The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.11

c9.11

These illustrations are of the utmost importance for the study of the Buddhist pantheon not only of China but also of India, Nepal and Tibet. The original images bear inscriptions in Chinese and sometimes in Tibetan and other languages, and the learned editor took great pains in restoring their original Sanskrit names. A large number of these names derived from Chinese sources is found in the Niṣpannayogāvalī with their full iconographic descriptions. Thus the Niṣpannayogāvalī provides the much needed descriptive texts which served as a basis for the artists to prepare the statuettes found in China. Since this book Niṣpannayogāvalī gives full iconographic descriptions of most of these deities it is not unreasonable to suppose that the Niṣpannayogāvalī formed at least one of the originals from which the artists obtained the correct idea of the form of the numerous deities represented in the statuettes. Otherwise it is difficult to conceive how form can be given to such obscure deities as the Sixteen Boddhisattvas, the Twelve Pāramitās, the Twelve Bhūmis, the Four Pratisamvits, etc. which are described accurately in the Mañjuvajra Maṇḍala of the Niṣpannayogāvalī. It is simply impossible to prepare images of these deities without the help of descriptions as given by Abhayākaragupta. The volume of information given in the Niṣpannayogāvalī of Abhayākaragupta is so great that an independent book is required to deal with them exhaustively.