The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c2.5

c2.5

Professor Walter Eugene Clarke of the Harvard University by publishing the two sumptuous volumes of the *Two Lamaistic Pantheons* served to put the proverbial last straw on the camel’s back. This book published for the first time photographs of an unbelievable number of Buddhist statuettes in the Royal Temple at Peiping in Manchuria. If the statues had been entirely Chinese in character it would not have affected me in the least, because I am connected palpably with the Indian branch of Buddhist iconography. But an examination of the published photographs showed that the Peiping collection was exclusively inspired by Indian tradition, depended entirely on Indian texts, and faithfully followed the directions given in Sanskrit texts such as the *Sādhanamālā* and the *Niṣpannayogāvalī*. The remarkable Indian character of the Chinese statuettes led me to include a large number of them in this book, and their study made the task of revision not only difficult but also delicate by forcing me to include Chinese specimens in a book which is chiefly concerned with the Indian branch of Buddhist iconography. I must thank the learned American author Professor Clarke for imposing on me this additional labour and responsibility !