The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.17

c9.17

The wealth of sculptural and bronze remains in Nepal has not yet received the attention it deserved. Nepal is the only country which abounds in rich material for the study of Buddhist iconography, and in Nepal Buddhism can be studied as a living religion. Some of the Buddhist monasteries at Pattan are so rich in images that they can be said to constitute small museums by themselves. The stūpa of Bodhnāth alone contains no less than a hundred and eight sculptures executed in a neat manner. Occasional images of Guru Padmasambhava in the peculiar Tibetan technique and costume bespeak the Tibetan character of the temple. Forty-seven images in this famous temple are represented in Yab-yum and the rest are single. About ten of the single images depict the Siddhas of Tibet such as Mila-ras-pa, Mar-pa, Padmasambhava, Naro-pa and others. Although Tibetan in character the temple contains nevertheless some of the purely Indian gods of the Vajrayāna pantheon, such as Ṣaḍakṣarī Lokeśvara, Vāk, Heruka, Yamāntaka and a few others. An old Tibetan tradition declares that in the matter of art Bengal comes first, Nepal second while the Tibetan and Chinese are the worst.