Aṣṭasāhasrikā
Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript from the Yarlung Museum,
Tsethang, TAR.
by Eva Allinger
December 27, 2006
This Manuscript was on display from 19 August to 26 November 2006 during "Tibet - Klöster öffnen ihre Schatzkammern", an exhibition at Villa Hügel, Essen. It is catalogued as No. 26, pp. 219-225. Further images of this manuscript are available in the exhibition catalogue, "Tibet - Klöster öffnen ihre Schatzkammern". A list of these illustrations is found at the bottom of the article, below. Click here to see the feature of this exhibition in Asianart.com. |
 Fig. 1 |
There are three miniatures per page at the beginning and end of the manuscript, on leaves 1v, 2r, 138v and 139r. Its wooden covers measure 58 cm by 7 cm and are decorated with scenic depictions on the interior and decorative paintings on the exterior (see catalogue, figs 26a and 26b; p. 220-221).
A colophon on folio 139v mentions the donor and king Sūrapāla. The manuscript was written in his second year of reign:
Transcription:
deyadharmo
yaṃ pravaramahāyānayāyinyāḥ paramopāsikāyā
mahā-paṇḍita-śrī aśokamātur māryurākāyā
yad atra puṇyaṃ tad bhavatv ācāryopādhyāyamātāpitṛ-pūrvaṅgamaṃ
kṛtvā sakalasatvarāśer anuttara-jñāna-phalāvaptaya
iti// //param-eśvara-parama-bhaṭṭārakaparamasaugata-mahārājadhirāja-
śrīmatsūrapāladevakalyāṇavijayarājye
samvat 2 agrahaṇadine [sic für agrahāyaṇadine ]
3
Translation:
This is the pious
gift of the great lay devotee Māryurākā, mother of the
great Paṇḍita Śrī Aśoka [1], a loyal devotee of the Mahāyāna. Whatever merit occurs from this gift, may it further all beings, above all the teachers and the parents, to obtain the fruit of highest insight. (In the) Year 2, third day in the month Agrahāyaṇa of the successful and victorious reign of the highest Lord, the most Venerable, the great worshipper of Buddha, the king among kings, the famous Sūrapāla-deva.
The mentioned king Sūrapāla can only be the second one with this name, a sovereign of a short reign between Vigrahapāla III and Rāmapāla, i.e. about the late 11th cent. Sūrapāla I reigned for twelve years after Mahendrapāla (15 years of reign) and before Gopāla II (4 years of reign) in the 9th cent. No illustrated manuscripts of this period are known. On stylistic grounds, a 9th cent. origin for this manuscript must be excluded. Sūrapāla II was so far only known as the son of Vigrahapāla III from a passage in the Rāmacarita (I, v. 28) by Sandhyākara Nandin [2]
This manuscript is not only valuable due to its colophon, but also because it is one of the very few completely preserved Indian Buddhist manuscripts: the illustrations and text are complete and the original covers are preserved. The illustrations of the text and the covers form an iconographic and stylistic unit. The manuscript is also exceptional for the quality of the painting.
The paintings on the interior of the covers.
The inside of both
covers are divided into three sections. The upper cover has in its centre
of the middle section a Prajñāpāramitā. She is yellow
and forms the dharmacakramudrā in front of her chest. Above
both of her shoulders is visible a lotus with a book. She is flanked by
two green deities, the one to the right Jāṅguli holding a black
serpent in her left hand, and the deity to her left, Mahāmāyūrī
with a golden peacock feather in her right hand.
A green Vajrapāṇi is visible in the left field's center. He holds in his right hand a vajra. Above both shoulders is an utpala visible - one seen from above, the other in its profile. To his left sits a dark blue Krodha, Yamāntaka with horrent hair, wide open red eyes and wearing around his waste a tiger skin. His right hand forms the tarjanimudrā and with his left he holds a hammer with vajra tops (mudgara). To the right of Vajrapāṇi sits a deity with his hands raised towards him forming the añjalimudrā.
A red Avalokiteśvara is visible in the centre of the right field. He has six arms with his two major forming the dharmacakramudrā in front of his breast, the right upper hand holds a mālā and the lower forms the varadamudrā. With his two left hands he holds a lotus and a kamaṇḍalu. To the left of Avalokiteśvara sits the red Hayagrīva with hairs horrent and a third additional eye. His right arm points upwards and his left hand holds a gadā attached to a sling. Two additional deities, to the right of Avalokiteśvara and to the left of Hayagrīva, have raised their hands in añjalimudrā and turn to the center of the picture.
>Vajrapāṇi and Avalokiteśvara are placed opposite each other as lords of the Vajra- and Lotus-family. They flank Prajñāpāramitā representing as the mother of all Buddhas the Buddha-family.
On the bottom cover, in the central field of the cover, the Buddha is shown in the midst of eight monks; his hands form the dharmacakramudrā in front of his chest. The two major figures of the sections on the side, Maitreya and Avalokiteśvara, depicted in three-quarter profile are placed at the outer most edge of the picture. Both form the dharmacakramudrā in front of their chests.
The white Avalokiteśvara holds a lotus above his left shoulder. Among his entourage are four persons characterised through appearance and attributes and thereby identify him as Avalokiteśvara Khasarpaṇa. To his feet sits a red Hayagrīva holding his right foot. Behind Hayagrīva sits a yellow Sudhanakūmara, his hands raised in añjali-mudrā and carrying a book. Behind him sits the green Tārā. She holds her right hand in a vitarkamudrā and with her left an utpala. In the row above one can recognize to the right the yellow Bhṛkuṭī. She is endowed with a third eye, holds with her right hand a tridaṇḍa and shows with her second right hand the typical gesture of grasping a vase, but this is not visible in the picture. With her left lower hand she holds a mālā and the fourth hand is raised.
The yellow Maitreya in the right field wears a crown with a stūpa in its centre. (see catalogue illustration fig 26e, p 224). At his feet sits a dark blue Krodha holding his left leg. The other five peaceful deities can not be identified, though it appears they have the mere function of attendant deities. They differ in their body colours but do not show any other identifying characteristics.
The miniatures on the pages of the book
A preaching Buddha is depicted in the center of page 1v. Avalokiteśvara
Lokanātha is in the field to his right, holding a lotus with his
left hand and with a yellow Maitreya to his left holding a mālā
with his right hand and a Nāgakeśara twig with a kamaṇḍalu
atop in his left. This arrangement corresponds to the one on the lower
cover of the book.
The presentations on page 2r correspond to the central group on the upper cover: a Prajñāpāramitā in the center, to her right sits a green Jāṅgulī with a black snake and to her left Mahāmāyūrī with a peacock feather. She is represented here in her yellow appearance.
Only female deities are depicted on pages 138 and 139. In the central section of page 138v Vasudharā can be recognized. She holds in her left a vase with ears of corn. The remaining representations show the five Prajñās of the Tathāgatas. To the left on page 138 the white Locanā with one eye is visible on a lotus flower and to the right the blue Māmakī with a vajra on a lotus flower. (fig. 1 above and catalogue, fig 26c, p. 222) On page 139 from left to right are present the red Paṇḍarā with a red lotus, the yellow Vajradhātvīśvarī with a jewel on a lotus and the green Tārā with an utpala. The five Prajñās are shown in their in-dividual form, i.e. not together with the Tathāgatās but as the female representations of the five Buddha families. It might be that the preference shown for female deities in this manuscript is due to the influence of the female donor, "the great lay devotee Māryurākā, mother of the great Paṇḍita Śrī Aśoka."
Four manuscripts dating from within 70 years before and after the reign of Sūrapāla can be drawn on for an iconographic and stylistic comparison:
Aṣṭasāhasrikā
Prajñāpāramitā from Nayapāla's 15. year of
reign,[3]
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā
from the 15. year of reign of Vigrahapāla, son of Naya-pāla,
[4]
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā
from the 15. year of reign of Rāmapāla, son of Virgra-hapāla,
[5]
and
Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā
from Rāmapāla's 39. year of reign.[6]
A comparison of the depictions of the various deities in these manuscripts and the Tsethang manuscipt shows that many depictions in all these manuscripts do not tally with the description given in the Sādhanamālā. This suggests that a strong mutual influence in the transmission of pictures and text must have existed at this time, and that the rules of the Sādhanamālā were less important than these influences.
For stylistic comparison it is especially interesting that according to the colophons of the first three manuscripts in the list above, they were produced in Nalanda. Many parallels in the set up of the pictures as well as in the formation of the figures allow us to conclude that the miniatures of the Tsethang manuscript were also likely produced in Nalanda.