families in his field of power, as elaborated in the Kālacakramaṇḍala (NsP 26).78 In this manuscript, Jambhala seems iconographically shielded from the influence of Kālacakra by the small figures rushing towards him in the four miniature panels around the holes (see fig. 5–13, web 5–9). The presence of the small yellowish figures holding jars signals his role as a cultic deity who could grant wealth and prosperity, and he is rightly assigned on the periphery of a sacred space. Facing Jambhala on the last folio sits his consort Vasudhārā in her two-armed manifestation. Vasudhārā is also placed upside down to the direction of the text, just like her neighbor, Viśvamātā, emphasizing her consort relationship with Jambhala. Structurally, Jambhala and Vasudhārā close the door of the book while the Buddha Śākyamuni (Bodhgayā icon) and the goddess Prajñāparamitā open the book. They are parallel images in this iconographic program, and in particular, Vasudhārā appears extremely similar to Prajñāpāramitā in her yellow, two-armed manifestation. Thus, the central panels of the first and the last sections of the manuscript are given to the Mahāyāna deities: the front door is assigned to the Buddha Śākyamuni and the goddess Prajñāparamitā, and the back door is assigned to Jambhala and Vasudhārā. This iconographic and structural choice suggests that the Mahāyāna deities were still important protagonists in the world of Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism. The Mahāyāna cultic deities kept their posts even with the advent of full-blown forms of Phase Three Esoteric deities. The last panels of the last two folios also support this point.  

 

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The right panel of the second to last folio presents an image of a twoarmed form of Avalokiteśvara, most likely Cintāmaṇi Avalokiteśvara. The bodhisattva stands with his left hand raised up as if holding a tree branch and his right hand lowered in varada mudrā. His posture looks similar to that of the lady Māyā giving birth to the Buddha, as his hip is tilted towards left and the left leg is bent and placed across the right leg, which visually associates this form of Avalokiteśvara with fecundity. In later Nepalese paintings, Cintāmaṇi Avalokiteśvara is often depicted as a white, two-armed figure holding the wish-fulfilling tree, kalpavṛkṣa, with his left hand and giving out jewels with his right hand.79 The iconography is articulated to emphasize the “this-worldly” role of Avalokiteśvara as a wish-granting, jewel-giving bodhisattva propitiated for the worldly benefits, especially wealth. In this form, his function does not seem too different from the famous images of yakṣīs at the gateways of Sanchi’s Great Stupa, and it highlights Avalokiteśvara’s cultic nature. On the facing panel on the last folio stands a full-figured, potbellied four-armed goddess, Ekajaṭā. Strikingly, she is oriented in the direction of the text, unlike her neighbors. This unusual choice is designed to signal that Ekajaṭā and Cintāmaṇi Avalokiteśvara are not consorts to each other whereas the other members on these two folios are paired with their respective consorts. As gatekeepers and cultic deities, Avalokiteśvara and Ekajaṭā are not to be coupled together when the manuscript is closed, like other male-female couple deities, which also suggests that the upside-down placement of the images was a conscious choice. A Transformed Object

The Esoteric Buddhist deities presented in Ms D10 embody the Esoteric Buddhist interpretation of the enlightenment experience. In a way, they are the new Prajñāpāramitā deities, still heralded by the goddess Prajñāpāramitā and guarded by the late Mahāyāna cultic deities. The images placed in the reverse direction of the text are introduced as a clever twist, playing on the three-dimensional quality of the book. This visual device suggests that the physicality of the book is taken even more seriously. The deities come alive to face their consorts when the book is closed and put together as a solid object. The book becomes the sacred ground for the Phase Three Esoteric deities to be fully united,

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and a book of the AsP is forever after transformed into an empowered cultic object of Esoteric Buddhism. The surviving book covers that protect this sacred space show many physical traces of worship, suggesting its cultic significance.80 The insides of the book covers are also painted, and as in Ms D4 and Ms D5, this outermost layer is designed as an integral part of the iconographic program (see fig. 5-10). On the front cover, we have the eight scenes of the Buddha’s life in the following order from left to right: the enlightenment, the birth, the first sermon, the Śrāvastī miracle, the descent, the taming of a mad elephant, the monkey’s offering of honey, and the Parinirvāṇa. The placement of the enlightenment before the birth is a significant iconographic choice, as it puts the due emphasis on enlightenment that is restated in the first folio. The connection between the Buddha’s life scenes on the book covers and the enlightenment represented through the Bodhgayā icon in the first folio is made explicit because the Buddha image in the enlightenment scene on the book cover also features the distinctive features of the Bodhgayā icon, a wide forehead and a short neck. The end cover bears the images of six Buddhist goddesses: green Tārā in preaching gesture, Vajra-Tārā, Prajñāpāramitā, Cundā, Parṇaśabarī, and Jaṅgulī, from left to right. The last two, Parṇaśabarī and Jaṅgulī, are cultic protectresses, whereas the rest are related to wisdom. Both covers are divided into three sections, and in between them are narrow bands where monks dressed in red robes are seated in pairs. This framing device unites the visual fields of the book covers and ultimately unifies the entire visual space of the book that would be framed in between the book covers. The book as a stūpa, the concept that drove the initial design process of illustrating a Buddhist manuscript, is duly acknowledged in this early-thirteenth-century manuscript, as the center of the front book cover is given to a stūpa, the oval shaped aṇḍa of which seems to seal the entire book. Our discussion of the Indian Esoteric Buddhist visuality in illustrated manuscripts ends here with the discussion of the ambitious iconographic program of Ms D10. As we have seen, the innovative iconographic strategies used in Ms D10 show how the element of time, which allows movements across the space beyond given boundaries, is carefully calculated in designing a book. Ms D10 may be the last dated manuscript that utilizes the Esoteric Buddhist iconography and

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a book’s materiality as a three-dimensional object. Of all the iconographic schemes developed in India, the design principles employed in Group C manuscripts prevail in later manuscript production in Nepal. The makers of later Indian and Tibetan Buddhist manuscripts preferred to package the text as a sacred object, thus we have examples where the outer surface of the book, all sides of a stack of folios, is painted with decorative patterns and images of deities, and the book is encased with sculpted book covers.81 I think the makers of Ms D10, especially the mastermind behind the book’s innovative design, truly realized the full potential of a pothi-format book with impressive iconographic knowledge, an outstanding achievement in the historical context of the demise of Buddhist institutions in eastern India.

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Part Three

The People

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6 Social History of the Buddhist Book Cult

The Human Factors

In discussing the iconographic programs of the manuscripts, we have assumed generic “makers,” “donors,” and “users.” What of the human agency of the patrons, the makers, and the users of these manuscripts? On the last folio of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (AsP) manuscript donated by a lay donor Rāmajīva (Ms A3), a yellow preaching bodhisattva sits in the center panel (fig. 6–1).1 He sits in a relaxed manner and two white flowers shoot up on either side. The golden complexion and the preaching gesture suggest that this is an image of Maitreya. Attending him sit two hitherto unseen figures, clearly of the human world. Both of them are of dark brown complexion and bearded, and both men wear white lower garments, and possibly the white sacred thread (upavita). The difference in size suggests the hierarchical relationship between the two figures. Not only is the figure on the left (Maitreya’s proper right) bigger than his companion, he also has a halo around his head. A tuft of hair hangs from the back of his head, suggesting his Brahman identity. He has a white strip in his right hand and the left hand is raised in the gesture similar to that of discussion (vitarka mudrā), as if holding a manuscript and explicating Maitreya’s teaching in understandable language. The figure seated on the right (Maitreya’s proper left) is much smaller and almost submissive in his attitude as he sits with his hands  



2 13

Figure 6-1  Preaching Maitreya with the scribe/the ritual master, Svameśvara (left), and the donor, Rāmajīva (right), AsP Ms (Ms A3), folio 184r, Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE), Nālandā monastery, Bihar. Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Ms. 72.I.20b. Digital Image © 2012 Museum Associates / LACMA. Licensed by Art Resource, NY.

folded showing respect in añjalī mudrā. His big and unkempt hair is similar to that of a siddha (lit. “perfected one,” often nonmonastic, esoteric practitioner). Who are these two figures? The placement of this panel at the end of the manuscript in the center raises a tantalizing possibility that these two figures may represent the two men named in the colophon on the verso of this same folio, the scribe (lekhaka), Svameśvara, and the lay donor, Rāmajīva. The formulaic nature of the manuscript colophon does not reveal much about the individuals, but it gives us valuable information regarding their social identity, as it tells us that Svameśvara was a resident of the illustrious Nālandā (śrīnālandāvasthita) and that Rāmajīva was from Nepal (nepāli). Unlike the twentiethcentury participants of the Prajñāpāramitā pūjā at Patan in Nepal that David Gellner interviewed for understanding their motivations and social backgrounds,2 we will never know what prompted Rāmajīva from Nepal to make a donation of a beautifully illustrated manuscript of the AsP, that, too, customized with the Uṣṇīśavijayā dhāraṇī added at the end, in mid-eleventh-century Nālandā. Equally, we will never know how much of Rāmajīva’s opinion was reflected in the design of the manuscript, and whether Svameśvara was just a scribe or the mastermind behind the entire design of the manuscript as well as the ritual master. The colophon, after all, only mentions that this was a pious gift of a Nepali lay donor Rāmajīva for accruing merits for all sentient

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beings, and that Svameśvara, a lekhaka (scribe) residing in Nālandā, wrote this manuscript. Despite these shortcomings, the information we could gather from the colophons and the characteristics of production, when analyzed collectively, could provide a more concrete social picture of the Buddhist book cult in practice and of medieval Indian Esoteric Buddhism in general. In this section, we will examine the human factors, that is, the donors, the makers, and the users (broadly defined), of the medieval Bud­­dhist book cult. Here on, the main focus of the analysis is shifted to the peripheral space of the book, where the human world manifests itself in colophons, images of the donors and ritual masters, and copyediting hands. I have analyzed the colophons of thirty-six dated illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from eastern India (Bihar and Bengal 3) in quantitative manner, to chart the patterns of patronage and production during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries (table 6–1). The pool of the data samples is too small and too varied to yield a firm outcome, and the limited knowledge of medieval names of the towns and the titles in the Sanskrit colophons challenges the validity of quantification. Nonetheless, the quantitative analysis allows us to discern a general historical pattern, for example, the co-relationship between the changes in the demography of the patrons and the decentralization of the production sites, which seems to happen around the mid to late twelfth century. When considered together with the increasingly esoteric iconographic programs discussed in the previous chapter, this shift in production and patronage pattern helps us understand the social characteristics of Indian Esoteric Buddhism in practice. The chapter is divided into two parts: we will examine the patronage pattern in the first section and the production pattern in the second. Each part begins with an observation made from the quantitative analysis regarding a general historical pattern, and with this historical frame in mind, we will examine the colophons in detail, while referring back to the iconographic analysis in previous chapters. The general social characteristics of the medieval Buddhist book cult are discussed at the end of the discussion of the patronage pattern. The painted images of the human elements like those in Ms A3 could help us understand the social status of the involved actors beyond what is conveyed in the colophons. For example, if my previous iden 



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Table 6 – 1  Dated Illustrated Manuscripts from Eastern India and Their Patronage and Production Characteristics  

No. Collection

Manuscript title 1

Date

Patronage 2 Production 3

11th-century mss 1

Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G. 4713

AsP (Ms A1)

Mahīpāla’s 6th year, ca. 983 CE

MMf

2

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M86.185.a-d

AsP (Ms A2)

Mahīpāla’s 27th year, ca. 1004 CE

LW

Mo

3

Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688

PC (Ms D1)

Nayapāla’s 14th year, ca. 1041 CE

LW

Ro (Mo)

4

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M.72.I20.a-b & private collection

AsP (Ms A3)

Nayapāla’s 14th year, ca. 1041 CE

LMf

Mo

5

Asia Society, New York, Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Acquisitions Fund, 1982.001.

AsP (Ms A4)

Vigrahapāla III’s 15th year, ca. 1058 CE

LMf

Mo

6

Wellcome Library, Sansk ε 1

AsP (Ms A6)

Vigrahapāla III, ca. 1043–1069 CE

LM

7

Cambridge University Library, Add. 1464

AsP (Ms A5)

Mahīpāla II’s 5th year, ca. 1074 CE

LW

(Mo)

8

Yarlung Museum, Tibet

AsP

Śūrapāla’s 2nd year, ca. 1077 CE

LW

(Mo)

9

Bharat Kala Bhavan (Banaras Hindu University), 4196-4201, 4802-4807

PC (Group D)

Rāmapāla’s 4th year, ca. 1081 CE

LW

Gopāla’s 8th year, ca. 1140 CE  

10

Ngor Monastery, Tibet, Rāhula List V59

AsP

Rāmapāla’s 8th year, ca. 1085 CE

LM

Ro (Mo)

11

Bodleian Library, Oxford, Sansk a.7

AsP (Ms D2)

Rāmapāla’s 15th year, ca. 1092 CE

LW

Mo

12

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, M72.I19.a-b

AsP (Group A)

Rāmapāla’s 18th year, ca. 1095 CE

MMf

Mo

12th-century mss 13

Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery

PvP (Ms B3)

Harivarman’s 8th year, ca. 1100 CE

LM

14

Victoria and Albert Museum, IS.4.1958-10.1958

AsP (Ms D3)

Rāmapāla’s 36th year, ca. 1113 CE

LM

(Mo)

15

Tibet Museum, Lhasa

AsP (Ms C1)

Rāmapāla’s 37th year, ca. 1114 CE

MMf

Mo

16

Ralph and Catherine Benkhaim Collection

PC (Group C/D)

Rāmapāla’s 39th year, ca. 1116 CE

LMe

17

National Museum, New Delhi

PC (Group D)

Rāmapāla’s 53rd year, ca. 1130 CE

LMe

18

Ngor Monastery, Tibet, Rāhula List No. XI 76-80

PC

Govindacandra’s reign, ca. 1114–1150 CE

MM

Mo

19

National Archive, Kathmandu (missing)

AsP (Group D)

Govindacandra’s reign, ca. 12th century

LW

Ro (Mo)

20

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, No. 20.589

AsP (Ms D4)

Gopāla’s 4th year, ca. 1136 CE

LMe

 

21

British Library, Or. 6902

AsP (Ms C4)

Gopāla’s 15th year, ca. 1147 CE

MM

Mo

22

Rietberg Museum, Zurich, RVI 960a-

PC (Ms C5)

Madanapāla’s 13th year, ca. 1156 CE

LM

Vi

23

Detroit Institute of Arts, 27.586

AsP (Ms A7)

Madanapāla’s 17th year, ca. 1160 CE

MW

Vi

24

National Archive, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 4.20

AsP (Group C)

Madanapāla’s reign, ca. 1160 CE

LMe

Vi

25

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 79.9 a-b, Rāhula List No. II4.183

PC (Group C)

Madanapāla’s 17th year, ca. 1160 CE

LM

Ro (Mo)

26

Royal Asiatic Society, London, Hodgson Ms 1

AsP (Ms D6)

Govindapāla’s 4th year, ca. 1179 CE

LM

Ro/Mo

27

Bharat Kala Bhavan (Banaras Hindu University)

AsP (Ms D5)

Gomīndrapāla’s 4th year, ca. 1179 CE?

LM

Mo

28

National Archive, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 5.83

PC (Ms C6)

Govindapāla’s 16th year, ca. 1191 CE

LW (continued)

Table 6 – 1  (continued)  

No. Collection

Manuscript title 1

Date

Patronage 2 Production 3

LMe

12th-century mss (continued) 29

Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.9989A

AsP (Group D)

Govindapāla’s 18th year, ca. 1193 CE

30

Indian Museum, Kolkata

PC

Govindapāla’s 22nd year, ca. 1197 CE

31

British Library, Or. 14282

AsP (Ms D7)

Govindapāla's 30th year or earlier (ca. 1205 CE)

LM

32

Asiatic Society, Mumbai, BI-210

AsP (Ms D9)

Govindapāla’s 32nd year, ca. 1207 CE

LMe

33

Musée Guimet, Fournier Collection

AsP (Ms D8)

Govindapāla’s 32nd year, ca. 1207 CE

LMe

34

Bharat Kala Bhavan (Banaras Hindu University)

AsP (Ms D10)

Lakṣmaṇasena’s 47th year, ca. 1226 CE

LMe

35

Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.4078

PC

Madhusena’s reign, śaka 1211, ca. 1289

LMe

36

Cambridge University Library, Add. 1364

Kālacakra tantra

Vikramāditya Samvat 1503, ca. 1446 CE

MM

1AsP

Vi

Vi Vi

= Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra; PC = Pañcarakṣā sūtra; PvP = Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. = lay male; LMf = lay male of foreign origin; LMe = lay male Esoteric Buddhist practitioner; LW = lay female; MM = monastic male; MMf = monastic male of foreign origin; MW = monastic female. 3 Mo = monastic; Ro (Mo) = royal (most likely monastic production); (Mo) = most likely monastic production; Vi = village/provincial; Ro/Mo =royal donation/ monastic production. 2 LM

tification of the two figures in the painting can be entertained, the painting could tell us something about the social context. The scribe, Svameśvara, identified by the term lekhaka, seems to be more than an artisan with excellent writing skills, for he is depicted as a nonmonastic ritual master, and a Brahman, who can deliver the teaching to the donor at the level of ordinary human.4 The donor, Rāmajīva, on the other hand, looks as if he is an ascetic or yogic practitioner with his unkempt hair and is clearly nonmonastic, as suggest by the title upāsaka in the colophon and the visual traits, that is, unshaven head and a white dhoti. This is, of course, a rare case, that we can analyze visual representations of both the donor and the maker/ritual master of the manuscript for social connotations. Only a few painted images of the patrons, and even fewer of the makers/ritual masters, were included in illustrated Buddhist manuscripts prepared in eastern India.5 Whenever available and meaningful, I have attempted a sociohistorical analysis of the visual representations. 6 But even if there is no visual representation from which to confirm social identity, we should remember that the donor colophons in and of themselves should be taken as indicating the physical presence of the donors, especially because the letters of writing can stand for physical presence in medieval Indian Buddhist context.7 Thus, the main goal of this chapter is to locate the innovations in Buddhist book production that we have examined in previous chapters in the sociohistorical context. The sociohistorical analysis of the Buddhist manuscript production demonstrates that the period in question was not of decline and demise for Indian Buddhism but of creative spirits and new energy. We will also see that the medieval Buddhist book cult was mainly a lay-oriented and lay-based cult, which provides strong material evidence for the lay ownership of books of the scriptures discussed in the Mūlasarvastivāda vinaya (monastic code) and in other early medieval Indic texts, both Buddhist and non-Buddhist.8

W riting History with Fragm ents

An attempt to write a social history mainly based on epigraphic material such as donor colophons and inscriptions is like trying to solve a jigsaw puzzle with only a few pieces in hand. The available pieces reveal only certain aspects of the whole. I should acknowledge at the outset



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that, although I am trying to bring hitherto unrecognized individuals into a historical narrative, my narrative is by no means of the masses. The material characteristics of these manuscripts, prepared on specially seasoned palm leaves, written in ornamental kuṭila or siddhamātṛkā scripts, and painted meticulously with mineral and natural pigments, suggest that they were not common household objects. They were more like high-end market products for medieval Indian Buddhists. Especially in the cases of monastic productions and the examples of female patronage, the narrative is indeed mostly about socially and economically privileged Buddhists in medieval eastern India, since the donors are identified as monastic elders, queens, princes, court officials, and wives of chieftains or ministers. However limited, their presence in manuscript donations provides valuable insight into understanding a pattern of lay participation in medieval Indian Buddhist practices, especially the Buddhist book cult. For example, the relatively high percentage of foreign donors, especially from Nepal and Tibet, in the earliest stage of illustrated manuscript production at Nālandā seems to suggest that the impetus for the practice of illustrating a manuscript may have come from outside. At the same time, the fact that half of the identified donors of the eleventh-century manuscripts are laywomen suggests an active participation of women in the Buddhist book cult in medieval eastern India. More importantly, the emergence of the lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners as one of the major donor groups during the second half of the twelfth century signals the shifting social characteristics of Esoteric Buddhism in medieval India. Of course, the historical presence of Esoteric Buddhist practitioners has long been noted. Tāranātha, a sixteenth-century Tibetan scholar, adds to the account of the destruction of monastic centers: “There is no doubt that many siddha-s and sādhaka-s (adept, Esoteric practitioners) lived at this period. But since the karma of the people in general was unalterable, all these [the destruction and the end of the Buddha’s teaching in Magadha] could not be prevented.”9 But as his passing remark suggests, many Buddhist practitioners of medieval India mostly remained unnamed with no agency.10 One of my goals in this chapter is to afford a voice to these unrecognized names by discussing their active involvement in the Buddhist book cult.

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More than half of the colophons also provide information regarding the sites of production in the form of scribal colophons. When examined with the donor colophons along with a stylistic and iconographic analysis, they also afford us a glance at the institutional shifts in Buddhist practices in eastern India, from monastery centered to lay based. It is no surprise that the most elaborate and exuberant illustrated manuscripts were produced in famous monastic centers in eastern India, such as Nālandā and Vikramaśīla. Interestingly, mahāvihāras, or mega monasteries, did not remain dominant suppliers of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in medieval eastern India. Donor and scribal colophons in surviving dated illustrated manuscripts suggest that the center of illustrated Buddhist manuscript production shifted from big monasteries to decentralized locations in villages and provincial towns by the mid-twelfth century. This shift suggests laicization of Esoteric Buddhism in medieval India, which helps us understand the trajectory of Buddhism’s disappearance as a gradual process rather than something that happened overnight with the destruction of monasteries.

Of the People: Charting the Patronage Pattern

Among the thirty-six dated illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from eastern India that I know of, thirty-five manuscripts date to the late tenth through the thirteenth centuries (see table 6–1). Twelve manuscripts were made during the late tenth to eleventh centuries, and twentythree were made during the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. As seen in table 6–1, I have categorized the donors into four major groups, lay male (LM), lay female (LW), monastic male (MM), and monastic female (MW), based on their titles in the donor colophons. A lay male donor is identified in the colophons as mahāyānayāyina upāsaka, and a lay female donor is identified as mahāyānayāyinyā upāsikā. Monastic donors have different titles depending on their rankings: bhikṣu for male monastic donor and bhikṣuṇī for female monastic donor are used, but more commonly we see śākyabhikṣu-sthavira or sthavira (for male) and sthavirā (for female), which are used to designate a monastic elder or master. Among the LM and MM groups, subcategories of LMf and MMf are used to identify a person of a foreign origin, and LMe stands  

 



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221

for another subcategory of lay male Esoteric Buddhist practitioner, an important social group that emerges during the first half of the twelfth century. For analytical convenience, I have divided the donor demography into two historical groups, one group of the eleventh century and the other of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. The dividing line between the two groups is drawn with a manuscript dated to Harivarman’s eighth regnal year, circa 1100 CE. I acknowledge that this is arbitrary, partly because the dates based on the chronologies of the Pālas and other kings of medieval eastern India are not absolute. Let us briefly consider the problems regarding the chronology of the period. Problems of Dates

In eastern Indian dated manuscripts, the colophon provides the name of the reigning king, most commonly one of the Pāla kings, plus the regnal year, the month, and the day. Some dates in manuscript colophons, like Lakṣmaṇasena samvat (counting from Lakṣmaṇasena’s ascent to the throne around 1178 or 1179 CE)11 and śaka samvat (beginning 78 CE), are more secure, but others, unless accompanied by another widely known year of śaka or vikrama era, are flexible. The dates are calculated by constructing an overall table of Pāla rulers from names and regnal years mentioned in inscriptions.12 When the main body of the chronological data is drawn from epigraphic sources, we are working with a relative chronology, for the discovery of new inscriptions could change the dates and the structure of the genealogical chart.13 A specific date is identified for each manuscript in this study following the chronology suggested in table 6–2,14 but we should remember that in many cases this is a working chronology, not an absolute one. Nonetheless, we could still use these dates to discuss a historical trend and pattern. Another problem in the Pāla chronology is that a few Pāla kings have the same names, and sometimes it is difficult to determine which one of the namesake kings is indicated in the colophon. There are two kings named Mahīpāla, two kings named Śūrapāla, three kings named Vigrahapāla, and four kings named Gopāla.15 The iconographic and stylistic analysis of the paintings sometimes helps us determine the date of a manuscript. The manuscripts bearing the regnal years of Mahīpāla are the most problematic in dating, because both Mahīpāla I and Mahīpāla II ruled during the eleventh century. Of the two man 

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Table 6 – 2  Chronology of Pāla Kings of the Eleventh and the Twelfth Centuries and Other Important Eras  

Known reign length

Approximate reign dates

Mahīpāla I

48 years (also V.S. 1083 = 1026 CE)

977–1027 CE

Nayapāla

15 years

1027–1043 CE

Vigrahapāla II

26 years

1043–1069 CE

Mahīpāla II

5 years

1069–1075 CE

King

 

 

 

 

Śurapāla II

2 years

1075–1077 CE

Rāmapāla

53 years

1077–1130 CE

Kumarapāla

?

1130–1132 CE

Gopāla IV

15 years

1132–1147 CE

 

 

 

 

Madanapāla

18 years (also śaka 1083 CE = 1160/61 CE)

1143–1175 CE

Govindapāla

4+ years (gata samvat in use until 32)

1175–1179 CE (1207 CE)

*Lakṣmaṇasena

27 years (gata samvat 47 = 1226 CE)

1179–1206 CE

*Harivarman

8th year = ca. 1100 CE

1092–1100+ CE

 

 

 

 

*non-Pāla kings

uscripts bearing the fifth and the sixth years of Mahīpāla, it is indeed difficult to determine the dates.16 The first Mahīpāla is remembered as a great king under whose stable and long reign the Pālas regained control over much of the lost territory during the successions of weak kings before him, despite the fact that he had to deal with Rājendra’s Cōḷa’s invasion in 1021–1024 CE. Inscriptions suggest increased royal support for religious activities during his reign.17 The second Mahīpāla had a short reign in the second half of the eleventh century. He is pictured as less glamorous or successful in the Rāmacaritam of Sandhyākaranandi,18 and only a few inscriptions have been assigned to his reign.19 I have included three manuscripts dated with Mahīpāla’s regnal years; two of them are identified as belonging to the reign of the first Mahīpāla. I suggest here that the manuscript now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G.4713 (Ms A1, T-no. 120), dates to the first Mahīpāla’s reign, which makes it the earliest surviving dated manuscript, not only because of its stylistic affinity to the earlier painting school of Ajanta  



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as suggested by other scholars like Kramrisch and Saraswati but also because of circumstantial and iconographic reasons. The connection to Nepal shown in the use of visual elements such as plantain trees in the background and in the title of the donor, śākyācarya,21 and in the name of the monastery, Taḍivāḍi, befits the late-tenth- to early-eleventhcentury historical context discussed in chapter 2 in which the influx from the northern neighbors sparked the production of illustrated manuscripts in Indian monastic centers. As discussed in chapter 2, the iconographic program of this manuscript follows an archetypal pattern from which other later iconographic schemes developed (see fig. 3–1). The dates of the manuscripts bearing Mahīpāla’s regnal years have been subject to debates partly because the two manuscripts, bearing Mahīpāla’s fifth year (Ms A5, T-no. 7) and Mahīpāla’s sixth year (Ms A1, T-no. 1), are stylistically so different. The manuscript now in the Cambridge University Library, Add. 1464 (Ms A5, T-no. 7), is dated to the fifth regnal year of Mahīpāla, and I have assigned this manuscript to the second Mahīpāla’s reign, not because of the “brittle style”22 but because of the complexity of the iconographic program, which advances the basic format of the Group A manuscripts to the next level, incorporating the central space of the book. The dates of the Pāla kings of the second half of the twelfth century are even more puzzling, and I do not propose to tackle the issue here or to suggest a new chronology for the period. One hypothesis we may consider is the possibility of Gopāla IV’s reign and Madanapāla’s reign overlapping with each other. Madanapāla was a paternal uncle of Gopāla IV, and Madanapāla’s reign is understood to have succeeded his nephew’s reign, based on the accounts in the Rāmacāritam. If Madanapāla’s reign can be more or less fixed to 1143–1175 CE because there is an inscription identifying dual dates, that is, his eighteenth regnal year fell on śaka 1083, and if Gopāla IV ruled at least fifteen years after Rāmapāla, whose long reign of fifty-three years came to an end around 1130 CE, we cannot fit the two kings successively ruling within the years between 1130 and 1161 CE. Whether they ruled simultaneously or not, we should also note that they were not the de facto rulers in Magadha, because no manuscript made in the ancient region of Magadha, at least those made in the area of Nālandā, uses full regnal titles for either of these kings.23 Gopāla IV is given a full title with his  

 

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fifteenth regnal year in a manuscript made in the Vikramaśīla monastery, located in the ancient region of Aṅga (southern Monghyr and Bhagalpur districts in modern day Bihar). Madanapāla’s full royal epithets (parameśvara-paramabhaṭṭāraka-paramasaugata-mahārājādhirāja) are invoked in a manuscript written in proto-Bengali script prepared for a resident of Santovanagara 24 (T-no. 24), suggesting the provenance of the manuscript as Varendra or even Vaṅga (southern Bengal), where the Pālas seem to have remained somewhat successful since the relocation of the capital to Rāmāvatī in Varendra during Rāmapāla’s reign. Impetus from the Periphery?

As identified in figure 6–2, 50 percent of eleventh-century manuscripts were donated by laywomen, and more than half of the male donations (33 percent) in the eleventh-century manuscript production were by persons of foreign origin, either from Nepal or Tibet. It is surprising to find that women and foreigners played such a big role in boosting the Buddhist book cult into a new direction, because we often consider them as marginal or peripheral social groups in Indic religious practices. This does not mean that the book cult was not part of mainstream medieval Buddhist practices. On the contrary, the practice of making and donating illustrated manuscripts as cult objects initially developed at big monastic centers, especially around Nālandā, and the donors, whether male or female, belonged to socially privileged groups. For example, the two domestic lay male donors are of privileged social class: Risoka, the donor of an AsP manuscript (T-no. 10) that was in the Ngor monastery when Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana visited Tibet in 1934, is identified as a prince (saurājabhadrasuta, lit. “blessed son of a king”),25 and Pṛthvīdharasena, the donor of an AsP manuscript now in the Wellcome Library in London (Ms A6, T-no. 6), is identified as a kāyastha, which in the context of medieval illustrated Buddhist manuscript production should mean a court official.26 The sole monastic donor of the eleventh century was Sādhugupta of Taḍivāḍi monastery, whose title, śākyācārya sthavira, suggests he was a monastic elder. We also witness that donating illustrated Buddhist manuscripts was taken up by the women of socially privileged groups on all fronts. Tejokā of Ms A2 (T-no. 2), the earliest donation by a woman, was the wife of an official (kāyastha). Queen Uddākā of Nayapāla donated a Pañcarakṣā manuscript designed with the  



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most innovative iconographic program of the century (Ms D1, T-no. 3). Lāḍoka was the daughter of a bahubhūti, possibly indicating a landowner or a chieftain (Ms A5, T-no. 7). The last identified lay female donor of the eleventh century was the mother of a high-ranking monastic figure, as Māryurākā was the mother of a mahāpaṇḍita, Śrī Aśoka (T-no. 8).27 As discussed in chapter 2, the influx of Buddhists, both lay and monastic, from Tibet and Nepal should not be ignored as the possible impetus for the introduction of the practice of illustrating the folios of a Buddhist manuscript in eastern Indian monastic centers. While the connection of Sādhugupta, the donor of the earliest dated illustrated manuscript (Ms A1, T-no. 1), to Nepal is tentative, the second earliest surviving manuscript (Ms A2, T-no. 2), donated by Tejokā, was in fact in Nepal by 1235 CE (NS 355), as attested in the later colophon. As we have seen, the donor Rāmajīva of the second earliest manuscript made in Nālandā (Ms A3, T-no. 4) was a Nepali. The donor of the third Nālandā production, now in the Asia Society, New York (Ms A4, T-no. 5), is not identified as of foreign origin, except for his nonSanskrit name, Nāesutaṣohāsitna, but the Tibetan colophon on the last folio testifies to its transportation to Tibet by the beginning of the thirteenth century and also suggests its possession by luminary scholars, such as Mahapaṇḍita Śākya Śrībhadra, a famous Kashmiri master active in Tibet between 1204 and 1213, and Bu-ston (1290–1364 CE), the famous compiler of the first Tibetan canon of Buddhism.28 One may wonder whether the high percentage of foreign donors is correlated to the fact that the only surviving eastern Indian manuscripts are those transported to Tibet and Nepal. It is true that almost all illustrated Buddhist manuscripts examined in this study have come down to us thanks to the pilgrims from the Himalayan regions and monks traveling there. The manuscripts were portable sacred objects, which could conveniently be carried on a long journey. Surviving manuscripts may not reflect the reality in eastern India but rather show the pattern of movement of the manuscripts across the borders during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. If this is the case, we should see a lot more foreign donors regardless of their dates. But this is not so. The donors with a close tie to either Nepal or Tibet make a high percentage of the overall donors only during the first half of the eleventh century. It is as if the production of illustrated manuscripts began mainly as  

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an export-oriented business and the domestic demands grew as laymen and laywomen of high social status caught up with the trend. Female Patronage of the Buddhist Book Cult

From the donative data that we currently have, we can conclude that the practice of donating illustrated manuscripts initially appealed more to laywomen than to any other donor group (see fig. 6-2). The high percentage of women as donors of illustrated manuscripts during the eleventh century challenges the conventional wisdom that discredits women’s involvement in Buddhist practices in medieval India.29 The medieval Indian Buddhist women were active participants in mainstream Buddhist practices, one of which was making donations of sacred objects.30 The manuscripts donated by laywomen suggest that they were most in tune with the newest fashion and trend in making religious donations. Through their support of new design schemes in Buddhist manuscript production, they contributed to channeling artistic creativity into the Buddhist book cult and to boosting the production of illustrated manuscripts of sophisticated designs. As we have seen in chapter 4, the Pañcarakṣā manuscript donated by Queen Uddākā (Ms D1, T-no. 3) employed the most innovative design among the eleventh-century manuscripts. It was the first manuscript that realized the idea of constructing a three-dimensional maṇḍala in a book (Group D scheme). Unlike later Nepalese manuscripts and some twelfth-century eastern Indian examples where we have the donors represented within a manuscript’s visual space, the queen is not represented in the peripheral space of this book-maṇḍala. Instead, the center panel of the last folio depicts a scene of ritual in which a monk kneels piously (fig. 6–3). Nonetheless, she is more than present in this manuscript: her name is clearly present in the donor colophon on the same folio as the ritual scene in which a monk is shown with ritual implements. In addition, her name appears throughout the text of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra, which is custom-written to include her name as the direct beneficiary of the invoked goddess.31 Inserting a sentence like “May all the disease of me, Uddākā, her family and all sentient beings be dispelled and the well-being prevail!”32 reflects a sincere desire for the efficacy of the manuscript’s donation in curing diseases, warding off evils, and protecting the donors. I wonder if there was any personal  



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12th-13th centuries 11th century

Monastic (Male) Donation

14%

17% 73%

Lay Male Donation 33%

Women’s Donation

13%

50%

Figure 6-2  Changes in patronage pattern between the 11th century (bottom) and the 12th–13th centuries (top).  

urgency on the part of our queen. The date of this manuscript, the fourteenth year of Nayapāla’s reign, marks the penultimate year of his reign, for Nayapāla is said to have ruled for fifteen years. Is it possible that the queen was advised to donate a manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra with an ambitious, potent design for the well-being of her ailing husband? We will not know the answer to this question, since we do not know much about Nayapāla’s reign from other historical sources. If Tibetan accounts of communication between Atīśa (the great master, Dīpaṅkara Śrījñāna) and Nayapāla as recorded in Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India and in the Vimala-ratna-lekha (a letter sent to king Nayapāla from Atīśa while the latter was in Nepal on his way to Tibet) hold any historical truth, Nayapāla was a “dharmic” king inclined to Buddhist values.33 While this portrayal of the king may be wishful thinking on the part of Tibetan hagiographers, it is not difficult to imagine his queen as a pious Mahāyāna lay Buddhist who sought this-worldly benefits in the donation of an illustrated manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra.34 Other eleventh-century manuscripts donated by laywomen also show creative designs. The manuscript donated by Tejokā (Ms A2, T-no. 2) is the earliest example in which we see the in-between space of the bands around the holes being used to include the figures of celestial attendants that flank the text and the central panels.35 Another manuscript donated by a lady named Lāḍokā 36 (Ms A5, T-no. 7) advances

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Figure 6-3  Monk doing a pūjā, folio 70r, Pañcarakṣā manuscript (Ms D1), Nayapāla’s 14th year (ca. 1041 CE), Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688. Image reproduced by kind permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.

the idea of using central space in the Group A design scheme by locating six of the Buddha’s life scenes in the center of the manuscript (see W-diagram 3–2). The manuscript donated by Māryurākā, the mother of a mahāpaṇḍita Śrī Aśoka, during Śūrapāla’s second regnal year is one of the earliest surviving manuscripts that utilize the inner space of the book covers (wooden end boards) in the iconographic programming of the manuscript. It is also the earliest dated manuscript where we see the appropriation of Jaṅgulī and Mahāmāyūrī as attendants of Tārā and the rare pictorial representations of the five prajñās.37 A second Pañcarakṣā manuscript now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Banaras Hindu University, was also donated by a lay female. Despite the damage to the last folio, we can identify the donor as a Mahāyāna lay female from the female cases employed in the surviving parts of the donor colophon, “pravaramahayānayāyinyāḥ paramopāsikā  .  .  . dakāya.” This Pañcarakṣā manuscript, too, is made with a unique design scheme. It follows the iconographic structure of an illustrated Prajñāpāramitā manuscript, and it appropriates the iconographies of various manifestations of Tārā in rendering the five goddesses and her associates.38 Women are no longer a majority among the twelfth-century donors of illustrated manuscripts (see fig. 6-2). Female donors make about 13 percent of the donors, as three manuscripts out of twenty-two have the donors identified as women, one of which is a Buddhist nun (bhikṣuṇī). In general, the manuscripts donated by women are of excellent quality reflecting their privileged social and economic status. An AsP man 



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uscript now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, which was discussed at length in chapter 4 (Ms D2, T-no. 11), is a late eleventh-century donation by a laywoman. The donor colophon was retouched at some point,39 and the donor’s name now reads “Rājyapāla.”40 However, the later hand did not manage to fully erase the identity of the original donor, because the title in female form, “pravaramahayānayāyinyā parmopāsikā,” and a part of her name, “salakā” (“. . . salakāyā . . .”), still survive. The degree of artistic accomplishment seen in this manuscript is outstanding, and the lady who donated this manuscript may have been a queen or a person of a royal house, just like Queen Uddākā of the Pañcarakṣā manuscript (Ms D1, T-no. 3). Another known twelfth-century donation by a woman identifies the donor as a queen of Govindacandra, a Gahāḍavāla king of the twelfth century, named Vasantadevī.41 Although it is not possible to reconstruct the iconographic program of Vasantadevī’s manuscript because we do not know the current whereabouts of this manuscript,42 it is important to note that an AsP manuscript was being donated by a queen of a Gahāḍavāla ruler during the first half of the twelfth century. A Pañcarakṣā manuscript prepared during the late twelfth century (Ms C6, T-no. 28) was sponsored by Hīrākā, who was the wife of a “ṭhakkura,” an honorific term indicating that her husband, Śrī Vahudhana, was a man of rank or a chieftain. The involvement of women of high social status, especially of the queens, in Buddhist manuscript production and possibly in the Buddhist book cult challenges us to rethink the premise that women disappeared from the Buddhist scene in eastern India by the ninth century. In a way, what we see in the pattern of female patronage of illustrated Buddhist books is the reversal of the earlier trope of a virtuous Buddhist king and an antagonistic queen featured in the story of the emperor Aśoka’s jealous queen from the Aśokāvadāna.43 In medieval Indian archaeological and art historical sources, laywomen, especially of the royal houses, emerge as active agents supporting Buddhist institutions.44 One excellent example is the twelfth-century construction of a monastery at Sārnāth sponsored by another queen of the Gahaḍavala ruler Govindacandra, Queen Kumaradevī.45 She proudly asserts her social, political, and religious identity in a public statement inscribed on a large rectangular stone panel, which must have been placed at the entrance to the monastery. In this elaborate inscription, Kumaradevī is compared with

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the goddess Tārā in her virtue and compassion, as if she had been an incarnate of the goddess herself on this earth, and her grace and beauty is compared to the goddess Pārvatī. She is also likened with the goddess Vasudhārā, as the monastery that she erected was “an ornament to the earth, the round of which consists of nine segments, decorated as it were by Vasudhārā herself in the form of Tāriṇī.”46 In considering the role of women in medieval Indian Buddhism, it is also noteworthy that the poet of this praśasti (eulogy), identified as Śrīkunda, compares Kumaradevī’s restoration of the Buddhist teachings at Sārnāth to the activities of the emperor Aśoka (dharmāśoka), indeed reversing the trope of righteous Buddhist king and non-Buddhist queen in his analogy. While our data is too limited to generalize about women’s social status in medieval Indian Buddhist context, the evidence so far examined suggests that women were active promoters of the Buddhist book cult.47 Monastic Donors of the Illustrated Buddhist Manuscripts

Another remarkable pattern we notice in table 6–1 is the lack of interest from monastic donors during the initial phase of the use of illustrated manuscripts in the Buddhist book cult, despite the fact that many fine manuscripts were made within the vicinity of Nālandā. The sole monastic donor of the eleventh century, Sādhugupta, may be from Nepal, and the rest are all lay donors. It is only towards the mid-twelfth century that we start seeing the domestic monastic donors commissioning illustrated manuscripts. Five out of twenty-five manuscripts of the twelfth to thirteenth centuries identify monastic donors, four monks and one nun. It seems that monastic donors of the mega-monasteries (mahāvihāras), such as Nālandā, finally took an interest in commissioning an illustrated manuscript, after a century of illustrated manuscript production and donation there. Although they are not the major impetus behind the illustrated manuscript production, the increase in the number of monastic donors is substantial in comparison to the eleventh century. However, the twelfth- to thirteenth-century monastic donors were also mostly from outside. The donor of a late eleventhcentury manuscript (T-no. 12) made during the eighteenth regnal year of Rāmapāla (ca. 1095 CE) in the Āpanaka monastery was a monastic elder (sthavira) Trailokyacandra, who identifies himself as a disciple of  



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Pūrṇacandra, whose title reads śākyabhikṣu-sthavira. He was not from the immediate Magadha-Anga-Varendra area but from the “Malaya” country (malayadeśa-vinirgata), which often refers to the region around Travancore hills in south India. The Āpanaka monastery was located in the vicinity of Kurkihar, about 50 kilometers east of Bodhgayā.48 We know from the bronze statues found at the site that the Buddhist pilgrims from south India frequented the area and possibly formed a community there, because a few inscriptions identify the donors as coming from Kanci(puram) and Kerala.49 If the Āpanaka monastery catered to the Buddhist visitors from south India, Nālandā remained the center for the monastic visitors from north. Another twelfth-century manuscript (Ms C1, T-no. 15) was donated by a monk in Nālandā during Rāmapāla’s thirty-seventh regnal year (ca. 1124 CE). The colophon identifies the donor as bhikṣu Vijayakīrti, who was born in Ciṇadeśa (ciṇadeśodbhava). He was a “resident of the city of Nālandā, ornamented by the Tribhuvanadevī monastery.”50 Ciṇadeśa refers to Tibet, and our donor, Vijayakīrti, was a Tibetan Buddhist monk residing in Nālandā during the early twelfth century. Although he was just a bhikṣu, not a sthavira nor of any other title, he had ample resources to commission a sumptuously illustrated manuscript of an ambitious design scheme, including a full-page painting of monks of Nālandā (see fig 4–2).51 An AsP manuscript now in the British Library (Or. 6902, Ms C4, T-no. 21) dated to the mid-twelfth century is also a donation by a monk and he is not identified as from outside. The manuscript was prepared in the Vikramaśīla monastery located near Bhagalpur, in Monghyr district (Bihar). The colophon identifies the donor as a monastic elder (śākyabhikṣu-sthavira), Sumatiśrīmitra.52 The quality of production is superb, with beautifully written letters that are evenly sized in square and have curlicues for the little protruding parts of each character. The paintings also show the hand of a confident master artisan, as the physiognomic features and the modeling of the bodies are skillfully done (see fig. 4–1). The sophisticated iconographic program and the level of perfection in the production may reflect Sumatiśrīmitra’s authority as a monastic elder.53 The interest and the economic capacity to commission an illustrated manuscript remained limited among the monastic donors of eastern  

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Indian origin throughout the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries. Very few cases can be confirmed as donations by the monastic donors of eastern Indian origin. Another monastic elder (śākyabhikṣusthavira) is identified as the donor of a Pañcarakṣa manuscript that was in the Ngor monastery when Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana visited Tibet in 1934.54 The manuscript is dated to Govindacandra’s reign (ca. 1104–1154 CE). Because Sāṅkṛtyāyana did not copy the entire colophon, we do not know where this manuscript was prepared and whether the monk was a visitor from outside or not. The black-and-white photographs taken by Sāṅkṛtyāyana in the 1930s suggest that this manuscript was another masterfully prepared monastic production with carefully executed paintings and clean writings.55 At Nālandā, we have inscriptional evidence, such as Vipulaśrīmitra’s praśasti (eulogy) inscription discussed in chapter 2, which records a donation of the AsP manuscript in the temple of Khasarpaṇa Avalokiteśvara by a monk of excellent pedigree, Vipulaśrīmitra. It is impossible to tell whether Vipulaśrīmitra’s manuscript was illustrated, but if we understand the reference to a case or a container, “mañjūṣa,” in the eulogy as referring to a manuscript with painted covers and, possibly, painted folios, Vipulaśrīmitra’s manuscript may well have been a beautifully illustrated copy, just like another twelfth-century manuscript (Ms D5, T-no. 27) donated by a lay couple from the Rādha country during the twelfth century, which, according to the colophon, was also placed in the temple of Khasarpaṇa in Nālandā.56 The fact that many monastic donors of illustrated manuscripts were from outside suggests that eastern Indian Buddhist monasteries remained international seats of learning even in this late period.57 Many aspiring Buddhists from different parts of the world flocked to the Bud­­ dhist monasteries of Magadha and Gauḍa (roughly corresponding to Bihar and West Bengal). The presence of Chinese pilgrims in Indian Buddhist monasteries is well known from early on. Since the beginning of phyi-dar (the later spread of Buddhism to Tibet) in the late tenth century, Tibetan Buddhists, both monastic and lay, formed a dominant visitor group at a monastic institution like Nālandā. The Āpanaka monastery, probably established after the eighth century, had Buddhist visitors from all over south India, including the Kerala country, Kañci (Kañcipuram in Tamil Nadu), and the Malaya country, as exemplified  



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in donor inscriptions. Many of the south Indian donors were monks, and the appearance of the names of many monastic donors originating from Kañci suggests that there potentially existed an institutional connection between the Āpanaka monastery and the centers in south India, possibly one in Kañcipuram, which was an important Buddhist center.58 On the other hand, the late, scanty participation of monks in the business of commissioning an illustrated manuscript concurs with the picture that book donation, and perhaps possession, was mainly taken up by the laity. As the recent study by Schopen suggests, there is a strong possibility that the “Mahāyāna” cult of the book began as a lay-oriented practice. The textual references in Mahāyāna sūtras that mention the worship of a book analyzed by Schopen, such as the AsP, the Pañcaviṃśatī Prajñāpāramitā sūtra (PvP), the Saddharmapuṇḍarika, and the Bhaiṣajyaguru, to name but a few, suggest that a book as an object of worship can be possessed by a lay person and kept inside a layman’s house.59 In medieval eastern India, the Buddhist book cult was a mostly lay-based practice. During the first half of the twelfth century, the lay male (LM) emerges as a dominant donor group, as sixteen manuscripts out of twenty-two manuscripts (72.2 percent of the total number) were donations by lay males.60 Although all of them are identified as Mahāyāna Buddhist laity (pravaramahāyānayayina, lit. “the most excellent Mahāyāna follower,” and paramopāsaka, lit. “distinguished layperson”), the significant esotericization in iconographic programs coinciding with the shift in the production pattern presents a tantalizing possibility of the involvement of lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners in the Buddhist book cult. Before turning to the issue of what being a Mahāyāna layperson might have meant in twelfth- to thirteenthcentury eastern India, let us consider another historically important issue that arises from analyzing the manuscript colophons, the existence of a Buddhist nun in medieval India. Buddhist Nuns in Medieval Eastern India

A complete manuscript of the AsP now in the Detroit Institute of Arts was prepared during the seventeenth regnal year of a Pāla king, Madanapāla (1160 CE), and it was prepared by a scribe (lekhaka) named Śrīdharaka in a town named Ghośalīgrama. The donor of the manuscript is identified as a nun (bhikṣuṇī), Mahāśrībhadrā. The manuscript

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donated by Mahāśrībhadrā appears inferior to the Nālandā manuscripts, especially in terms of the pigments used in production. The paintings in Mahāśrībhadrā’s manuscript are subdued in color in comparison with those in the twelfth-century manuscripts made in Nālandā, such as the brilliant paintings on the folios prepared during the eighth regnal year of Gopāla (ca. 1140 CE) (see fig. 1–3). However, the sophisticated characteristics of production, such as the customized iconographic program, skillful execution of paintings, and the inclusion of the latest features in book design, suggest that Mahāśrībhadrā had access to some economic resources to commission this manuscript.61 While the color palette may not be as vivid as the one used in Nālandā productions, the paintings were done as skillfully as those done by Nālandā artisans: the lines are swiftly yet confidently drawn, and the modeling of the bodies and the rendering of physiognomy and other ornamental details are elegantly executed. Moreover, Mahāśrībhadrā’s manuscript has thumbnail-like tiny images placed at the end of each chapter in addition to the painted panels placed at the beginning, in the middle, and at the end of the manuscript, showing a new design feature seen in twelfth-century Nālandā manuscripts (fig. 6–4). But, how did Mahāśrībhadrā accumulate enough resources to commission an elaborate manuscript like this one? What did it mean to be a Buddhist nun in medieval India? It is difficult to answer these questions, but we can speculate from her donation that her economic status was not so poor. As I have suggested elsewhere, we know from other art historical and epigraphic evidence that Mahāśrībhadrā’s teacher, Vijayaśrībhadrā, identified in the colophon as a master nun (śākya-stharā, sic.), was active in the area near Lakhi Sarai during the height of Buddhist activities in the region during the mid-twelfth century and Mahāśrībhadrā commissioned this manuscript in a nearby town, Ghośalīgrama (Ghosra­ wan) in between Lakhi Sarai and Nālandā.62 For Mahāśrībhadrā and Vijayaśrībhadrā to become Buddhist nuns and for Vijayaśrībhadrā to have a title of sthavirā that is publicly proclaimed on an image donation, there should have been a community of Buddhist nuns that could give ordinations and bestow titles or, at least, some monks who were inclined to give ordinations to women and who accepted hierarchical rising of nuns to the status of a senior nun (sthavirā).63 Although we will not know whether they were part of a thriving community  

 



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Figure 6-4  Examples of chapter-ending marks in 12th century Nālandā manuscripts. Top: symbols on folio 204r marking the end of chapter 32 and the end of the entire text, AsP Ms, Govindapāla’s 4th year (ca. 1179 CE), Nālandā monastery, Bihar. Donor: Prince Lakṣmīdhara. Royal Asiatic Society, London. Hodgson Ms. 1. Bottom: symbols on the colophon folio marking the end of chapter 32 and the beginning of the text-end colophons, AsP Ms, Rāmapāla’s 37th year (ca. 1114 CE), Nālandā monastery, Bihar. Donor: Tibetan monk Vijayakīrti; scribe: Kanakamunijāgeśvara. Tibet Museum, Lhasa.

of nuns or not until further evidence comes to light, the presence of a lineage of Buddhist nuns in medieval India is an intriguing piece of a puzzle that may allow us see the bigger picture regarding the social status of women in general in medieval Indian Buddhist context.64 I wonder if the participation of Buddhist nuns in the Buddhist book cult and the image donation has any correlation with the high profile of the lay female patronage in the production of illustrated manuscripts. We may have only one female monastic donor, but the fact that there is one is significant because there are only a few monastic donors during the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. Other than Sumatiśrīmitra donating a manuscript at the famous Vikramaśīla monastery, Mahāśrībhadrā is the only identified monastic donor who was not from outside.65 Social Characteristics of Lay Male Patronage

By far, the largest donor group of the twelfth to thirteenth centuries is lay male (LM). Fifteen manuscripts out of twenty-five manuscripts dated

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to the twelfth to thirteenth centuries bear colophons that identify their donors as the most excellent Mahāyāna layman (pravaramahāyānayāyinaparamopāsaka). One manuscript uses dānapati, meaning donor, instead of paramopāsaka (T-no. 24). Like the lay male donors of the eleventh century, a number of lay male donors of the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries belong to a politically and economically privileged social group. The donor of the manuscript now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (Ms D3, T-no. 14), Udayasiṃha, seems to have been a court official, possibly of Rāmapāla’s court, if we read his title, vāsāgārikarāṇaka, as the chief (rāṇaka) of the bedchamber (vāsāgārika), as Losty suggests.66 The colophon folio of an AsP manuscript now in the British Library (Add. 14282, Ms D7, T-no. 31) does not survive, but if the invocation of “Soma,” a name of a general known from Rāmapāla’s military campaigns within the AsP text, has any relevance, the donor may have been a person of means.67 The donor of the Pañcarakṣā manuscript prepared during Madanapāla’s seventeenth year (T-no. 25) was the prince (rājaputra) Vikramāṇa of the Māṇa house, whose father, King Rudramāṇa, arose to power by taking advantage of the chaotic situation in the Pāla land, where successive weak kings such as Nayapāla, Vigrahapāla III, and Mahīpāla II ruled in the late eleventh century.68 Although Madanapāla is acknowledged in the date colophon, he is not given any glorious royal title,69 whereas Rudramāṇa is identified with elaborate epithets, the great lord among the feudatory chiefs, the great king of kings, and the ruler of the great realm (“mahāsāmantādhipatimahārājādhirāja-mahāmaṇḍalika”). The donor of an AsP manuscript prepared in Nālandā now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London (Ms D6, T-no. 26), was also a prince (saurājaputra) named Lakṣmīdhara.70 While rulers and chieftains making Buddhist donations is a common practice from the early centuries of Indian Buddhist history, the medieval cases of Buddhist book donations by laity suggest that Buddhism was well integrated into the Indic social system. Religious debates continued in medieval India among the scholars belonging to different schools of Buddhism and various Brahmanic traditions. We hear about the persecution of Buddhists by Śaiva rulers, and Buddhists are portrayed in unfavorable light in early medieval literature.71 But at the level of practice, Indian Buddhism, especially what we call Mahāyāna Buddhism, was successful in addressing worldly needs and desires of



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the laity as effectively as any other Indic religious traditions which may be characterized as “this-worldly religion.”72 The colophon in another Nālandā manuscript, now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan, Varanasi (Ms D5, T-no. 27), identifies the donor simply as a Mahāyāna layman “Pauruṣa.” But the unique eulogy added after the usual “deya dharmo ’yam” formula tells us that the donor and his wife were Brahman73 (twice-born, dvijau) from the Rāṭa country (rāṭadvaye deśatau, possibly referring to the two Rāḍhas—upper Rāḍha and lower Rāḍha—located in the area west of the Hooghly river in West Bengal) and the donor was a town headman (grāmāgraṇī). It is interesting that our donor, Pauruṣa, whose name (meaning “of a person”) rings with the anonymity of a “John Doe,” is described as a pious and virtuous lay Buddhist making a donation of an elaborate manuscript at the temple of Khasarpaṇa (Avalokiteśvara) in the city of Nālandā, an act conducted for the happiness of his subjects (kṣemam- prāpayintum prajāḥ), especially because he is also identified as a Brahman. His case is not unique, because we also have Rāmadeva who made a donation of a PvP manuscript (Ms B3, T-no. 13) and who may also have been a Brahman. While Rāmadeva’s social identity is not identified in the simple donor colophon, the last folio contains a depiction of a ritual worship of a book in which we see a donor figure kneeling under a book, paying homage to the book, opposite a Buddhist monk (fig. 6–5). Here Rāmadeva is represented as a bearded man wearing a simple dhoti, with typical signs of a Brahman, an upavita (sacred thread) across his chest and a tuft of hair on the back of his head. Even his name, Rāmadeva, is not particularly Buddhist, as Rāma is a wellknown incarnation of Viṣṇu. We also have a second Lakṣmīdhara, the donor of a thirteenth-century AsP manuscript now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan (Ms D10, T-no. 34), who is identified as the son of a ṭhakkura named Karṇadatta.74 Karṇadatta’s name and the title (ṭhakkura) suggest that he was a man of wealth and had a high social status, if we take the ending datta (as in a Bengali surname, Dutta or Datta) to carry any social connotation in this period. From the evidence at hand, it seems that being a lay Buddhist in medieval eastern India may not have been in much conflict with belonging to a normative caste group. There may actually have been a lay Buddhist who was a Brahman in medieval Indian Buddhist context. That Mahāyāna Buddhism in medieval India accommodated the  

 

 

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Figure 6-5  Donor Rāmadeva and a monk worshipping a book, folio 560r, PvP Ms, ca. 1100 CE (Harivarman’s 8th year), Baroda Museum and Picture Gallery.

caste system and that the boundary between late Indian Buddhism and Hinduism, especially Śaiva traditions, got blurred as Esoteric Buddhism developed have long been noted.75 For instance, Max Weber intuitively writes in his Religion of India76 that Buddhism “had to compete with the Hindu propaganda of the Shivaists and was in the Mahayanistic North Indian fashion amalgamated with the Hindu caste system.”77 My point here is not to support the colonial projection of late Indian Buddhism as a degenerate, corrupt form of Buddhism.78 Rather, it is to consider what being a lay Buddhist in medieval India might have meant socially and religiously. It seems that Buddhists, once considered “outside of the ritual universe” of the Brahmanic model,79 were well integrated into the larger social order by this time. Perhaps, this integration was too seamlessly and thoroughly done, from the point of Buddhism’s survival as a distinctive soteriological religious tradition. Once great Buddhist monastic institutions fell into ruins, nothing could really stop the integration of Buddhist institutions and Buddhist practices into the larger Indic religious traditions until they became only a shadowy presence. One could also argue that Buddhist institutions, in their effort for survival in competition for patronage, may have credited anyone willing to pay a fortune for making a Buddhist donation with the title “Mahāyāna layperson.” Image donations at a Buddhist site in medieval eastern India might have operated in this manner at times. However,



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donating a manuscript of a Buddhist scripture, I would suggest, was a seriously Buddhist business in most cases. The Buddhist book cult, while “instrumental” as a devotional practice, ostensibly retains its soteriological characteristics, especially with the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, the fundamental philosophical treaty of Mahāyāna Buddhism, in the center of the cult.80 The social characteristics of medieval Indian Buddhism that we learn from analyzing manuscript colophons look very similar to Newar Buddhism of the Kathmandu Valley. The sacerdotal order of Newar Buddhism consists of the hereditary caste of priests and part-time monks (Vajrācāryas and Śākyas), of which Vajrācārya is often dubbed “Buddhist Brahman.” As David Gellner points out, Newar Buddhism may just be “a direct lineal descendent of the Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism practice in north India  .  .  . seven to eight hundred years ago.”81 Further research into the social constituency of lay Buddhists in medieval eastern India beyond what we can find in the donor colophons will help us understand the connection better, but even with the evidence at hand, we can suggest that the concept of the married householder monk or Tantric priest (Vajrācārya) was not foreign in medieval India. There may have been married householder Esoteric Buddhist practitioners, although not necessarily priests, in medieval India. Emergence of Lay Esoteric Buddhist Practitioners

Among the fifteen lay male donors of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from twelfth- and thirteenth-century eastern India, at least seven donors may belong to what I would like to categorize as lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners (LMe). As we have seen in the previous chapter, Esoteric Buddhist iconography and Esoteric Buddhist theology are fully utilized in designing illustrated manuscripts during the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. Interestingly, the donors of the manuscripts with the most complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography are not monastic but laymen who are not identified with high social status. In place of rājaputra or vāsāgārikarāṇa, we find the term sādhu appearing in front of one’s name after the title of the “pious Mahāyāna layman.” The earliest dated instance of this term appearing in a manuscript colophon is in a Pañcarakṣā manuscript dated with Rāmapāla’s thirty-ninth year (ca. 1116 CE).82 The full name of the donor is not visible, but the sur-

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viving part reads that the donor was a layman, a sādhuka,83 Śrījava 000 ta-cintoka.84 The term sādhu today means a wandering ascetic and a yogic practitioner, who is usually a Śaiva (Śiva follower).85 It is difficult to determine if the term had a similar social connotation in the twelfthcentury eastern Indian Buddhist context. The term sādhu appears frequently in late medieval Jain inscriptions, and in many cases, it seems to have been used as a common title, like Mr., for a layman.86 While it is possible that the term sādhu did not carry any specific social significance in medieval Buddhist context, there is a tantalizing possibility that the lay donors with the title sādhu included in their colophons were lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners similar to an adept (sādhaka) of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, when the colophons are analyzed collectively along with art historical evidence.87 First of all, we should note that the known donor names that are accompanied by the title sādhu are very Buddhist, or Esoteric Buddhist, if you will, in their meanings and forms. The donor of an AsP manuscript prepared during the fourth regnal year of Gopāla, the illustrated folios, and the book covers, which are now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, (Ms D4, T-no. 20) was Śrī Kamalapāṇisiṃha, whose father was sādhu Śrī Vajrapāṇisiṃha. Vajrapāṇi is an important bodhi­ sattva whose main attribute, vajra, is the most important symbol of the entire Esoteric Buddhist pantheon. Siṃha is a common name among Buddhists, as the historical Buddha Śākyamuni was Śākyasiṃha, the lion of the Śākya clan.88 Kamalapāṇisiṃha, while not a sādhu, is identified with an interesting donor title, dānapati-sāndhi, and his name, too, is constructed like a name of a bodhisattva. That is, Padmapāṇi, as kamala, could mean lotus, just like padma. The donor of another twelfthcentury AsP manuscript now in the National Archive, Kathmandu (T-no. 24), was a śausādhu, or a good sādhu, named Yamāricanda. The first part of his name, Yamāri, is that of a popular wrathful deity in the Esoteric Buddhist pantheon.89 Even when a donor’s name is not accompanied by the title sādhu, other elements of a donor colophon could suggest a strong tie with Esoteric Buddhism. For example, the colophon of a Pañcarakṣā manuscript now in the National Museum (T-no. 17) identifies the donor as a Mahāyāna layman, Saupunūka,90 who was a son of Sausiddha (sausiddhaḍisuta-saupunūka). While the donor’s name is not preceded by the term sādhu, it is noteworthy that his father’s name



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literally means a good (sau) siddha (lit. “perfected one”; a common term used for a yogic practitioner who is neither a monk nor an ordinary layman in Indian Esoteric Buddhist context).91 If the donor was indeed a son of a siddha, a nonmonastic Esoteric Buddhist practitioner, it is possible that his father may have been a married householder who chose to follow the Esoteric Buddhist path.92 The colophon of a late twelfth-century AsP now in the collection of Musée Guimet (Ms D8, see fig. 5–8) identifies the donor as a layman (paramopāsaka), sādhu Gajoka (or Gajāka), who was son of Sevadhara. While their names are not as exclusively Buddhist as the other examples, it is noteworthy that sādhu Gajāka’s father, Sevadhara, was a “goldsmith-sādhu” (suvarṇakārasādhu). It may be that sādhu here is used as in many Jain inscriptions as a polite title for a layman. But if there is any chance that sādhu could carry a connotation of lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioner, Sevadhara as a goldsmith might have been an excellent candidate to be on the Esoteric Buddhist path that sought to transform one’s body into the enlightened body, since he was already a master of metallurgy who could transform elements into a refined object. While this last statement about suvarṇakāra-sādhu’s association with the Esoteric Buddhist path in India requires further research into the contemporary South Asian textual accounts,93 the iconographic program of this manuscript is surely designed with fully developed Esoteric Buddhist iconography, as we have seen in chapter 5 (see W-diagram 5–2, fig. 5–8). All the manuscripts that I have identified as donations of lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners belong to the Group D category in which we see the sophisticated use of Indian Esoteric Buddhist iconography of every phase. The iconographic program in the Pañcarakṣā manuscript (T-no. 16) may belong to the Group C category, as it comprises the five tathāgatas and the five goddesses appearing at the beginning of their respective rakṣā sūtras, but the iconographic characteristics of each deity follow the Group D manuscripts. The tathāgatas are represented in their Guhyasamāja manifestations with six arms and in bejeweled forms, as if embracing the five rakṣā goddesses as their respective consorts, and we see complex forms of wrathful deities, such as Vighnāntaka, who is shown prevailing over the Hindu god Ganeśa.94 The second manuscript in this group is also a Pañcarakṣā manuscript (T-no. 17), and this, too, shows a unique iconographic arrangement with the five goddesses rep 

 

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resented in Guhyasamāja forms that belong to the Group D category. The cultic nature of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra is fundamentally Mahāyāna, but the Esoteric Buddhist images incorporated into the manuscripts enhance the cultic power of the books tremendously. By updating the imagery to include fantastic and frightening divinities, these manuscripts could maintain their cultic efficacy.95 More importantly, all the manuscripts of the AsP, a fundamentally Mahāyāna Buddhist text, identified in this donor group contain innovative iconographic programs with complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography. As we have seen in the previous chapter, the manuscript of Kamalapāṇisiṃha, now in Boston (Ms D4, T-no. 20), is cleverly structured as if bringing together the Mahāyāna imagery and the Esoteric Buddhist imagery with the highly esoteric deities (Hevajra, Mañjuvajra, and Sambara) and protector deities (KṛṣṇaYamāri and Vighnāntaka) in the center and with the Sadāprarudita narrative recast in Esoteric Buddhist context (see fig. 5-3). The illustrated folios in Yamāricanda’s manuscript suffered too much damage to reconstruct the iconographic program,96 but the image on folio 281 verso seems to have been a Guhyasamāja manifestation. The donor of an AsP manuscript now in the Asiatic Society Mumbai (Ms D9, T-no. 32) was a layman, Devanidhi. The title preceding his name after paramopāsaka reads “sādharmika.” The literal meaning of sādharmika may be related to sadharma, indicating “a person of the same religion,” but it may also be a misspelling of sadhārmika, a person of good virtues. Given the use of the term sādhu in donor colophons, another tantalizing possibility is that it is somehow related to the Sanskrit verb root sādh, “to meditate,” as in sādhaka of the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa (Mmk), who occupies a liminal tier of social existence between householder and monastic.97 Identifying the donor Devanidhi as a sādhaka may be problematic, but the possibility of identifying him as a lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioner greatly increases when we consider the iconographic program of his manuscript. As discussed in chapter 4, Devanidhi’s manuscript is an iconographic masterpiece that clearly articulates iconographic details of both Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna imagery (Ms D9, see W-diagram 5– 3, fig. 5–9, web 5–4, 5–5), which is an astonishing achievement in late twelfth- to early thirteenth-century eastern India. One may wonder, however, how tenable the correlation between the use of the Esoteric Buddhist iconography and the involvement of  

 



 

 

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Esoteric Buddhist practitioners as donors is. The donors may have had nothing to do with how the manuscripts were designed. But if the lay donors possessed these manuscripts that they commissioned, as Schopen’s recent study suggests, we can consider the possibility that the donors cared about how their manuscripts were made. That the level of a donor’s economic capability suggested in their social status directly correlates to the level of refinement in the final product also supports this possibility. Let us imagine Devanidhi and his relationship with the manuscript. He probably had this manuscript in his possession. Commissioning this manuscript may just have been a merit-making endeavor, as the stock phrase claiming the Mahāyāna piety, “deya dharmo ’yam . . . (this is a pious gift of . . .),” suggests. But if our previous conclusion about the close relationship between the medieval Buddhist manuscript production and the paṭa (painted scroll) production as discussed in the Mmk can be entertained,98 it is not difficult to imagine Devanidhi in the place of sādhaka, the ideal practitioner of the Mmk. Like sādhaka using a paṭa as an immediate tool to enter into the divine world and to transcend the human limitations,99 Devanidhi could have used this manuscript to bring the images and the text together in his mind and to locate the fundamental principles of Mahāyāna Buddhism in Esoteric Buddhist praxis and vice versa. I doubt that Devanidhi dispensed with this book once he mastered the book-maṇḍala. The book as an empowered, transformative object probably remained a potent sacred object of worship. Ultimately, the main role of an illustrated Buddhist manuscript was to create the sacred presence, just like many painted maṇḍalas whose function was to mark the physical presence of the divine or the divine realm.100 We can find another piece of the puzzle that supports the involvement of Esoteric Buddhist practitioners in the Buddhist book cult in the appearance of siddha-like figures in contemporary manuscript paintings. Already in the eleventh century, our lay donor from Nepal, Rāmajīva with whose image we started this chapter, looks similar to a yogic practitioner with his unkempt hair and simple attire (see fig. 6–1). Among the crowds eager to receive a boon (or a jewel) from Avalokiteśvara holding a tree laden with seven jewels (saptaratna) of the Universal Monarch (cakravartin) in a late-twelfth-century AsP manuscript, we find an array of representations of wandering ascetics. In  

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this wonderfully rich and detailed painting on folio 139v in a manuscript donated by a queen, Vihuṇadevī (Metropolitan Museum of Art 2001.445.I),101 we see a group of people rushing to receive the boon (or possibly a jewel) that bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara is giving away (see web 6–1).102 Avalokiteśvara in his two-armed, white form stands to the right of the overall composition, slightly bent forward to the left, with right hand lowered in boon-giving gesture while his left hand is raised as if delicately holding a vine, in a posture reminiscent of the lady Māyā giving birth to the Buddha. His usual attendants, Sudhanakumāra and Hayagrīva, stand close on either side of his legs. Right in front of his lowered right hand is a monk eagerly greeting Avalokiteśvara. Above him is an elderly figure with white matted hair and beard. This man, scantily dressed with minimal loincloth, does not look too different from pictures of a sādhu as today’s wandering ascetics.103 Right behind him is a younger man, again with minimal loincloth and long hair. In between these two ascetic-like figures is a man dressed in red monk’s robe, but interestingly a tuft of hair is still left on the back of his head, which is a common sign for a Brahman. Above this group we see a man who is shown with the markers of a Brahman, an upavita (sacred thread) and a tuft of hair on the back of his head, grabbing a woman who is also dressed in a simple loincloth like other ascetic figures. A younger man, possibly another ascetic, with a simple loincloth and long hair, holds the Brahman’s right arm with two hands as if politely stopping him. The bottom tier of the composition shows three more figures. In the far left bottom corner we see a humpback ascetic, and right in front of Sudhanakumāra seems to be a blind ascetic. The man in the middle of these two is shown with a red turban, and he wears white ornaments, possibly of bone, and carries a staff on his shoulder. Including a number of ascetic figures as eager devotees of bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in a manuscript illustration is an interesting iconographic choice. In addition, this painting includes an intriguing detail that shows an asceticlike figure with a book. A young man who appears to be an ascetic, with minimal clothing, is walking away from the scene with his left hand raised in the gesture of greeting behind Avalokiteśvara’s raised left arm. He holds an object in his right hand, and this rectangular object consisting of a white form sandwiched between red lines may represent a manuscript. It is as if he has received the most precious jewel of  



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all, the book, and is happily leaving the scene. The facing panel on the next page, representing the same subject matter with green Tārā as the main deity in an almost identical composition, suggests that the inclusion of a young ascetic figure with a book is not an accident (see web 6-2). As in the Avalokiteśvara panel, the display of social identity of each figure is carefully delineated. The only main difference in composition between the two panels is the absence of the man with a book in the Tārā panel.104 This compositional difference highlights the presence of the man with a book in the Avalokiteśvara panel because these two panels are always seen simultaneously in a book. It is difficult to determine the social status of the human characters depicted in these two paintings. They seem more tamed and domesticated in their appearance than what we encounter in the images of siddhas. The siddhas as described in Buddhist tantras, especially the yoginī tantras, do not seem to fit the picture of eager devotees of Avalokiteśvara and Tārā and using a book. The lay donors of the illustrated manuscripts that I have identified as the lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners were probably not outrageous antinomian figures outside of the society. They were most likely the lay Buddhist householders within the society, for which an adept (sādhaka) of the Mmk may be the closest textual model, if we can make a presumptive distinction between siddha and sādhaka. Nonetheless, it is also possible to make a connection between the siddhas and the Buddhist book cult in medieval India in contemporary visual representations. In Tibetan painted maṇḍalas of the same period, a book is often shown as the central object of worship in the ritual scene of the human world even when the main field of divine vision is filled with frightful details of the full-blown esoteric activities of siddhas in charnel grounds.105 The text of the Cakrasamvara tantra, while filled with instructions for sexual yoga and other magical practices, does not contain any reference to the worship of the book or the import of the book.106 If there is any emphasis given to the power of the text, it lies in its aurality, that is, mantra syllables, rather than physicality. Interestingly, a passage from the Hevajra tantra, another important yoginī tantra, suggests that the consideration for a book and its practical use is not completely excluded from that group of Buddhist tantras.

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Then the Goddess asked about books and he (Hevajra) replied, “O listen, Goddess, greatly blessed, and I will speak of our tradition on leaves of birch- bark twelve aṅgula long, with collyrium for ink and with a human bone as a pen. But if someone unworthy should see either book or painting, one will fail to gain perfection either in this world or the next. To one of our tradition it may be shown at any time. Then on a journey, the book should be hidden in the hair or under the arm.”107

This passage from the Hevajra tantra suggests that a book could be a secretive ritual implement that requires conditioning of the user. It also suggests that a book was important enough to travel with even when a wandering yogic practitioner, like any renouncer, had few material possessions on his or her journey. A book was not the most important cultic object for siddhas of the yoginī tantra, but it still held cultic value. For our lay donors, one of the main appeals of illustrated manuscripts of this period for the lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners must have been that a manuscript was the container of Buddha’s teaching, which by extension makes it his true relic. A book thus could connect practitioners to the root of the tradition when Buddhist practices looked more and more similar to those of other Indic religious traditions. The continued emphasis on the Buddha’s life scenes, with the scene of the enlightenment as the central focus, reflects this desire to be connected to the root. On the other hand, a book was also designed as a fantastic transformer that could help a practitioner in meditation and yogic practices through its technological possibilities and visual capacities. The manuscript’s potential as an animatable three-dimensional maṇḍala was realized perhaps thanks to the participation of lay Esoteric Buddhists.

The Buddhist Book Cult and the “Mahāyāna Laity” in Medieval India

The appearance of the lay donors who were self-proclaimed “Mahāyān­ ists” commissioning manuscripts containing highly complex Esoteric Buddhist iconographic programs in the twelfth century raises a question regarding the historical meaning of Mahāyāna in medieval India.



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Examining the linguistic structure and the usage of certain terms in colophons can help us find some answers to these questions. It is noteworthy that the term upāsaka, which we find in selective use among the donor inscriptions in early Buddhist sites, has become a standard term for the lay donors of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts in eastern India. As Schopen notes, the term paramopāsaka is used almost exclusively with the designation of “Mahāyāna follower,” and it only begins to appear after the sixth century.108 By the period that we are dealing with, that is, the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries, most Buddhist donations that bear donor colophons and inscriptions have what Schopen identifies as the most developed formula from earlier inscriptions: deyadharmo ’yam pravaramahāyānayāyina (-yāyinyā for female) . . . yadatra puṇyaṃ tadbhavatu ācāryopadhyāyamātāpitṛpūrvaṅgamaṃ kṛtvā sakalasatvarāśer-anuttarajñānaphalavāptaya iti 109 This is the religious gift of . . . what here is the merit, may that, having placed my teacher and preceptor, and my parents first, be for the fruit of obtaining supreme knowledge by all the multitude of beings.110

In comparison to this long, formal formula in a manuscript, sculptural donations usually bear a simplified version, understandably due to the limitation of space, and sometimes only the phrase “deyadharmo’yam . . . sya” appears. Both the donor colophons and the donor inscriptions ap­­pear almost always with the dharma verse in the periphery of the donated objects, as we have discussed in chapter 1, and it is not difficult to assume that what is implied in the inscriptions on sculptural donations is an abbreviated form of the same statement of Mahāyāna piety.111 But what did it mean to be a Mahāyāna layperson in medieval eastern India? What is their relationship to what we call Esoteric Buddhism or Vajrayāna? How should we understand the lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners who are Mahāyānists? If we take the title mahāyānayāyina as having any connotation of a person’s religious identity, as it does when the term first appears in inscriptions,112 the abundant presence of self-proclaimed Mahāyāna Buddhists during the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries raises an interesting question regarding the social and doctrinal characteris-

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tics of Buddhism in practice, because this is the period when we also see Tantric (Esoteric) Buddhism, or Vajrayāna, in full bloom. Textually, the compilation of different Buddhist tantras and their maturation seen in the development of the commentarial literature reached a new height during this period.113 At a societal level, the eleventh century is when siddhas (perfected ones) appeared as an antinomian group of Esoteric Buddhist practitioners within the social boundaries.114 At a more practical level, the production of images and sacred objects of the period reflects the sophisticated understanding of Esoteric Buddhist theologies and practices. The illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, as we have examined, are designed to materialize different means for pursuing the Esoteric Buddhist path for enlightenment in the most innovative manner. This picture of blooming Esoteric Buddhism may seem contradictory to the facts that the donors of the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts identify themselves as Mahāyāna followers and that all the texts of the illustrated manuscripts, whether Prajñāpāramitā, Pañcarakṣā, or Kāraṇḍavyūha, are categorically of the Mahāyāna sūtras. If we just look at the last two aspects, we may conclude that we are dealing with what we could categorize as purely Mahāyāna devotional activities. This may be so, since they are named as such. In this light, my suggestion that the iconographic programs of the illustrated manuscripts innovatively materialized the Esoteric Buddhist theologies and means may seem groundless. It may just be that the fascinating Esoteric Buddhist imagery was around and fashionable, so it was employed to make fancier books befitting the donors’ economic and social expectations. The economic aspect surely played a role in the production of illustrated manuscripts. However, as we have seen in previous chapters, the systematic and thoughtful designing of the manuscripts that developed during this period goes much beyond meeting the idle fancies of wealthy donors. They are not just fancier books. Rather, they are more powerful cultic objects that befit the context of burgeoning Esoteric Buddhism: the Mahāyāna books were repackaged in Esoteric Buddhist garb. At the same time, we should also note that the cultic importance of the “Mahāyāna” books increased with the advent of Esoteric Buddhism. The Mahāyāna book cult emerged as a full-on cultic practice only after the ninth century with the renewed interest in the Prajñāpāramitā in the context of development of Esoteric Buddhism.115 Not only the doctri-



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nal aspect but also the cultic aspect of the Prajñāpāramitā, including the element of the book cult and the figure of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā as the female principle embodying the fundamental teaching, remained important for the Esoteric Buddhist schools developing in medieval India. The importance of the Prajñāpāramitā in Esoteric Buddhism may be one of the reasons why the donors of Buddhist manuscripts and other sacred objects constantly identified themselves as the excellent “Mahāyāna followers” as late as the fifteenth century in eastern India, as in the case of a monastic donor (śākyabhikṣu) Srī Jñanaśrī, who donated a manuscript of the Kālacakra tantra in 1446 CE.116 Even when the content of the donation clearly belongs to what we would categorize as Vajrayāna or Esoteric Buddhism, such as the manuscripts of the Kālacakra tantra117 and the Vimalaprabhā (Laghukālacarka-ṭīkā, commentary on a version of the Kālacakra tantra),118 the “excellent Mahāyānist” (pravaramahāyānayāyina) remains in use as the preferred title for the donor. On the other hand, the continued use of the term Mahāyānist in the context of what we would only categorize as Esoteric Buddhism may suggest that Vajrayāna did not emerge as a distinctive doctrinal or social identity in medieval India. It is possible that Vajrayāna or Esoteric Buddhism never became part of a self-proclaimed religious identity in India. Instead, the epigraphic evidence seems to suggest that the term Mahāyāna became an umbrella term for almost anything Buddhist in medieval eastern India.119 In addition, if the Mahāyāna emerged as a distinctive social group only a few centuries after the proposed date of its initial development,120 the same might be true for the Vajrayāna, except that its entrance point in Indian Buddhist history was perhaps too late to see the full curve of its developmental potential. As Harunaga Isaacson emphasizes, what we call “Tantric Buddhism” was not a single entity at any point in history, and “in the course of time many changes and developments took place in Tantric Buddhist ideas and practice.”121 It should not be surprising to find “Mahāyāna” lay donors commissioning manuscripts designed to realize Esoteric Buddhist means. Within the mainstream practices, esotericization or tantricization of means (upāya) did not necessarily mean that it was considered something other than Mahāyāna.

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Of the Book: Charting the Production Pattern

The manuscript colophons often provide valuable information regarding their producers. Although the scribal information is less frequently identified than the donor information, at least fifteen manuscripts out of thirty-six dated illustrated manuscripts from eastern India considered here bear scribal/production information. The scribal colophon, if given, usually appears after the date colophon. The structure of the scribal colophon is not as formulaic as the donor colophon, but it follows a general pattern: the manuscript (the Prajñāpāramita or the Pañcarakṣā) was prepared by X, who was a resident of Y. The place name given in the scribal colophon often aids us to identify the production site. When the production site cannot be identified, we can use other evidence, such as donor colophons, qualities of production, painting styles, and epigraphic characteristics. Based on the analysis of colophons and art historical evidence, I have categorized the production sites of the manuscripts roughly into two groups, monastic and nonmonastic (or provincial). According to the information given in the scribal colophon, eight out of thirty-six manuscripts were monastic productions. All except for two were prepared in Nālandā. One manuscript was prepared in the Āpanaka monastery and another in the Vikramaśīla monastery. During the eleventh century, Nālandā seems to have been the place to commission an illustrated manuscript, as all the manuscripts bearing the scribal colophons were prepared in Nālandā.122 The donor demography of the eleventh century examined above, in which we notice almost all donors had high social status, suggests that the manuscripts without the production information were probably prepared in monastic centers or by experts with monastic affiliations. Figure 6-6 identifies the percentage of confirmed cases of monastic production (40 percent) and production that was possibly monastic or by experts with monastic affiliations (Mo–Court/Royal, 40 percent). The two taken together make up 80 percent of the eleventh-century production. Given the donors’ high social status and the level of articulation in the iconographic program, the rest (Ms A2, T-no. 2, and a Pañcarakṣā manuscript  



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Figure 6-6  Historical trend of production pattern.

by a laywoman, T-no. 9) may also have been made by well-trained experts with monastic affiliation. That the Buddhist monasteries, especially Nālandā, an internationally renowned seat of learning, were the major production sites for illustrated manuscripts during this period is not surprising. Monastic settings in eastern India must have provided a perfect environment for illustrated book production, with an easy access to textual experts, trained artisans, and skilled scribes all residing within reach. During the first half of the twelfth century, monastic production remained dominant (42 percent monastic and 25 percent Mo–Court/Royal). Nālandā remained an important center for illustrated manuscript production into the late twelfth century, as the manuscripts bearing the dates of Govindapāla’s fourth year (Ms D6, T-no. 26) and Gomīndrapāla’s fourth year (Ms D5, T-no. 27) suggest. While monastic centers remained important suppliers of illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, we notice a significant shift in production pattern during the second half of the twelfth century that coincides with the change in the donor demography during the twelfth century (see fig. 6-6). The production sites for illustrated Buddhist manuscripts were not limited to the monastic circles: a number of twelfth-century illustrated manuscripts were prepared in a village or a provincial town by nonmonastic scribes, some of whom might have been itinerant bookmakers. As  

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seen in figure 6-6, in comparison to the first half of the twelfth century, where we see monastic (42 percent) and monastic-related, that is, royal patronage (25 percent) making roughly 67 percent of the donation, these two groups are reduced to less than a quarter (23 percent), and in its place we see the soaring of nonmonastic/provincial production (77 percent). This shift in production pattern, when taken together with the changes in the donor demography and in the designing of the manuscripts, can help us understand the social characteristics of the Buddhist book cult in practice. What we see in the production and the patronage pattern of the twelfth-century illustrated manuscripts from eastern India is laicization and esotericization of the Mahāyāna Buddhist book cult. While it may have been a lay-based cultic practice to begin with, the production of the illustrated manuscripts seems to have been regulated through the limited supply chain from monastic centers. But once this was no longer the case, the production of illustrated manuscripts reached a new height in its innovative approach to incorporating Esoteric Buddhist iconography. Before examining the historical significance of this shift in production pattern further, let us consider the production process of illustrated manuscripts. “Producers” of Illustrated Manuscripts

I have used the terms producers and makers to indicate the involvement of more than one person in the production of illustrated manuscripts. It certainly involved more than one person if we count different stages of production, from getting the raw material, that is, palm leaves (of the talipot palm: Corypha umbraculifera), to preparing the leaves as manuscript folios by shaping each leaf into an even length and width and by boiling and seasoning it many times, to preparing the surface of the leaves for writing by rubbing each folio with stone to make a smooth surface and by ruling the lines for even spacing, to writing of the folios, and if commissioned, to painting the designated panels. Once writing was complete, there was a stage of proofreading and copyediting to make the text as flawless as possible. Even if the writing materials, that is, palm-leaf folios, were available for purchase in ready-made format, we can easily imagine at least more than two people involved in the various stages of writing and painting. But the credit usually goes to only one person, if the colophon identifies one. Some medieval praśasti



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inscriptions identify who carved the inscriptions in addition to who composed the eulogies.123 Sometimes, the architect behind the building of a temple may be identified in an inscription.124 But it is infrequent to know the names of artisans who made stone images of Buddha or Viṣṇu or any other objects of religious donations. In this context of anonymity of the makers of sacred objects, it may seem unusual that we know so many names of at least one person from the production crew of an illustrated manuscript. This may be due to the fact that the production of manuscripts required a level of literacy, and as a master of the production, a scribe earned a right to write his name into the manuscript. In a way, if we consider the practice of inserting one’s name into a Buddhist text as a behavior driven by the desire to be near the Buddha, the scribal colophon tucked at the end of a manuscript would afford the scribe a part of the religious merits (puṇyam) accrued in the donation of the manuscript. A scribe is a master of book production, as he is in charge of the main task of writing the text. Although it is difficult to determine the extent to which a scribe controlled the entire process, it seems that in some cases, a scribe was really a production master who oversaw the designing of the manuscript, and he may possibly have been involved in paintings as well. The most common term used to indicate a scribe in our manuscript colophons is lekhaka, and a lekhaka participating in drawing and perhaps even painting is not an impossible suggestion because the secondary meaning of the term lekhaka is a “painter.” The verb used to indicate the action of the scribe in preparing the manuscript, likh (to write), could also mean to “draw” and to “paint.” Although the main meaning of likh in the context of manuscript production should be taken as “to write,” this verb was used in the colophon of a fourteenth-century Nepalese paubhā painting of Viṣṇumaṇḍala to indicate the action of painting.125 For example, in a manuscript prepared by Svameśvara for the Nepali lay donor Rāmajīva at Nālandā, we see two large roundels in the middle of the text columns on the recto of the last folio (see fig. 2–3). Both roundels look like wheels with geometric patterns contained within them.126 Their proximity to the text, the use of the same ink, and the confidence in drawing lines all suggest the possibility that Svameśvara did these roundels. The chapter endings in an illustrated manuscript are most frequently marked by geometric sym 

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Figure 6-7  Folios from the Guhyasamāja. Top: recto of folio 1 showing the drawings of wheels and lotuses in geometric patterns. Bottom: recto of folio 5 with the wheel symbols marking the end of the first paṭala. Asiatic Society, Kolkata, G. 8070.

bols similar to what we see in Svameśvara’s manuscript, but in a much smaller scale, usually in a size of two to four letters. For example, the Pañcarakṣā manuscript donated by Queen Uddakā has very finely drawn symbols inserted at the end of each rakṣā sūtra, and it seems most likely that the scribe writing the text drew these symbols (see fig. 4-4). In some instances, the scribal hand playfully drawing the vowel signs in curlicues may be identical to the hand that drew the physiognomy of a deity and other fine details, such as the flowing hair of a bodhisattva as seen in the image of Vajrapāṇi in a Nālandā manuscript prepared by a lekhaka Ahanakuṇḍa (see fig. 4–6).127 Visual conformity between the style of calligraphy and that of paintings one can observe in many illustrated manuscripts suggests that a scribe could also participate in painting. A manuscript of the Guhyasamāja tantra128 now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G.8070), is another good example that shows the scribe’s capability as a fine draftsman and a skillful artisan. Although there is no colophon information, the manuscript was probably prepared sometime during the eleventh century, possibly in Nepal, given its paleographic characteristics.129 It does not have any illustrated panels, but small roundels and wide triangles that contain geometric flower patterns mark the end of each section (paṭala) (fig. 6–7 bottom). In addition, the recto of the first folio of the manuscript, which is often left  

 



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blank, is divided into three compartments, and each compartment has a big wheel that is a geometric rendition of a lotus in the middle, flanked by two smaller wheels that are drawn like lotus buds with even smaller lotus stalks on either side (fig. 6–7 top). They are drawn in black ink, just like the text, and transparent red color is added to accentuate the flowers and the decorative columns dividing the space. Although we do not know the name of the scribe in this case, it is not difficult to see how skillful our scribe was in drawing. In this case, a scribe, perhaps with the help of an apprentice, was the only actor involved in the production. In simple nonmonastic/provincial productions, this scribe-assole-producer model may be relevant.130 Even in more elaborate productions, it is tempting to see a scribe as a production master who is skilled at drawing and could design the manuscript as a whole and participate in the painting process, that is, drawing fine lines of physiognomy, if necessary. A few examples that have idiosyncratic iconographic structures suggest that the production process involved different actors, that is, a scribe, a painter, and possibly a supervisor, but only the scribe’s name was credited in the manuscript. Let us consider two examples where we see the evidence of mishaps occurring during the production process that required intervention and modification. An early twelfthcentury Pañcarakṣā manuscript (T-no. 16),131 for example, shows that the iconographic program was modified from its original plan to accommodate a possible miscommunication between the scribe, the painter, and the production master.132 One odd feature of the iconographic program of this manuscript is that Vighnāntaka and another wrathful protector deity appear at the beginning of the Mahāpratisarā section. It is unusual because the beginning of each rakṣā sūtra is marked with the paintings of the goddess and her tathāgata consort, in this case, Mahāpratisarā and Ratnasambhava. It seems that the artist accidentally painted Vighnāntaka at the beginning of the Mahāpratisarā text. Somebody, possibly a supervisor,133 noticed this mistake almost immediately and devised a way to make this perfectly written and painted folio not go to waste. Instead of Mahāpratisarā appearing at the beginning of her sūtra, she appears at the end with Ratnasambhava. With this change, the goddess Mahāmantrānusariṇī and her consort Akṣobhya are also placed at the end of the Mahāmantrānusariṇī section. In the ini 

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tial plan, the protector deities would have closed the door of the manuscript but they now sit in the middle of the text. Through this unique yet perfectly harmonious placement of the deities, the production master or supervisor turned what could have been a wasteful mistake into a useful contribution to making a powerful cultic object. Its numerous post colophons attest that its cultic power was appreciated well into the fifteenth century.134 An AsP manuscript now in the Kaiser Library, Kathmandu (Acc. no. 9.102), shows that the original design sometimes did not get materialized as proposed, possibly due to the falling out between the involved actors, including the donor. This manuscript also affords a chance to see the process of painting the illustrated panels in a manuscript, because painting was halted at its initial stage. The original colophon folio does not survive and the folio now at the end is a later replacement made of Nepalese yellow paper, but the manuscript may date to the late twelfth century, judging from its format, with over four hundred palm-leaf folios forming a high stack that is much shorter in width, similar to the Pañcarakṣā manuscript prepared during the sixteenth regnal year of Govindapāla (ca. 1192 CE T-no. 28).135 It seems to have been made somewhere in eastern India, possibly in the area between Magadha and Varendra, that is, Aṅga, and remained there for some time before it made its way to the Kathmandu Valley.136 This manuscript has eight unfinished illustrated panels. The manuscript was completed as the text was finished, but the paintings were stopped at the initial stage. The panel on the first folio has just an outline drawing of an image of the Buddha, done with a thin brush in brown color (see web 6–3 top). A straight line is drawn in the middle to guide the even proportion of the figure. The only part that seems more or less completed in this panel is the blue-black background. This must have been the simplest task that a scribe could execute using the ink he already had without relying on a painter. In the next panel on folio 2r, we see more progress has been made than in the first panel. It is clear that the outline depicts the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in preaching gesture (see web 6–3 bottom). The cushion back behind her is colored blue-green and the mandorla surrounding her is orange. Her lower garment is also painted in orange. The painted areas on this panel are clearly executed as the first step, that is, as the prime layers for more layers with details in different hues to  

 



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Figure 6-8  Unfinished panel depicting bodhisattva (Avalokiteśvara), folio 43v, AsP Ms, ca. late 12th century, Kaiser Library, Kathmandu Acc. No. 9.102.

be added on. The central line that guides the proportion of the figure to be depicted is also visible.137 The next two sets of paintings on folios 29v–30r are equally unfinished (see web 6–4). The black background is finished for both panels, and the prime layer of orange color for the mandorla has been applied. The lower garments of the deities are also painted in orange. The panel on folio 29v may have been intended to depict goddess Tārā. The facing panel may be Avalokiteśvara or another goddess. Although only outlines are drawn on each panel, the iconography of Avalokiteśvara was corrected using dark blue ink. Two additional arms are added and an extra right leg is drawn to indicate that the image is supposed to be in relaxed pose not in cross-legged pose. The last set of paintings on folios 43v–44r is more finished in terms of the progress made towards the application of colors (fig. 6–8). Both panels seem to represent bodhisattvas, one in boon-giving gesture (varada) and the other in preaching gesture. The black background, the orange mandorla, and the orange loincloth are all finished. In addition, the back cushion is painted blue and the seat cushion and the halo are painted green. While the painting was stopped after the basic steps of applying colors to each panel, it is interesting to note that eyes were drawn for every single deity, including the Buddha in the most unfinished panel.  

 

 

 

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In fact, on folios 43v–44r, more detailed physiognomy for each figure is delineated using black ink. It is as if the painter dropped the project at its initial stage, perhaps because the scribe lost means to pay for the further collaboration with a painter, and the scribe managed to sketch the eyes on the deities, which would have been an important act to mask the incomplete nature of the project, if we consider how important the ritual opening of eyes is for consecrating images for worship.138 The unusual placement of the eight illustrated folios also suggests that the project experienced financial trouble. The illustrated folios are placed at the beginning (fol. 1v–2r), at the beginning of chapter 1 (fol. 29v–30r), at the beginning of chapter 2 (fol. 43v–44r), and at the beginning of chapter 11 (fol. 219v–220r). It is possible that a fancier book was initially commissioned, with painted folios placed at the beginning of each chapter and at the end of the book. Somehow, the commission fell through or the circumstances of the donation changed so the manuscript was made with only eight folios with painted panels.139 Given what we know about the general pattern of iconographic structure in an illustrated manuscript of the AsP, it is reasonable to think that the original plan may have been to distribute the six folios evenly at the beginning (fol. 1v–2r), in the middle (fol. 219v–220r), and at the end of the manuscript (fol. 453v–454r: Nepalese additions with no painted panels, which replaced the lost originals). Perhaps, with the promise for a more ambitious donation, the scribe used six folios for the first three chapters, but the promise never materialized and the scribe could not secure the financial means to pay for the paintings that had already begun. This is, of course, pure conjecture. But this manuscript, with no name attached to it,140 suggests that the production of an illustrated manuscript involved more than one actor, and that the painting was done in stages.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Masters of Monastic Productions: Lekhaka and Dharmabhā ṇ aka

In the monastic productions, there are two types of scribes identified in the colophons. One is “lekhaka,” a professional scribe, and the other one is “dharmabhāṇaka,” a dharma preacher.141 It is not clear what the social status of a professional scribe (lekhaka) was in the monastic context and how a person would become a professional scribe attached to a



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Buddhist monastery.142 They seem to have provided their services to the lay donors, residing within the monastic complex. It is possible they had a little workspace, that is, a scriptorium, in the monastery and worked by commission most of the time. On the other hand, as the meaning of the title “dharma preacher” indicates, dharmabhāṇakas held a respectable monastic ranking and they were clearly ordained members of a monastic community. They were not necessarily high-ranking monks but probably experts in dealing with more mundane and public matters.143 It seems that foreign monastic visitors managed to commission manuscripts from dharmabhāṇakas.144 That Sādhugupta, the sole monastic donor of the eleventh century and the donor of the earliest surviving dated illustrated manuscript from South Asia, commissioned a manuscript from a kalyāṇamitra (lit. “a blessed friend”) named Cintāmani, who was most likely an ordained member of the monastic community, also connects a foreign monastic visitor with a monastic master in the production of an illustrated manuscript. The manuscripts prepared by dharmabhāṇakas are particularly noticeable because of the refined quality of the overall production and the sophisticated design. For example, the manuscript in the Asia Society, New York (Ms A4), was prepared by a dharmabhāṇaka named Ānanda. While more stunning pictures in the first two folios may have been prepared about three generations after Ānanda’s time, it is perhaps the most carefully designed and executed manuscript of the Group A model. The writing in this manuscript is an excellent specimen of monastic production, showing a controlled, well-trained hand. Each chapter ending is marked not by geometric symbols in black ink but by little figures of animals and flowers painted in color, suggesting a prelude to the idea of inserting painted panels at the end of each chapter, as seen in Group C manuscripts. Ānanda was certainly a master scribe, as seen in the final product. His title, dharmabhāṇaka, indicates that he held a respectable rank within the monastic community. The Tibetan colophon added on the bottom of the colophon page translates only the scribal colophon, that is, “Ānanda of the illustrious Nālandā monastery prepared this manuscript.”145 For later Tibetan users of this manuscript, the fact that this manuscript was prepared in the famous Nālandā monastery by a monastic scribe/dharma preacher Ānanda was the most important aspect of the colophon, not the date, nor the donor’s name.

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At the beginning of this chapter, I suggested that Svameśvara, a scribe who prepared an AsP manuscript for a Nepali lay donor Rāmajiva, may also have been a ritual master. But the scribal colophon does not give any information about his role as a ritual master. It simply reads, “this was written (likhitam) by scribe (lekhaka) Svameśvara, a resident of the illustrious Nālandā (monastery) (śrīnālandāvasthita-lekhaka-svamesvarasyalikhitam-iti||),” suggesting that he was a lekhaka, a scribe, residing in Nālandā. It is possible that the figure on the left in the Maitreya panel represents a ritual master who is not credited in the colophon (see fig. 6–1). But the association between a scribe and a ritual master is not completely groundless. While it may be difficult to prove that a lekhaka, who is often considered a technical copyist, was a ritual master who conducted a pustaka pūjā, the ritual worship of the book, the involvement of dharmabhāṇaka in the manuscript production suggests that a person preparing a manuscript was more than a technician. A dharmabhāṇaka could serve as a ritual master for the Buddhist book cult. We find a clue for this possibility in an AsP manuscript prepared for a Tibetan monk Vijayakīrti, now in Tibet Museum, Lhasa, discussed in chapter 4. Since our scribe is identified as dharmabhāṇaka, it is not difficult to imagine him as a monk himself. Among the six monks represented on the full-page depiction of the monks of Nālandā, the monk seated in meditation with his intense gaze on a book in front of him may be our dharmabhāṇaka (see fig. 4–2). If this man indeed represents our scribe, Kanakamuni-jāgeśvara, he was not only a production master but also a ritual master of the Buddhist book cult. Ritual master may be a misleading interpretive term because the “ritual” represented here is so simple and does not require much action. We must remember, however, Kanakamuni-jāgeśvara had to perform several ritual actions to reach the stage that is depicted in the painting. He had to first prepare the sacred ground (by drawing a small maṇḍala) and set up a bookstand. He, then, offered a white cloth banner on the book and flowers on top, while also touching the book respectfully with auspicious substances, such as sandalwood paste and vermillion powders. As discussed in chapter 1, the Buddhist book cult commends a very simple ritual at its core. Although it was mainly a lay-based and lay-driven cult, the monastic centers managed to control the practices of the book cult by remaining the dominant suppliers of illustrated manuscripts for  

 



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more than a century. The involvement of a monastic ritual master for the Buddhist book cult is not surprising in this picture. A few manuscript paintings also suggest that a monastic person may have served as a ritual master of the Buddhist book cult when it was a lay donation. For example, the manuscript donated by Queen Uddakā has a panel in the center of the last folio that shows a monk in añjalī mudrā (both hands folded in respect). This manuscript does not identify a scribe, but given that it is a royal donation, it is most likely that monastic experts prepared this manuscript. The ritual depicted in the painting is not pustaka pūjā per se because the monk does not have a book in front of him, and he is shown simply displaying añjalī mudrā in front of a maṇḍala with other ritual implements, such as a conch, a bowl of food, and a fire pot (see fig. 6–3). In the context of the iconographic program of this manuscript, he is the ritual master who invoked all the images contained within the book (see fig. 4–5). We cannot determine whether he was the scribe or not, but it is most likely that he was part of the production team, possibly the mastermind behind the production who designed a powerful book-maṇḍala for a royal donor. The PvP manuscript donated by a lay donor Rāmadeva also has a painted panel on the colophon folio that shows the involvement of a monastic person (see fig. 6–5). The painting on folio 560r depicts a scene of pustaka pūjā (ritual worship of a book): the red rectangular object placed on a bulbous pedestal is clearly a book in worship with a long garland hanging from it, and the donor Rāmadeva and a monk kneel under this book. The importance of the book as the sacred object of worship is emphasized by its exaggerated size in comparison to the devotees. It depicts the core form of pustaka pūjā since there is no ritual implement depicted in the scene and the only requirement for the worship was sincere devotion.146 Even this simplest ritual required a few stages of action, that is, drawing a maṇḍala and making offerings, to set the book up for worship. We do not know the identity of the monk because this manuscript does not have a scribal colophon. He is certainly part of the ritual, but interestingly the painting does not represent him with any hierarchical superiority over the donor. In fact, it is the Brahman donor who has a small maṇḍala drawn in front him, not the monk. It would not be surprising if this monk was the person who designed this PvP manuscript with painted panels placed at the beginning of each chap 

 

 

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ter and wrote the text, which must have been an ambitious undertaking given the length of the sūtra. While the monks represented in the ritual scenes do not help us determine whether a lekhaka might have been a ritual master or not, the paintings of pustaka pūjā contained in the manuscripts examined here suggest that the ritual was fairly simple and did not require elaborate preparation. The simplicity of the ritual does not necessarily mean that anyone would qualify to conduct it, but it is possible that a lekhaka like Svameśvara, who was not an ordained person but resided within a monastic complex, performed this simple ritual for his lay donors upon completion of the manuscript.147 From Monasteries to Villages: Decentralization of the Buddhist Book Production

From the mid-twelfth century onwards, there seems to have been a decline in monastic production of illustrated manuscripts. This decline interestingly coincides with the appearance of illustrated manuscripts prepared by nonmonastic scribes who identify themselves as residents of various provincial towns. For example, one AsP manuscript now in the National Archive in Kathmandu (Acc. no. 4.20) was prepared during the reign of Madanapāla by a scribe named Mahīpati. Mahīpati, whose title reads “saulekhaka,” or a good scribe, identifies himself as a resident of Santovanagara. It is difficult to determine where Santovanagara was located, but the proto-Bengali hand of the scribe and the painting style seem to suggest a location in the area of the ancient region of Varendra (or Gauḍa). Another example of nonmonastic production suggests that a provincial center for manuscript production met the needs of the donors who did not have access to monastic suppliers for one reason or another. A lekhaka named Śrīdharaka prepared an AsP manuscript donated by a Buddhist nun, Vijayaśrībhadrā, now in the Detroit Institute of Arts (Ms A7, T-no. 23). No monastic affiliation is indicated in the colophon, but it records that Śrīdharaka was a resident of Ghośalīgrama. I have identified the location of Ghośalīgrama with Ghosrawān, a town located east of the site of Nālandā, based on art historical evidence.148 While we have no evidence that there was a big monastic establishment near Ghosrawān, this town may have been a provincial center for manuscript production, because a second manuscript identifies its production site as Ghośalīgrama as well. The col-



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ophon of a manuscript of the Maitreyavyākaraṇam now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G.4806), records that it was prepared during the fiftyseventh year of Gopāladeva in Ghośalīgrama.149 It is noteworthy that the manuscript was a donation by a monk (bhikṣu) Puṇyakīrti, who came from Tibet (cīṇadeśīvinirgata). While it is not immediately clear why the nun Vijayaśrībhadrā did not commission a manuscript from a monastic scribe in the mid-twelfth century (ca. 1160 CE), there is a strong possibility that when the Tibetan monk Puṇyakīrti commissioned this manuscript in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, nearby monastic centers like Nālandā were no longer in a good operative state. We know from Persian and Tibetan sources that by this time, monastic centers in Bihar and Bengal were subject to much damage by the Muslim army of Ikhtiyar-ud-din Muhammad.150 According to the biography of Dharmasvamin, a Tibetan who visited eastern India in 1235, there was no trace of Vikramaśīla left at the time of his visit, and he reports hearing the story of how Turkish soldiers “razed it to the ground, and had thrown the foundation stones into the Gaṅgā.”151 The fallen colossal pillars in front of the gateway to the main temple complex at the excavated site of Vikramaśīla do suggest forceful destruction at the site. Nālandā probably suffered a similar fate. The monastic center remained in active service during the mid-twelfth century albeit loosing some of its former glory. Exploring the exact cause for the shift in production site will require further research into the history of the period, but the fact that the shift from monasteries to provincial centers happened suggests that Buddhist institutions were resilient to changes. Everything Buddhist did not disappear due to the impact of violent destruction caused by the arrival of Islamic forces. The shift in production pattern brought an interesting change in the ways in which a manuscript was constructed as a sacred object. One major characteristic of the monastic productions is that their manuscripts show a conservative attitude in designing the iconographic programs. As seen in the manuscripts from Nālandā, for example, Ms A1, Ms A3, and Ms A4, the iconographic choice seems to have been limited to the Buddha’s life scenes, Prajṅāpāramitā-related deities, and popular bodhisattvas such as Avalokiteśvara and Tārā. One early-twelfthcentury manuscript from Nālandā prepared by a lekhaka Ahanakuṇḍa (Ms D2) features a mini-mandala of Vajrasattva (see fig. 4-7), but it is

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still conservative in comparison to what we see in the late twelfthcentury nonmonastic productions, since there is no obvious inclusion of Akṣobhya’s lineage that becomes the paramount overlord in the most complex forms of Esoteric Buddhist iconography developed in India. This was certainly not because those powerful Esoteric deities such as Heruka and Sambara were not known in Nālandā. An almost 6-foot-tall sculpture of Heruka survives from Nālandā.152 Although the top portion of the image is broken, what must have been an impressive image of Sambara also survives from this famous monastic site. It is possible that monastic makers of illustrated manuscripts of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra consciously refrained from employing such imagery in designing the manuscripts. The preference for more conservative themes certainly concurs with the general trend in iconographic choices we see in the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts prepared during the eleventh through the mid-twelfth centuries. The most noticeable change in the manuscripts prepared in the midto-late twelfth century compared with the earlier ones is the use of highly complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography in illustrating the manuscripts. Even in a monastic production, like the manuscript prepared by a Nālandā scribe for a lay donor in the late twelfth century (Ms D6, T-no. 26), one of the most powerful Esoteric deities like Sambara in his two-armed form embracing his prajñā or consort, Vajravārāhī, is accommodated into the iconographic program on the last folio (see fig. 5–6). I do not think, however, this example indicates that monasteries were trend-setting centers in employing Esoteric Buddhist iconography in Buddhist manuscript production. The dearth of surviving examples should not preclude the possibility of being otherwise, but we need to remember that this is a single surviving monastic example with such Esoteric iconography and that it is also a donation by laity. The donor of this manuscript is identified as “paramopāsaka saurājasuta” (a lay prince), Lakṣmīdhara. All other surviving manuscripts with complex Esoteric iconographic programs were donated by laity and prepared in nonmonastic sites. The highly innovative iconographic programs of Group D manuscripts discussed in chapter 5 are contained in manuscripts prepared for laity and many were by nonmonastic scribes. The most outstanding example that shows the brilliance of the makers is the AsP manuscript now in the Bharat Kala Bhavan (Ms D10, see fig.  



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5-10). The manuscript was prepared for a lay donor Lakṣmīdhara during the forty-seventh year of Lakṣmaṇasena’s rule (ca. 1225 CE). We have already examined the innovative strategies, such as hyperlinking and animating images, in chapter 5. The producers of this manuscript devised a brilliant way to animate the powerful Esoteric Buddhist deities and keep them in proper positions even when the book is closed and put up for meditation, worship, or storage. What is even more impressive is that the makers of this manuscript were extremely well versed in complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography in thirteenth-century eastern India. The appearance of Kālacakra and his consort, Viśvamāta, is extremely rare in Indian Buddhist context (see fig. 5–13, web 5–9). Their iconography is rendered very closely to the descriptions recorded in the Niṣpannayogāvalī, a manual for the maṇḍala masters written by pandit Abhayākaragupta of Vikramaśīla monastery during the first half of the twelfth century. The level of articulation in Esoteric iconography is even more intriguing since monastic centers may have all but disappeared by this time. According to the colophon, the manuscript was prepared by one Mahīdhara. His name does not have any scribal title, not even lekhaka. Instead, he identifies himself as the son of ācārya Prajñābala (ācārya-prajñābala-suta). Mahīdhara seems to have been proud of his paternal lineage. Who was this ācārya Prajñābala? This simple question finds an intriguing turn when we find Prajñābala’s name and title in another manuscript colophon. The colophon folio of an AsP manuscript now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G. 9989A), records that it was prepared during the eighteenth regnal year of Govindapāla by ācārya Prajñābala.153 It is unfortunate that Hara Prasad Shastri decided to acquire only one folio from the manuscript offered for sale, but the historical value of this single folio is priceless because it gives important social information about the production of the manuscript. It states that it was a pious donation of a Mahāyāna donor (dānapati) Kṣāntirakṣita, who was a resident of Yaśarapura of Khanodakī (“deyadharmo ’yam pravaramahāyānayāyinaḥ knanodakīyayaśa rāpurāvasthatevaṃ dānapatikṣantirakṣitasya  .  .  . ”). It continues with the date given as Govindapāla’s eighteenth year (śrīmadgovindapāladevasyātita x x saṁvat 18 kārttikadine 15) and the statement about who prepared the manuscript. It reads “(it was written) by ācārya Prajñābala, a resident of Caṅgaḍapāṭaka, in Yaśarāpura of Khānodakī (caṅgaḍapāṭakāvasthita 

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khānodakīyayaśarāpure ācārya-prajñābalena-li x x x).” It is difficult to identify the locations of towns such as Caṅgaḍapāṭaka and Yaśarāpura with our current state of knowledge. It is possible that this manuscript also was prepared somewhere between Aṅga and Varendra, given the stylistic characteristics of the paintings.154 The scribal colophon clearly suggests that Prajñābala was an itinerant scribe and ritual master (he was a resident of Caṅgaḍapāṭaka) who would make a manuscript in the town where a donor lived (in Yaśarapura). It is not difficult to imagine that the business of a scribe would be a portable vocation and that he could easily travel to find commissions. As we have seen, being a ritual master of the book cult did not require much paraphernalia either. Given that he uses the title ācārya, a master or a teacher, he may even have had a connection with a monastery. He was well trained in writing manuscripts. His writing style is elegant yet confident. He writes each letter with elongated hooks and there is a tendency for angularity and fanciful exaggeration (see web 6–5). While he may not have been a bigname master like Abhayākaragupta, it is possible that he may have been famous during his time, especially for his skill in making manuscripts. We cannot judge his iconographic knowledge or determine whether he employed any innovative approach to designing this book because we currently know only one folio from the manuscript. If we compare this single folio of the father’s work to the son’s work, we can see that the son, Mahīdhara, must have learned his trade from his father, as seen in the pronounced and confident hook on the bottom of each letter. If Mahīdhara did learn his trade from his father, it is likely that Prajñābala, too, had mastery over complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography. Ācārya Prajñābala was a more accomplished calligrapher than his son. But as we have seen in the discussion of Ms D10, Mahīdhara was also a skillful calligrapher and perhaps a genius Buddhist bookmaker who was able to garner an extraordinary commission from a lay Buddhist practitioner in the early thirteenth century, when supposedly most people in eastern India were turning away from Buddhist ways. The appearance of nonmonastic itinerant Buddhist masters probably propelled repackaging of the Mahāyāna Buddhist book cult with complex Esoteric Buddhist iconography and theology. As the monastic centers no longer held tight control over the production of illustrated manuscripts, the iconographic contents freely expanded in response to the  



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demand of laity, many of whom, by now, were in tune with Esoteric Buddhist ways and means. The nonmonastic bookmakers also ensured access to the essential means for Buddhist practices for laity even after the demise of Buddhist monastic institutions in eastern India. During the late twelfth century, when Buddhist monastic institutions were falling apart, the lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners, who often continued a Buddhist lineage from father to son, affirmed and claimed their Buddhist identity vigorously through adopting the Buddhist book cult, an age-old Mahāyāna practice of worshipping the book, while employing the new technological innovations available for the production of sacred objects. The participants of the Buddhist book cult, such as sādhus and ācāryas, were part of a lay Buddhist institution that sustained Buddhist practices for a couple more generations or perhaps a couple more centuries after the demise of the monastic institutions. But its informal characteristics and similarity to the hereditary nature of the Brahmanic social order probably resulted in their assimilation into the rest of the predominantly Hindu society. I believe this process of dissolution and assimilation did not happen overnight. It surely took at least a couple of centuries. Even in the fifteenth century, there still were Buddhists in Bihar and Bengal. Thus, a manuscript of the Kālacakra tantra was donated by a śākyabhikṣu named Śrījñanaśrī in Kansāragrāma in Magadha by a scribe (karaṇa-kāyastha) named Jayarāmadatta. Kansāragrāma in this colophon may be the village named Kansara in the Gaya district, which locates the production of a Buddhist manuscript in the heart of Bihar in the fifteenth century.155 Interestingly, the donor still identifies himself as a Mahāyānist. The Great Vehicle indeed had the sustaining power to adopt and reposition itself in different manifestations. A Broad Historical Question

In his History of Buddhism in India, Tāranātha, a Tibtan monk writing in 1608 CE, tells us that the termination of Buddhism in the land of the Buddha was brought about due to the destruction of the Buddhist monasteries by the Turuṣka rulers in Bengal, which led to the exodus of many Buddhist teachers and scholars to Tibet, Nepal, South India, and Southeast Asia. Although we cannot accept Tāranātha’s account at face value, the destruction of the Buddhist monasteries is also recounted in

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detail in other sources, such as a thirteenth-century Persian text. In the Tabakāt-i-Nāsirī, Minhaj-ud din abu’l-‘Umar-i-‘Usman, who took residence in Lakhnauti, the capital of Bengal, during 1242–1244 CE, tells us a story that he heard in 1243 CE: “Muhammad Bakhtiyar with great vigour and audacity rushed in at the gate of the fort and gained possession of the place. Great plunder fell in to the hands of the victors. Most of the inhabitants of the place were Brahmans with shaven heads. They were put to death. Large numbers of books were found there, and when the Muhammadans saw them, they called for some persons to explain their contents, but all the men had been killed. It was discovered that the whole fort and city was a place of study (madrasa). In the Hindi language the word Bihar (vihar) means a college.”156 The wholesale destruction of Buddhist institutions remembered in these historical records led to a popular understanding that the advent of Islam was directly responsible for the disappearance of Buddhism in its homeland in the late twelfth century. Certainly, without its institutional base, Buddhism lost much ground and could not survive in good shape, but the period in question did not witness a simple swapping of religious traditions, especially when we consider archaeological and art historical evidence. Two other explanations that are given for the demise of Buddhism in India are also impressionistic: one theory attributes an internal reason that the form of Buddhism that developed during the early medieval period in South Asia was doomed to be a failure because the Tantric or Esoteric schools of Buddhism were degenerate and debased to include all kinds of occult magic and secret practices that alienated the laity. A repulsive yet hilarious introductory passage of the Buddhakapāla tantra, where the Buddha enters Parinirvāṇa in his consort’s vagina and his skull ejaculates a scripture (the Buddhakapāla tantra), would suffice to support such a claim. Although scandalous in its outlook, the text is nonetheless taken by at least three commentators to “tame” the text into normative monastic views.157 A second theory finds Buddhism’s inadequacy to address the basic life needs of the laity, loosing lay patronage to the newly reformed Brahmanic religion.158 Yet Buddhism, especially Mahāyāna Buddhism, addressed the needs of laity throughout its development in India, as seen in the introduction of various cultic deities and practices. In the context of the Buddhist book cult, the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts exactly addressed this market.  



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If anything, perhaps, the demand-based development strategy perhaps sacrificed this tradition’s distinctive character and ultimately led to its absorption into other religious traditions. I hope what I present here is enough to problematize the basis of each of these views and to suggest more nuanced, historically grounded understanding of Buddhism in practice in medieval India. The decline and the fall of Buddhist monastic institutions did not mean that the Buddhist practices disappeared at once, especially when we see the quality of Buddhist artistic productions. What we observe, instead, are brilliant innovations and sheer creativity materialized in lay donations, particularly good examples of which are found among illustrated Buddhist manuscripts. We should also note that the commission of a manuscript of the Kālacakra tantra in the fifteenth century and the introduction of the Kālacakra-Viśvamātā couple in an early thirteenthcentury manuscript of the AsP are not random choices but historically and politically sensitive ones. The Kālacakra tantra explicitly discusses the issue of Islam’s advent in India, and the introduction of the imagery of Kālacakra and Viśvamātā in an AsP manuscript, for example, may have been an attempt to fortify the book with their power during this period of uncertainty.159 As seen in the case of the Buddhist book cult, Mahāyāna Buddhism by this stage had adopted and devised various strategies to address many worldly desires and issues just as in the Brahmanic traditions. Many Esoteric Buddhist practices were designed to encourage lay participation as householders, not to drive them away. Along with women’s participation in the book cult, the use of a visual narrative like the story of Sadāprarudita and merchant’s daughter in illustrating manuscripts also encouraged lay participation by promoting the ideal of a married couple as model Buddhist practitioners. The Mayāyāna cult of the book that supposedly began at the beginning of the Common Era saw its apex moment with the production of the illustrated manuscripts of the AsP that originally provided the doctrinal foundation for Mahāyāna Buddhism. If the perplexing concept of emptiness or voidness (śūnyatā) has succeeded in engaging and attracting intellectually minded Buddhists of all times, the AsP text’s cultic strategies are proven equally successful, if not more, in this long history of the Buddhist book cult in India and its continued survival in Nepal.

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Epilogue Invoking a Goddess in a Book

The Ritual: Prajñāpāramitā pūjā at the Golden Temple

In the early morning of June 30, 2004, the treasured thirteenth-century Prajñāpāramitā manuscript of Kwā Bāhā was brought out for worship (see web 7–1).1 Kwā Bāhā or Hiraṇyavarṇa Mahāvihāra, also known as “the Golden Temple” in Patan, Nepal, is famous for its Prajñāpāramitā pūjā in which a book of an important Mahāyāna Buddhist scripture, the Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom) sūtra,2 is vigorously worshipped. I was the sponsor of the ritual that day. For a person who has been trying to reconstruct the circumstances surrounding the ritual use of the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts from medieval South Asia based on archaeological and art historical evidence, a chance to observe the ritual worship of an ancient manuscript firsthand could not be missed, especially because most of my manuscripts are now out of context in libraries and museums. In addition to my scholarly cause, of course, the worldly efficacy of the book/goddess at Kwā Bāhā in fulfilling devotees’ desire and curing illness is extremely well-known among the Newar Buddhists of the Kathmandu Valley. So, I was more than ready to join the pious members of Kwā Bāhā by sponsoring this ritual.3 The book was first put on a stand while the proper ritual ground was being prepared by the main priest (mūlācārya) of that day, Cakra Raj  



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Bajracharya.4 As the book waited to be transported to its proper seat, people gathered and paid their respects to the book by offering rice, coins, and flowers that they prepared for the main deities of the temple, and by touching the book with their hands and heads (see web 7–1). Physical contact with the book seemed to be an important part of worship. The book was kept closed with the metal covers in place, tightly bound with red cords. The cover, although made of gold-plated silver, appeared to be orange, for it has been covered with vermillion. The turquoise color of the knobs on the two metal sticks that hold the book as an orderly stack stands out in contrast to the color of vermillion on the cover (see fig. 0–1). The manuscript is made of black paper, and it forms a high stack consisting of over three hundred folios. All four sides of the book are also covered with vermillion powder, turning the overall color of the stack darkish brown. These physical traces of worship suggest the degree of the devotion to the book. The stream of people coming to pay homage to the book on that day vividly illustrated the devotional activities of the past. When the main priest (a Vajrācārya) finished preparing the ritual ground for the Prajñāpāramitā, the book was then moved and installed on its throne-like seat, specially made for this book (see web 7–2). The objects displayed in front of the book include the offerings of homecooked food, pastry, fruit, rice, flowers, butter lamps, incense sticks, and the ritual implements, such as vajra, ghaṇṭa (bell), śaṅkha (conch shell), water vessel, a list not too different from what we see in an eleventhcentury manuscript painting (see fig. 6–3). A small bowl of vermillion powder suggests how the book has become saturated with orange color over the course of time. Only a tiny bit of the powder was transferred onto the book whenever the priest touched it throughout the ritual, but the repeated action of touching the book with vermillion-powdered fingers must have been enough to saturate the book with orange color, bringing about the change in the book’s appearance.5 While the main Vajrācārya was performing the initial sets of ritual, beginning with gurumaṇḍala pūjā and the recitation of the Saṁkalpa vidhi (a vow),6 the other priests arrived at the scene and took their seats. A total of ten Vajrācāryas including the main Vajrācārya were called upon to participate in the reading.7 Each priest performed the gurumaṇḍala pūjā upon taking the seat, to prepare himself for the rit 

 

 

 

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ual reading of the Prajñāpāramitā.8 While the ritual was going on, some more people stopped by to pay their respect to the book, and a couple of small bills accumulated on the book. After the purification rituals,9 the main priest invoked the goddess Prajñāpāramitā to come to reside in the book by reciting necessary mantras (incantations) and assuming secret hand gestures (mudras) while holding a vajra (thunderbolt-shaped ritual implement) and a five-colored thread (pañcasūtra) linked to the book (see fig. 1–1). Interestingly, the goddess Prajñāpāramitā in her anthropomorphic representation was conspicuously absent in the ritual. In fact, her image was not to be found among numerous enshrined images of Kwā Bāhā.10 In comparison to earlier representations of the goddess, such as the stone stele from Orissa datable to the late eleventh century that we have examined in chapter 1, in which the voluptuous goddess is the prominent center (see fig. 1–4), and clearly invoked through the ritual worship of the book represented below (see web 1– 2), it is as if the book completely replaced the image and became an icon of the goddess. But there was no mistaking her presence. The auditory aspect of the ritual that followed the invocation of the goddess made certain the presence of the goddess. Once the book was ritually imbued with her presence, the book was divided into ten equal stacks and distributed to each Vajrācārya. The book covers were returned to the book’s seat in front of which the main Vajrācārya continued to perform more dhāraṇī rituals before he could join the recitation. The rest of the members began reciting the text, all at once (fig. 7–1). The sound of recitation filled the entire temple complex. Yet, because they were reciting different sections simultaneously, none of it was understandable. The purpose of the ritual reading seems to lie not in being heard and understood but in creating the presence of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā through the sound. The Vajrācāryas seemed to read the text out loud from the manuscript in front of them, for they were turning the leaves over to the next page as they went along. But, for most old Vajrācāryas, it was a performance rather than a reading of the text. Once the recitation was over, the manuscript was put together again and installed back on its seat in front of the main priest. The main priest offered another set of simple rituals honoring the goddess. When the main ritual was over, the patron ( jajmān) paid respect to all ten Vajrācāryas, going around with an offering plate containing a  

 

 

 

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Figure 7-1  Vajracārya priests reciting different sections of the manuscript simultaneously, Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.

small vessel of vermillion powder and a flower from the ritual. He put vermillion powder on the forehead of each priest and then distributed red thread necklaces to all of them, which they wore around the neck. A few devotees came by to get blessings from the main priest, and then the book was put back into its case and taken back to the shrine where it usually resides. A feast with the participating priests and the patron’s family followed the ritual. When I asked the Vajrācāryas about whether they read from the manuscript folios for recitation, after the ritual was over, most of them answered that they did. However, when I pointed out the discrepancy I noticed between the text of the page and the recitation, one of the Vajrācāryas admitted that he had read the manuscript when he was young but now recites it from memory. Some had preferred sections they wanted to recite, because they could recite the section better from their memory. This was not so much because the priests were not sincere about the ritual but because the manuscript was hard to read and recite on the spot without specialized training in reading the archaic

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ornamental script. The young Vajrācāryas in their twenties who participated in the ritual that day, however, clearly showed that they could recite the text from reading the manuscript on the spot. They were confident in their recitation, reciting the text line by line from the manuscript sections they were assigned to. I later learned that the young Vajrācāryas went through the Vajrācārya training program at Kwā Bāhā initiated in 1997.11 It is a three-month course where they learn how to read the manuscript and get trained to recite properly. Although it would require further research to explore the rationale for the installation of such a training program in the late 1990s, I suspect that it was in response to more “rationalizing” forms of Buddhism imported from outside (i.e., Theravada Buddhism)12 and to the exchanges with the Western scholars working on Newar Buddhism and its culture.13 In fact, I wonder whether my investigation of the people’s ability to read manuscripts could also spur some more interest in learning to read ancient manuscripts. My research period was too short to have any substantial impact on anyone around, but I think continuous scholarly interests in book worship can stimulate people to look for a more “correct” and “orthodox” way to conduct the ritual and to handle the book. Although it was not my intention to bring about any changes in the way the manuscript is handled, and although I certainly hope my research did not have any impact on promoting a more rigid and exclusive attitude in religious practice, I would not be surprised if I find all ten Vajrācāryas reading and reciting in a coordinated manner when I go to Nepal next time. Such fluidity—being open to changes—is what allowed this ageold Buddhist practice to survive for almost two millennia. The effort to read and recite the manuscript clearly and correctly seems rather pointless, since everyone’s recitation is muffled and immediately lost in the echoes of simultaneous recitations by ten members. Today’s scholastic interest in reading the manuscript correctly can be compared to the effort put into correcting the manuscript. No one might notice whether any mistake was made, yet it is important to have the text correct, whether it is in the letters of the manuscript or in the sound of the recitation. Whatever the substance it may be, the sound or the writing, it signifies the Prajñāpāramitā, both the goddess and the teaching.  

 

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The Book: A Thirteenth-Century Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript

According to the colophon at the end, the manuscript was originally prepared in NS 345 (1225 CE) by ānanda Bhikṣu of Kapitanagara during the reign of Abhaya Malla (1216–1255).14 The manuscript is probably older than Kwā Bāhā itself, since the oldest inscription that mentions the existence of the temple dates to NS 519 (1399 CE) and the oldest inscription inside the temple complex dates to NS 645 (1525 CE).15 The original colophon is followed by a number of post colophons that record the names of later donors and their pious actions of repairing and worshipping the book. The first of these post colophons is dated NS 723 (1603 CE). Since manuscript colophons are mostly formulaic, it is hard to imagine what prompted the rejuvenation of the book in 1603 CE.16 It is possible that the book was brought to Kwā Bāhā around this time. Certainly, the manuscript went through many more repairs and worship during the subsequent centuries: two during the seventeenth century (NS 723 [1603 CE] and NS 748 [1628 CE]), and a few more during the twentieth century (NS 1032 [1912 CE], NS 1042 [1922 CE], NS 1053 [1933 CE], NS 1080 [1960 CE], and NS 1113 [1993 CE].)17 The colophon of NS 1042 is written most finely with beautifully formed rañjana letters, perhaps even finer than the original hand. The hand of the NS 1053 colophon is equally fine, and these fine hands make the earlier colophons appear rather clumsy. About three weeks after my sponsored ritual, another restoration of the manuscript, perhaps the first one in this century, was launched (see web 7–3). Five Vajrācārya members gathered to work on the manuscript. Their mission was to correct the text and fill in the gold of letters where it was rubbed away. A few different types of pen were used for writing in gold, ranging from the traditional reed and bamboo pens to the metallic gold color gel ink pen imported from Japan. A small mortar to prepare the gold powder and a syringe for preparing and injecting the gold ink were also on the table. The tools used today may be slightly different from those used a few hundred years ago, but the activity of restoring and correcting the text did not seem to have changed much from those recorded in the post colophons. A big change from the restorations of the previous centuries would be that the manuscript was now  

 

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being checked against Vaidya’s printed edition of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. Each Vajrācārya had a photocopy of the printed edition to check the correctness of the writing. It is extremely interesting to see how the mechanically reproduced copies have taken the place of the urtext. The pursuit of making a perfect, correct manuscript seems to have sacrificed the authenticity of the entire endeavor. But, the printed copy of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra will never replace the book as long as the book survives, because at the heart of making a perfect text is the object whose antiquity also empowers the book as an idol of worship. The rich history recorded in the colophons and the traces of worship by the previous generations accumulated on the body of the object increase its cultic value for today’s devotees, in addition to its inherent value as a book of the famous Buddhist scripture, designed to be a sacred object. When the book was prepared in the thirteenth century, it must have been a stunning, prized object of the community.18 It was written in ornamental script (Rañjana) in gold on blue-black paper,19 which must have had a glamorous visual effect.20 In addition, the Kwā Bāhā manuscript was illustrated with exquisite paintings dispersed evenly throughout, marking the beginning, the middle, and the end of the manuscript—a total of eighteen illustrated panels (fig. 7–2, see web 7–4, 7–5). These illustrated panels must have enhanced the cultic value of the book in the first place. Because of high usage, however, the illustrated folios in the beginning and the end of the manuscript have been subject to much physical damage. The first two folios and the last few folios are ragged and damaged, and the paintings in the first and the last two illustrated folios have been completely redone while the original folios have been kept. Blue-black paper folios are sturdy and flexible, and well-varnished folios in some manuscripts almost feel like leather. This quality allows physical modification of folios during repair and restoration, which is rather difficult in a palm-leaf manuscript. Later Nepalese restorers of Indian palm-leaf manuscripts that we have examined so far often supplied freshly written folios with blank panels instead of trying to repair a damaged folio by physically modifying it, as we see in the second folio of Ms D7 now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London (see fig. 5–7). When the damage was localized and manageable, like a hole in the middle of a folio or a tear at a corner, some took a more preser 

 

 

 

 

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Figure 7-2  First two folios of the AsP ms, originally prepared in NS 345 (1225 CE), restored with late-20th century paintings, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.

vative approach to save the original illustrated folio by gluing pieces of paper on the necessary spots (see fig. 5–6, bottom folio). The paintings on the first two folios seem to have been prepared most recently, as the fresh pigments, the use of more artificial colors, and the hybrid, contemporary style of painting suggest (see fig. 7–2). The two central panels show the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on the first folio and Ratnasambhava, one of the five Transcendental Buddhas, on the second folio. Interestingly, Prajñāpāramitā does not look like a female deity. Her breasts are almost nonexistent, and her figure is not any more feminine than that of the facing Buddha, Ratnasambhava. In fact, her facial features appear more stern and masculine than Ratnasambhava’s. Compared with earlier representations of the goddess in manuscript illustrations we have seen throughout this study, her identity as a goddess is definitely downplayed in the new representation. This aspect seems to be in synch with the conspicuous absence of the visual representation of the goddess during the ritual and in the temple complex.21 Although the iconography is atypical and her representation more or  

 

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less genderless, it does not mean that people involved in this restoration project did not care about iconographic precision. The four side panels depict the scenes from the Buddha’s life before he reached enlightenment, beginning with the birth on the left panel of the first folio, followed by the fortune telling of the Buddha’s fate on the right. It continues with the scene of the great departure on the left panel of the second folio and the scene of the Buddha’s tonsure on the right panel. They are carefully executed with great attention to the details of the narrative. Composition of these narrative panels is different from what we see in manuscripts of the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. Much attention is paid to the natural and built environment where each event happens, and the protagonists of each scene are depicted to scale, relatively speaking, unlike in earlier paintings.22 I was told at the time that the paintings were commissioned five to six years back.23 Instead of preparing completely new folios, the most recent restorers preserved the original folios by preparing the paintings separately on sheets of cloth cut to fit the designated spaces, which were then glued onto the folios. Such a preservative attitude demonstrates the respect for the book’s antiquity and sanctity. The six illustrations in the middle of the manuscript on folio 127 verso and folio 128 recto seem to be the original thirteenth-century paintings (see web 7–4). The four side panels continue the life scenes of the Buddha. The left panel of folio 127 shows cowherds poking the Buddha’s ears with sticks, which happened in Bodhgayā. This scene is commonly depicted in Nepalese Buddhist manuscripts from the twelfth and the thirteenth centuries. The right panel of folio 127 has the scene of Māravijaya, with Māra’s army attacking the Buddha from above with bows and arrows. Two of his demon soldiers are shown below as they tried to disturb the Buddha by lifting his seat when he remained resolute touching the earth. The left panel of folio 128 shows the Buddha’s descent from the Trāyastriṃśa heaven. The Buddha stands in the middle displaying the boon-giving gesture (varadā mudrā), and Indra, depicted in typical Nepalese visual idioms with a horizontal third eye and a distinctive crown, holds an umbrella over him. Fourarmed Brahma with four heads (the fourth one implied in the back) attends the Buddha from the left. Elongated limbs of Indra and Brahma show the stylistic features of thirteenth-century Nepalese Buddhist  

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manuscript paintings.24 The right panel of folio 128 depicts the Śrāvastī miracle where he multiplied himself, with the heretic falling on the ground. The Buddha in the center is shown seated with his legs down as if squatting, alluding to the “European pose” or pralāmbapadāsana, on a rising lotus flower, an iconographic convention that developed early on in fifth-century Buddhist cave temples of the Deccan plateau. Two fallen heretics are represented at the bottom of the panel. The central panels have the two Transcendental Buddhas, Akṣobhya on folio 127 and Vairocana on folio 128. They have lost their original colors, possibly due to chemical reactions between pigments, which turned both of them to bluish gray. Both Buddhas are depicted with jewelry and jewel-crusted crowns, which is typical of thirteenth-century Nepalese and Tibetan representations of the five tathāgatas. A few visual devices make all six illustrated panels appear as a harmonious set. All panels have vermillion color backgrounds strewn with tiny white flowers. Another common visual element is the use of thick gold pigments in every panel, which complements the golden letters of the text. Studded with golden letters and shining paintings, these folios with the original thirteenth-century paintings suggest how visually stunning the manuscript might have been at the time of its initial production. The paintings on the last two illustrated folios seem to have gone through much more dire ordeals, especially folio 297 (see web 7–5). They, too, are recent additions, judging from the garish chemical pigments and the style. They may have been done earlier than the illustrations on the first two folios.25 They were painted on individual pieces of paper and pasted onto the folios. The area around the paintings on folio 297 recto shows a patchwork of paper added to save the folio. The left panel of folio 296 verso shows the scene of the monkey’s offering of honey. The panel follows a more or less standard iconography with the monkey represented four times: first, he is shown offering a bowl of honey to the seated Buddha, and the second time as dancing with excitement. His bottom legs and upwardly pointing tail appear in the bottom left corner of the panel as he is shown falling accidentally into a well. He is represented the fourth time as a flying deva who appears amidst clouds. One of the unusual iconographic features is an attendant monk seated behind the Buddha. Instead of a tree under which the Buddha is seated in medieval manuscript paintings, a series of rectangu 

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lar shapes form an almost cave-like frame. The right panel on folio 296 verso depicts the taming of the mad elephant. The elephant is already tame and under a building as the Buddha approaches him with his disciple. Two people watch the scene from the upper story of the building. An unusual feature of a yellow figure in a floating white circle may have been introduced to balance the composition of this panel with the monkey’s offering of honey panel, where we see the monkey reborn as a deva in the midst of white cloud. These two panels appear coordinated and balanced because the same colors of sky blue, light green, and gray are distributed similarly across the panels. The center panel on folio 296v depicts the Buddha Amitābha in bejeweled and crowned form, and this panel, too, uses similar colors, except for the red color of Amitābha, which also creates visual harmony among the illustrated panels. The left panel on folio 297 recto shows a preaching Buddha with two celestial, bodhisattva-like attendants. If this is part of the life scene sequence, it may depict the first sermon. The right panel ends the life scene cycle with the scene of Parinirvāṇa. The Buddha is shown lying on his right side as six grief-stricken monks weep. The central panel shows Amoghasiddhi in blue, completing the five Transcendental Buddha cycle paired with the goddess Prajñāpāramitā on the first folio. The painted panels of folio 297r are of uneven sizes. Upon close inspection, we see how this folio was heavily reconstituted using different pieces of black paper. The area underneath the Parinirvāṇa panel shows that the painting was prepared on a new layer of paper, the height of which is shorter than the height of the folio. The use of the same combination of colors, dark red, royal blue, and navy, creates visual conformity among the panels on folio 297r, but they are in stark contrast to the panels on folio 296v, whose predominant colors are sky blue, light green, and gray. The paintings on the first and the last two illustrated folios might not replicate the original iconography, but they seem to respect the larger scheme of the original iconographic program. The general layout of the iconographic program is similar to Group A manuscripts, since the Buddha’s life scenes occupy the outer layer. The goal of saving the ancient/original folios, most likely driven by the respect for the book as a whole, may have been served at the expense of its “perfect” shape, for the restoration works by many generations now appear haphazardly done, especially when compared with

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a folio or a manuscript that is now housed in a museum or a library. As we see, each restoration project has added another layer to the book, both literally and metaphorically, just as each touching hand of a devotee transformed the general appearance of the book. But the sacredness of the book has never been forsaken by these activities. In fact, these human interventions that left traces on the book seem to have contributed to increasing the cultic significance of the book even more. Today’s devotional activities are certainly encouraged by the traces left by previous generations of users. In addition, the surrounding environment of the Golden Temple is maintained as a sacred space in a similar manner.

The Temple: The Golden Temple

Darśan or “auspicious mutual sight” is one of the most important concepts in understanding religious practices in South Asia.26 Because it is through the exchange of gaze that devotees connect with the divine, eyes are the most important feature in many idols in South Asia. However, in the case of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā and her worship at Kwā Bāhā, in which her anthropomorphic representation is absent and thus there is no eye to make contact with, physical contacts with the book may be the only way through which the devotees can connect with the goddess. In a vein similar to the concept of darśan, the idea of touching the divine and worshipping through direct and indirect physical contacts27 is common in all Indic religious practices. There is virtually no distance between the divine and the devotee. Unlike darśan, these physical contacts leave visible traces and can ultimately change not only the appearance but also the religious significance of an image. The result of such practices is evident everywhere when we look around Kwā Bāhā. For example, a gracious image of a standing bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara that may date back to the ninth or tenth century in the corner of the temple courtyard is smeared with vermillion powder and covered with rice and flowers on any given day, just like our book (see web 7–6). The temple itself is a conglomeration of later additions of reliefs, sculptures, and ornaments from different points in time, just as the book has been repaired and restored many times with additions of paintings and colophons. There are numerous inscriptions  

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Figure 7-3  A golden box donated in NS 948 (1828 CE) and a gold-plated throne donated in NS 1020 (1900 CE) made for the 13th century Prajñāpāramitā manuscript, Prajñāpāramitā pūjā, Kwā Bāhā, Patan, Nepal, June 30, 2004.

on the temple that record the donations of structural, sculptural, and practical additions to the temple. For example, among the four kneeling donor figures in front of the lineage deity (Svayambhucaitya) shrine, the couple on the south are of stone and dated NS 795 (1675 CE), and the couple on the north are of metal and dated NS 924 (1804 CE) (see

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web 7–7). The silver toraṇa over the doorway to the main shrine (the kwāpā-dya) was added during the reign of King Prithvi Bir Shah (1881– 1911 CE), possibly during the 1907 renovation recorded in the inscription around the roof. This toraṇa is a copy of an older gilt-copper toraṇa placed over the main entryway to the Kwā Bāhā compound. The inscriptions on the banner panels placed on either side of the entryway date their additions to NS 877 (1757 CE) and NS 895 (1775 CE), left and right respectively. Both panels contain eight auspicious symbols and an eye and appear to be identical, but if we inspect them carefully, we can notice their stylistic differences. Examples like these are numerous.28 Although these later additions may make the ground appear less orderly and neat, they are great testimony to the unending piety and devotion of the community members and their economic and political success since the inception of the temple.29 Just like these later donations to the temple, the book, too, has received many gifts throughout its life at Kwā Bāhā, and its paraphernalia now includes the golden box that was donated in NS 948 (1828 CE) by the eleven members of the Golden Temple community (guthi) and the gold-plated throne donated in NS 1020 (1900 CE) (fig. 7–3). Given the conglomerated state of the temple and the common ritual practice involving frequent physical contacts, we can argue that excessive handling and aggressive repair of the book are part of how the sacredness of a religious object (or a space) is sustained and intensified. Thus, the Prajñāpāramitā pūjā in its current incarnation demonstrates the importance of human agency in constructing and maintaining the sacredness of a man-made object in Newar Buddhist context.  

 

 

The Buddhist Book Cult in Continuum

The tradition of the Buddhist book cult is an ancient one, textually going back to the early centuries of the Common Era. Throughout its long history, it has obviously gone through considerable changes. As in any devotional practice, there is a fashion and a trend in any given moment, and economic considerations of the actors involved play an important role in the final products among other things. A book’s format or material may have changed, but the book has remained in the center of this long-lived tradition. David Gellner concludes in his study

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of the ritual of Kwā Bāhā that the “ritual of having the text read may date, in its present form, and with its present organization, only from the beginning of the nineteenth century or even later. . . . The Kwa Bahah text-reading ritual should probably be interpreted as an example of religious innovation which is yet highly continuous with what went before and fits easily into established Buddhist notions.”30 The physical evidence of the book cult suggests earlier worship and use of the book, but it is difficult to determine whether a simultaneous recitation by ten Vajrācāryas as it is performed today was in practice during the thirteenth century or the seventeenth century, as Gellner points out. The current format of the ritual may be an example of more recent innovations, but the ritual worship of the book is not. I noticed during my research at Kwā Bāhā in 2004 that a few small changes in the format of the ritual had happened during the past twenty years since Gellner’s research in the early 1980s, which suggests the adaptability of the Buddhist book cult in changing social, cultural climates even today. The history of the Buddhist book cult as practiced in Kwā Bāhā is yet to be written, for another pious donor may be offering a ritual to the book at this very moment. The Buddhist book cult continues just like that.

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Notes

Introduction

1. Unrai Wogihara, ed., Abhisamayālamkārālokā prajñāpāramitāvyākhyā: (Commentary on Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā) (Tokyo: Toyo Bunko Publications. series D, 1932), 989-90; P.L. Vaidya, ed., Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā: With Haribhadra’s Commentary Called Āloka, Buddhist Sanskrit texts (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960), 260. The passage cited here is Gregory Schopen’s translation based on the Woghihara edition of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramita. Gregory Schopen, “The Book as a Sacred Object in Private Homes in Early or Medieval India,” in Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Objects in Global Perspective, ed. Elizabeth Robertson and Jennifer Jahner, The New Middle Ages (Hampshire, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010), 10–11.  

2. I use manuscript and book interchangeably throughout this study. The term book is used to emphasize the physical aspect of the book as an object. This usage follows the use of the Sanskrit term pustaka in the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra. For example, the AsP mentions two separate stages of a manuscript production: writing the text and making it into a beautiful book. In chapter 3 of the AsP, we find “a son or daughter of good family, having written down this perfection of wisdom, made it into a book (imam prajñāpāramitāṃ likhitvā pustakagatām kṛtvā).” P.L. Vaidya, Aṣṭasāhasrikā-Prajñāpāramitā with Haribhadra’s Commentary Called Āloka, 28. 3. Early Jain manuscripts and the Jain tradition of book worship ( jñānapūjā) provide great parallel examples to the Buddhist tradition’s use of illustrated



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manuscripts, as they developed almost simultaneously. Jainism is famous for its libraries ( jñana-bhaṇḍars), and there may survive a lot more medieval Jain manuscripts than medieval Indian Buddhist manuscripts. Even a cursory comparison between these two traditions’ production and use of illustrated manuscripts will benefit our understanding of each tradition. Unfortunately, the Jain manuscript tradition is less well understood than the Buddhist one, partly because of the limited access given to outsiders. I only hope this study can generate more scholarly interest in the tradition of book in India and encourage more research on Indic manuscript culture, dealing not only with Jain manuscripts but also with Hindu manuscripts. 4. Susan Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 1993), 33. 5. This is a quote from the production description from the iTunes website, http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/alice-for-the-ipad/id354537426?mt=8# (ac­­ cessed on November 8, 2010). 6. This passage is from Sum-pa mkhan-po (1704–1788)’s Dpag-bsam ljon-bang (Pag Sam Jon Zang, or History of Buddhism). Sarat Chandra Das, ed., Pag sam jon zang, 2 vols. (Calcutta: Presidency Jail Press, 1908), 92. The translation given here mainly follows that of Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana except for the last sentence, which follows the translation by Lokesh Chandra given in Sukumar Dutt’s study of Buddhist monasteries. See Satis Chandra Vidyabhusana, A History of Indian Logic: Ancient, Mediaeval, and Modern Schools, reprint ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1921, 1971), 516; Sukumar Dutt, Buddhist Monks and Monasteries of India (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1962), 343, fn 2.  

7. Jacquelyn A. Martino, “ ‘Without a Special Object of Worship’: An Interactive Book-Arts Computer Installation,” Leonardo 30, no. 1 (1997). Many earlier artists of the 20th century were concerned with the book’s tantalizing semiotic qualities. For example, a French poet of the mid-20th century, Christian Gabriel/le Guez Ricord (1948–1988), designed a number of book-objects (livres-objet) that addressed the semiological issues behind the book’s objecthood, especially the reconciliation between form and meaning. These book-objects were realized and produced by artist Anik Vinay in collaboration with Gabriel in the Atelier des Grames. The work La Porte de l’Orient is in fact designed like a pothi-format book, with four folios placed between two heavy ceramic plaques. Ana-Maria Gîrleanu-Guichard, “Une carte eschatologique: « La Porte de l’Orient » (Christian Gabriel/le Guez Ricord),” Textimage 2 (2008), http:// www.revue-textimage.com/03_cartes_plans/sommaire_cartes_plans.htm.  

8. I use the term hyperlink in the most rudimentary sense of connecting beyond physical limits. The experience of using a book that I discuss in this

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study is much more multidimensional and holistic than the linear experience of using a website with hyperlinked items. I thank Ruth Bielfeldt for pointing out this difference to me. 9. Stewart, On Longing: Narratives of the Miniature, the Gigantic, the Souvenir, the Collection: 35. 10. The manuscript was prepared during Rāmapāla’s 39th year (ca. 1126 CE) for a lay donor. On the later use of this manuscript, see Jinah Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010). 11. Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana, “Sanskrit Palm-leaf Mss. in Tibet,” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 21 (1935): 22–23.  

12. Such practical use of manuscript fragments is not just a 20th-century Tibetan custom. Rather, it has been in practice for centuries in South Asia, at least since the cult of the “dharma relics” took off in the middle of the first millennium. An example of text fragments being used to make an amulet was found at Bamiyan in one of the niches. See Jens-Uwe Hartmann, “From Words to Books: Indian Buddhist Manuscripts in the First Millennium CE,” in Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowedlge, Ritual, and Art, ed. Juliane Schober Stephen, C. Berkwitz, and Claudia Brown (New York: Routledge, 2009). 13. In Nepal, the list also includes the Saddharmapuṇḍarika as seen in the manuscript now in the British Library (Or. 2204). 14. Edward Conze, trans., The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973), 107–8.  

15. As recent scholarship on Indian Esoteric Buddhism asserts, Tantric or Esoteric Buddhism differs from the rest of Buddhism principally by its ritual means (upayas). Alexis Sanderson, “Vajrayāna: Origin and Function,” in Buddhism into the Year 2000, ed. Dhammakaya Foundation (Bangkok and Los Angeles: Dhamma­kaya Foundation, 1994); Harunaga Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200),” Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 (1998). 16. It is difficult to prove that visual puns were used in illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, but there are many excellent examples of visual punning and multivalent meanings in ancient and early medieval Indian art, such as the large tableaux at Mamallapuram and the images of copulating couples and women at Khajuraho. See, for example, Vidya Dehejia, “Aniconism and the Multivalence of Images,” Ars Orientalis 21 (1991); Padma Kaimal, “Playful Ambiguity and Political Authority in the Large Relief at Mammalapuram,” Ars Orientalis 24 (1994); Michael W. Meister, “Juncture and Conjunction: Punning and Temple



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Architecture,” Artibus Asiae 41, no. 2/3 (1979); Devangana Desai, “Puns and Enigmatic Language in Sculpture,” in The Religious Imagery of Khajuraho, Project for Indian Cultural Studies (Mumbai: Franco-Indian Research, 1996). Within the context of Vajrayāna Buddhism, this is not an impossible suggestion, because multitudes of meanings and insights can be coded in one object, one text, or one image to create a path to enlightenment. A good example of this is Qianlong’s use of Tibetan Buddhist imagery. See Patricia Berger, Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2003). 17. In this regard, this study is guided by the questions raised in Gregory Schopen’s seminal essay on the importance of archaeological and epigraphic evidence in understanding Indian Buddhism. Gregory Schopen, “Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism,” History of Religions 31 (1991). On the “material” turn in the study of religion, see John Cort, “Art, Religion, and Material Culture: Some Reflections on Method,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 64, no. 3 (1996). 18. The structure of a manuscript often dictates how it should be used. This is a basic premise of the archaeological analyses of prehistoric sites, and a similar approach is taken in the anthropological analysis of the use of the Khajuraho temples. Gregory D. Alles, “A Fitting Approach to God: On Entering the Western Temples at Khajuraho,” History of Religions 33, no. 2 (1993). 19. Note that the conflagration in this late Tibetan account was caused not by the “Turkish” army but by heretic mendicants. 20. On the manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra in the Khasarpana temple, see chapters 2 and 6. 21. Brian Houghton Hodgson, “Sketch of Buddhism, Derived from the Bauddha Scriptures of Nipal,” Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. 16 (1828): 222–58. The Hodgson collection of Buddhist Sanskrit manuscripts was catalogued and published in 1876. E.B. Cowell and J. Eggeling, “Catalogue of Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Possession of the Royal Asiatic Society (Hodgson Collection),” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, New Series 8 (1876): 1–52. It wasn’t until almost 50 years after Hodgson’s introduction of the manuscripts that the physical antiquity of the Sanskrit manuscripts found in Nepal was generally accepted, thanks to the efforts of Cecil Bendall. Cecil Bendall, Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge, with Introductory Notices and Illustrations of the Palæography and Chronology of Nepal and Bengal ([Cambridge]: Cambridge University Press, 1883). Reprinted as Publications of the Nepal-German Manuscript  

 

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Preservation Project 2 in Cooperation with the National Archives, Kathmandu, ed. Albrecht Wezler (Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1992). 22. Daniel Wright, “List of Manuscripts Collected by Dr Daniel Wright in Nepal, 1873–6,” extract from History of Nepal [Vaṃśāvalī] translated from the Parbatiyā by Shew Shunker Sing and Pandit Shri Gunanand: With an Introductory Sketch of the Country and People of Nepal by the Editor, Daniel Wright (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1877). Wright’s manuscripts were collected mainly from “Bhatgaon (present-day Bhaktapur) and Kathmandu” because the pandits who brought these manuscripts to him were from these two towns. Hodgson’s pandit, Amrita, was from Patan, a Buddhist stronghold in the modern-day Kathmandu Valley.  

23. A few of the illustrated folios and painted book covers now in Western collections may have come out of Tibet following Tucci’s visits. 24. Following the Cultural Revolution, many Buddhist manuscripts from Tibetan monasteries were transported to Beijing and housed in the China Library of Minorities, where they were microfilmed. During the late 1990s, they were returned to Lhasa. Many were initially housed in the Nor-bu-gliṅ-ga Palace and are now part of the collection of the Tibet Museum, the official museum of the Tibet Autonomous Region, which opened its doors in 1999. The project was funded by the Chinese central government. 25. The tendency to isolate and treasure illustrated folios for their art market value is not limited to the manuscripts surviving from the Tibetan side. In India, where many palm-leaf Buddhist manuscripts from Nepal survive, we find that illustrated folios have been singled out and catalogued while the rest of the text folios are bundled together in museum collections. The demand from the art market has also driven the business of forging new painted panels onto old palm-leaf text folios, many of which cover the text underneath. It is not difficult to identify these forged folios because of the artificial pigments and the occasional poor quality of the workmanship. 26. David N. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology (Cambridge: New York, 1992), 73. 27. Schopen, “The Book as a Sacred Object in Private Homes in Early or Medieval India.” 28. The existence of lay vajra-masters is confirmed in the caution against them in the Vimalaprabha commentary on the Kālacakra tantra. Sanderson, “Vajrayāna: Origin and Function.” 29. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual.

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30. Bengal in this study refers to the region of West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. 31. Due to the limit of the physical space allowed in this book, not all the diagrams are illustrated here. Some of them appear on the website of the University of California Press along with the color reproductions of the figures that do not appear in print. I hope the readers forgive the open-ended nature of the illustrative program of this book in the spirit of understanding the Buddhist book cult.

Chapter 1

1. See the Epilogue for the historical and religious significance of this ritual. David Gellner, “ ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur,” in The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes (Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 189. 2. Diana Eck, Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India, 3rd ed. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1998). 3. One good example is now in the Swat Museum (Acc. No. WS171). This schist relief from the Swat Valley shows a scene with five monks, and one of them clearly holds a narrow, rectangular book in his hands. 4. Despite the obvious female gender of māyūrī (peahen), it is always the peacock or a peacock feather that serves as a distinctive iconographic attribute of this goddess. Mahāmāyūrī goes through an interesting gender transformation as her iconography moves to East Asia, as she appears as a male deity riding a peacock in China (kong-qiao-ming-wang), Korea (gong-jak-myeong-wang), and Japan (kujaku-myōō). Perhaps this gender change was partly motivated by a corrective to be faithful to its iconographic markers. For the development of Mahāmāyūrī iconography in different traditions, see Gerd Mevissen, “The Indian Connection: Images of Deified Spells in the Arts of Northern Buddhism, Part 1,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 1 (1990). 5. Ibid. 6. Peirce categorizes signs into three broad classes: icons (qualitative), indices (existential facts), and symbols (conventions and laws). Albert Atkin, “Peirce’s Theory of Signs,” in The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (winter 2010 ed.), ed. Edward N. Zalta, http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/win2010/entries/ peirce-semiotics/. 7. A literal translation of the Chinese title would be a “wisdom king (mingwang),” not a queen.

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8. Taisho Shinshu Daizokyo (T) 982: 416b. 9. “. . . evamukte bhagavān āyuṣmantam ānandam idam avocat/ gacchatvam ānanda tathāgatasya vaca(na)nānayā mahāmāyūryā vidyārajñyā svātirbhikṣā rakṣāḥ kuru guptim paritrāṇam parigraham paripālanaṃ śāntisvastya . . . .” Pañcarakṣā sūtra, Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688, fol. 20v. 10. See chapter 3. 11. Jinah Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010). 12. Paul Henry Saenger, Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1997). 13. For a list of Prajñāpāramitā texts, see Nakamura Hajime, Indian Buddhism: A Survey with Bibliographical Notes (Delhi: Motilala Banarsidass Publishers, 1987), 159–66; also, Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature, Indo-Iranian Monograph, vol. 6 (Gravenhage: Mouton, 1960).  

14. Observation by David Snellgrove, quoted in Jacob N. Kinnard, Imaging Wisdom: Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism, Curzon critical studies in Buddhism (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999), 142. 15. Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature, Indo-Iranian Monograph, vol. 6 (Gravenhage: Mouton, 1960). 16. Prajñāpāramitā of the Practice of the Way 道行般若經 (T 224). 17. Edward Conze, trans., The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973), xi–xii. For the discussion of the dates and details of the Chinese translations of the AsP, see Lewis R. Lancaster, “An Analysis of the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra from the Chinese Translations” (PhD Dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1968).  

18. The six translations mentioned here are T 224, T 225, T 226, T 227, T 220, and T 228. 19. Jo-naṅ-pa Tāranātha, Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, ed. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, trans. Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya, reprint ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, 1997), 274. 20. Ibid., 275. 21. For example, Conze writes that studying the images of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā “affords a contribution to the long and varied history of the Mother-goddess.” Edward Conze, “The Iconography of the Prajñāpāramitā of the God,” Oriental Art 1 (1949–50): 47.  



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22. Jacob N. Kinnard, Imaging Wisdom: Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism, Curzon Critical Studies in Buddhism (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 1999), 127–30.  

23. Ibid. 24. In early Mahāyāna Buddhist context, Prajñāpāramitā’s gender did not necessarily affirm female principles. It may be a reflection of the prevalent androcentric attitude among the early Mahāyāna philosophers for, as Cabezón argues, wisdom is a mother whose offspring’s identity is solely determined by “father love.” José Ignacio Cabezón, “Mother Wisdom, Father Love: Genderbased Imagery in Mahāyāna Buddhist Thought,” in Buddhism, Sexuality, and Gender, ed. José Ignacio Cabezón (Albany: SUNY Press, 1992). 25. In epigraphic records, we have 10th-century inscriptions from Cambodia that use the epithet of mother consistently to refer to Prajñāpāramitā along with the representation of the goddess as part of the trinity. Etienne Aymonier, Le Cambodge, vol. 3 (Paris: E. Leroux, 1900), 11–13; Nancy H. Dowling, “Honolulu Academy of Art Tenth-Century Khmer Buddhist Trinity,” Artibus Asiae 56, no. 3/4 (1996).  

26. Thomas E. Donaldson, Iconography of the Buddhist Sculpture of Orissa, 2 vols., vol. 1 (New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts: Abhinav Publications, 2001), 279–82.  

27. The museum label dates this image to the 10th century. I agree with Donaldson that this image may belong to the latter half of the 11th century. Ibid., 281. 28. It is common to find medieval Buddhist images in worship today as local Hindu divinities in Orissa. Donaldson notes at least four such examples of Prajñāpāramitā images. One of them in Sonepur is worshipped as “BuddhaTārā,” possibly suggesting the awareness of its Buddhist origin in a local Hindu tradition. Ibid., 279–82.  

29. Claudine Bautze-Picron, “Between Men and Gods: Small Motifs in the Buddhist Art of Eastern India, an Interpretation,” in Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art: Proceedings of a Seminar Held at Leiden University, 21–24 October 1991, ed. K.R. van Kooij and H. van der Veere, Gonda Indological Studies (Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1995).  

30. Being in worship does not deny a book the possibility of being read. Even as a sacred object of worship, a Buddhist book was read frequently, often very carefully, to sustain its cultic status as a perfect text. 31. In addition to the Prajñāpāramitā texts, the Vimalakīrtinirdeśa, the Suvarṇa­ bhāśottama sūtra, and the Sadharma-Puṇḍarīka, among others, belong to this

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group that promotes their own importance as cultic objects. Gregory Schopen, “The Phrase ‘sa pṛthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet’ in the Vajracchedikā: Notes on the Cult of the Book in Mahāyāna,” Indo-Iranian Journal 17, no. 3–4 (1975ṇ), 157–59.  

 

32. Conze, Perfection of Wisdom, 107–8.  

33. Edward Conze summarized the Prajñāpāramitā as following: “1) One should become a bodhisattva, i.e. one who is content with nothing less than all-knowledge attained through the perfection of wisdom for the sake of all beings. 2) There is no such thing as a bodhisattva, or as all-knowledge, or as a ‘being’, or as the perfection of wisdom, or as an attainment. To accept both of these contradictory facts is to be perfect.” Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature, Indo-Iranian monographs vol. 6 (Gravenhage: Mouton, 1960), 15. 34. Gregory Schopen, “The Phrase ‘sa pṛthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet’ in the Vajracchedikā: Notes on the Cult of the Book in Mahāyāna.” 35. Daniel Boucher, “The Pratītyasamutpādagāthā and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 14, no. 1 (1991). Kinnard, Imaging Wisdom: Seeing and Knowing in the Art of Indian Buddhism. 36. Jens-Uwe Hartmann, “From Words to Books: Indian Buddhist Manuscripts in the First Millennium CE,” in Buddhist Manuscript Cultures: Knowedlge, Ritual, and Art, ed. Juliane Schober, Stephen C. Berkwitz, and Claudia Brown (New York: Routledge, 2009). 37. Boucher, “The Pratītyasamutpādagāthā and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics,” 4. 38. Schopen, “The Phrase ‘sa pṛthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet’ in the Vajracche­ dikā: Notes on the Cult of the Book in Mahāyāna.” 39. David Drewes, “Revisiting the Phrase ‘sa pṛthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet’ and the Mahāyāna Cult of the Book,” Indo-Iranian Journal 50 (2007). Hartmann also cautious us to reconsider the early proposed date of the Buddhist book cult. Hartmann, “From Words to Books: Indian Buddhist Manuscripts in the First Millennium CE,” 104. Schopen in his recent article in response to Karl Jetmar’s analysis suggests that the “Building D” at Gilgit, which was considered a stūpa-like monument, may have been more like a Ghaniza cum Scriptorium. Gregory Schopen, “On the Absence of Urtexts and Otiose Ācāryas: Buildings, Books, and Lay Buddhist Ritual at Gilgit,” in Écrire et Transmettre en Inde classique, ed. Gérard Colas; Gerdi Gerschheimer, Étude thématiques (Paris: École Française d’Extrême-Orient, 2009).



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40. Asiatic Society, Kolkata G.10846, Nepalese black-paper Ms. NS 948 (1828 CE). 41. Abhidhānottara, Asiatic Society, Kolkata G.10759, copied from a manuscript dated to NS 418 (1298 CE). The “ye dharma” verse is added at the end of the text colophon which reads, “abhidhānottarottarā nāma mahātantrarājasamāptaḥ.” 42. “sarvatathāgatakāyavākṣittarahasyācchrīguhyasamāje . . .”; the text begins with “namaḥ śrī vajrasattvāya.” Asiatic Society, Kolkata G. 8070, Newari hand, 11th– 12th century.  

43. Sādhanasamucaya, Cambridge University Library Add. 1648, dated NS 226 (or 336?) with later colophons (NS 498 and NS 488). The colophon on folio 228 recto has the “ye dharma” verse before the donor colophon. The donor of this manuscript was a monastic elder (sthavira) named Ānandaśrījñana of a “mahāvihāra” the name of which reads something like Śrī Kṣanbhatīva (?). 44. The Five Great Dhāraṇīs of Tibetan tradition are (1) Uṣṇīṣavijayā, (2) Vima­ loṣṇīṣa, (3) Guhyadhātu, (4) Bodhigarbhālaṃkāralakṣa, and (5) Pratītyasamutpāda. See Yael Bentor, “On the Indian Origins of the Tibetan Practice of Depositing Relics and Dhāraṇīs in Stūpas and Images,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 115, no. 2 (1995): 254. 45. Ibid.; The Palace Museum, ed., Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism Collected in the Qing Palace (Beijing: The Forbidden City Press, 1992), fig. 46.2. 46. See the discussion of hidden dharma seals on sculptures in Jinah Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2006), 323–25.  

Chapter 2

1. This is an imagined scenario rather than what one could do today by picking up the manuscript. The illustrated folios are now encased together with a colophon folio in a black frame for easy display. 2. Dharmabhāṇaka may have been a special title for a master scribe. Compared with texts written by a lekhaka (scribe), those written by a dharmabhāṇaka are of superior quality in their paintings and writings. 3. J. Losty, “Manuscript Illumination,” in Buddhism: Art and Faith, ed. W. Zwalf (New York: Macmillan, 1985), 105; also, J.P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India (London: British Library, 1982), 20. 4. One could question whether it is possible to measure the amount of religious merit one gets from donations. The measurability of “puṇya” is suggested

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when the AsP text puts the amount of merit in comparative terms, claiming the worship of the AsP as the highest of all Buddhist merit-making activities. Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas, CA: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973), 105–11.  

5. A manuscript now in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G.4713) was prepared during Mahīpāla’s 6th year (ca. 983 CE). Pal argued for a later date for this manuscript, that is, the second Mahīpāla’s reign, sometime around 1075–80, along with the manuscript in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1464) on stylistic grounds. I concur with Saraswati that the Asiatic Society manuscript dates to the first Mahīpāla’s reign and the Cambridge manuscript belongs to the second Mahīpāla’s reign, given the notable stylistic differences between the two. As explained later in this chapter, the iconographic configuration in the Cambridge manuscript also points to a later date. See Pratapaditya Pal and Julia Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations (New York: Ravi Kumar, 1988), 64; S.K. Saraswati, “Eastern Indian Manuscript Painting,” in Chhavi Golden Jubilee Volume 1920–1970 (Varanasi: Bharat Kala Bhavan, 1971), 248–49.  

 

 

6. Sylvain Levi, “Note sur des manuscrits Sanskrits de Bamiyan et de Gilgit,” Journal Asiatique 220, no. 1932 (1932); Karl Jettmar, “The Gilgit Manuscripts: Discovery by Installments,” Journal of Central Asia 4, no. 2 (1981). 7. For example, the Schøyen collection Ms 2179/44, written in Gandhari on palm leaf, which hails from a Buddhist monastery of Mahāsaṅghika, Bamiyan, Afghanistan, dates to the 2nd–3rd century CE. Jens Braarvig and Mark Allon, “Buddhist Manuscripts,” in Manuscripts in the Schøyen Collection, ed. Jens Braarvig, vol. 1 (Oslo: Hermes, 2000).  

8. P. Banerjee, “Painted Wooden Covers of Two Gilgit Manuscripts,” Oriental Art 14 (1968); Deborah Klimburg-Salter, “The Gilgit Manuscript Covers and the ‘Cult of the Book,’ “ in South Asian Archaeology 1987, ed. Maurizio Taddei, Serie orientale Roma (Rome: Istituto Italiano per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente, 1990), 41–44, plates 1–3; Deborah Klimburg-Salter, “The Painted Covers of the Saṃghāṭasūtra and the Votive Objects from Gilgit,” in South Asian Archaeology 1989, ed. Catherine Jarrige, Monographs in World Archaeology (Madison, WI: Prehistory Press, 1992); Pratapaditya Pal and Julia Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations.  

 

9. P. Banerjee suggests the 9th century for these painted covers. Banerjee, “Painted Wooden Covers of Two Gilgit Manuscripts.” The date of 7th to 8th centuries is preferred by both Joanna Williams and Deborah Klimburg-Salter. Joanna Williams, “The Iconography of Khotanese Painting,” East and West 23 (1973); Klimburg-Salter, “The Gilgit Manuscript Covers and the ‘Cult of the Book.’”



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10. Pal and Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations: 41. 11. The directionality of right to left is implied in the directions that the images face in one pair. The Buddha looks to the left and a bodhisattva looks to the right. In other words, the Buddha is on the left (probably the front cover) and the bodhisattva is on the right (the back cover), suggesting the direction of right to left implied between these two images. 12. The earliest printed book is a hand scroll of the Diamond sūtra from China dated 868 CE. Many manuscripts from Dunhuang datable to the 9th and 10th centuries have drawings accompanying the text. See examples in W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (New York: Macmillan, 1985). P. Pal proposed Central Asian origin of this practice because Buddhists must have been exposed to illuminated Christian manuscripts through their interaction with Christian groups in the region. Pal and Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations: 11. 13. See, for example, a fragment of an 8th-century Sanskrit manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā written in “Upright Gupta” script found at Khadalik, Xinjiang province (Or. 8212/174) and a Khotanese manuscript of the Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā sūtra from Dunhuang written in “Upright Gupta” script (IOLR Ch.00275 and xlvi.0012a). Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith: 57, 60. 14. Until recently the structure that contained the Gilgit manuscripts was considered to have been a stūpa, but Gérard Fussman raised a possibility that the “Bâtiment C” might have been a shrine where ācāryas conducted rituals for local luminaries using books. Gérard Fussman, “Dans quel type de bâtiment furent trouvés les manuscrits de Gilgit,” Journal Asiatique 292 (2004). Developing Fussman’s idea further with the analysis of the manuscripts’ literal and paleographic contents, Schopen suggests that the Building C might have been a genizah cum scriptorium where scribes produced manuscripts, with unwanted and damaged manuscripts stored at the site, which were sometimes reused. Gregory Schopen, “On the Absence of Urtexts and Otiose Ācāryas: Buildings, Books, and Lay Buddhist Ritual at Gilgit,” in Écrire et transmettre en Inde classique, eds. Gérard Colas and Gerdi Gerschheimer, Études thématiques (Paris: École française d’Extrême-Orient, 2009). For the idea of Indian manuscript production sites as genizah and sacred scriptorium, see Richard Salomon with Raymond Allchin and Mark Barnard, Ancient Buddhist Scrolls from Gandhāra: The British Library Kharoṣṭhī Fragments (Seattle: British Library and University of Washington Press, 1999). 15. On the dates of late Buddhist activities in Gilgit before Tibetan expansion in the area, see Oskar von Hinüber, Die Palola şahıs. Ihre Steininschriften, Inschriften auf Bronzen, Handschriftenkolophone und Schutzzauber:Materialien zur

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Geschichte von Gilgit und Chilas, Antiquities of Northern Pakistan: Reports and Studies vol. 5 (Mainz: P. von Zabern, 2004). 16. Another obvious place to look is the Buddhist sites in the western Himalayan region. Painted manuscripts were prepared during the same period in the region as the profusely painted manuscripts from Poo and Tholing suggest. Deborah E. Klimburg-Salter, “A Decorated Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript from Poo,” Orientations 25, no. 6 (1994). We also have surviving evidence of a strong painting tradition with 10th- and 11th-century wall paintings in the monasteries of Alchi and Tabo. However, as Deborah Klimburg-Salter has already noted, the western Tibetan painted manuscripts differ considerably from the eastern Indian and Nepalese manuscripts. Deborah Klimburg-Salter, “Indo-Tibetan Miniature Painting from Himachal-Pradesh,” in Tibetan Studies: Proceedings of the 6th Seminar of the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Fagernes, 1992, ed. Per Kværne (Oslo: Institute for Comparative Research in Human Culture, 1994). In western Tibet of Guge-Purang dynasties, the material of choice for manuscript production is paper rather than palm leaf, and the paintings are distributed asymmetrically with some iconographic choices attempting to relate the images and the text directly. The idea of illustrating folios established in Central Asia may have inspired both the western Tibetan tradition and the eastern Indian-Nepalese tradition. Each tradition developed a unique way of illustrating manuscript folios, with many experiments in book designing. My analysis focuses only on the eastern Indian-Nepalese tradition with the hope that it could provide a frame of reference to understand the western Tibetan tradition when more material becomes available. 17. J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1,” Oriental Art 35, no. 2 (1989); J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Manuscripts, Part 2,” Oriental Art 35, no. 3 (1989). 18. Ronald Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 130–32.  

19. David N. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992). 20. Pratapaditya Pal cites this manuscript as being in Nepal by NS 194, but the number 194 is clearly the number of folios, not the year. Pratapaditya Pal, Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (Los Angeles: The Museum; New York: Distrubuted by H.N Abrams, 1993). The post colophon written in a clumsy hand is incomplete because one-third of the folio is missing. What is left is fairly legible: “. . . trāṅkabhāṣālekyapatra sa 194



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samvat 355 śrāvanaśudi 5 vijayadine rājyarāja prameśvasa śrīabhayama(lla)devasya. . . .” Abhayamalla ruled between 1215 and 1255 CE. 21. Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pāla India (8th–12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy (Dayton, OH: Dayton Art Institute in association with the University of Washington Press, 1990), 186–88.  

 

22. Sachau 1910, col. 1, p. 18; discussed in Davidson, Tibetan Renaissance:Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture: 128. 23. Ibid. 24. Davidson notes that Tibetan translators had difficulty with manuscripts written in newer regional scripts. I am not convinced that medieval regional scripts such as proto-Bengali were incomprehensible to Tibetans because of their divergence from siddhamātṛkā. However, if Davidson’s observation regarding the impact of the “nāgarī shift” in north India during this time on Tibetan translators holds some truth, the use of siddhamātṛkā-based scripts in illustrated manuscripts may be related to the Tibetan clientele’s influence on manuscript production circles. Ibid., 127. 25. See, for example, the Buddha images appearing in roundels on the manuscript fragments of the Aparimitāyusūtradhāraṇī (IOLR Ch.xlvi.0015) and the Vajracchedikā from Dunhuang (IOLR Ch.00275, xlvi.0012a), and the Sanskrit manuscript fragment of the Prajñāpāramitā from Khadalik (Or. 8212/174). Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith: cat. nos. 57,66, and 61. 26. The coexistence of these two practices, adding polychrome paintings and inserting geometric symbols in black ink, in early 11th-century book production circles in South Asia is also exemplified in an early 11th-century Nepalese manuscript of the AsP. The manuscript now in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 866) was prepared in “year 128,” most likely of Nepala Samvat year, which began on October 20, 879 CE, which makes this manuscript one of the earliest surviving complete Nepalese Sanskrit manuscripts of the AsP. It also has these geometric, wheel-like symbols on the last folio. 27. A few manuscripts of the Pañcaviṃśatī-sāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-five Thousand Verses) survive. There is at least one example of Śatasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā (Perfection of Wisdom in Ten Thousand Verses) that was in the Nor monastery at the time of Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s visit. For plates, see Suniti Kumar Pathak, ed., The Album of the Tibetan Art Collections: Collected by Pt. Rahula Samkrityayana from the Nor, Zhalu, and Other Monasteries in 1928–29 and 1934, Tibetan Sanskrit works series (Patna: Kashi Prasad Jayaswal Research Institute, 1986), plates 19, 22, and 23.  

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28. The importance of the visuality in Mahāyāna literature has been a subject of a number of Buddhological inquiries. For example, see David McMahan, “Orality, Writing, and Authority in South Asian Buddhism: Visionary Literature and the Struggle for Legitimacy in the Mahāyāna,” History of Religions 37, no. 3 (1998). 29. Eugene Yuejin Wang, Shaping the Lotus Sutra: Buddhist Visual Culture in Medieval China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2005). 30. Jan Fontein, The Pilgrimage of Sudhana: A Study of Gaṇḍavyūha Illustrations in China, Japan and Java (The Hague and Paris: Mouton, 1967). Wall paintings on the Assembly Hall of the Tabo main temple depict the pilgrimage of Sudhana. See Deborah E. Klimburg-Slater and Christian Luczanits, Tabo: A Lamp for the Kingdom: Early-Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Art in the Western Himalaya (New York: Thames and Hudson, 1998); Christian Luczanits, Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, Late 10th to Early 13th Centuries (Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004). 31. Eva Allinger, “An Early Nepalese Gaṇḍavyuhasūtra Manuscript: An Attempt to Discover Connections between Text and Illuminations,” in Religion and Art: New Issues in Indian Iconography and Iconology, ed. Claudine BautzePicron (London: British Association for South Asian Studies / British Academy, 2008). 32. J.P. Losty, “An Early Indian Manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra,” in Studies in Art and Archaeology of Bihar and Bengal, ed. Debala Mitra and Gouriswar Bhattacharya (Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications, 1989), figs. 24, 26–31.  

33. Another Kāraṇḍavyūha manuscript in the Bodleian Library at Oxford (Sansk C.13 (R)) was written in eastern India as well. This manuscript was illustrated with at least two painted panels, one of which might have had an image of preaching Avalokiteśvara (folio 70v) and the other one with an image of a preaching Buddha (folio 1v), but it is difficult to examine the images because of the damages sustained when these folios were stuck together. The colophon is also badly damaged and beyond recognition in some sections. The surviving bit of the colophon states that it was prepared in Uddaṇḍapura Mahāvihāra, located in modern Bihar Sharif in the Patna district. The colophon also states that it was prepared in the 8th year of a king’s reign, but unfortunately his name is almost irretrievable. According to the catalog of the collection compiled by M. Winternitz and A. B. Keith, Dr. Hoernle, the original purchaser of this manuscript before it entered the collection in 1900, read the date of this manuscript as NS 170 (1050 CE). Moriz Winternitz, Keith Winternitz, and Arthur Berriedale, “Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodelian Library,” ed. Oxford Bodelian Library (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905), 251–52. However, I  



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could not locate such a date on the manuscript. There survives a 12th-century Nepalese illustrated manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūha now in the Kaiser Library, Kathmandu (Acc. No. 9.6). It bears the date NS 267 (1147 CE) and was prepared during the reign of Ānadadeva (ca. 1147–1166 CE).  

34. Most Pañcarakṣā manuscripts could be categorized under Group C, representing the text. 35. Jinah Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010). 36. Only two illustrated folios from this manuscript are in Los Angeles. Two other illustrated folios of this manuscript are in a private collection. See Eva Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñāpāramitā: Investigation of an Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th Century,” in Prajñādhāra: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, ed. Gerd J.R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 37. John Huntington, “Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the Aṣṭamāhap­ rātihārya, Part 1,” Orientations 18, no. 4 (1987); John Huntington, “Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the Aṣṭamāhap­rātihārya, Part 2,” Orientations 18, no. 8 (1987); Janice Leoshko, “Scenes of the Buddha’s Life in Pala Period Art,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 3 (1993–94).  

38. Mary Shepherd Slusser, “On a Sixteenth-Century Pictorial Pilgrim’s Guide from Nepal,” Archives of Asian Art 38, no. 38 (1935), 6–36.  

39. Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 40. Add. 1465 in the Cambridge University Library, a manuscript of the AsP, is an example where Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist iconography is employed in a Nepalese AsP manuscript. But its iconographic structure is different from Group D, for it does not have a mandalic configuration. Rather, it belongs to Group C, collectively representing the text, as the first, the middle, and the last two folios have single panels representing the deities related to the teaching of Prajñāpāramitā. 41. There is no surviving date colophon on this manuscript, but based on circumstantial evidence, Losty proposed an early 12th-century date sometime during Rāmapāla’s reign, and I have followed it with some reservation. J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1,” Oriental Art 35, no. 2 (1989): 86–96. In a recent publication discussing a hitherto unpublished Pāla manuscript in the Sam Fogg collection, London, Losty revised the date to the late 12th century  

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based on the formal similarities between the two manuscripts. According to Losty, the Sam Fogg manuscript bears a date of Govindapāla’s 30th year (ca. 1205 CE according to my chronology table). J. P. Losty, “The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā Sutra), Eastern India, Kodandamandala,” in The Art of Enlightenment: Buddhist Manuscripts from the Himalayas, India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia, An exhibition to Coincide with Asian Art in London (London: Sam Fogg, 2008), www.samfogg.com/exhpdf.php?id=16 (accessed on September 23, 2012.) I have not examined this manuscript in person, but from the lowresolution images available on this digital publication, I concur with Losty that the British Library manuscript (Or. 14282) must have been prepared around the same time as the one in the Sam Fogg collection. This later date fits better with the advanced iconographic scheme of this manuscript discussed in Chapter 5. 42. Robert N. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early IndoTibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), 1–30. Linrothe’s Phase Two Esoteric Buddhism is traditionally known as yoga tantra, and Phase Three Esoteric Buddhism designates the category often classified as yoganiruttaratantras or yoginītantras. The commonest system among various systems for classifying Buddhist tantras is the Tibetan classification of tantras into three categories: carya/kriya, yoga, and anuttara yoga tantra. This Tibetan system is not followed here, partly because of the obvious historical gap and the theological prejudice reflected in the system. According to Isaacson, the term anuttara yoga tantra is “not found in any of the texts surviving in Sanskrit.” The category of yoginītantras or yoganiruttaratantras seems to be warranted in the tradition in eastern India. Harunaga Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200),” Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 (1998): 28; Elizabeth English, Vajrayoginī: Her Visualizations, Rituals, and Forms (Boston: Wisdom Publications, 2002), 1–5.  

 

43. Matthew Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet,” History of Religions 34, no. 3 (1995); Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art. 44. The text of the Mmk seems to have gone through various stages of growth and expansion from the early 8th to the 11th centuries, and different sections of the text date to different periods. Glenn Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, SUNY series in Buddhist studies (Albany: SUNY Press, 2002), 9–11 and appendix A.  

45. Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pāla Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet”: 257.



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46. Glenn Wallis’s discussion of a narrative maṇḍala as a linear maṇḍala analogous to a circular or rectangular maṇḍala is useful for understanding this manuscript. Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa: 85. 47. Ibid., 91. 48. Ibid. 49. Marcelle Lalou, Iconographie des étoffes peintes (paṭa) dans le Mañjuśrī­mūla­ kalpa, Buddhica. Documents et travaux pour l’étude du bouddhisme 1. sér.: Mémoires, t. 6 (Paris: P. Geuthner, 1930), 15. Ariane W. Macdonald, Le maṇḍala du Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, Collection Jean Przyluski (Paris: Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1962). 50. Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa: 101. 51. Gregory Schopen, “A Note on the ‘Technology of Prayer’ and a Reference to a ‘Revolving Bookcase’ in an Eleventh-Century Indian Inscription,” in Figments and Fragments of Mahayana Buddhism in India: More Collected Papers (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2005), 348. 52. Ibid. 53. Richard Salomon, Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages, ed. Richard Lariviere, South Asia Research (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), 297–302. Salomon identifies the script as proto-Bengali. While I agree with his identification, I believe its formal quality still shows much affinity to ornamental siddhamatṛka-type scripts used in manuscript production at Nālandā.  

54. Schopen, “A Note on the ‘Technology of Prayer’ and a Reference to a ‘Revolving Bookcase’ in an Eleventh-Century Indian Inscription”: 348. 55. There must have been three flower offerings represented, but the right side of the book has been damaged in this sculpture. 56. A manuscript’s materiality as a cultic object gets articulated even further with the introduction of a sculpted first page as seen in a manuscript of the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra now in the Potala Palace Collection. Terese Tse Bartholomew, Patricia Berger, and Robert Warren Clark, Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World (Santa Ana, CA: The Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2003), 102–1, catalog 38. A Tibetan paper manuscript of the 15th century, now in the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, is a tall stack of dark blue paper folios, and the four sides were painted with images of ḍākinīs seated amidst clouds, which truly transforms a manuscript into a cultic object embodying the divine presence. Ibid., 102–3, catalog 39.  

 

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57. Salomon notes that this might refer to a “ritual turning or procession of the Prajñāpāramitā manuscript.” Salomon, Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages: 302. 58. Alfred Foucher, who first published an image of the bronze Vajra-Tārā maṇḍala in the Indian Museum, Kolkata, in 1905, calls it a “small portable sanctuary in bronze.” Alfred Foucher, Étude sur l’iconographie bouddhique de l’Inde d’après des textes inédits, vol. 2, Bibliothèque de l’École des Hautes Études, Section des Sciences Religieuses (Paris: Leroux, 1905), 70. 59. Phyllis Granoff, “A Portable Buddhist Shrine from Central Asia,” Archives of Asian Art 22 (1968). 60. Its discovery is reported by P.C. Mukhopādhyāyā in the Journal of the Buddhist Text Society (1894) vol.2, part 2, ii–iii, as cited in Nalini Kanta Bhattasali, Iconography of Buddhist and Brahmanical Sculptures in the Dacca Museum (Dacca: Rai S.N. Bhadra Bahadur, 1929), 45–46.  

 

61. For example, according to one Vajratārāsādhanaṃ compiled in the Sādhana­ mālā, having recited her dhāraṇī seven times, if the practitioner enters in the presence of a royal family, he will be made the guru of the king and absolutely everyone will be under his control (SM 94). Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, ed., Sādhanamālā, 2nd ed., 2 vols., vol. 1, Gaekwad’s oriental series (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968), 187. 62. Nalini Kanta Bhattasali, Iconography of Buddhist and Brahmanical Sculptures: 45–46.  

63. They are most likely to be the pañcajina (five transcendental Buddhas), Ratnasambhava, Amoghasiddhi, Vairocana, Akṣobhya, and Amitābha. With this five, the total number of the deities represented on this maṇḍala would be fourteen. The fourteen “mystic letters” in fourteen squares written underneath the pedestal, reported originally by Mukhopādhyāya, must be the letters representing and consecrating these fourteen deities. 64. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith: 115. 65. David Weldon and Jane Casey Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection (London: Laurence King in association with Weatherhill, 1999), 63, fig. 30. I should note that the image published as fig. 30 in Weldon and Singer’s book is reversed. 66. The eight-bodhisattva group was given the role of protectors of directions in early medieval image production. Granoff, “A Portable Buddhist Shrine from Central Asia.” A 9th-century bronze stūpa from Nālandā shows the eight bodhisattvas on the lowest level, while the eight life scenes are placed above



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them supporting the dome. Pratapaditya Pal, “A Note on the Mandala of the Eight Bodhisattvas,” Archives of Asian Art 26 (1972). 67. The following eight bodhisattvas occupy the third circle of the Akṣobhyamaṇḍala as described in the Piṇḍikarma tantra included in the Niṣpaṇṇayogāvalī (NsP 2): Maitreya (E), Kṣṭigarbha (E), Vajrapāṇi (S), Khagarbha (S), Lokeśvara (W), Mañjughoṣa (W), Sarvanivarṇaviṣkambhin (N), and Samantabhadra (N). 68. The common attribution of a “short-necked” Buddha like this one to Burmese provenance has already been satisfactorily disputed in favor of eastern Indian provenance. Hiram W. Woodward Jr., “The Indian Roots of the ‘Burmese’ Life-of-the-Buddha Plaques,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 5 (1997–1998). Jane Casey Singer has successfully identified a number of images from Tibet and elsewhere as representing this type. See Jane Casey Singer, “Tibetan Homage to Bodh Gaya,” Orientations 32, no. 10 (2001); Singer, The Sculptural Heritage of Tibet: Buddhist Art in the Nyingjei Lam Collection: 61–66.  

 

Chapter 3

1. Alfred Foucher, Étude sur l’Iconographie Bouddhique de l’Inde d’après des documents nouveaux, vol. 1, Bibliothèque de l’école des hautes études. Sciences religieuses (Paris: A. Leroux, 1900). 2. Group A manuscripts demonstrate one of the first iconographic structures developed in Buddhist manuscript making in medieval India. For detailed historical analysis of these manuscripts’ provenances and iconographic programs, see Jinah Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2006). 3. Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas, CA: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973), 105. 4. Gregory Schopen, “The Phrase ‘sa pṛthivīpradeśaś caityabhūto bhavet’ in the Vajracchedikā: Notes on the Cult of the Book in Mahāyāna,” Indo-Iranian Journal 17, no. 3–4 (1975): 177.  

5. Janice Leoshko, “Scenes of the Buddha’s Life in Pala Period Art,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 3 (1993–94). See also the discussion in Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia”: 149–56.  

 

6. Geri Malandra, “The Mahabodhi Temple,” in Bodhgaya: The Site of Enlightenment, ed. Janice Leoshko, 9–28 (Bombay: Marg Publication, 1988); John Guy,  

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“The Mahābodhi Temple: Pilgrim Souvenirs of Buddhist India,” The Burlington Magazine 133, no. 1059 (1991). 7. Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary: 116; P.L. Vaidya, Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā with Haribhadra’s Commentary Called Āloka (Darbhanga: Mithila Institute of Post-Graduate Studies and Research in Sanskrit Learning, 1960), 48–49.  

8. Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia.” 9. Leoshko, “Scenes of the Buddha’s Life in Pala Period Art.” 10. The eight sites are Lumbinī (the birth), Bodhgayā (the enlightenment), Sārnāth (the first sermon), Śrāvastī (the miracle), Sāṅkāśya (the descent), Rājagṛha (the taming of a mad elephant), Vaiśālī (the monkey’s offering of honey), and Kuśīnagara (the Parinirvāṇa). 11. John Huntington, “Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the Aṣṭamahāp­ rātihārya, Part 1,” Orientations 18, no. 4 (1987); John Huntington, “Pilgrimage as Image: The Cult of the Aṣṭamahāp­rātihārya, Part 2,” Orientations 18, no. 8 (1987). 12. Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia.” 13. According to Conze, “The thousands of lines of the Prajñāpāramitā can be summed up in the following two sentences: 1) One should become a bodhisattva (or Buddha-to-be), i.e. one who is content with nothing less than all-knowledge attained through the perfection of wisdom for the sake of all beings. 2) There is no such thing as a bodhisattva, or as all-knowledge, or as a ‘being’, or as the perfection of wisdom, or as an attainment. To accept both of these contradictory facts is to be perfect.” Edward Conze, The Prajñāpāramitā Literature, Indo-Iranian monographs vol. 6 (Gravenhage: Mouton, 1960), 15. 14. R.C. Jamieson, The Perfection of Wisdom: Extracts from the Aṣṭasāhasrikapraj­ ñāpāramitā, 1st American ed. (New York: Viking Studio, 2000), 28. 15. Edward Conze, “The Composition of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā,” in Thirty Years of Buddhist Studies: Selected Essays by Edward Conze (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1967), 168–84.  

16. Hiram W. Woodward Jr., “The Life of the Buddha in the Pāla Monastic Environment,” The Journal of the Walters Art Gallery 48 (1990): 15. 17. Pratapaditya Pal, Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (Los Angeles: The Museum of Art; New York, 1993). 18. Eva Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñāpāramitā: Investigation of an Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāha­srikā



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Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th Century,” in Prajñādhāra: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, ed. Gerd J.R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 19. For example, see SM 151 and SM 153. Note that SM numbers and NsP numbers in this study indicate the numbers given to each sādhana in Bhattacharyya’s editions. 20. Jinah Kim, “Emptiness on Palm Leaf: A Twelfth-Century Illustrated Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā,” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 82, no. 1/2 (2008). 21. Three of them ride a blue lion (Ms A1, Ms A4, and Ms A5) and two of them ride a white lion (Ms A2 and Ms A3). 22. Although the first two folios of this manuscript have been identified as belonging to the first phase of the manuscript production, the stylistic, iconographic, and paleographic evidence suggests otherwise. See Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia”: 68–69.  

23. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals, 2nd (rev. and enl.) ed. (Calcuatta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1968), 113. 24. Robert N. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early IndoTibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), 62–83. On page 80, Linrothe discusses this very panel as one of the late Phase One images of Yamāntaka. He counts this image as a late-11th-century example based on John and Susan Huntington’s dating of the images in this manuscript.  

25. A larger-than-life-size Heruka image in the Nālandā Archaeological Survey of India site museum and a broken stone image of Trailokyavijaya in the same museum suggest that both the Phase Two images (i.e., Trailokyavijaya and Yamāntaka) and the Phase Three images (i.e., Heruka) were in circulation at Nālandā. Ibid., 248-58. 26. The small size of this statue suggests it might have been in private possession. Ibid., 167. 27. I find Linrothe’s structural model useful for understanding the Esoteric Buddhist iconography in historical context because he makes it clear that the Phase Two deities did not replace the Phase One deities. This model acknowledges the possibility that the iconographic types of all three phases coexisted at one point. Ibid., 131–41.  

28. The monastery cannot be located with certainty, but it must have been a big center for manuscript production during this time, as the colophon describes

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it as the ocean of new scriptures and a place where the teaching of the Buddha perpetually shines. It reads, “. . . śrīhlaṃvihāra iti sarvajanānurāgo yasmin vibhāti vacanaṃ sugatasya śaśvat tasmin vihāre nayaśāstrasāgare.  .  .  .” AsP, Cambridge University Library Add. 1643, folio 222v. 29. Cecil Bendall suggests infidels (śradhāhīnajana) might refer to Muslims. Bendall, Catalogue of the Buddhist Sanskrit Manuscripts in the University Library, Cambridge, with introductory notices and illustrations of the palæography and chronology of Nepal and Bengal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1883). Foucher questions this assumption because incursion of Islamic force in the Kathmandu Valley before 1139 CE (the date of the second colophon) is difficult to ascertain. Instead, he suggests that the manuscript might have fallen into the hands of those who did not care for the book, possibly some hostile Nepalese Brahmans. Foucher, Étude sur l’Iconographie Bouddhique de l’Inde d’après des documents nouveaux: 19–20.  

30. Daniel K. Connolly, “Imagined Pilgrimage in the Itinerary Maps of Matthew Paris,” The Art Bulletin 81, no. 4 (1999). Matthew Paris’s Chronica Majora, written and illustrated about 1250, provides a relevant comparative perspective in understanding the structure of a Group B manuscript, especially if we understand the illustrated panels as representing Buddhist holy sites for pilgrimage known in medieval Nepal. The paintings and their captions suggest that these sites’ sacrality and fame emerged due to the famous images and buildings. As some epithets given in captions suggest, some of these famous images and buildings were ascribed to visionary practitioners of the time. 31. The attempt to differentiate and represent varying types of sacred structures does not mean that the chosen building type represents a specific regional style. 32. Alexander W. Macdonald and Anne Vergati Stahl, Newar Art: Nepalese Art during the Malla Period (Warminster, U.K.: Aris & Phillips, 1979), 119–22.  

33. See the image in Jamieson, The Perfection of Wisdom: Extracts from the Aṣṭa­ sāhasrikaprajñāpāramitā: 52. 34. Tīrabhukti, an ancient name for Mithila, is located in the area north of Ganges. The archaeological site of Vaiśālī is located in this area. 35. Dharmasvamin gives a rather specific visual description of the image, which reads “a miraculous stone image of the Arya Tārā with her head and body turned towards the left, foot placed flat, and the right foot turned sideways, the right hand in the vara-mudra and the left hand holding the symbol of the three jewels in the front of the heart.” Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments (Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 1971), 74. I believe the image Dharmasvamin saw



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was a two-armed standing image of Tārā, as indicated in his “foot placed flat (tadāsana).” 36. A total of 47 names of masters are given in the Sādhanamālā. Some authors of sādhanas are well-known scholars of Indian Buddhism, such as Abhayākaragupta of Vikramaśīla monastery and Advayavajra (Avadhūtipā). See Benoytosh Bhattacharya, ed., Sādhanamālā, 2nd ed., 2 vols., vol. 2, Gaekwad’s Oriental Series (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968), lxxxix–cxxii.  

37. That the second dominant group is from Lahṭadeśa and Koṅkan is intriguing. This choice seems to reflect an awareness of the changing contemporary political map of the sacred land related to the movement of the Kalyāṇi Cālukya as their political dominance spread into these regions in the early 11th century. 38. I have not come across any list of pilgrimage sites that include all the sites selected in this manuscript. It is still possible that we may come across a liturgical text that enumerates all of them as part of a ritual practice. 39. Patricia Berger, “Precious One: Transformative Arts and Technologies in Eighteenth Century Asia,” a talk given at Princeton University, February 16, 2010. 40. I find George Kubler’s prime object/replication paradigm useful here because it helps us understand each manuscript’s cultic strategy and its larger historical significance. George Kubler, The Shape of Time: Remarks on the History of Things (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1962). 41. Donald F. McCallum, “The Saidaiji Lineage of the Seiryōji Shaka Tradition,” Archives of Asian Art 49 (1996). 42. As Foucher notes, there is a possibility that Ms B1 was a copy of another manuscript and was made along with others like this one. Foucher, Étude sur l’Iconographie Bouddhique de l’Inde d’après des documents nouveaux: 24–27. There are two folios of folio 120, one of which (folio 120a) serves as folio 109. Folio 120a might have been made separately for another manuscript, since the writing shows a little bit of variation, that is, slightly less angular and perhaps more squat than the rest. When the original folio 109 went missing or damaged, the makers refurbished the folio from another manuscript that was produced contemporaneously.  

43. The folio is damaged on either end, so the phrase about where Kiraṇasiṃha lived is missing. He lived near a place named “Śrī Kisa . . .” as the colophon reads “śrīkisa . . . jñe nivasan hmaṃ kiraṇasiṃhanāmāyaḥ.” Comparing my reading with Foucher’s reading of the colophon, it seems that the folio lost a bit more on the left end since Foucher read this colophon about 100 years ago, for he has “saṃjñe” and the letter “saṃ” has been broken off. Interestingly, the letter that

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Foucher left as a blank reads “hmaṃ,” and I wonder if this is an abbreviation for identifying Kiraṇasiṃha’s lineage or status, possibly a “brahmācarya” or a Brahman, just like the letter “stha” stands for “sthavira” in inscriptions. 44. Four subsequent panels in Ms B1 on folio 20v (ch. 2) and folio 40v (ch. 3) appear on four separate folios in Ms B2, marking the chapter endings of chapters 3–6. The four panels placed within the text of chapter 1 in Ms B1 appear at the ends of chapters 7–10 in reverse order in Ms B2.  

 

45. Note the male ending of the name. 46. Miranda Shaw, Buddhist Goddesses of India (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006). 47. Claudine Bautze-Picron, “Buddhist Painting during the Reign of Harivarmadeva (End of the 11th c.) in Southeast Bangladesh,” Journal of Bengal Art 4 (1999): 188. Claudine Bautze-Picron’s meticulous study of illustrated manuscripts from the southeastern Bengal regions allows us to see a group of manuscripts belonging to the same cultural zone, that is, southeast Bangladesh of the early 12th century. She has already suggested the Nepalese connection behind the inspiration for the iconography of many paintings in the manuscripts produced in southeastern Bengal. 48. A manuscript of the AsP now dispersed between the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Acc. No. 2001. 445. A-L) and the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, has a strong affinity to the Group B manuscripts. According to the colophon, this manuscript was prepared for a queen named Vihunadevī. Given the stylistic characteristics and the paleography, it is most likely to have been a monastic production somewhere in Varendra or Aṅga, and understanding its provenance can help illuminate the historical link between Nepal and southeastern Bengal (Samataṭa) suggested in Group B manuscripts. See John Guy, “Mahāvihāra Master,” in Masters of Indian Painting: 1100–1650, ed. Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer, and B.N. Goswamy (Zurich: Artibus Asiae, 2011), 29–40.  

 

49. See the figure in Jamieson, The Perfection of Wisdom: Extracts from the ­A ṣṭasāhasrikaprajñāpāramitā: 77. A similar image appears in Ms B4 as seen in fig. 3–13.  

50. Bautze-Picron compares this type of structure in the Baroda manuscript (Ms B3) and the Kv manuscript (Ms B5) to that of the panel depicting “Lokanātha of Yajñāpiṇḍī in Daṇḍabhukti” on folio 133r in the Cambridge manuscript (Ms B1). Daṇḍabhukti has been identified as a land between the Bengal and Orissa border by previous scholars, and Bautze-Picron suggests the origin of this type of structure in timber architecture of the delta region and notes the use of this form of architecture at Pagan. While similar in terms of its basic shape, the Samataṭa structure (fig. 3–10) and the Daṇḍabhukti example  



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are differentiated in paintings. The former has two projecting eaves and pillars supporting them, possibly representing a covered circumambulatory space or a projected balcony on either side, while the latter has two outer pillars directly supporting a triangular roof with a decorated band below, possibly representing a narrow lintel. 51. Pratapaditya Pal and Julia Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations (New York: Ravi Kumar, 1988), pl. 16. 52. Two illustrated folios (No. 55.121.36.1–2) are severely damaged. These two folios may be the first two folios of this manuscript and they may have had three illustrated panels per folio. The rest of the manuscript has one illustrated panel per illustrated folio except for folio 543, where both recto and verso have illustrated panels. The folios in the Metropolitan Museum are mostly from the last section of the manuscript.  

53. I have entertained the possibility of these folios belonging to the same manuscript as the Baroda folios but was suspicious because of their difference in color schemes, for the use of bright yellow color seen in Chester Beatty and Metropolitan folios is conspicuously absent in the Baroda folios. Upon matching the folio numbers and chapter endings of the three groups, I now believe the Chester Beatty Library folios belong to a different manuscript from the Baroda manuscript. 54. J.P. Losty, “An Early Indian Manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra,” in Studies in Art and Archaeology of Bihar and Bengal, ed. Debala Mitra and Gouriswar Bhattacharya (Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1989). 55. The folio number in parentheses refers to the library number assigned to each folio. The folio numbers follow the list in Losty’s study. 56. Losty suggests a reading of Vairocana for this image, but given the tendency to replicate so many images inspired by the iconographic details of Ms B1, it is most likely to represent Avalokiteśvara. Losty, “An Early Indian Manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra”: 9. 57. I am preparing a detailed study comparing these examples of replication, based on a paper given at the 99th annual conference of the College Arts Association in 2011. 58. Losty, “An Early Indian Manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra.” 59. For the précis of these two chapters, see Alexander Studholme, The Origins of Oṃ Maṇipadme Huṃ: A Study of Kāraṇḍavyūha Sūtra (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2002), 128–31, 134–36.  

 

60. W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (London: British Museum Publications, 1985), 81.

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61. Losty suggests that Indian Buddhist manuscripts have images of the Buddha and of the Buddhist divinities “because they are more merit-worthy than anything else despite the fact that they had nothing whatever to do with the text of the Prajñāpāramitā.  .  .  .” Losty, “An Early Indian Manuscript of the Kāraṇḍavyūhasūtra”: 7–8.  

62. Panchanan Bhoi, “The Writer and the Text: The Palmleaf Scribe as Chronicler,” Social Scientist 33, no. 5/6 (2005). 63. Daud Ali, “Royal Eulogy as World History: Rethinking Copper-plate Inscriptions in Cola India,” in Querying the Medieval: Texts and the History of Practices in South Asia (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Ali demonstrates how we can begin to understand India’s history as envisioned and articulated by those who lived it by approaching inscriptions not as sources but as “histories in and of themselves.” Ibid., 170. 64. For example, see the discussion of Śrīcandra’s copper plate in Benjamin Fleming, “New Copperplate Grant of Śrīcandra (no. 8) from Bangladesh,” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 73, no. 2 (2010). 65. I do not have an exact measurement of the piece. According to N.G. Majumdar, the inscribed area measures 19⅞ × 8¾ inches and the averages size of letters is ⅜ inch. N.G. Majumdar, “Nālandā Inscription of Vipulaśrīmitra,” Epigraphia Indica 21 (1931–1932).  

Chapter 4

1. For example, a Nepalese black-paper manuscript of the Pañcarakṣā sūtra now in the British Library (Or. 2206) survives with the original metal sticks that bound the manuscript together through the two prebored holes. Each metal stick is attached to a metal button, and they are inserted from opposite sides. 2. Figure 4-1 shows the two folios without a binding cord. For an image with a binding cord, see W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (London: British Museum Publications, 1985), 58. Damages around the holes on the first two and the last two folios of many manuscripts may be due to the frequent opening of these two areas with the binding cords in place, for the friction of palm-leaf against a cord would have caused such damage. That the first two folios often sustained much more damage than the rest suggests a possibility of these pages being left open during a ritual. The traces of droplets of sandalwood paste and other offerings seen on a few manuscript folios further support this possibility. 3. On any single page, there are usually three columns of text divided by the empty space left around the holes, but these three columns are not divided



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by meaning. They are formal features and a word could be divided into two columns, that is, Prajñāpāramitā into prajñāpāra and mitā. 4. I was able to examine this manuscript when it came to the United States for an exhibition held at the San Francisco Art Museum. See Terese Tse Bartholomew, Patricia Berger, and Robert Warren Clark, Tibet: Treasures from the Roof of the World (Santa Ana, CA: Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, 2003), 102-1. 5. The colophon states that Vijayakīrti was born in Ciṇadeśa (ciṇadeśodbhava), which in epigraphic records of this period refers to Tibet. 6. The colophon describes the place name as “nālandānagara,” the city of Nālandā or Nālandā city. This city is ornamented by the illustrious “Tribhuvana­ devī” monastery. It reads, “śrītribhuvanadevīvihāryalamkṛta- śrīnālandānagare avasthitaḥ.” 7. For the image, see Yan Zhongyi, Jiang Chen’an, Zheng Wenlei, eds., Precious Deposits: Historical Relics of Tibet (Beijing: Morning Glory Publishers; Chicago: Distributed by Art Media Resources, 2000), vol. 1, 111. 8. See Yan Zhongyi, Jiang Chen’an, Zhen Wenlei, eds., Precious Deposits: Historical Relics of Tibet: vol. 1, 111. 9. Jance Casey Singer, “Early Portrait Painting in Tibet,” in Function and Meaning in Buddhist Art, ed. K.R. van Kooij and H. van der Veere, Gonda Indological Studies (Groningen: E. Forsten, 1995), pl. 204. 10. Donald S. Lopez Jr., “Inscribing the Bodhisattva’s Speech: On the ‘Heart Sūtra’s’ Mantra,” History of Religions 29, no. 4 (1990): 353. 11. In a way, the text–image relationship in Buddhist illustrated manuscripts is that of object and sign, as discussed in Peircean semiotics. Images can collectively be an icon, an index, and a symbol of the text at the same time.  

12. Mary Shepherd Slusser, Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley, 2 vols. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1982). 13. Slusser notes that the first record is encountered in a colophon dated 1143 CE (NS 263). It is significant the colophon of this manuscript predates the record cited by Slusser. Ibid., 89. 14. For a detailed analysis of the iconography and the images, see Jinah Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010). 15. Steven Kossak, Jane Casey Singer, and Robert Bruce-Gardner, Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1998), 18–20. 16. The colophon of this manuscript does not follow the standard donor colophon formula. Instead, it states the great qualities of Tilaka, for example,

31 4

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emphasizing his generosity and valor (. . . śauryatyāgaśīlādiyuktaḥ). I wonder if this Tilaka may be one of the two Tilakas mentioned in Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅgiṇī written in 1148-49 CE, around the same time as this manuscript. According to the 8th book of the Rājataraṅgiṇī, the two Tilakas were active around the same time in the Kashmiri royal court, during the early 12th century. Tilaka of the Kāka family was a chief commander of the army; Tilakasiṃha, son of Vijayasiṃha, was an administrative officer, that is, “lord of the Gate” in charge of levying tributes and taxes. M.A. Stein, trans., Kalhaṇa’s Rājataraṅgiṇī: A Chronicle of the Kings of Kaśmīr, 2 vols., vol. 2 (Delhi: Montilal Banarsidass, 1961), 46. 17. The two middle folios, folios 133 and 134, are in the Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin (I 5410, I 5411). See Gudrun Melzer and Eva Allinger, “Eine nepalesische Palmblatthandschrift der Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā aus dem Jahr NS 268 (1148 AD), Teil I,” Indo Asiatische Zeitschrift 14 (2010), fig. 1. 18. Edward Conze, The Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines and Its Verse Summary (Bolinas, CA: Four Seasons Foundation, 1973). 19. Jinah Kim, “Iconography and Text: The Visual Narrative of the Buddhist Book-Cult in the Manuscript of the Ashṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra,” in Kalādarpaṇa: The Mirror of Indian Art, ed. Devangana Desai and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2009). 20. It may represent a worship plate (pujābhaḥ) used in a common ritual like the gurumaṇḍala, which usually contains flowers, incense, cotton wicks, pastes of red and yellow powder, and food offerings. David Gellner, “Ritualized Devotion, Altruism, and Meditation: The Offering of the Gurumaṇḍala in Newar Buddhism,” Indo-Iranian Journal 34, no. 3 (1991). 21. For the discussion of female patronage of Buddhist artistic production during the 11th and 12th centuries, see Jinah Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia,” Journal of American Academy of Religion 79 (2012). 22. The donor colophon reads “deyadharmoyaṃ pravaramahāyānayāyinaḥ śākya­ bhikṣūsthavira-sumatiśrimintrasya yadatra puṇyaṃ. . . .” The donor’s name reads “Sumatiśrimintra” but it is more likely that the last word should be mitra instead of mintra, as in Jñānaśrīmitra, a well-known Buddhist logician of Vikra­m aśīla monastery who was active during the 11th century. 23. The two green female attendants represent Āryā-Jaṅgulī and Mahā­m āyūrī. Eva Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñā­pāramitā: Investigation of an Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th Century,” in Prajñā­dhāra: Essays on



notes to Chapter 4

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Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, ed. Gerd J.R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 24. Jo-naṅ-pa Tāranātha, Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, ed. Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, trans. Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya, reprint ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997), 202. 25. Robert N. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early IndoTibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), 144-50. Although Linrothe does not include the iconographic appropriation of Śaivite elements as one of the characteristics of Phase Two imagery, we can add it as one feature since his wrathful deities often suppress Śaivite deities under their feet in their Phase Two and Phase Three iconography. 26. SM 63; Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals, [2nd, rev. and enl.] ed. (Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1968), 127. 27. Mark Tatz, “The Life of the Siddha-Philosopher Maitrīgupta,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 107, no. 4 (1987). 28. There is certain uniformity to the sculptures of Siṃhanāda, not only in their shared precise iconographic traits but also in their sizes. All of them are of a considerable height, that is, at least 2 to 3 feet. 29. On the Pañcarakṣā manuscripts and their ritual use, see Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 30. For a more detailed analysis of this manuscript’s iconographic program, see ibid. 31. Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002); Robert N. Linrothe, Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas (New York, Chicago: Rubin Museum of Art; Serindia Publications, 2006). 32. Gerd Mevissen, “Transmission of Iconographic Traditions: Pañcarakṣā Heading North,” South Asian Archaeology (1989). 33. For images and a detailed discussion of their significance and iconography, see Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 34. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art: 146-49. 35. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, ed., Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākara­ gupta, Gaekwad’s oriental series, v. 109 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1949), 1-2.

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36. Mevissen, “Transmission of Iconographic Traditions: Pañcarakṣā Heading North.” 37. Ibid., fig. 50.7. 38. Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal, 2 vols., vol. 2, Paintings (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1978), fig. 118. 39. Ibid., fig. 129. 40. Ibid., 67. 41. Matthew Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet,” History of Religions 34, no. 3 (1995). 42. Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 43. The catalogue entry published in 1905 reads the name of the scribe as “Ahānakuṇḍa,” but it seems to read either “grahanakuṇḍa” or “ahanakuṇḍa.” Moriz Winternitz and Arthur Berriedale Keith, “Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library,” ed. Oxford Bodleian Library (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905), 250. I have used this reading in my earlier study due to the inaccessibility of the colophon page during my first research visit. Jinah Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2006), 79-81. I had a chance to examine the entire colophon during my last visit to the Bodleian Library in 2009. The scribal colophon reads “asti-magadhaviśaye śrīnālandāvasthita-lekhaka-grahanakuṇḍena bhaṭṭarikā-prajñāpāramitā-likhitā iti||.” Although it reads “grahanakuṇḍa,” it should be “grahaṇakuṇḍa.” Another possibility would be Ahanakuṇḍa. I would like to correct my earlier suggestion that the scribe was a high-ranking master scribe based on the reading of “bhaṭṭarikaiḥ” in the catalogue because it reads “bhaṭṭarakā” in agreement with the Prajñāpāramitā not the scribe. 44. See the figures in J.P. Losty, The Art of the Book in India (London: British Library, 1982), plate IV; W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (London: British Museum Publications, 1985), 106. 45. Marie-Thérèse de Mallmann, “A Propos d’un Ms. Illustré du XIe s.,” Oriental Art XI, no. 4 (1965). 46. Vajrasattva is the main deity invoked in “deity yoga” of the Geluk tradition explained by Tsongkhapa (ca. 1357–1419). Vajrasattva’s character as the ultimate guru emerges in the Phase Two Esoteric Buddhist texts such as the Sarvatathā­ gatatattvasaṃgraha and is further articulated and established in the Phase Three Esoteric Buddhist texts and their commentaries, such as the Guhyasamājatantra and the Prajñāpāramitā-Nayaśatapañcāśatikāṭīkā. For translations of the episodes  



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relating to Vajrasattva from these two latter texts, see Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement: 242-43, 256. 47. Here I use the term hyperlink in its most rudimentary sense of linking two entities beyond spatial limits. The experience invoked through the strategy of hyperlinking in a manuscript is much different from that of a website with hyperlinked pages. In a manuscript, the systematic hyperlinking creates an orchestrated, cumulative experience of going through a space, whereas hyperlinked pages on a website mainly aim to take one to a designated page without much concern about the process in between. I thank Ruth Bielfeldt for her insight regarding this dissimilarity between the two experiences. 48. M.B. Piotrovskiĭ, Lost Empire of the Silk Road: Buddhist Art from Khara Khoto (X–XIIIth Century) (Milano: Electa; Lugano: Thyssen-Bornemisza Foundation, 1993). 49. Another comparable aspect is the inclusion of the donor on the bottom. There exist two of these maṇḍalas, one donated by a man and the other by a woman. Ibid., 142-43.

Chapter 5

1. As mentioned in the previous chapter, I follow here the structural model of Esoteric Buddhism used in Rob Linrothe’s analysis of wrathful deities. Robert N. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (Boston: Shambhala [New York], 1999). For the discussion of characteristics of different schools of Indian Esoteric Buddhism, see Harunaga Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200),” Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 (1998); Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002). 2. Claudine Bautze-Picron, “The ‘Vredenburg Manuscript’ and Its Book Covers,” in The Diverse World of Indian Painting, ed. U. Bhatia, et al. (New Delhi: Aryan Books, 2009). Bautze-Picron “reintroduces” the book covers by citing the work of a Japanese scholar, Sentaro Sawamura, who wrote about the covers in 1926. Sentaro Sawamura, “Miniatures of a Recently Discovered Buddhistic Sanskrit Manuscript,” Ostasiatische Zeitschrift 3, no. 3/4 (1926). If her speculation about Sawamura acquiring this manuscript from Abanindranath Tagore is correct, the book covers may be somewhere in Japan. I thank John Guy (Metropolitan Museum of Art) for this reference.

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3. J.P. Losty, “The ‘Vrendenburg Manuscript’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum,” in Makaranda: Essays in Honour of Dr. James C. Harle, ed. Claudine Bautze-Picron (Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1990). 4. Ibid. 5. Marie-Thérèse de Mallmann, Introduction à l’iconographie du tântrisme bouddhique, Bibliothèque du Centre de recherches sur l’Asie centrale et la Haute Asie (Paris: Librairie Adrien-Maisonneuve, 1975), 124-25. 6. For more detailed analysis of each bodhisattva’s iconography, see Jinah Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2006), 217–20. The numbers provided after “NsP” (as in “NsP 2”) hereafter refer to the numbers assigned to each maṇḍala in Bhattacharyya’s edition of the NsP. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, ed., Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta, Gaekwad’s oriental series, v. 109 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1949).  

7. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals, 2nd (rev. and enl.) ed. (Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1968). 8. Alex Wayman, Yoga of the Guhyasamājatantra: The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses; a Buddhist Tantra Commentary, 1st ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1977), 125. The emanations of Mahāvajradhara (Vajradhara; in our case, Vajrasattva) are described in the first chapter of the Guhyasamājatantra. In “vijaya-maṇḍala,” Akṣobhya sits in the center and Vairocana sits in front of him in the east. “Guhyasamāja texts” refer to the Guhyasamājatantra and the texts of the commentarial literature. 9. The left panel on folio 221r of Ms B1 (Cambridge University Library Add. 1643) depicts “śrīpotalake lokanātha” as displaying a teaching gesture and holding two full-blown lotuses, one on each shoulder. The same name is given to Avalokiteśvara seated with one lotus and varada mudrā featured in Ms B2 on folio 145v. Sculptural representations depicting this form of Avalokiteśvara usually have a single lotus above the left shoulder as an 11th-century sculpture from Kurkihar, Bihar, now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata (I.M.5859/A25160), shows. The specific iconographic choice made in the panel in Ms D3 may have been intentional to have Avalokiteśvara appropriate Prajñāpāramitā’s seat. 10. This is again an imagined scenario since the book does not exist as a complete object anymore. The whereabouts of the book covers are unknown. I follow Bautze-Picron’s lead on identifying the book covers published by Sentaro Sawamura in 1926 as belonging to the same manuscript as Ms D3. Bautze-Picron, “The ‘Vredenburg Manuscript’ and Its Book Covers.”



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11. Losty, “The ‘Vrendenburg Manuscript’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum”: 193. On Mārīcī’s role and significance as a Mahāyāna goddess, see Miranda Shaw, Buddhist Goddesses of India (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 203–223.  

12. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, ed., Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abha­ yākara­gupta, Gaekwad’s oriental series, v. 109 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1949), text page 7. 13. Wayman, Yoga of the Guhyasamājatantra: The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses; a Buddhist Tantra Commentary: 305–6.  

14. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1.” 15. Eva Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñāpāramitā: Investigation of an Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāha­srikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th Century,” in Prajñādhāra: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, ed. Gerd J.R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 16. They are the attendants of Mahāśrī Tārā, whose iconography is extremely similar to that of the goddess Prajñāpāramitā, except for the body color, which is green instead of yellow (SM 116). 17. The left panel of folio 2r shows an eight-armed goddess with identifiable attributes, such as a cakra, an elephant goad, an arrow, and a sword in her right hands, and a vajra, a noose (paśa), a bow, and a flag in her left hands, but it is difficult to determine who this is. It may be Mahārpatisarā or Mārīcī. Claudine Bautze-Picron, “Between Śākyamuni and Vairocana: Mārīcī, Goddess of Light and Victory,” Silk Road Art and Archaeology 7 (2000). 18. Bhattacharyya, Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta: 36. 19. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhana­ mālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals: 180–81.  

20. NsP 8 is titled Navātmakaherukacatuṣṭayamaṇḍala, and it provides at least four forms of Hevajra. As hinted by the title, Heruka and Hevajra seem interchangeable in this case. 21. Bhattacharyya, Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta: 19. 22. Ibid., 14. 23. Ibid., 2. 24. Ibid., 48. 25. Ibid., 26. 26. Ibid., 36.

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27. For a detailed discussion of the iconographic program, see Jinah Kim, “Iconography and Text: The Visual Narrative of the Buddhist Book-Cult in the Manuscript of the Ashṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra,” in Kalādarpaṇa: The Mirror of Indian Art, ed. Devangana Desai and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Aryan Books International, 2008). 28. I have never seen an image of Chinnamuṇḍā incorporated into the iconographic program of the Buddhist manuscripts. Chinnamastā is a well-known Hindu goddess in today’s Bengal, celebrated as one of ten Mahāvidyās, the ten manifestations of the goddess Kālī. I would not be surprised if there survives an image of Chinnamuṇḍā from medieval Indian Buddhist context. However, in the world of illustrated manuscript production, where a tendency to balance male and female in pairs dominates, a fully enlightened, independent goddess who truly does not require a male counterpart in symbolizing the goal of “nondual wisdom” probably was not the most favorite starlet. The balancing strategy employed throughout the development of medieval Buddhist book designing suggests that the Buddhist book cult ultimately remained within the tamed sphere of Esoteric Buddhist practices, approved and reformulated to survive within the monastic context, even when the production sites were decentralized and moved out of monastic centers and even when the iconographic programs incorporate the deities of the Guhyasāmaja and the yoginītantras. For the discussion of Chinnamuṇḍā as an independent Tantric Buddhist goddess, see Miranda Shaw, Buddhist Goddesses of India (Princton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006), 403–17.  

29. Ms D4 is the only example I know of where she is represented in green. 30. Virūpa, identified as the lineage teacher of the Sakya school, is not commonly known to have any human female companion. Miranda Shaw suggests that Lakṣmīṅkarā, a female Mahāsiddha, was the teacher of Virūpa who initiated him into the practice of Vajrayoginī in the form of Chinnamuṇḍā. Miranda Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism (Princeton, NJ: Prince­ton University Press, 1994), 136; Shaw, Buddhist Goddesses of India: 409–13.  

31. In this regard, if Miranda Shaw’s observation about Virūpa’s connection with Lakṣmīṅkarā earned any currency in the early moments of the Sakya tradition, I wonder whether this green female figure may represent Lakṣmīṅkarā, whose revelation of Vajrayoginī to Virūpa is indicated through her skull cup and through his pointing finger directing our attention to the dancing Vajrayoginī on top of the mountain frame. Shaw, Passionate Enlightenment: Women in Tantric Buddhism. 32. The story does appear in early Chinese translations of the text. Lewis R. Lancaster, “An Analysis of the Aṣṭasāhasrikāprajñāpāramitāsūtra from the Chinese Translations” (PhD dissertation, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1968).



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33. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement: 194–201; Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200).”  

34. See the online collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for the images (http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/ashtasahashrika-prajna paramita-149606). 35. S.K. Saraswati, “East Indian Manuscript Painting,” Chhavi: Golden Jubilee Volume 1920–1970 (1971); D.C. Sircar, “Mahīpāla of a Manuscript in the Cambridge University Library,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 102, no. 1 (1982).  

36. A western Himalayan site like Alchi’s Dukhan features a Prajñāpāramitāmaṇḍala with a six-armed Prajñāpāramitā in the center of a mandalic configuration. Christian Luczanits, Buddhist Sculpture in Clay: Early Western Himalayan Art, Late 10th to Early 13th Centuries (Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2004), 215–16. For Alchi’s Prajñāpāramitā-maṇḍala, see ibid., 217, fig. 36.  

37. The last sequence on folio 255r represents the moment when the Prince Vessantara gives away his two children, Jāli and Kanhajīna, to a Brahman who whips Vessantara’s children like slaves, as an ultimate act of giving. For a more detailed iconographic analysis and the discussion of the narrative use of the periphery space in late-12th-century manuscripts, see Jinah Kim, “Illustrating the Perfection of Wisdom: The Use of the Vessantara Jataka in a Manuscript of the Astasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra,” in Prajnadhara: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, ed. Gerd Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 38. The Vessantara jātaka is extremely well known and popular in the Theravada Buddhist traditions. For example, see the discussion of a Thai version of the Vessantara jātaka in Forrest McGill, “Jatakas, Universal Monarchs, and the Year 2000,” Artibus Asiae 53, no. 3/4 (1993). 39. The replacement folio seems to have been prepared later in Nepal. The writing hand that emulates the hand of the original quite closely suggests that the second folio may have been refurbished during the thirteenth century. It was customary to repair old manuscripts and refurbish new folios if necessary. In most cases, the paintings were not copied, but the blank panels were left to mark the places where the painted panels used to be, as we see in Ms D6. This manuscript was repaired again much later in Nepal, possibly in the 18th century, as indicated by the restored section on the last two folios where we see pieces of buff-colored paper used for repair. 40. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art.

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41. At the time of acquisition, the illustrated folios were offered with a body of text folios and the library acquired them as a complete manuscript. However, the text folios that accompanied the illustrated folios are of the Śivadharmodgatta. 42. J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1,” Oriental Art 35, no. 2 (1989): 91–92.  

43. J.P. Losty, “The Perfection of Wisdom,” in The Art of Enlightenment (London: Sam Fogg, 2008), www.samfogg.com/exhpdf.phd?id=16. 44. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography: 243. 45. Many surviving book covers of Indian manuscripts have paintings that were done in Nepal. For example, Ms A1, Ms A7, and Ms D7 survive with book covers that were painted in Nepal. Jinah Kim, “Emptiness on Palm Leaf: A Twelfth-Century Illustrated Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā,” Bulletin of the Detroit Institute of Arts 82, no. 1/2 (2008). 46. J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Part 1.” 47. Vajravārāhī is a known consort of Sambara, and she is also listed as one for a form of Hevajra. Benoytosh Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals, [2nd, rev. and enl.] ed. (Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyay, 1968), 157–58, 160–61.  

 

48. Hayagrīva as an attendant figure (Phase One manifestation) belongs to Amitābha’s lineage. In this particular manifestation, he belongs to Akṣobhya’s lineage. 49. John Newman, “Vajrayoga in the Kālacakra Tantra,” in Tantra in Practice, ed. David Gordon White (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000). A comparative study of the Phase Three texts, such as the Heruka tantra, the Hevajra tantra, and the Guhyasamāja tantra, exploring how the concepts in the Prajñā­ pāramitā sūtra are interpreted would be fruitful for understanding the inclusion of the Phase Three deities in illustrating the Prajñāpāramitā texts, but it is clearly out of the scope of this study. Their interpretations seem to vary considerably. In the Guhyasamāja tantra, chapter 7, for example, the Prajñāpāramitā is emphasized for its role in “recollection” or “anusmṛti.” Wayman, Yoga of the Guhyasamājatantra: The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses; a Buddhist Tantra Commentary: 286–88.  

50. Edward Conze, “Tantric Prajñāpāramitā Texts,” Sino-Indian Studies V, no. 2 (1956). Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art: 158–59.  

51. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art: 158. 52. I thank Mr. Fournier for allowing the reproduction of the illustrated folios of this manuscript. I also thank Amy Heller for providing the photograph.



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53. Although Béguin initially proposed an early-12th-century date, belonging to the reign of Rāmapāla, I concur with Bautze-Picron in regards to its late12th- or early-13th-century date. Gilles Béguin, Art Ésotérique de l’ Himâlaya: Catalogue de la Donation Lionel Fournier (Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 1990). 54. This change in format may suggest that the supply of good palm leaves was limited for nonmonastic producers of Buddhist manuscripts. It is also interesting to note that the use of shorter leaves makes the book much taller and heftier, creating more physical presence. Using shorter leaves also means a more manageable space for both scribes and users of the manuscript: a folio of about 11 inches in length and 2 inches in height fits our field of vision better than a 22-by-2-inch folio, making it easier to write and read. 55. Previous publications read the date as “39,” but the number clearly reads “32.” 56. On the detailed discussion of the connection to the Nālandā manuscripts, see Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia.” 57. Susan L. Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” School of Sculpture, ed. J.E. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, Studies in South Asian Culture (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984), 100. 58. Susan Huntington, David Snellgrove, and Giuseppe Tucci have suggested this interpretation, and their contributions are summarized in Janice Leoshko, “The Iconography of Buddhist Sculptures of the Pāla and Sena Periods from Bodhgaya” (PhD dissertation, Ohio State University, 1987), 196–98. Leoshko rightly emphasizes that the Buddha still remains Śākyamuni, even if he is crowned and bejeweled. Janice Leoshko, “About Looking at Buddha Images in Eastern India,” Archives of Asian Art LII (2000–2001).  

 

59. Paul Mus, “Le Buddha paré: son origine indienne. Cākyamuni dans le Mahāyānisme moyen,” Bullentin de l’École française d’Extrême-Orient XXVIII, no. 1 (1928). 60. Jane Casey Singer, “Tibetan Homage to Bodh Gaya,” Orientations 32, no. 10 (2001). 61. Frank Reynolds, “The Holy Emerald Jewel: Some Aspects of Buddhist Symbolism and Political Legitimation in Thailand and Laos,” in Religion and Legitimation of Power in Thailand, Laos, and Burma, ed. Bardwell L. Smith (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1978). 62. Mus, “Le Buddha paré: son origine indienne. Çākyamuni dans le Mahāyānisme moyen.”

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63. Bhattacharyya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhana­ mālā and Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals. 64. Wayman, Yoga of the Guhyasamājatantra: The Arcane Lore of Forty Verses; a Buddhist Tantra Commentary: 124; John Newman, “Vajrayāna Deities in an Illustrated Indian Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 13 (1990). 65. This form is almost identical to the one described in the “Saṅkṣiptavajravārāhīsādhanam (abridged sādhanam of Vajravārāhī)” in the SM (SM 226, SM 227). Benoytosh Bhattacharya, ed., Sādhanamālā, 2nd ed., vol. 2, Gaekwad’s oriental series vol. 41 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968), 440–43.  

66. Miranda Shaw extols her as the “Passionate Cosmic Female” of the Esoteric Buddhist path who “emanates and absorbs all things.” Shaw, Buddhist Goddesses of India: 360–64.  

67. One may also read these three deities as representing different tantras, as John Newman suggests. Newman, “Vajrayāna Deities in an Illustrated Indian Manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā-prajñāpāramitā.” 68. Alexis Sanderson, “The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period,” in Genesis and Development of Tantrism, ed. Shingo Einoo (Tokyo: University of Tokyo, Institute of Oriental Culture, 2009), esp. 124–242. Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200)”; Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement.  

69. A small problem with this reading is that the deity on the left panel of folio 2r is blue, bearing the color of Akṣobhya, not red. Here, the consideration for artistic and aesthetic merits may have overridden the concern for iconographic accuracy, as we often see in manuscript paintings. Amitābha is painted blue perhaps because the painter encountered the problem of representing a red figure against a red backdrop. 70. Glenn Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrimūlakalpa, SUNY series in Buddhist studies (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2002); Matthew Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet,” History of Religions 34, no. 3 (1995). 71. The Mañjuvajramaṇḍala (NsP 20) describes Mañjuvajra-Vajrasattva in a yellow, six-armed manifestation, but it does not articulate what Vajradhātvīśvarī looks like, except to mention that she is of his “own-being” (svābha), leaving the representation to interpretation. 72. The characteristics unique to Phase Three Buddhism that Linrothe suggests include the “polarity symbolism,” the “sexual yoga,” and the “inner



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3 25

yoga,” all of which seem in play in programming the illustrated manuscripts of the AsP. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art: 229–38.  

73. Bhattacharyya, Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta: 16, 21, and 75; Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art: 256. 74. The eight yoginīs are differentiated by colors: Gaurī is white, Caurī is yellow, Vetālī is red, Ghasmarī is green, Pukkasī is blue, Śabarī is white, Caṇḍālī is blue, and Ḍombī is of mixed colors. The yoginīs surrounding Sambara and Vajravārāhī are given the following colors: yellow-pink (left, folio 141v), greenblue (right, folio 141v), blue-white (left, folio 142r when rotated 180° to the proper direction of the images), and blue-blue/white (right, folio 142r when rotated 180° to the proper direction of the images). 75. Paul Mus, “Un cinéma solide: l’intégration du temps dans l’art de l’Inde et dans l’art contemporain; pourquoi?,” Arts Asiatiques 10 (1968). 76. The introduction of the imagery of Kālacakra and Viśvamātā may be taken as an attempt to fortify the book with the power of the Kālacakra tantra that overtly addresses the issue of Islam’s advent in India. John Newman, “Islam in the Kālacakra Tantra,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 21 (1998). 77. Ibid., 314–15.  

78. Bhattacharyya, Niṣpannayogāvalī of Mahāpaṇḍita Abhayākaragupta, 83–93; Mallmann, Introduction à l’iconographie du tântrisme bouddhique: 69–73.  

 

79. For an example, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago, 2003), fig. 47. 80. The signs of worship only suggest that the book was in worship, but we do not know whether each pūjā involved opening the book and ritually reciting the book while turning the folios. The Nālandā inscription of Vipulaśrīmitra discussed in chapter 2 gives a good clue about turning the folios of an AsP manuscript in ritual contexts. 81. A good Indian example of this is the Kālacakra tantra manuscript in the Cambridge University Library, Add. 1364. Pratapaditya Pal, “A New Document of Indian Painting,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965).

Chapter 6

1. The colophon folio and the first folio are in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Acc. No. M 72.I.20 a-b. Pratapaditya Pal, Indian Painting: A

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Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (Los Angeles: The Museum of Art; New York, 1993), 56–57. The other two illustrated folios are in a private collection. Eva Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñāpāramitā: Investigation of An Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th Century,” in Prajñādhāra: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, in Honour of Gouriswar Bhattacharya, ed. Gerd J.R. Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009).  

2. David Gellner,“ ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur,” in The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), 179–93.  

3. Bengal in this study refers to the area of West Bengal in India and Bangladesh. 4. It is certainly risky to assume that the maker of the manuscript, at least the scribe, was also the ritual master for the book worship (pustaka pūjā). But as discussed in this chapter, the titles like “dharmabhāṇaka (preacher of dharma)” and “kalyāṇamitra (blessed/good friend)” given to the scribes found in monastic productions seem to suggest that it was possible for the scribes to be the ritual masters. 5. This situation changes in Nepal, where we see many manuscripts bear the paintings of the donors, often in the context of a ritual. This coincides with the tendency to add longer, elaborate colophons, listing the names of all the family members and offerings, in Nepal. The inclusion of the painted panels of the donor group is a common feature among the Nepalese manuscripts made during the 16th and 17th centuries. For example, Pañcarakṣā manuscripts in the British Library (Or. 13852, dated 1659 CE and Or. 13946, dated 1676 CE) have their donor families represented on the last folios. W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (London: British Museum Publications, 1985), 131–32.  

6. A unique eastern Indian example that introduces donor figures on the last folio now in the Sam Fogg collection came to my attention at the last minute of preparing for publication of this book. Dated with Govindapāla’s 30th regnal year (ca. 1205), this AsP manuscript features what seems to be a family of the donor group inserted on the margin area on either side of the Vajra-Tārā panel on folio 216v. The green figures on the left (on Vajra-Tārā’s right side) are male, possibly father and son, and the light-yellow figures on the right (on Vajra-Tārā’s left side) may be female members of the family, possibly mother and two children. According to Losty’s reading, the colophon on fol. 217v–218r identifies only the scribe (śrī-lekhaka) Devarāja but not the donor. See J.P. Losty, “The Perfection of Wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra), Eastern India,  



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Kodandamandala,” in The Art of Enlightenment: Buddhist Manuscripts from the Himalayas, India, China, Japan and Southeast Asia, An Exhibition to Coincide with Asian Art in London (London: Sam Fogg, 2008). 7. For the discussion of early donor inscriptions as presence, see Gregory Schopen, “What’s in a Name: The Religious Function of the Early Donative Inscriptions,” in Buddhist Monks and Business Matters, ed. Gregory Schopen (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i, 2004). The development of the cult of the “dharma relics” also suggests this tendency to consider the letters (or text) as physical presence. Daniel Boucher, “The Pratītyasamutpādagāthā and Its Role in the Medieval Cult of the Relics,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 14, no. 1 (1991); Jinah Kim, “Seeing in between the Space: Aura of Writing and the Shape of Artistic Productions in Early Medieval South Asia,” in History and Material Culture in Asian Religions, ed. Benjamin Fleming and Richard Mann (London: Routledge, forthcoming). 8. Gregory Schopen, “The Book as a Sacred Object in Private Homes in Early or Medieval India,” in Medieval and Early Modern Devotional Objects in Global Perspective, ed. Elizabeth Robertson and Jennifer Jahner, The New Middle Ages (Hampshire, U.K.: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010). 9. Jo-naṅ-pa Tāranātha, Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India, ed. Debi­prasad Chattopadhyaya, trans. Lama Chimpa and Alaka Chattopadhyaya, reprint ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1997), 319–20.  

10. This picture has been changing within the past decade, especially in regard to the siddhas. Ronald Davidson’s engaging study does shed much light on the sociohistorical characteristics of the community of siddhas, emerging during the early medieval period. Ronald M. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement (New York: Columbia University Press, 2002). The exhibition, Holy Madness, held at Rubin Museum of Art also made a great contribution to our understanding of siddhas and their roles as cultural agents. Robert N. Linrothe, Holy Madness: Portraits of Tantric Siddhas (New York, Chicago: Rubin Museum of Art; Serindia Publications, 2006). 11. There has been a long debate about how to understand lakṣmaṇasena samvat in inscriptions and colophons: whether to read it as a regnal year of the Sena king Lakṣmaṇasena or as an artificial era begun around 1119–1120 or 1108 CE that was widely in use in the Mithilā region (northern Bihar). For the summary of the debate, see Susan L. Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” School of Sculpture, ed. J.E. Van Lohuizen-de Leeuw, Studies in South Asian Culture (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984), 76–77. Also, see Richard Salomon, Indian Epigraphy: A Guide to the Study of Inscriptions in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and the Other Indo-Aryan Languages, ed. Richard Lariviere, South Asia Research (New York, Oxford: Oxford Univer 

 

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sity Press, 1998), 193–94. In the sole case of the use of Lakṣmaṇasena samvat in an illustrated manuscript colophon (Ms D10), I believe this should be taken as the 47th year of the king Lakṣmaṇasena’s reign. First of all, it is used with gata (gone), indicating that he was no longer in power, which would be unusual if this was an era name. The iconographic and stylistic features support a late12th- or early-13th-century date. In addition, as discussed later in this chapter, the scribe of Ms D10 is the son of a master whose manuscript bears a late-12thcentury date of Govindapāla’s 18th regnal year, and calculating the date of Ms D10 from ca. 1119 CE would put this manuscript before his father’s.  

12. In addition to inscriptions and manuscript colophons, the contemporary texts such as the Rāmacarita written by Sandhyākara Nandin in Rāmapāla’s court supply information regarding the family ties and relationships from which we could construct a genealogical chart. The most up-to-date Pāla genealogical chart drawn by Gouriswar Bhattcharya appears in Claudine Bautze-Picron, The Art of Eastern India in the Collection of the Museum für Indische Kunst, Berlin, ed. Marianne Yaldiz, Monographien Zur Indischen Archäologie Kunst und Philologie (Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag, 1998). 13. For example, the manuscript now in the Yarlung monastery in Tibet bears a date of Śūrapāla’s 2nd regnal year, suggesting to us that he reigned for at least 2 years. While Śūrapāla is identified as a reigning king in the Pāla royal genealogy, no epigraphic material was available to confirm his reign length before the publication of this manuscript. Eva Allinger, “Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā” in Tibet-Klöster öffnen ihre Schatzkammern. Exhibition Catalogue. Kulturstiftung Ruhr Essen, Villa Hügel (München: Hirmer Verlag, 2006). 14. I have followed the chronology proposed by Sircar with slight modifications to reflect more recent research, such as the new Pāla genealogy chart proposed by Gouriswar Bhattacharya, and S.C. Mukherji’s study. D.C. Sircar, “Indological Notes: R.C. Majumdar’s Chronology of the Pāla Kings,” Journal of Ancient Indian History IX (1975–76); S.C. Mukherji, “The Royal Charters of King Madanapāla and the Chronology of the Pāla Kings of Bengal and Bihar,” Journal of Bengal Art 4 (1999). I have proposed my own chronological table despite many shortcomings, because none of the published chronology charts explain what we can learn from the study of illustrated manuscripts and their colophons satisfactorily. For a general review of the study of Pāla chronology, see Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” School of Sculpture; Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pāla India (8th–12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy (Dayton, OH: Dayton Art Institute in association with the University of Washington Press, 1990).  

 



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15. Gouriswar Bhatacharya suggests the existence of four kings named Gopāla. He notes the existence of Gopāla II, the son of Śūrapāla, in two copper plate inscriptions. Gouriswar Bhattacharya, “Discovery of a New Pala ruler,” Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bangladesh, Humanities 41, no. 1 (1996); Ryosuke Furui, “Re-Reading Two Copper Plate Inscriptions of Gopāla II, Year 4,” in Prajñādhara: Essays on Asian Art, History, Epigraphy and Culture, ed. Gerd Mevissen and Arundhati Banerji (New Delhi: Kaveri, 2009). 16. S.K. Saraswati, “East Indian Manuscript Painting,” Chhavi: Golden Jubilee Volume 1920–1970 (1971); D.C. Sircar, “Mahīpāla of a Manuscript in the Cambridge University Library,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 102, no. 1 (1982); Pratapaditya Pal and Julia Meech-Pekarik, Buddhist Book Illuminations (New York: Ravi Kumar, 1988).  

17. For example, the Sārnath inscription on the pedestal of a seated Buddha image records the construction of both Hindu and Buddhist sacred structures, that is, the temples to Śiva and Durga, restoration of a stūpa, and the building of a stone gandhakuṭī (Buddhist shrine, a hall for the Buddha), by the order of Mahīpāla. This is an extremely interesting inscription because it suggests simultaneous sponsoring of different sectarian traditions by the ruler. Several published translations of this inscription are collected in Susan Huntington’s appendix. See Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” School of Sculpture: 223–25.  

18. Sandhyākara Nandi, Rāmacaritam, Memoirs of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, vol. 3 no. 1, ed. Sastri Haraprasad (Calcutta: Asiatic Society, 1969). According to the Rāmacaritam, he lost his life in a battle against the joined forces of the sāmantas (feudatory chiefs). But we should also remember that the depiction of Mahīpāla II in the Rāmacaritam is partial and biased because the author was in the court of Madanapāla, son of Rāmapāla, and was determined to eulogize his hero, Rāmapāla, who was a younger brother of Mahīpāla II and whose image would benefit from downplaying Mahīpāla’s reign. 19. Huntington suggests that no sculpture is datable to Mahīpāla II’s reign based on inscriptions. Huntington, The “Pāla-Sena” School of Sculpture. 20. The “T-number” appearing in parentheses identifies the number given to each manuscript in table 6–1.  

21. This title reminds us of the Newar Buddhist system of Vajrācārya and Śākya, which developed around this time or slightly later. David N. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology (Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992). 22. Saraswati, “East Indian Manuscript Painting”: 248. Saraswati, using Kramrisch’s terminology, suggests that this brittle style is “medievally” Indian as

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opposed to “classically” Indian in the style of earlier periods. This attitude reflects the conventional approach to stylistic development as a linear process in which “medieval” holds a negative connotation. 23. The post colophon added after a repair on Ms A4, a Nālandā manuscript, states simply “śrīmad-gopāladevasya rājasamvatsare ’ṣṭame” without any reference to full royal epithets. Ms A7 prepared for a nun in Ghośalīgrama (Ghosrawan, near Nālandā) uses Madanapāla’s regnal year, but his title is also simplified, as it reads “śrīman-madanapāladeva-vijayarājye samvatsare . . .” without any royal epithet. The nonmonastic productions, Ms D4 and Ms C5 (T-no. 20 and 22 on the table), use full royal epithets of Gopāla and Madanapāla, respectively, which suggests that these manuscripts were prepared in the area east of Nālandā. Given the stylistic characteristics, Ms C5 must have been made in the area closer to the center of Magadha than was Ms D4. See J.P. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1,” Oriental Art 35, no. 2 (1989). 24. This manuscript is in the National Archive, Kathmandu, Acc. No. 4.20. See Jinah Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia” (PhD dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 2006), 116, 343–46.  

25. I have not been able to verify the whereabouts of this manuscript. It is most likely to be somewhere in Lhasa. The colophon as reported in Sāṅkṛtyāyana reads “saurājabhadrasutasya paramopāsaka- risokasya yad atra puṇyaṁ mahārājā­ dhirāja . . . ka paramasaugata- śrimad-rāmapāladeva-pravarddhamāna vijayarāja samvat 8 jeṣṭadine 6 keśalakodo likhiteyam. . . .” Rāhula Sāṅkṛtyāyana, “Sanskrit Palm-leaf Mss. in Tibet,” Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society 21 (1935): 32. 26. The term kāyastha is often understood as denoting the “professional scribe” caste, but in the 11th-century manuscript production, this term is used to designate a courtly status. The donor’s rather grandiose name, Pṛthvīdharasena, literally “the general who upholds the land,” denotes an important court official. In addition, the scribe of this manuscript is identified with the title lekhaka instead of kāyastha. For a discussion of the meaning of the term kāyastha, see Dineschandra Sircar, Studies in the Political and Administrative Systems in Ancient and Medieval India, 1st ed. (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1974), 159–62.  

27. Allinger, “Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā.” 28. I have not been able to confirm the Tibetan colophons on the verso of the colophon folio because of the current mounting of the folios. I thank Adriana Proser of the Asia Society for accommodating my research and providing the contents of the accession file for this manuscript. For the discussion of the



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Tibetan colophons, see Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pāla India (8th–12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy: 287.  

29. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement; Bimala Churn Law, “Bhikshunis in Indian Inscriptions,” Epigraphia Indica 25 (1939–40); Nancy Auer Falk, “The Case of the Vanishing Nuns: The Fruits of Ambivalence in Ancient Indian Buddhism,” in Unspoken Worlds: Women’s Religious Lives in Non-Western Cultures, ed. Nancy Auer Falk and Rita M. Gross (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1980).  

30. Jinah Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia,” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 79 (2012). Mathew Kapstein’s analysis of the Mmk suggests that the practice of making images in Buddhist context was an integral part of Esoteric Buddhist practices. Matthew Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet,” History of Religions 34, no. 3 (1995). 31. Jinah Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010). 32. Pañcarakṣā sūtra Ms, Cambridge University Library, Add. 1688, folios 53–54.  

33. Tāranātha, Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India: 520–24; Alaka Chattopa­ dhyaya and Lama Chimpa, Atīśa and Tibet: Life and Works of Dīpamkara Śrījñāna in Relation to the History and Religion of Tibet (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1981).  

34. Here I am following David Gellner’s characterization of Newar Buddhism into three functional categories. David N. Gellner, The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes (New Delhi and New York: Oxford University Press, 2001). 35. Each figure is differentiated and holds different attributes. For the figures, see Pal, Indian Painting: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection: cat. no.1, 50–51.  

36. Given that her social identity is constructed as the daughter of bahubhūti, it is most likely that Lāḍokā was an unmarried laywoman. 37. Allinger, “Mahāmāyūrī and Jāṅgulī as Attendants of Prajñāpāramitā: Investigation of an Unusual Iconographic Feature Based on Bihari Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscripts from the 11th century.” 38. For a detailed analysis of the unique iconographic program, see Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 39. The original colophons were rarely modified as long as they survived, but there are a few cases in which we see a later hand either rewriting or replacing

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the original names. The business of replacing names is an interesting practice that may suggest recycling of a manuscript within one generation. When an eastern Indian manuscript survives in a Nepalese Buddhist community or household, it is usually treated with respect and reservation so that layers of use, such as post colophons, are added on to the book without altering the original writing. 40. Because the colophon page was behind the frame during my initial research, I have identified this manuscript as a possible royal donation in my dissertation, based on the published record of the colophon. Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia.” During my recent visit, I was able to examine the colophon in person, and it is clear that the name was retouched by a later hand. 41. The colophon reads, “kanyekubjādhipatyaśvapatigajapatinarapatirājatrayādhip ati vividhavidyāvicāravācaspatiśrimadgovindacandradevasyapratāpavasateḥ rājñī śrī­pra­ vara­mahāyānayāyinyāḥ paramopāsikārājñī-śrīvāsantadevyāḥ|| deyadharmo’yam yada­ trapuṇyam. . . .” I first encountered this colophon from a microfilm printout that was on display at the Lumbini Museum in 2004. The Lumbini Museum’s display lists it as a manuscript in the National Archive in Kathmandu, but I could not locate this manuscript in the National Archive during my research in 2004. It is possible that the Lumbini Museum record indicates that the microfilm is in the National Archive, but not necessarily the manuscript. Manuscripts from all over the Kathmandu Valley were brought to the National Archive to be microfilmed for the Nepal-German Manuscript Preservation Project, and many were returned to their owners. 42. The Lumbini Museum’s display in 2004 had printouts of the two illustrated folios and two painted covers. The illustrated folios were the last two folios (folios 199 and 200), and the colophon is on the verso of the last illustrated folio. I thank Christian Luczanits for providing me with digital photos of these printouts. The painting style looks similar to that of a mid-12th-century Pañcarakṣā manuscript now in the Rietberg Museum (Ms C5) in terms of rendering of the physiognomic characteristics, and it also shows certain similarities to the painting style of a late-12th-century AsP manuscript prepared at Nālandā now in the Royal Asiatic Society, London (Ms D6). 43. The queen Tiṣyarakṣitā was jealous of the bodhi tree that Aśoka cherished, and she gave orders that the tree be hacked down. John Strong, The Legend of King Aśoka: A Study and Translation of the Aśokāvadāna, Princeton library of Asian translations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1983), 125–27; Prudence R. Myer, “The Great Temple at Bodh-Gayā,” The Art Bulletin 40, no. 4 (1958): 278–79.  

 



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44. This might actually be a medieval trope that we see beyond eastern India, as there are stories of Buddhist queens and non-Buddhist kings known in Buddhist traditions outside India. The case of Jayadevī and Jayavarman VII of the late 12th and early 13th century, Angkor, Cambodia, is one good example. According to the inscriptional sources, it was thanks to Jayadevī that Jayavarman VII became a devout Buddhist king. 45. Hiram W. Woodward, Jr., “Queen Kumaradevī and Twelfth-Century Sarnath,” Journal of the Indian Society of Oriental Art 12/13 (1981–83).  

46. For the entire text of the inscription and its translation, see Sten Konow, “Sārnāth Inscription of Queen Kumaradevī,” Annual Report of Archaeological Survey of India 6 (1907–1908).  

47. On female patronage of medieval Indian Buddhist institutions, see Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia.” 48. Pratapaditya Pal, “A Forgotten Monastery of Ancient Bihar,” South Asian Studies 4 (1988). 49. Naseem Akhtar, Patna Museum Catalogue: Terracottas and Metal Images, ed. Patna Museum (Patna, Bihar: Patna Museum, 2001), 177–214.  

50. At present, we do not have any other historical information about the Tribhuvanadevī monastery, but it is interesting that this name (Tribhuvanadevī) is the name of a major queen of Bhauma-Kāras of Orissa, raising a tantalizing possibility for connecting the dots between Orissa and Bihar-Bengal regions. Binayak Misra, Orissa under the Bhauma Kings (Calcutta: Vishwamitra Press, 1934), 23–31.  

51. See chapter 4. 52. It reads “sumatiśrīmintra,” which is most likely a misspelling of Sumatiśrīmitra. 53. I wonder if it is also possible that Sumatiśrīmitra wrote this manuscript himself, since no scribe is identified and it simply reads after the donor colophon that “the venerable Prajñāpāramitā (bhagavatī) is written in the illustrious Vikramaśīla mega monastery (mahāvihāra) in the 15th blessed and victorious year of the king Gopāla.” 54. Sāṅkṛtyāyana, “Sanskrit Palm-leaf Mss. in Tibet.” The current location of this manuscript is unclear. Buddhist manuscripts that were kept in the monasteries in Tibet were collected and sent to the China Library of Nationalities in Beijing after the Cultural Revolution. It has been reported that they have been returned to Lhasa and are now kept at the Nor-bu-gliṅ-ga palace and the Tibet Museum. 55. Sāṅkṛtyāyana’s reports accompany a few photos that he took in various monasteries, but they are not so helpful in studying the nature of these illus-

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trated manuscripts, because of their poor reproduction quality. Fortunately, some of these photos were published in the photo album published in 1986, in which it is possible to identify four folios from this manuscript. S.K. Pathak, ed., The Album of the Tibetan Art Collection, plates 20 and 21. The original photos are supposed to be in the K.P. Jayaswal Research Institute in Patna, but the institute was under a management dispute when I conducted research in 2003–2004, so I was not able to confirm their current location.  

56. The regular donor colophon of this manuscript, beginning with the “deya dharmo ’yam . . . ,” is followed by an unusually long eulogy concerning the donor’s social and religious background and intent of donation. According to this eulogy, the manuscript was prepared at the abode of Khasarpaṇa Avalokiteśvara. I thank Christopher Minkowsky of Oxford University for helping me with the reading of this colophon. 57. Whether this means that the participation from the people of the region diminished or not needs to be explored further. 58. Debala Mitra, Buddhist Monuments (Calcutta: Sahitya Samsad, 1971), 194. 59. Schopen, “The Book as a Sacred Object in Private Homes in Early or Medieval India.” 60. Among the 25 manuscripts counted in the analysis, one manuscript now in the Indian Museum, Kolkata (no. 30 on table 6-1), lacks any donor information. If we exclude this manuscript from our number, the percentage of male donors becomes higher, to 66.6 percent. Counting this manuscript as a lay male donation, the number would be even higher at 68 percent. According to the Indian Museum’s publication, the colophon folio of this manuscript is damaged and the donor colophon is missing. A.L. Bhattacharya, “A Dated Pañcarakshā Ms of the Reign of Govindapāladeva,” Indian Museum Bulletin 4, no. 1 (1969). Unfortunately, I have not been able to examine the colophon folio in person despite repeated efforts, due to the folio’s reported fragile condition. 61. See the discussion and the figures in Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia.” 62. Ibid. 63. According to Skilling, the term sthavirā appears in the Lokottaravādin Bhikṣunī vinaya as “saṃgha-sthavirā.” Peter Skilling, “A Note on the History of the Bhikkhunī-saṅgha (II): The Order of Nuns after the Parinirvāṇa,” W.F.B. Review 30/31, no. 4/1 (1998/94): fn 18. All the vinayas (monastic codes of conduct) require a monk for the ordination of Buddhist nuns. 64. Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia.”

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65. It is, of course, difficult to determine whether she was originally from the Magadha area or not with the evidence at hand. It is most likely that she was ordained as a nun in this region. 66. J.P. Losty, “The ‘Vrendenburg Manuscript’ in the Victoria and Albert Museum,” in Makaranda: Essays in Honour of Dr. James C. Harle, ed. Claudine Bautze-Picron (Delhi: Sri Satguru, 1990), 190. 67. Losty, “Bengal, Bihar, Nepal? Problems of Provenance in 12th Century Illuminated Buddhist Manuscripts, Part 1.” On Rāmapāla’s military campaigns and his reign in general, see A.M. Chowdhury, Dynastic History of Bengal, vol. 21 (Dacca: The Asiatic Society of Pakistan, Dacca, 1967). 68. Chowdhury, Dynastic History of Bengal, vol. 21: 101. 69. The date colophon reads, “śrīmanmadanapāladevasya rājyasamvat 17|.” 70. I wonder if this Lakṣmīdhara has any connection with bhaṭṭa Lakṣmī­d hara, the able administrator of Govindacandra who authored the Kṛtyakalpataru during the second quarter of the 12th century. 71. For example, Kalhana’s Rājataraṅgiṇī records the persecution of Buddhist monks by a Śaiva ruler in Kashmir, which is also mentioned by Xuanzang. Buddhist monks, along with Jain monks, are objects of ridicule in an 11thcentury play, Prabodha-candrodaya, written by Kṛṣṇa Miśra in the Chandella court. Romila Thapar, “Cultural Transaction and Early India: Tradition and Patronage,” Social Scientist 15, no. 2 (1987). 72. I find David Gellner’s three hierarchical types of religion useful for understanding the social characteristics of Buddhism seen in the pattern of patronage of the medieval Indian Buddhist book cult. In his critique of Bloch, Gellner proposes the following three types of religion to replace the category of World Religion: (1) Soteriology or salvation religion, (2) social religion, and (3) instrumental religion, of which the two latter types belong to “This-Worldly Religion.” Gellner, The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes: 69–72, 87–95.  

 

73. Dvaja or dvija could also mean any of the three clean varnas. Whether they were actually Brahman or not, the fact that their caste identity is acknowledged is important here. 74. The donor colophon reads, “. . . paramopāsaka-ṭhakkura-śrī-karṇadattasutakā (sic.)-śrīlakṣīdharasya yadatra-puṇya. . . .” His name is spelled with “Lakṣī” but it should be read “Lakṣmī.” 75. Harunaga Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200),” Buddhismus in Geschichte und Gegenwart 2 (1998). 76. This is the English translation of Weber’s Hinduismus und Buddhismus, which was the second volume of a three-volume series on sociology of world

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religions, Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie, published in 1920. See the discussion in D. Kantowsky, “Max Weber on India and Indian Interpretations of Weber,” in Recent Research on Max Weber’s Studies of HInduism, ed. D. Kantowsky (München: Weltforum Verlag, 1986); Gellner, The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes: 19–44, 86–87.  

 

77. Max Weber, The Religion of India; the Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism. Uniform Title: Hinduismus und Buddhismus, English (Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1958), 282. 78. Such a view mainly arose from seeing Buddhism through the lens of Protestantism, and it has been successfully called into question during the past few decades. Gregory Schopen, “Archaeology and Protestant Presuppositions in the Study of Indian Buddhism,” History of Religions 31, no. 1 (1991). 79. Richard Burghart, “Renunciation in the Religious Traditions of South Asia,” Man 18, no. 4 (1983). 80. Gellner, The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes. 81. Ibid., 73. 82. Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 83. The text reads “sādhukai,” and the visual rendering of the letters is in fact very close to that of “sādhaka.” 84. “000” marks missing letters. For the full text of the colophon, see Gudrun Melzer and Eva Allinger, “A Pañcaraksṣā Manuscript from Year 39 of the Reign of Rāmapāla,” Artibus Asiae 70, no. 2 (2010): 387–414.  

85. For a rich ethnographic study of today’s sādhu communities in South Asia, see Sondra L. Hausner, Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2007). 86. There are numerous examples in the corpus of late medieval Jain inscriptions. See Puran Chand Nahar, Jaina Inscriptions: Containing Index of Places, Glossary of Names of Shravaka Castes, and Gotras of Gachhas, and Acharyas with Dates, 2nd ed. (Delhi: Indian Book Gallery, 1983). I thank Phyllis Granoff for this reference and other suggestions regarding the possible meanings of sādhu in medieval Indian context. 87. We should also note that the reading of the term sādhuka in the first example cited here is extremely similar to sādhaka. 88. Richard S. Cohen, “Kinsmen of the Son: Śākyabhikṣus and the Institutionalization of the Bodhisattva Ideal,” History of Religions 40, no. 1 (2000). 89. There are at least eleven sādhanas devoted to Yamāri in the Sādhanamālā. Five sādhanas (SM 268–272) are for the worship of Raktayamāri (red Yamāri),  



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and six sādhanas (SM 273–278) are devoted to Kṛṣṇayamāri (black/blue-black Yamāri). One Raktayamāri sādhana (SM 272) follows the vision/instruction by a monastic author (paiṇḍapātika bhikṣu, literally “wandering mendicant monk”) Guṇakaragupta, while a sādhana on Kṛṣṇayamāri (SM 273) was composed by Maṅgalasena, whose name is not known in any other literary sources. Benoytosh Bhattacharya, ed., Sādhanamālā, 2nd ed., 2 vols., vol. 2, Gaekwad’s oriental series vol. 41 (Baroda: Oriental Institute, 1968), 528–54.  

 

90. This reading is tentative. 91. This working definition of siddha follows the social characteristics of the siddha communities in Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. 92. From the account of Tāranātha quoted at the beginning of this chapter, it seems that siddha and sādhaka were differentiated. If sādhu and sādhaka were indeed related and were possibly synonyms, it may be that sādhaka/sādhu meant that the person was a lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioner who did not forsake the householder status, whereas a siddha may have forsaken the householder status for the life of a nonmonastic ascetic. 93. R. Goris, “The Position of the Blacksmiths,” in Bali, Further Studies in Life, Thought, and Ritual Selected Studies on Indonesia (The Hague: Van Hoeve, 1970); David G. White, The Alchemical Body (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998). 94. For a detailed analysis of the iconographic program of this manuscript, see Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 95. Given the sociohistorical context of early medieval India, where wars among neighboring kingdoms and dynastic houses were frequent and the big political powers, including Islamic ones, waged long-distance wars, the situations that the devotees sought refuge from were more complex and dire, which required more powerful cultic measures to respond. 96. There are four illustrated folios placed at the beginning and at the end of the manuscript, each with a single painted panel. This manuscript was repaired and restored by later Newari donors. See Kim, “Unorthodox Practice: Rethinking the Cult of Illustrated Buddhist Books in South Asia,” 342–46.  

97. If we drop a conjunct letter rmi from sādharmika, it becomes sādhaka. 98. See the discussion in chapter 2. Kapstein, “Weaving the World: The Ritual Art of the ‘Paṭa’ in Pala Buddhism and Its Legacy in Tibet.” 99. Glenn Wallis, Mediating the Power of Buddhas: Ritual in the Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa, SUNY series in Buddhist studies (Albany, NY: SUNY Press, 2002).

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100. For example, according to Quintman’s analysis, Tibetan thangkas of Milarepa were imbued with his presence not only through the visual representation of the saint in the distinctive iconography but also through the biographical text on the back of the painting as Milarepa’s relic. Andrew Quintman, “Life Writing as Literary Relic: Image, Inscription, and Consecration in Tibetan Biography,” in Association of Asian Studies Annual Meeting (Chicago, 2009). I thank Andy Quintman for sharing his paper and insights. Painted maṇḍalas in Japanese Shingon Buddhism also mark the sacred presence. Robert Sharf, “Visualization and Mandala in Shingon Buddhism,” in Living Images: Japanese Buddhist Icons in Context, ed. Robert Sharf and Elizabeth Horton Sharf (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2001). 101. The colophon identifies the donor as “rājñī-vihuṇadevī” but no other information is available. I have not found any other historical source mentioning her name. Given the proto-Bengali-type hand and the use of architectural frames in illustrated panels, it is possible that this manuscript was prepared somewhere in Varendra or further southeast. Slightly wider in height and shorter in length, the format of the folio indicates a late date, towards the end of the 12th century. The reading of the colophon is based on the published photograph of the colophon folio belonging to the same manuscript in the Tibet Museum, Lhasa. I thank John Guy of the Metropolitan Museum, New York, for accommodating my research at that museum and providing me the reference to this catalog, including a scan of the page. Also see John Guy, “Mahāvihāra Master,” in Masters of Indian Painting: 1100–1650, ed. Milo C. Beach, Eberhard Fischer, and B.N. Goswamy (Zurich: Artibus Asiae, 2011).  

102. A high-resolution image is also available on the Metropolitan Museum’s website, http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/search-the-collections/60049222. 103. For example, see the photos taken by Tomas L. Kelly in Hausner, Wandering with Sadhus: Ascetics in the Hindu Himalayas. 104. See Guy, “Mahāvihāra Master,” fig. 2. The image is also available on the Metropolitan Museum’s website, http://www.metmuseum.org/collections/ search-the-collections/60049222. 105. For example, an early-12th-century Cakrasamvara maṇḍala from central Tibet in a private collection that depicts the siddhas in most appalling and grotesque context contains a ritual scene of the worship of a book in the bottom register. In between a monk and a donor sits a book, represented as a narrow rectangular object. It is wrapped in red cloth and placed on a bookstand. A stūpa is placed on top of the book, just like kuṭāgara built by bodhisattva Dharmodgatta marking the presence of the book (web 4–2). The richly illustrated manuscripts designed as book-maṇḍalas that we have examined make  



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me wonder whether we could imagine the entire visual field represented in this thanka painting as unfolding from the book that is in worship, perhaps not literally but figuratively. See Jane Casey Singer and Steven K. Kossak, Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998), cat. no. 2, p. 53. 106. David B. Gray and Thomas F. Yarnall, The Cakrasamvara Tantra: The Discourse of Śrī Heruka (Śrīherukābhidhāna), Treasury of the Buddhist sciences (New York: American Institute of Buddhist Studies at Columbia University, 2007). 107. D.L. Snellgrove, The Hevajra Tantra: A Critical Study, vol. 1, London Oriental Series (London: Oxford University Press, 1959), 115. This passage appears between a section on the making of a painting and an instruction on the gathering for ritual feasting (gaṇacakra). The “Goddess” addressed here is Nairātmyā, consort of Hevajra. 108. Gregory Schopen, “Mahāyāna in Indian Inscriptions,” Indo-Iranian Journal 21, no. 1 (1979). 109. This is cited from a Nālandā manuscript now in the Asia Society, New York (Ms A4), fol. 301r. 110. The translation is slightly modified from Schopen’s translation of the almost identical phrase to accommodate the change from “prāptaye” to “phalavāptaya” appearing commonly in manuscript colophons. Schopen, “Mahāyāna in Indian Inscriptions”: 5. 111. Abbreviating well-known terms occurs in the inscriptions of the period. For example, one conjunct letter stha could stand for sthavira. The donor of a stele depicting the Buddha’s descent from the Trāyastriṃśa heaven now in the Archaeological Survey of India’s Nālandā site museum was a “stha” named Tathāgatadeva. Another monastic donor of a stele depicting the Buddha’s enlightenment now in the San Francisco Asian Art Museum is identified as a “stha” named Prajñāprabha. 112. It is also possible to suggest that the use of this term may not have been a conscious choice but rather the result of following a custom by default almost mechanically. 113. Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200).” 114. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement. 115. See the discussion in chapter 1. Tāranātha, Tāranātha’s History of Buddhism in India. 116. This manuscript, now in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1364), identifies the donor as a Mahāyāna śākyabhikṣu Śrījñānaśrī. The donor colo-

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phon appears on folio 128 recto. See the discussion in Pratapaditya Pal, “A New Document of Indian Painting,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (1965). 117. Cambridge University Library Add. 1364. 118. The manuscript of the Laghukālacakraṭika in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G.10766), identifies the donor as a Mahāyāna elder Mahākāragupta (pravaramahāyānayāyina sthaviramahākāragupta). Hara Prasad Shastri, A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection under the Care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta, 1917), 79. Shastri dates this manuscript as belonging to the latter part of the 10th century, but it clearly dates to the 12th century, as indicated by the date, Harivarman’s 39th regnal year (ca. 1131 CE). 119. This is not to discount the presence of other schools of Buddhism in medieval eastern India. Buddhist visitors from Sri Lanka and different parts of Southeast Asia frequented the Buddhist sites in the ancient region of Magadha. For example, Bodhgaya, the site of Buddha’s enlightenment, was, and still is, the most important pilgrimage site for Buddhists of all denominations, and Nālandā, the monastic university, was an internationally acclaimed seat of learning. The reference here is to point out that the majority of Buddhists participating in devotional activities, that is, donating sacred objects, seem to have been all labeled “Mahāyāna.” 120. Schopen, “Mahāyāna in Indian Inscriptions.” 121. Isaacson, “Tantric Buddhism in India (from c. A.D. 800 to c. A.D. 1200)”: 2. 122. Only three manuscripts out of ten 11th-century manuscripts bear the scribal colophons, but it is significant that all three identify their scribes as the residents of Nālandā. 123. For example, both Kumaradevī’s inscription and Vipulaśrīmitra’s inscription identify who carved them in addition to the composers. Kumaradevī’s inscription was carved by a śilpin (artisan) Vāmana, and Vipulaśrīmitra’s inscription was “presented” by Vaśiṣṭa. Konow, “Sārnāth Inscription of Queen Kumaradevī”; N.G. Majumdar, “Nālandā Inscription of Vipulaśrīmitra,” Epigraphia Indica 21 (1931–1932).  

124. For example, the architect of the Viśvanatha temple at Khajuraho is identified in the inscription as “dharmadhāra-sūtradhāra- Chhiccha.” F. Khielhorn, “Khajuraho Stone Inscription of Dhaṅga, of the Year 1059, Renewed in 1173,” Epigraphia Indica 1 (1892). 125. According to Pal, the inscription states that “the painting (idam paṭa) was painted (likhitam) by Tejarāma,” one of the donors of the painting. Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal, 2 vols., vol. 2, Paintings (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1978), 17.



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126. The one placed in the middle of the left section contains two smaller roundels with flower petals spread out like a fan. The one on the right side of the folio contains a large lotus pattern with three six-petal flowers stacked in 15° rotation. 127. The scribal colophon on the verso of folio 188 recto reads, “asti magadhadiśaye śrīnālandāvasthita lekhaka grahanakuṇḍena bhaṭṭarikā prajñāpāramitā likhitā iti||.” His name seems to read “grahanakuṇḍa,” but since the retroflex “ṇ” is not there, it may be read “ahanakuṇḍa.” His name was read “Ahānakuṇḍa” in the catalog published in 1905. Moriz Winternitz and Arthur Berriedale Keith, “Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library,” ed. Oxford Bodleian Library (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905). 128. The title of the text according to the colophons is “sarvatathāgatakāyavākṣ ittarahasyāṇ-guhyasamāja.” 129. Shastri, A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection under the Care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 72. 130. In the production of illustrated Oriya manuscripts in recent centuries, it is common for a scribe to do the illustrations. Panchanan Bhoi, “The Writer and the Text: The Palmleaf Scribe as Chronicler,” Social Scientist 33, no. 5/6 (2005). 131. This manuscript, once dispersed between two private collections, has been brought together. On the manuscript’s reunion and philological characteristics, see Gudrun Melzer and Eva Allinger, “A Pañcarakṣā Manuscript from Year 39 of the Reign of Rāmapāla.” 132. Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 133. This “supervisor” could have been the same person as the scribe. 134. For more detailed discussion of the production process of this manuscript, see Kim, “A Book of Buddhist Goddesses: Illustrated Manuscripts of the Pañcarakṣā Sūtra and Their Ritual Use.” 135. These two manuscripts may have been prepared in the vicinity of each other. Their paleographic features are similar. 136. One of the copyediting hands is written in Bengali-type script. For example, on folio 129 verso, the instruction to insert a missing phrase is written in what looks very similar to modern Bengali script. 137. All the illustrated panels have a straight vertical line drawn in the middle of the figure. It may be a rudimentary form of the grid system that we see used in making later Tibetan paintings. We find a similar practice in the use of “madhya-sūtra” that is used to guide śilpins (artisans) during the process of mak-

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ing stone sculptures of deities in contemporary south India. Samuel K. Parker, “Unfinished Work at Mamallapuram or, What Is an Indian Art Object?,” Artibus Asiae 61, no. 1 (2001), 69. 138. Opening of eyes on an image is the crucial part of consecrating an image for worship in Indic religious traditions. For the procedure and the importance of the eye-opening ceremony in Hindu context, see the chapter on “pratiṣṭha” in Panduranga Vamana Kane, History of Dharmasastra (Ancient and Medieval Religious and Civil Law in India), rev. enl. ed., vol. 2, pt. 2, Government oriental series (Poona: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 1968), 896–916. While the images in a manuscript may not have been direct objects of worship, the eyes were perhaps drawn to indicate that they are complete in terms of their ritual presence. 139. The last two folios (folios 453–454) are later Nepalese paper additions. It is possible that there were at least ten folios with painted panels.  

140. There is no donor colophon at the end of the manuscript, partly because the last two folios are later additions. Nepalese restorers of eastern Indian manuscripts sometimes copied the original donor colophons, but most often the donor colophons were lost, probably due to the physical damage to the folio that prompted the restoration in the first place. 141. We should note that the caste term kāyastha does not appear as a title for a professional scribe in the body of manuscript colophons examined here. It appears in the context of donor colophons, where it signifies that the person is an administrative official rather than a scribe. The only example where I see kāyastha in the context of scribal colophon is in the 15th-century manuscript of the Kālacakra tantra in the Cambridge University Library (Add. 1364), where the scribe’s title reads “karaṇa kāyastha.” Here karaṇa is a synonym of kāyastha, and Sircar notes the use of this particular combination of terms in 11th-century charters from Punjab (the Chamba State). Sircar, Studies in the Political and Administrative Systems in Ancient and Medieval India: 158. 142. Georg Bühler notes in his 1896 publication that the 19th-century use of the term lekhak (modern pronunciation of the word lekhaka) refers to “a man who copies manuscripts and this profession is usually the resource of poor Brahmans, and sometimes of worn-out clerks (kāyasthas, kārkūns).” The picture may not be too different in medieval eastern Indian context. The lekhakas may not have been as politically powerful or economically well-off as kāyasthas, but they were not menial bookkeepers either. Georg Bühler, Indian Paleography, 1904 ed. (Calcutta: Firma K.L. Mukhopadhyaya, 1962; repr., 1904 ed.). This is the translation of his original publication in German: Georg Bühler, Grundriss der Indo-arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde (Strassburg: Karl J. Trübner, 1896).



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143. In this regard, Davidson makes an interesting suggestion that dharma­ bhāṇakas used humor and intuition for better communication to both lay and monastic assemblies. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement: 280. 144. The two manuscripts prepared by dharmabhāṇaka were both for foreign donors. The manuscript prepared by dharmabhāṇaka Ānanda was for a lay donor (upāsaka), Nāesutaṣohasitna, but this manuscript has a strong tie to the luminary Tibetan monastic teachers, given the Tibetan colophons claiming the later ownership of the manuscripts by Śākya Śrībhadra and Bu-ston. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pāla India (8th–12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy: 186–88. The published colophon of the AsP manuscript prepared in the Āpanaka monastery for the monks from the Malaya country gives the title of the scribe Jayakumara as vāmatanaka, but I wonder if this may be a misreading of dharmabhāṇaka. I have not been able to examine the entire colophon of this manuscript because of the way it is currently mounted.  

 

145. I thank Andrew Quintman of Yale University for reading this Tibetan colophon. 146. One interesting detail that may indicate more ritual, perhaps esoteric, knowledge is the way the figures hold their añjalī mudrā. Both the donor and the monk hold one little finger out, as if making a pact. John Huntington suggests that touching of the little finger in the preaching gestures of Buddha images at Aurangabad signifies the most esoteric level of the teaching. John C. Huntington, “Cave Six at Aurangabad: A Tantrayāna Movement?,” in Kalādarśana: American Studies in the Art of India, ed. Joanna Williams (New Delhi: Oxford & IBH Publishing in collaboration with American Institute of Indian Studies, 1981). While I do not find the application of Shingon maṇḍalas for understanding the iconographic program of the Caves at Aurangaband and Ellora satisfactory, that a little finger could signify any level of teaching is an interesting observation that may connect the two participants in pustaka pūjā involving a book of the PvP with the knowledge of Esoteric Buddhism. 147. It is, of course, equally possible that the donor then invited a ritual specialist to conduct the ritual for him since this was in a monastery. In the case of Rāmajīva and Svameśvara, that the figure represented with a book in his hand in figure 6–1 is not a monastic person can be taken as a clue that this figure represents Svameśvara.  

148. Kim, “Unheard Voices: Women’s Roles in Early Medieval Buddhist Artistic Productions and Religious Practices in South Asia.” 149. Although Shastri proposed a 10th-century date for this manuscript, I find it most likely that this is a late-12th- or early-13th-century manuscript. Shastri,

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A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection under the Care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 150. This is reported in the Tabakat-i-Nasiri. Minhaj Siraj Juzjani, Sir H.M. Elliot, trans., and John Dowson, ed., Tabakat-i-Nasiri (Lahore: Sang-e-Meel, 2006). 151. Chos-dar, “Biography of Dharmasvamin (Chag lo tsa-ba Chos-rje-dpal), a Tibetan Monk Pilgrim”: 64. 152. Robert N. Linrothe, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early IndoTibetan Esoteric Buddhist Art (Boston: Shambhala, 1999), 256. 153. Shastri reads only the “prajñā” part of his name. Shastri, A Descriptive Catalogue of Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Government Collection under the Care of the Asiatic Society of Bengal: 6. The damage to the folio makes it difficult to read it, but because the top portions of letters are still clearly visible, we can read his full name along with the first letter of the verb (“prajñābalena li . . .”). 154. The three painted panels on the colophon folio show Vajra-Tārā seated under the trilobed arch and preaching green Tārā with an attendant, possibly Jaṅgulī, and two-armed Sambara standing in pratyālidha (right leg bent) stance in the middle of flame. The shrine structure framing Vajra-Tārā points towards Varendra, but this feature is not uniformly applied. Somewhere in Aṅga is a possibility, partly because we see the prelude to the angularity and the fancifulness of Prajñābala’s hand in a manuscript from the Vikramaśīla monastery (Ms C4, table no. 21). 155. Pal reads the name of the town as “āragrāma” and suggests the possibility of this being the modern town of Arrah. The conjunct letter nsa resembles the letter ā of Bengali script, and probably this is why Pal read it as an ā. In his reading, there is an extra ka after magadhadeśīya. Given the location of Kansara village in Gaya district, within close proximity of Bodhgayā, this is more likely to be the place where a Buddhist manuscript was made in the 15th century than a town in Bhojpur district. Pratapaditya Pal, “A New Document of Indian Painting,” Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, no. 3/4 (1965). 156. Minhaj Siraj Juzjani, trans. and ed., Tabakat-i-Nasiri. This picture is also confirmed in the biography of Dharmasvāmin. Chos-dar, “Biography of Dharmasvamin (Chag lo tsa-ba Chos-rje-dpal), a Tibetan Monk Pilgrim”: 64. 157. Davidson, Indian Esoteric Buddhism: A Social History of the Tantric Movement: 247–52.  

158. Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, Comparative studies on Muslim societies (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993), 13.  



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159. John Newman, “Islam in the Kālacakra Tantra,” Journal of the International Association of Buddhist Studies 21 (1998).

Chapter 7

1. Although I was the sponsor of this ritual, I had to assign a “ritual sponsor ( jajmān)” on my behalf, because I am “castless” as a foreigner and cannot actually be a sponsor, as Gellner notes in his analysis of the ritual. David Gellner, “  ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur,” in The Anthropology of Buddhism and Hinduism: Weberian Themes (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), footnote 5. I thank Min Bahadur Shakya, who arranged this ritual for me and served as the jajmān of the ritual. 2. The most frequently worshipped manuscript is a 13th-century black-paper manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā or the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses, but there is also a palm-leaf manuscript of a longer version, the Pañcaviṁśatisāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā, the Perfection of Wisdom in Twenty-five Thousand Verses, which is brought out only for special occasions, like the annual festival organized by the Kwā Bāhā guthi on Mukhastami in the month of Kartik. Ibid. 3. The “community” here is a translation of guthi in Newari, which is in turn a term based on the idea of saṅgha, a monastic community. The members of Newar Buddhist monastic communities are householder, non-celibate monks. See David N. Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual, Cambridge studies in social and cultural anthropology (New York: Cambridge University, 1992). Kwā Bāhā has the largest monastic community in the Kathmandu Valley. John K. Locke, Buddhist Monasteris of Nepal (Kathmandu: Sahayogi Press, 1985), 31. 4. Newars, the indigenous people of the Kathmandu Valley, follow a caste system similar to the Indic one. Vajrācāryas and Śākyas make up the upper subsection of Newar Buddhists’ sacerdotal caste. Vajrācārya is the only group that can serve as priests. See Gellner, Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual: 57-60. 5. For example, according to David Gellner, the book was taken out for the ritual reading 243 times during one year (August 1985–August 1986). Gellner, “ ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur”: 179.  

6. The gurumaṇḍala pūjā is one of the fundamental rituals of Newari Buddhist practices. David Gellner, “Ritualized Devotion, Altruism, and Meditation: The

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Offering of the Gurumaṇḍala in Newar Buddhism,” Indo-Iranian Journal 34, no. 3 (1991). 7. The main priest, Cakra Raj Bajracharya, kindly listed the names of nine Vajrācāryas who participated in the ritual: Mangal Raj Bajracharya, Pradip Bajracharya, Raj Bhai Bajracharya, Tirtha Ratna Bajracharya, Surya Mar Bajracharya, Satajna Raj Bajracharya, Bhim Ratna Bajracharya, Babu Raja Bajracharya, and Herabhim Bajracharya. All of them belong to the Kwā Bāhā community. 8. The gurumaṇḍala pūjā is for Vajrasattva, who is understood as the “guru” (or the teacher) of the practitioner. According to Cakra Raj Bajracharya, the main priest of the ritual, the core of the gurumaṇḍala pūjā involves worshipping a plate with a whole lotus flower while reciting the puṣpaketturāja dhāraṇī. Regarding different variations of gurumaṇḍala pūjā and its significance in Newar Buddhism, see Gellner, “Ritualized Devotion, Altruism, and Meditation: The Offering of the Gurumaṇḍala in Newar Buddhism.” 9. In addition to the gurumaṇḍala pūjā, the priest performs “svaśudha (or swabhavashudho) pūjā” in which he visualizes himself as “emptiness.” This process is also one of the steps that a practitioner is required to take before identifying himself with the chosen deity in many sādhana texts. 10. There is no shortage of images inside the temple complex of Kwā Bāhā. As Locke notes, wealthy members of the Kwā Bāhā guthi, many of whom were successful traders in Tibet, donated many images and decorations to the temple throughout centuries. 11. I would like to thank Min Bahadur Shakya for this information. 12. For the impact of Theravada Buddhism in Nepal, see Sarah LeVine and David Gellner, Rebuilding Buddhism: The Theravada Movement in TwentiethCentury Nepal (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005). 13. There is also an element of a more political agenda in that it could promote the continuity and antiquity of the Newar Buddhist heritage. 14. The original colophon information is still legible. The colophon of this manuscript is published in Hemraj Shakya, Medieval Nepal: Colophons and Inscriptions (Kathmandu: T.R. Vaidya, 1970), 19–20. Hemraj Shakya notes that there might have been a mistake during the later restorations, for the original date of the manuscript now seems to read NS 245, whereas it should be NS 345, considering it was during the reign of Abhaya Malla (1216–1255 CE).  

 

15. Ibid., 39; Locke, Buddhist Monasteris of Nepal. As Locke notes, there is surprisingly little known about the early history of Kwā Bāhā despite its prominence and importance in Patan’s Buddhist community.



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16. The 1603 CE colophon mainly lists all the names of the donors that most likely were the members of the Kwā Bāhā guthi. 17. These colophons are on folio 297v, folio 298r, folio 301r, and folio 302r. The colophon on folio 302r is mostly faded away and illegible. Interestingly, I did not see a colophon dated to NS 1103 (1983 CE) when there clearly was a restoration of the manuscript, as David Gellner’s photo taken on February 2, 1983, suggests. See Gellner, “ ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur”: plate 12. 18. Given the elaborate production, it may have been under the care of a thriving monastic community. However, we do not know who the original donor was or where it was prepared. 19. A blue-black paper manuscript written with gold ink reverses the color scheme of a palm-leaf manuscript written with black ink, and the production of such manuscripts may have been inspired by a description in chapter 30 of the AsP. According to the AsP, the manuscript enthroned in kuṭāgara by bodhisattva Dharmodgata was written with melted vaidūrya (lapis-lazuli) on golden leaves (suvarṇapatteṣu). 20. In Nepal, in addition to palm leaf, paper folios dyed in blue-black or black were used for making illustrated manuscripts at least from the 12th century. It was customary to have black-paper manuscript written in gold or silver ink. The black-paper manuscripts of the Vasudhārādhārāṇī and the Paramārthānāmasaṅgīti now in the British Library (Or. 13971A and Or. 13971B) were prepared during the reign of Someśvara, whose known reign length is 1178–1183 CE. Silver and gold ink were used to write on the blue-black folios, alternating every other line. This manuscript also bears stunning paintings. See W. Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith (London: British Museum Publications, 1985), 121. Surviving manuscripts suggest that the introduction of paper manuscripts in India happened only in the 14th century, most likely a result of establishment of Islamic dynasties in the South Asian subcontinent. The paper production in Nepal seems to be related to its close trade tie with Tibet, whose Chinese and Central Asian neighbors used paper for manuscript production from early on. I would not be surprised to find a black-paper manuscript hailing from an Indian monastery, like Nālandā, given that many Himalayan neighbors frequented the place, but I have not encountered any.  

21. Her iconography is also atypical. I identify her as Prajñāpāramitā because she is a four-armed figure who holds a rosary and a book, but it could well be the personified representation of “Dharma” (Buddha’s teaching), often depicted as male in Nepal.

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22. The artist seems to have been more skilled at painting elements of landscape than figures. Compared with the meticulously rendered landscape, the human figures, especially their physiognomy, are not as carefully executed. 23. The Vajrācāryas working on the manuscript were not quite clear about when it was done. Min Bahadur Shakya speculated from memory that it might have been 5 to 6 years back. It is possible that they were done during the last recorded restoration of the manuscript in 1993. 24. Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal, 2 vols., vol. 2, Paintings (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1978), 38–50. 25. They could have been done during the 1943 or 1960 restoration recorded on the colophon. 26. Diana Eck, Darśan: Seeing the Divine Image in India (Chambersburg, PA: Anima, 1981); Lawrence A. Babb, “Glancing: Visual Interaction in Hinduism,” Journal of Anthropological Research 37 (1981): 387-401; William S. Sax, “The Ramnagar Ramlila: Text, Performance, Pilgrimage,” History of Religions 30, no. 2 (Nov. 1990): 129-53. 27. This includes bathing, rubbing the feet, feeding, and any appeasing ritual that involves physical contact. 28. Locke lists a number of interesting examples of numerous donations throughout centuries, beginning with the one dated NS 653 that records the offering of two bells and a gold ornament to the Kwāpā-dya. Even this cursory list is quite impressive. The donations recorded in these inscriptions range from utensils for the Śākyamuni Buddha, to finials of the shrine, to new windows and toranas. Locke, Buddhist Monasteris of Nepal: 39-40. 29. Many members of the Kwā Bāhā community traditionally accumulated wealth from the trade with Tibet, and this Tibetan connection is visible in the so-called Tibetan prayer wheels lined up around the temple’s courtyard and the Tibetan-style paintings in the northern wing. Locke notes how many members of Kwā Bāhā who used to live in Tibet for trade business aspired to practice Buddhism in Tibetan style. Ibid., 34. I should note that the northern wing of the temple complex, where the ritual I sponsored happened, is in fact the result of the continued donations by those members with business ties with Tibet. After all, the Tibetan contribution to the continued survival of the Buddhist book cult in South Asia is not as limited as it first appears to be. I hope further research on the surviving Buddhist manuscripts from eastern India in Tibet will shed more light on this connection than was possible in this study. 30. Gellner, “ ‘The Perfection of Wisdom’: A Text and Its Uses in Kwa Bahah, Lalitpur”: 189.



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Index

Abhayākaragupta, Paṇḍit, 30, 116, 266 Abhayapaṇī subduing Rāhu in the Great Ocean, 102f Advayavajra, 130 Akṣobhya, 185–​86, 194; bodhisatt­vas of, 68–​69; Guhyasamāja Akṣobhya, 194, 196, 199; lineage, 185–​86, 265; Mahāmantrānusariṇī and, 256; maṇḍala, 140, 150–​54, 156, 157, 306n67; Prajnāpāramitā and, 83, 85; split image in female form, 194; as transcendental Buddha, 68, 83, 191, 280 Albīrūnī, 49 Ali, Daud, 110 Amitābha, 83, 199, 281; Avalokiteśvara and, 155; Prajnāpāramitā and, 35, 78, 155, 182, 187, 189, 193 Amoghasiddhi, 27, 35, 83, 132, 199, 281 Amoghavajra, 27 Ānanda, 27, 43, 80, 126, 143, 260; in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra, 142–​43, 143f, 146; Buddha’s instruc-



tion to, 1; Prajñāpāramitā and, 80, 126, 143f, 146 Ānandabudhi, 122 Aśoka (Mauryan emperor), 94, 230, 231 Aśoka, Śrī, 226, 229 Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra (AsP) manuscript(s), 9, 23, 39, 120, 133, 148, 179, 197, 208, 214, 261, 277; Ānanda in, 142–​43, 143f, 146; bodhisattvas in, 32f, 86; book covers, 64f; book cult and, 36–​40; and book honoring and worship, 37; in British Library, 113; Buddha’s life scenes in, 10, 60, 74, 79, 172; Buddha’s preaching and, 99, 123, 124, 142–​43, 143f; charging the center space with maṇḍala of Vajrasattva, 150, 152f, 154; coupling of malefemale deities in 12th-century, 202; cultic aspect, 37; cultic importance, 54; cultic strategies, 96, 270; dating, 37; deities of, 59, 149, 159–​62 (see also specific deities); designing, 186;

367

Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra (continued) enlightenment and, 74, 75, 85, 99, 167–​68; first two folios of, 278f; Gopāla in, 129f, 160f; hymn to the goddess Prajnāpāramitā (Prajnāpāramitānāmastuti) in, 80; images and illustrations, 43, 45, 52–​53; images in, compared with dhāraṇīs, 121; Indra in, 78, 124, 146; introduction of Kālacakra-Viśvamātā couple in early 13th-­century, 270; lack of visual material in, 52–​54; Mahāyāna and, 9; merchant’s daughter in, 163f, 165; mother analogy in, 31; Ms A1, 55, 77, 77f, 78–​80, 82, 86, 223, 224, 226; Ms A2, 55, 77–​80, 86, 226, 228, 251–​52; Ms A3, 51f, 55, 56, 77–​80, 82, 86, 213, 214, 226; Ms A4, 44f, 55, 56, 77–​80, 82, 86, 117, 158, 226, 260; Ms A5, 55, 56, 67, 77, 82, 86, 224, 226, 228–​29; Ms A6, 55, 56, 77, 82, 83f, 84f, 225; Ms A7, 55, 56, 67, 78, 86, 263; Ms B1, 55, 57, 61, 73–​74, 88, 89f, 92f, 93, 96–​99, 101, 103, 104, 105f, 106, 108, 109, 310n42; Ms B2, 55, 57, 98–​100, 100f, 102f, 103; Ms B6, 197; Ms C1, 58, 115–​17, 119f, 124, 169, 232, 261; Ms C3, 55, 58, 123, 125, 128; Ms C4, 55, 58, 114f, 127, 128, 129f, 130, 132, 232; Ms D2, 58, 131, 133, 141f–​143f, 145f, 148, 150, 151, 153, 169, 199, 230, 264; Ms D3, 58, 67, 131, 150, 152f, 153–​55, 154f, 157, 178, 179, 185, 237; Ms D4, 58, 131, 150, 157–​59, 160f, 161, 163, 163f, 164, 166, 178, 183, 201, 208, 241, 243; Ms D5, 59, 64f, 150, 168, 169, 171f, 172, 176, 208, 233, 238, 252; Ms D6, 59, 67, 168, 173, 175f, 176, 197, 199, 202, 237, 252, 265; Ms D7, 59, 131, 178, 179, 181f, 182–​86, 237, 277; Ms D8, 59, 131, 186, 187,

368

Index

188f, 189, 242; Ms D9, 59, 68f, 131, 186, 187, 191–​93, 195f, 197, 199, 201, 243; Ms D10, 59, 67, 69f, 131, 186, 197, 198f, 199, 201–​5, 201f, 204f, 205f, 207–​9, 238, 265, 267, 329n11; multiple Buddhas in, 31, 167–​69; paradoxical rhetoric, 78–​79; patronage and production characteristics, 216–​18t; Prajnāpāramitā in, 169; production of illustrated, 270; reasons for Esoteric Buddhist imagery, 184–​ 85, 187, 189; relationship between text and images in, 73, 74; role of visual narratives in, 123–​27; sacred space unfolding in, 62; Sadāprarudita in, 162; spot of earth where it is located (see also pṛthivīpradeśa), 74, 75; survival of, 40; Tārā’s ascendancy in, 157; 12th-century illustrated, 4f; themes, 79; threading, 113; translations, 9, 29, 32; Vajrapāṇi in, 141f. See also specific topics Atīśa, 165–​66, 228 Avalokiteśvara, 246; Amitābha and, 155; ascetics and, 244, 245; in Bengali hut-like shrine, 104, 105f; Candragomī and the temple of, 95; crowds eager to receive boon or jewel from, 244–​45; cultic nature, 128–​29, 207; Ekajaṭā and, 207; eleven-headed and multiarmed, 100–​101; forms of, 109; in Gandhara, 89–​90; in the guise of a Buddha in China, 90; healing powers, 89, 128–​ 29; Karaṇḍavyūha sūtra and, 53; king Bali and, 110; on Kuṭa mountain, 89–​90; Lokanātha and, 89, 104, 105f, 106, 107f, 108, 109, 151, 155, 319n9; as magic horse saving the future Buddha, 110; Mahāśītavatī and, 135; Maitreya and, 159, 167, 170, 191; Manjuśrī and, 135, 137; at Nālandā, 95; Parinirvāṇa and,

170; paying homage to a stūpa, 90, 106, 107f; Prajnāpāramitā and, 155, 319n9; preaching, 155; Śaiva deities and, 130; shrines and, 90, 104, 105f, 108; in Suvarṇṇapura, 90; Tārā and, 80, 82, 86, 137, 159, 176, 246; this-worldly role of, 207; two-armed form of, 207, 245; unfinished panel depicting, 258, 258f; Vajrapāṇi and, 170; Vajrasattva and, 137; virtues of, 53, 130, 207; worshipped by Mahāyānists, 31. See also Khasarpaṇa Avataṃsaka (Gaṇḍavyūha) sūtra, 46, 53 Bajracharya, Cakra Raj, 23, 24f, 271–​72 Bālāha, 110 Bali, 110 Bhairava, 161, 194 Bhikṣu Ānanda, 276 Bhṛkuṭī, 25, 95 blood for devotion, 162–​66 Bodhgayā: Buddha’s enlightenment and, 68f, 69–​70, 74, 75, 77, 85, 146, 167, 192, 196, 208, 341n119; cowherds poking Buddha’s ears with sticks in, 279 Bodhgayā icon, 68f, 69–​70, 69f, 191–​ 93, 196, 199, 206, 279 bodhimaṇḍa, 75, 167–​68 bodhisattva(s): of Akṣobhya, 68–​69; in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra, 32f, 86; lotus maṇḍala with book and eight, 66–​68, 67f; unfinished panel depicting, 258, 258f book covers, 46, 63–​64, 155, 169, 187, 208, 272. See also text: encasing the book cult, Buddhist, 1–​2, 36–​40; conservatism in, 54; in continuum, 284–​85. See also specific topics book designing: innovative strategies of, 197–​200; as technological innovation, 197–​207

book-maṇḍala, 10, 115, 132–​40, 147–​ 48, 227, 262; Devanidhi and, 244; looking inside a, 149–​50; Tangut maṇḍala and, 147 book(s): doing wonders, 5–​9; nature of, 1–​3, 5, 12. See also specific topics Brahmans, 117, 163, 163f, 170, 213, 219, 238–​40, 245, 269 Buddha (Siddhārtha Gautama): Ānanda, Svāti, and, 27; enlightenment, 68f, 69–​70, 74, 75, 77, 85, 146, 167, 192, 196, 208, 341n119; instruction to Ānanda, 1; life scenes, 10, 56, 60, 73–​80, 81f, 82, 84f, 85, 154f, 155, 167, 170, 172, 173, 187, 189, 191–​92, 196, 208, 229, 247, 279, 281 (see also book-maṇḍala; hyperlinking: and three-dimensional layering); teaching/preaching, 99, 106, 107f, 118, 123, 124, 126–​28, 142–​43, 143f. See also specific topics Buddha Śākyamuni, 68–​69, 134, 170, 172, 191, 206, 241 Buddhakapāla tantra, 269 Buddhas, transcendental, 68, 83, 85, 134, 144, 169, 172, 191, 278, 280 Buddhist sacred objects, anatomy and parameters of analysis, 52–​55 Buṅkaranagara, Cundā in, 73–​74, 88–​89, 89f, 99–​100 Cakrasamvara maṇḍala, 246–​47, 339n105 Cakrasamvara tantra, 205, 246 Campitalā-Lokanātha, 89, 108; in Samataṭa, 104, 105f Candragomī, 95, 129 Candrakīrti, 95, 156 caste system, 238–​40, 346n4 cave temples, 115, 280 caves, 25, 26f, 28 China, 90, 92f Chinnamuṇḍā, 164, 321n28

I n d e x

36 9

Cintāmaṇi Avalokiteśvara, 207 contradiction, 79 Conze, Edward, 125, 185, 293n21, 295n33, 307n13 cultic deities reincarnated: lasting power of, 205–​7; wrathful and erotic for protecting the ground, 178–​86 cultic foci, locating the goddess and the book as, 32–​36 cultic object: book as a, 40–​41; pictures, movements, and a, 60–​70 Cultural Revolution, 14 Cundā, 208; in Buṅkaranagara, 73–​74, 88–​89, 89f, 99–​100; four-armed, 102f Dānapāla, 29, 32, 165 darśan, 24, 282 Davidson, Ronald M., 300n24, 328n10 Devanidhi, 190, 243, 244 dharma bodies, 39, 41, 75–​76 “dharma preacher,” 121, 259. See also dharmabhāṇaka dharma relics, 38–​41, 123 dharma verse, 39–​41, 80, 123, 136, 146, 248 dharmabhāṇaka, 259–​61. See also “dharma preacher” dharmacakra (wheel of dharma), 50, 52 Dharmapāla, 30 Dhṛtarāṣṭra, 134 digital books and book readers, 5 Durgottāriṇī Tārā, 158, 162 Ekajaṭā, 183, 184, 207, 287 elephants, preaching Buddha supported by, 106, 107f Ellora, 25, 26f, 36, 37 emptiness (śūnyatā), 23, 36–​37, 54, 79, 185, 190, 270; form and, 10, 79. See also voidness enlightenment: Aṣṭasāhasrikā

370

Index

Prajnāpāramitā sūtra and, 74, 75, 85, 99, 167–​68; Prajñāpāramitā and, 74–​79, 82–​85, 99, 125, 146, 185; Prajnāpāramitā (goddess) and, 31, 83–​85, 162, 176, 177, 199, 207; Prajñāpāramitā sūtra and, 87, 146; tathāgatas and, 75–​76; women for, 162–​66. See also Buddha: enlightenment erotic rituals, 165–​66. See also cultic deities reincarnated; sexual embrace; sexual union Esoteric Buddhist deities, becoming more menacing and frightening, 186, 189 Esoteric Buddhist imagery: characteristics, 186; reasons for, 178–​86 (see also esotericization) esotericization: of Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra, 186–​89; of book cult, 18; of iconographic programs, 19, 149–​50 Faxian, 30–​31, 37 Foucher, Alfred, 74, 305n58, 309n29, 310nn42–​43 fragments, writing history with, 219–​21 Gajāka, 186, 242 Gaṇḍavyūha sūtra. See Avataṃsaka (Gaṇḍavyūha) sūtra Gaṇeśa, 159, 242 Gellner, David, 14, 240, 284–​85, 336n72 Ghośalīgrama, 234, 235, 263–​64 Ghosrawān, 235, 263. See also Ghośalīgrama Gilgit, 47, 166 Gilgit manuscripts, 45–​46, 298n14 goddess and the book, the, 23–​24, 27; locating them as cultic foci, 32–​36 goddesses: monks and, 25, 26f, 27,

28; Pancarakṣā, 28, 134, 136, 137, 139, 140. See also Prajnāpāramitā (goddess) golden box, 283f, 284 Golden Temple, 23, 40, 282–​84; Prajnāpāramitā pūjā at, 271–​75. See also Kwā Bāhā Gopāla IV, 224–​25 Govindacandra, 230 Govindapāla, 168 Guhyasamāja, 149, 157, 242–​43 Guhyasamāja, 6, 30; folios from, 255–​ 56, 255f Guhyasamāja Akṣobhya, 194, 196, 199 Guhyasamāja tantra, 9, 153, 156–​57, 162, 205, 255, 255f, 319n8, 323n49 Guhyasamāja tathāgatas, 194, 199, 242 gurumaṇḍala pūjā, 272–​73, 346n6, 347n8 Haribhadra, 30 Hayagrīva, 183–​84, 245 Heruka, 183–​86, 189, 194, 196, 203, 265, 308n25 Heruka tantra, 202 Hevajra, 204f; Heruka and, 184–​86, 196, 203; Māras and, 159; Nairātmyā and, 161, 165, 201, 203, 205–​6; Sambara and, 159, 162, 165, 182–​87, 196, 203, 205–​6, 243; Tārā and, 162, 181–​83 Hevajra maṇḍala, 161, 162, 165, 194 Hevajra tantra, 186, 205, 246–​47 Hindu gods, 159 Hinduism, 239 Hīrākā, 132, 230 Hiraṇyavarṇa Mahāvihāra. See Golden Temple; Kwā Bāhā human factors, 213–​19 hyperlinking, 7, 161–​62, 199–​200, 204, 288n8, 318n47; and threedimensional layering, 140–​48

iconizing the text, 123–​27 iconographic trends, 55–​60 iconography of book cult, secret, 189–​ 90; an iconographic masterpiece, 190–​97 icon(s): of a book, 131–​32; of wisdom, 127–​31 illustrated manuscripts: from eastern India, 215, 216–​18t; genealogy, 11–​15; mapping the historical origin of, 45–​47 illustrating practice in South Asia, 47–​52 illustration, manuscript: cultic efficacy of famous images in, 93–​96; reasons for late date of the introduction of the practice of, 49 illustrations: and the aura of the sacred text, 109–​11; scope of the term, 45. See also images images: in motion, 200–​205 (see also book designing: as technological innovation). See also illustrations individualism, idealized, 118 Indra, 279; in Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra, 78, 124, 146; Buddha and, 75, 117, 146, 279; in disguise as Brahman, 163f; Prajñāpāramitā and, 75; and the ­worship of his empty seat, 78 Isaacson, Harunaga, 250 Jain monk, 4f, 5 Jainism, 2, 4f, 5, 287n3 Jambhala, 67, 86, 89, 177, 206 Jaṅgulī, 32f, 158, 208, 229 jñānapūjā, 2, 287n3 Kālacakra, 204–​6, 205f, 266, 270, 326n76 Kālacakra tantra, 9, 152, 250, 268, 270, 326n76 Kālacakramaṇḍala, 204, 206

Index

371

Kālarātri, 161, 194 Kamalapāṇisiṃha, Śrī, 157, 241, 243 Kanakamuni-jāgeśvara, 117, 119f, 121, 261 Kanyārāma-Lokanātha, 92f, 106, 107f, 108 Kapstein, Matthew, 60 Karaṇḍavyūha sūtra (Kv), 9, 53, 63f, 103, 106, 109, 110, 130; Ms B5, 57, 103, 108, 109 Karṇadatta, 238 Kāṣṭamaṇḍapa, 122 Kāṭhmāṇḍu, 122 Kathmandu Valley, 47–​48, 57, 94, 101, 240, 257, 271 kāyastha, 225, 331n26, 343nn141–​4 2 Khadiravaṇī Tārā, 158, 162, 182, 183 Khasarpaṇa (Avalokiteśvara): temple of, 64, 233, 238. See also Avalokiteśvara Kiraṇasiṃha, 98, 310n43 Kṛṣṇa-Yamāri, 159–​62, 243, 338n89 Kṛṣṇagupta monastery, 122 Kubler, George, 98 Kumaradevī, 230–​31, 341n123 Kwā Bāhā, 271, 273, 282, 284–​85, 347n10, 349n29. See also Golden Temple Lāḍokā, 226, 228 Lakṣmīdhara, 173, 177, 197, 237, 238, 265, 266, 336n70 lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners (LMe), 149, 196, 268; emergence, 15, 220, 240–​47. See also lay male (LM) patronage; patronage pattern lay female (LW) patronage, 162, 164, 165, 229, 236. See also patronage pattern lay male (LM) patronage, 234; social characteristics of, 236–​40. See also lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners; patronage pattern

372

Index

lekhaka, 259–​63 Linrothe, Robert N., 59, 60, 85, 87, 178, 185, 308n24, 308n27 Lokakṣema, 29 Lokanātha, 104, 109, 151; Avalokiteśvara and, 89, 104, 105f, 106, 107f, 108, 109, 151, 155, 319n9; Campitalā Lokanātha, 89, 105f, 108; Kanyarāma-Lokanātha, 106, 107f, 108; potalake Lokanātha, 155. See also Campitalā-lokanātha “Lokanātha maṇḍala,” 151 Losty, J. P., 151, 152, 178–​79, 237, 302n41 lotus, 35, 86, 256, 319n9 lotus maṇḍala, 65–​66, 69, 183; with book and eight bodhisattvas, 66–​68, 67f Lotus sūtra, 53. See also Saddharmapuṇḍarika sūtra Madanapāla, 224, 225, 234, 237 Mahābodhi temple, 68–​69, 167, 192 Mahāmantrānusāriṇī, 122, 132, 136, 139, 256 Mahāmāyūrī, 25, 26f, 28, 122, 132, 134, 139; in Ellora, 36; gender transformation, 292n4; Jaṅgulī and, 158, 229; Pancarakṣā and, 28; power against disasters, 27; Prajnāpāramitā and, 158; Tārā and, 158, 229 Mahāmāyūrī-buddhamatṛikavidyārājñī dhāraṇī, 27 Mahāmāyūrī sūtra, 25, 27, 28 mahāmāyūrī vidyārājñī, 27–​28 Mahāpratisarā, 122, 132, 134, 139, 256 Mahāsāhasrapramardanī, 122, 132, 134, 139 Mahāśītavatī, 122, 132, 135, 139 Mahāśrī Tārā, 158, 176, 177, 182 Mahāśrībhadrā, 234–​36 Mahāyāna cultic deities and conservatism of the book cult, 85–​87

“Mahāyāna laity” in medieval India, and book cult, 247–​50 mahāyānayāyina, 248 mahāyānayāyina upāsaka, 221 Mahīdhara, 197, 266, 267 Mahīpāla I, 222–​24, 297n5 Mahīpāla II, 222, 237, 330n18 Mahīpati, 263 Maitreya, 128, 130, 134, 135f, 144, 151, 167–​70; Avalokiteśvara and, 159, 167, 170, 191; preaching, 213–​14, 214f maṇḍala(s), 139, 169; Akṣobhya/ Vajrasattva’s, 140, 150–​57, 185, 264, 306n67; Cakrasamvara, 246–​47, 339n105; defined, 7; Hevajra, 161, 162, 165, 194; mechanical animation of a three-dimensional, 65–​70; study of, 115–​16; Uṣṇīṣavijayā, 147–​48, 147f. See also book-maṇḍala; lotus maṇḍala mandalic relationship, diagram showing, 137, 138f, 139 Manjughoṣa, 86 Manjuśrī, 128, 149, 151, 168, 170, 182; Avalokiteśvara and, 135, 137; Manjuvajra and, 144; Prajnāpāramitā and, 78, 85–​86, 144; preaching, 167; Tārā and, 137; Vajrasattva and, 137, 137, 144, 146; worshipped by Mahāyānists, 31; Yamāntaka and, 87 Mañjuśrīmūlakalpa (Mmk), 37–​38, 41, 121, 241; and the illustrated Buddhist books, 60–​62 Manjuvajra-Vajrasattva, 161, 162, 201–​2 Mārīcī, 152f, 156, 157, 162 Martino, Jacquelyn, 7 Māryurākā, 226, 229 Māyā, lady, 167, 207, 245 Māyā, Queen, 167 “mechanized recitation” of text, 62, 63 meditation on a book, 118–​21 merchant’s daughter (śreṣṭidārikā), 125, 126, 163f, 164, 165, 270 Mevissen, Gerd J.R., 27

monastic donors of the illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, 231–​34; Buddhist nuns in medieval eastern India, 234–​36; emergence of lay Esoteric Buddhist practitioners (LMe), 240–​ 47; social characteristics of lay male (LM) patronage, 236–​40 monastic productions, masters of, 259–​63 monk(s): with book, 25, 26f, 27, 28, 238, 239f; doing pūjā, 227, 229f; goddesses and, 25, 26f, 27, 28; of Nālandā, 118, 119f, 120, 121, 261 moving text, 62–​65 Mus, Paul, 203 Nāesutaṣohāsitta, 49, 226 Nālandā, 87, 95, 117, 235, 264–​65; artisans of, 141, 169; as center for monastic visitors from north, 232; manuscripts from, 11, 235, 236f, 251, 252; monks of, 118, 119f, 120, 121, 261; 18th-century Tibetan account of manuscripts made at, 6, 9; votive stūpas from, 79, 81f, 82. See also specific topics Nālandā, 265 Nayapāla, 228 Nepalese Pañcarakṣā manuscripts, 57, 121–​22, 131–​32, 134 Newar Buddhism, 14, 15, 153, 240, 284, 346nn3–​6 Niṣpaṇṇayogāvalī (NsP), 116, 153–​54, 161, 202, 266 nude dancing, 194, 196, 203 nuns in medieval eastern India as donors, 234–​36 Orissa, 33, 34f, 95, 273 Pal, Pratapaditya, 46, 345n155 Pāla kings, 29, 30, 140, 168, 224; chronology of, 222–​23, 223t

I n d e x

373

Pāla period, 29–​30, 75 Pancarakṣā cult, 28 Pancarakṣā goddesses, 28, 134, 136, 137, 139, 140 Pancarakṣā maṇḍala paubhā, 139 Pañcarakṣā manuscripts, 58, 138f, 229, 233, 240, 251–​52, 255, 257; Buddha’s life scenes in, 140, 172; demand and market for, 131, 269; design, 134, 229; goddesses in, 8, 121–​22, 134 (see also Pancarakṣā goddesses); Ms C2, 58, 122, 123, 139; Ms C5, 58, 140; Ms C6, 58, 132, 186, 230; Ms D1, 58, 59, 61, 131, 133, 135f, 138f, 139–​40, 144, 151, 178, 199, 225–​27, 229f, 230; Nepalese, 57, 121–​22, 131–​32, 134; production of, 131; T-no. 3, 226, 227, 230; T-no. 9, 251–​52; T-no. 16, 242, 256; T-no. 17, 241–​43; T-no. 23, 263; T-no. 25, 237; T-no. 28, 230, 237. See also Pañcarakṣā sūtra Pañcarakṣā sūtra (PC), 53, 133, 135–​37, 216–​18t, 227, 243, 313n1; five icons of, 53, 121–​23 Pañcarakṣāvidhānam, 122 Pañcaviṃśatī Prajnāpāramitā (PvP), 57, 103, 300n27; Ms B3, 57, 103–​5, 105f, 108, 109, 238; Ms B4, 57, 103, 104, 106, 107f, 108, 109 Parinirvāṇa, 76, 80, 82, 170, 173, 187, 208, 269, 281 Parṇaśabarī, 176, 208 Pārvatī, 231 patronage pattern, charting the, 221–​ 22; changes between 11th and 12th13th centuries, 227, 228f; female patronage, 227–​31; impetus from periphery/marginal social groups, 225–​27; problems of dates, 222–​25 perfection of wisdom: interlocking traditions and threading the, 166–​89. See also enlightenment; prajnāpāramitā

374

Index

Perfection of Wisdom sūtra. See Prajñāpāramitā sūtra Potalaka, 99, 100f, 101f, 155, 182 pothi format, 2–​3, 25, 35, 46, 62, 148, 209 Prajnābala, Ācārya, 197, 266, 267 Prajnāpāramitā (goddess), 23, 32f, 124, 128, 149, 171f, 193–​94, 275; Amitābha and, 155, 187, 189; Buddha Maitreya and, 168; enlightenment and, 31, 83–​85, 162, 176, 177, 199, 207; Esoteric identity, 155–​66; as female principle embodying fundamental teaching, 250; images and illustrations of, 155, 156, 158, 162, 164, 169, 173, 176, 183, 187, 189, 199, 206, 257, 278; locating the goddess and the book as cultic foci, 32–​36; Mahāyāna and, 30, 158, 177; Mārīcī and, 157; as mother of all Buddhas, 31–​32, 76, 156–​57, 168–​73; physical characteristics, 278; rituals to invoke, 121, 273; stele of, 34f, 36, 63; Tārā and, 35, 158, 161–​62, 164, 176, 183, 193–​94; teaching/ preaching, 154f, 160f, 168, 176, 257; transformation of, 194–​97; Vajrasattva and, 156–​57; Vasudhārā and, 206; on vulture peak, 99; worship of, 282 prajnāpāramitā (perfection of wisdom): importance of the concept of, 185, 250 Prajñāpāramitā cult: flourishing in 9th century in eastern India, 45; historical development of, 29–​32 Prajñāpāramitā deities, 55, 76–​79, 82, 85–​86, 207; Buddha’s life scenes and, 76; hymn to, 80; images of, 131. See also Prajnāpāramitā (goddess) Prajnāpāramitā manuscript(s)/literature, 40; charting the production pattern, 251; contribution to survival of Bud-

dhist manuscripts from Indian monasteries, 13; dating, 29; jananījinānāṃ and, 64; Mahāyāna and, 29, 190; popularity, 29–​30, 131; a 13thcentury, 3f, 276–​82; translations, 29. See also Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajnāpāramitā sūtra (AsP) manuscript(s) Prajnāpāramitā pūjā, 121; at Golden Temple, 24f, 271–​75 Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, 1, 3, 30, 169–​70, 265; Ānanda. and, 80, 126, 143f, 146; Buddha’s preaching of, 99, 118; as central focus of book cult, 9; contradictions and the philosophy of, 79; cultic aspect, 249–​50; enlightenment and, 74–​79, 82–​85, 87, 99, 125, 146, 185; esotericization of iconographic programs in manuscripts of, 149; icon of, 128; ideal donors of, 126; Indra and, 75; popularity, 9, 10, 29, 53, 96–​97; production of books containing, 1; reading it in Esoteric Buddhist context, 157–​58; ritual reading of, 272–​73; as sacred object, 7; Tantric Buddhism and, 9; teaching/preaching, 96, 99, 123–​28, 143; text and image, 9–​10; Vessantara and, 172; wisdom deities related to, 128; worship of, 3f, 9, 35, 37, 80, 96, 126, 271 Prajnāpāramitā–​maṇḍala, 169 “producers”/”makers” of illustrated manuscripts, 253–​59 production, Buddhist book, 49–​50; decentralization of, 263–​70; map of the centers of, 90, 91f production pattern, 49–​50; charting the, 251–​70; historical trend of, 252, 252f Pṛthvīdharasena, 225, 331n26 pūjā: monk doing, 227, 229f. See also gurumaṇḍala pūjā; Prajnāpāramitā pūjā; pustaka pūjā

pustaka pūjā (book worship), 23, 34f, 261–​63. See also specific topics queens, 230–​31 Quintman, Andrew, 339n100 Rāhu, Abhayapaṇī subduing, 102f Rāmadeva, 104, 262; and monk worshipping a book, 238, 239f Rāmajīva, 48, 51f, 52, 213–​15, 214f, 219, 226, 244, 254, 261 Rāmapāla, 237 Ratnasambhava, 83, 199, 256, 278 Ratnōdadhi, 6 replication as cultic strategy of book cult, 96–​97; eastern Indian replications of the prime object, 103–​9; illustrations and the aura of the sacred text, 109–​11; system of interpretive replication (inexact copies of same object), 97–​103 ritual masters, 35–​36, 176, 214–​15, 214f, 219, 261–​62, 267 ritual reading of Prajñāpāramitā, 272–​73 ritual use of Buddhist books, 25–​28 rituals to invoke Prajnāpāramitā (goddess), 121, 273 Sadāprarudita, self-mutilation of, 118, 163, 163f, 164 Sadāprarudita narrative, 117–​18, 125, 126, 270; recasting the, 162–​66, 243 Saddharmapuṇḍarika sūtra, 52, 53 sādhaka, 61, 243, 244, 246 Sādhanamālā (SM), 116, 156 sādhanas, 86, 116, 337n89 sādharmika, 243 sādhu, 61, 240–​43 Sādhugupta, 48, 225, 226, 231, 260 Śaiva, 129–​30, 239, 241 Śaiva tantra, 197 Śākyamuni. See Buddha Śākyamuni Śākyasiṃha, 241

I n d e x

375

Samantabhadra, 90, 92f, 106, 151, 168 Samataṭa, 89, 104, 105f Sambara, 161, 194, 265; Heruka and, 184–​86, 194, 196, 203, 265; Hevajra and, 159, 162, 165, 182–​87, 196, 203, 205–​6, 243; Tārā and, 162, 177, 182, 183; Trailokyavijaya and, 182; Vajravārāhī and, 161, 164, 165, 177, 184, 189, 195f, 196, 200, 203, 206, 265; Vajrayoginī and, 177, 189 Sāṅkṛtyāyana, Rāhula, 8, 225, 233 Sanskrit manuscripts, 8–​9, 11, 13–​14, 28, 29, 46, 49, 50, 52 Sarvānanda, 140 Schopen, Gregory, 37, 62, 63, 234, 244, 248, 298n14 Sevadhara, 242 sexual embrace, deities in, 177, 186, 196–​97, 202 sexual union, 165–​66, 196, 200, 205 Shastri, Hara Prasad, 266, 341n118, 344n149, 345n153 siddha, 249, 328n10; book cult and, 244, 246; books and, 247; definitions and meanings, 214, 241–​4 2, 246, 338nn91–​92; sādhaka and, 220, 246, 338n92; Virūpa as, 164–​65 Siṃha, 241 Siṃhalarāja, 110 Siṃhanāda, 128–​32, 176, 193 Siṃhanāda sādhana, 130 spatial and temporal boundaries, moving beyond, 88–​93 śreṣṭidārikā. See merchant’s daughter Śrīdharaka, 234, 263 stūpa, 94, 137; book as, 6–​7, 10, 16, 17, 38–​41, 52, 55, 56, 79–​82, 125, 127, 187, 208; depositing manuscripts in, 38–​41; votive, 79–​80, 81f, 82; worshipping and paying homage to, 39, 106, 107f, 108, 134–​35, 137 stūpa cult, 38 Sudhana, 53 Sudhanakumāra, 86–​87, 245 376

Index

Sudharmā, 76, 78 śūnyatā, 10, 23, 36–​37, 79, 118, 185, 270. See also emptiness; voidness Svameśvara, 51f, 214–​15, 214f, 219, 254–​55, 261, 263 Svāti, 27 tantra, 149, 162, 185, 197, 202, 269, 323n49; Cakrasamvara, 205, 246; categories of, 303n42; Guhyasamāja, 9, 153, 156–​57, 162, 205, 255, 255f, 323n49; Hevajra, 186, 205, 246–​47; Kālacakra, 9, 152, 250, 268, 270, 326n76; yoginī, 17–​18, 149, 246, 247 Tantric Buddhism, 9–​10, 249, 250 Tārā, 135, 137, 182–​85; Amoghasiddhi and, 132; ascendancy, 157, 183; Avalokiteśvara and, 80, 82, 86, 137, 159, 176, 246; five emanations of, 162, 229; green, 99, 128, 162, 164, 165, 167, 176, 208, 246; Hevajra and, 162, 181–​83; images of, 258; Khadiravaṇī Tārā, 158, 162, 181, 183; Kumaradevī and, 230–​31; Mahāmāyūrī and, 158, 229; Mahāśrī Tārā, 158, 176, 177, 182; Prajnāpāramitā and, 35, 158, 161–​62, 164, 176, 183, 193–​94; white, 162. See also Vajra Tārā “Tārā in Potalaka,” 99 Tāranātha, 29–​30, 128–​29, 220, 268 tathāgatas: Akṣobhya and, 83, 85, 140, 194, 199; Amitābha and, 35; enlightenment and, 75–​76; five, 35, 83, 85, 134, 153, 169, 242, 280; four, in Vajradhātumaṇḍala, 153; goddesses and, 140, 256; Guhyasamāja, 194, 199, 242; Indra on, 75–​76; Pancarakṣā and, 134, 242; Prajnāpāramitā (goddess) and, 83, 85, 169. See also Buddhas: transcendental Tejokā, 225, 226, 228 text: encasing the, 166–​68 (see also

book covers); iconizing the, 123–​27; illustrations and the aura of the sacred, 109–​11; image and, 9–​11, 73, 74; moving, 62–​65 threading a book, 113–​14 Tibet, 6, 12–​14, 48, 49, 226, 264. See also specific topics tīrthas, embodying: and replicating famous images, 87–​96 toponyms, 89, 99, 101 Trailokyacandra, 231–​32 transformed objects, 207–​9 Tsongkhapa, 97 Udayasiṃha, 150, 150, 237 Uddakā, Queen, 133, 225–​27, 255, 262 union. See sexual union Uṣṇiṣavijayā dhāraṇī, 80, 148 Uṣṇīṣavijayā maṇḍala, 147–​48, 147f Vaidya, P. L., 277 Vairocana, 53, 83, 185, 280 Vajra-Tārā, 65–​66, 162, 176, 182, 183, 193–​94, 208, 327n6, 345n154 Vajracārya priests reciting different sections of manuscript simultaneously, 273–​74, 274f Vajracāryas, 273–​74 Vajradhātvīśvarī, 156, 157, 202 Vajradhātvīśvarī-Mārīcī, 152f, 156–​57 Vajrapāṇisiṃha, Śrī, 241 vajras, 151, 153 Vajrāsāna Buddha, 69f Vajrasattva, 135–​37, 144, 146, 161, 176, 177, 199, 317n46, 347n8; maṇḍala of, 150–​57, 185, 264; Prajnāpāramitā and, 156–​57. See also Manjuvajra-Vajrasattva Vajrasphoṭī, 66 Vajravārāhī, 149, 183–​84, 200, 201f, 202; Sambara and, 161, 164, 165, 177, 184, 189, 195f, 196, 200, 203, 206, 265 Vajrayāna, 185, 250

Vajrayoginī, 164, 165, 177, 189 Varadā-Tārā, 182 Vasantadevī, 230 Vasudhārā, 67, 68, 86, 177, 206, 231 Vessantara, 171, 172 Vessantara jātaka, 171–​72, 322n38 Vijayakīrti, 117, 119f, 121, 232, 261 Vijayaśrībhadrā, 235, 263, 264 Vikramaśīla monastery, 30, 130–​31 Vipulaśrīmitra, 62, 64, 110, 233 Virūpa, 164–​65, 321nn30–​31 Viṣṇu, 110, 159, 238, 254 visual indexing, system of, 117–​18 visual narratives, role of, 123–​27 Viśvamātā, 197, 204–​6, 266, 270, 326n76 voidness (śūnyatā), 37, 48, 185, 270. See also emptiness votive stūpa with eight life scenes, 79–​80, 81f, 82 Vredenburg, E., 150 Wallis, Glenn, 61, 304n46 wisdom, perfection of: interlocking traditions and threading the, 166–​78. See also enlightenment; prajnāpāramitā women: in Buddhist religious practice, 126; for enlightenment, 162–​66. See also goddesses; lay female (LW) patronage; patronage pattern Woodward, Hiram W., Jr., 80 worship, 294n30; on a book cover, signs of, 63, 63f; of books, 37, 238, 239f. See also specific topics Wright, Daniel, 13–​14 yab-yum, 177. See also sexual embrace Yamāntaka, 86–​87 Yamāricanda, 241, 243 yoga tantra, 323n49 yoginī tantra, 17–​18, 149, 246, 247 yoginīs, 196, 202–​3, 326n74; naked, 184, 194, 196

I n d e x

377