Receptacle of the Sacred. Jinah Kim
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life scenes encasing the text (Ms A1, Ms A3, and Ms A4) were prepared in Nālandā.
ENLIGHTENMENT 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 manuscript 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), Aksobhya (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 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 five-family system. A few sādhana texts designate Aksobhya 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.
FIGURE 3-3Ms A6: AsP, Vigrahapāla III’s reign (ca. 1043–1069 CE), Wellcome Library, London, Sansk ε 1.
FIGURE 3-4Buddha’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.
MAHĀYĀNA 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 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 propose 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,