The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Dispensing Boons: Folio from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Manuscript early 12th century Mahavihara Master About the ArtistMahavihara MasterActive in the early 12th century, in BengalThis master painter of the Pala-era Buddhist monastic tradition is known from one extant palm-leaf manuscript, now shared between New York and Lhasa. The illustrated manuscript is a deluxe edition of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses), a Mahayanist text of profound importance to the development of esoteric Buddhist practice. The paintings tha
The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara Dispensing Boons: Folio from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Manuscript early 12th century Mahavihara Master About the ArtistMahavihara MasterActive in the early 12th century, in BengalThis master painter of the Pala-era Buddhist monastic tradition is known from one extant palm-leaf manuscript, now shared between New York and Lhasa. The illustrated manuscript is a deluxe edition of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita (Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses), a Mahayanist text of profound importance to the development of esoteric Buddhist practice. The paintings that accompany this text display not only highly sophisticated painting skills but also such a sensitivity and empathy for the subject matter that one cannot avoid assuming the artist was a monk, deeply versed in the text he was engaged to illustrate. This pious artistic venture to fulfill a royal commission was probably undertaken in the scriptorium of one of the great monasteries (mahaviharas) of eastern India at the height of Buddhist activity there. The colophon leaf is preserved in Lhasa and, although providing no clue about place or date of production, identifies the edition as “the pious gift of the queen Vihunadevi.” As this queen is otherwise unknown, we have no means of constructing a provenance or reign date for her. Nevertheless, naming her as the donor fits a well-established pattern of female royal patrons of Buddhist religious Mahavihara Master displays a practiced ease combined with astute skill and sensitivity, resulting in miniature paintings of dazzling dexterity. His fluid lines and schematized color palette capture the sensuous flexing of the body profiles. The body colors are iconographically prescribed, as is the theatrical use of symbolic gestures (mudras). The subjects are standard, Buddhist saviors performing acts of charity and compassion: bodhisattvas and taras granting boons and expounding the dharma, and Kurukulla protecting the faithful.
Size: 3919px × 2620px
Photo credit: © MET/BOT / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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