A group centering on a dark-skinned deity riding a frontal white bull. The god's four faces are half fierce, or scowl; his curly hair is piled up in the fashion of a crown, and radiates an aura of light rather than a formal halo. The garments and jewelry are those of a king, lacking skulls, snakes, pelts, etc. He rides in the lalitāsana pose. Of his four hands the outer two hold the disks of the sun (on his left; containing a bird) and moon (on his right, containing the lunar tree, hare, and mortar). The inner two join in holding a cock-like bird with a long tail before his breast. The bull is controlled by a nose-band and embellished by a neck-girdle of small bells. The two attendants on either side in front are booted ruffians in Tang costume. Behind on the god's right is a minister-like figure in Chinese robes and cap, holding a bag of money, and another human attendant visible only as a fierce, moustachioed face behind him ; on the other side is a three-eyed demon in armor, holding a trident. The group is shown standing on a rock with water in front and behind, and a supernatural cloud arching overhead. Maheśvara's skin is a deep gold; his scarves are red, yellow, and white. The bull is white. The iconographical features of this "Maheśvara" are a puzzling combination. The white bull is manifestly Śiva's Nandi, but the god has four heads instead of being a proper Trimūrti. The privilege of holding the sun and moon disks was given in earlier Mahāyāna art to the giant Asura; in this long roll it is given elsewhere to the Thousand-armed Avalokiteśvara (frames 93 and 102), and occasionally to other, unnamed Bodhisattvas (frames 63 and 105). Perhaps the court iconographers of mediaeval Yunnan composed a new, syncretic Śiva for local use as they gave him attendants of Chinese type.
守護摩醘首羅眾。 the Guardian Maheśvara and attendants |
To judge by its contents the frame celebrates one of the ancient Vedic components of Śiva, i.e. Rudra as Lord of the Animal World. The central figure, in another plain round aureole the full width of the frame, is a fierce seated deity, eight-headed and six-armed. His three large hairless faces scowl; the remaining five are tiny impassive Buddha heads strung across his coiffure. He wears heavy, metallic-looking jewelry, with four (or more probably five) more small Buddha heads in gold across his collarbone, and a garland of skulls descending diagonally across his chest. As a kind of upper garment he has an animal pelt tied around his neck, and a tiger's-skin waistcloth; a long scarf and girdle ends flutter outward. He sits on grass or a long-haired pelt, with small human heads protruding from under his crossed legs. The attributes held are: Left hands 1. Battle-axe 2. Hourglass-shaped drum 3. Ghaṇṭā bell Right hands 1. Trident with impaled head 2. Fruit? 3. Three- or five-pronged vajra balanced on an object Below him on axis is a youthful deity with normal body parts, sitting in lalitāsana on a mat stretched over a lotus base with richly curling petals. His face is airless and half fierce, with small tusks; he wears "royal" jewelry, an animal skin tied across the torso, a dhotī and a barely visible tiger's-skin waistcloth. His headdress comprises three small skulls, that of a man (or monkey?) at the front, with a bird's on his right and an animal's on his left (?). He holds a sword (left) and sword (right). His double aureole includes a somewhat oval halo around the head, and a wider halo around the body: a traditional Chinese formula. Above and below are eight creatures with bird or animal heads and human bodies and dress. Several are armed or make threatening mudrās, and hold small animals which they presumably are eating. One, with a hare's head, holds a sword and a tiny, dangling, naked, human figure. One with a bear's head is biting into a similar human victim, held in an arc by both hands. Opposite is one with a lion's head and luxuriantly curly hair, making a two-hand mudrā with a naked miniature human drooping from his mouth. The gods' bodies are golden. The main aureole is white, the mandorla below bluish. The flames are edged with black. I take this composition to be based on the old Vedic theme of the fearsome Rudra, lording it over the creatures of the wilds. Again the rendering has been modernized by Tantric features, and brought into the Buddhist sphere by the use of Buddha heads and a quasi-Buddhist name. Fortunately a textual link is provided by the eight heads, an extremely rare number. Eight heads and six arms characterized a nameless deity whom the Japanese knew as Kōjin or Sambō Kōjin.
伏煩惱苦魯迦金剛。 Lokavajra who downs troubles and dispels suffering |
A group of deities, probably identifiable as Indra and his cohorts, the young Maruts. The largest figure, at the center surrounded by a plain round aureole, is four-armed, in the running pose of an Indian god in fight. His face is hairless and half fierce, with small tusks. He wears a high crown, heavy "royal" jewelry; his voluminous dhotī, trailing behind, seems to be decorated with cloud patterns, and he has a girdle of leaves; a billowing scarf and headdress ribbons heighten the sense of swiftness and buoyancy. His two right hands hold (1) a five-pronged vajra, and (2) a sword, Those on his left hold (1) a mace with a head made of crossed vajras, and (2) makes a mudrā with raised index finger on the axis of the body. Above him on right and left are two smaller, but six-armed, otherwise very similar beings, shown flying outward. Each is armed with a bow, and has a battle-axe in place of the mace. One makes an additional outward-pointing mudrā, the other's extra hand holds an arrow fixed to the bow. Below on axis is a regal deity seated on a reclining, profile elephant in the lalitāsana pose. He is dressed and bejeweled very much like the flyers above, though the dhotī seems longer and unpatterned. Of two right hands (1) holds an upright arrow, while (2) makes a mudrā; on the left (1) holds a staff and (2) a vajra on the axis of the body. Two flanking outward-flyers introduce further variations; the one on the left brandishes a spear, while the other sights along a strung arrow. The Maruts' bodies are golden, their scarves and dhotīs reddish brown; the round aureole is bluish. There seems no question that the figure at bottom center is Indra, the traditional king of the gods, properly equipped with his thunderbolt and throned on his proper steed, the white elephant Airavata, The flying youths recall the figures often mentioned in Vedic literature as his sons or myrmidons in battle, the Maruts (symbolizing the storm-vinds). Clearly the entire group has been modernized by Tantric features. More about it in the next frame. |
A standing deity, stiffly erect, with six heads, twelve arms, and six legs; on a lotus base supported by a rock rising from water. The insistence on six or its multiple suggests Yamantaka, whom we have already seen riding on his water-buffalo in frame 120. If they are the same, this is a semi-benign version; the large, flame-edged aureole is like a Bodhisattva's (e.g. frame 95) or Mārīcī's (frame 107). The principal face is gentle (though the three in the flaming coiffure are very fierce). The waistcloth is a tiger skin, but there are no snakes or skulls, and the jevelry is "royal". The attributes held are and mudrās made from top down: Left hands 1. Touches the end of a jagged sword held by right no.1 2. Flaming mace 3. Stick 4. Makes a mudrā 5. Ghaṇṭā bell 6. Rosary Right hands 1. Jagged blade sword behind head 2. Trident 3. Bow 4. Five-pronged vajra 5. Noose 6. Object with pendant On the left and right corners of the rocky base are small "magic fungi" emitting auras of light. The deity's skin is pink; his scarves and jewelry are red, and the skirt is yellow. The lotus petals of the base are white; the interior color of the aureole is a pale pink. |