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 could help the devotee achieve anything that he or she desired.61 Eight attendant goddesses surround her on eight petals, four siting cross-legged 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 aṇkuśa, 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 sprouting 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 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.
FIGURE 2-6Lotus maṇḍala with the Buddha and eight bodhisattvas, ca. 12th century. Bronze. British Museum, OA1982.8-4.1. Photograph © Trustees of the British Museum.
FIGURE 2-7Buddha’s enlightenment/Bodhgayā icon, left panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D9), ca. 1207 CE (Govindapāla’s 32nd year), Asiatic Society, Mumbai BI-210.
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 (sambhogakāya), 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 bodhisattvas surrounding him.66 Eight bodhisattva figures sit in relaxed pose (rājalalitāsana), holding various attributes on eight petals.67
FIGURE 2-8Vajrāsāna Buddha/Bodhgayā icon, center panel, folio 1v, AsP Ms (Ms D10), ca. 1226 CE (Laksmanasena’s 47th year). Bharat Kala Bhavan, BHU, Varanasi. No. 4920.
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 three-dimensional 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 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.
PART TWO
TEXT AND IMAGE
3
REPRESENTING THE PERFECTION OF WISDOM, EMBODYING THE HOLY SITES
The images in an illustrated manuscript of the Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā