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The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sadhanamala and Other Cognate Tantric Texts of Rituals c9.s5: Symbol-Worship

The Indian Buddhist Iconography, Mainly Based on the Sādhanamālā and Other Cognate Tāntric Texts of Rituals c9.s5

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English

Symbol-Worship

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Fig. 2 Bodhi Tree. ( Amaravati )

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were represented in art, they were required to show their origin by holding on their heads the miniature figure of their parental Dhyāni Buddha. Every deity almost without exception was given various forms with two, four, six, eight, ten, twelve, sixteen and even more hands, and proportionately one head to three, four, six, and eight heads. They were given different colours, different expressions and different companions according as they were worshipped in the different Tāntric rites and according as they were required to discharge different functions, from curing a disease to the killing of an enemy. The artists had a considerable hand in executing the images and they introduced their own traditions, provincialisms and innovations The votaries also according as they wanted to have their gods in a powerful form, added extra hands, heads and feet to suit their own ideas and whims, and it is precisely in this way that the deities increased to an amazing number.

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The Guhyasamāja or the Tantra of Secret Communion which is perhaps the first book inculcating Vajrayāna philosophy of Mahāsukha is a product of circa 300 A.D. which is the time of Asaṅga. Quite naturally the Tantra could not get publicity as the public mind was not prepared to receive the revolutionary innovations introduced in it. Thus the Tantra went into private hands and was handed down through an unbroken chain of Gurus and disciples for three hundred years in the most secret manner possible. It obtained publicity through the teachings and mystic songs of the Buddhist Vajrācāryyas or Siddhas in about the middle of the 7th century. It is for this reason that references to the pantheon in the general Buddhistic literature are not met with as frequently as can be expected, nor the accounts of the Chinese travellers show much acquaintance with the pantheon, when they came to India to investigate the condition of Buddhism in India. Despite this certain names of Buddhist gods and goddesses are indeed met with in their writings, though they do not pertain to the well classified pantheon referred to above. In the Sukhāvatī Vyūha which was translated into Chinese between A. D. 148-170 the name of Amitābha appears for the first time as the presiding deity of the Sukhāvatī or the Akaniṣṭha heaven where he is believed to have brought forth Avalokiteśvara into existence.¹ It should be remembered that in the Vajrayāna works also this heaven has been characterized as the abode of all gods and goddesses. In the smaller recension of the Sukhāvatī Vyūha which was translated into Chinese between A. D. 384-417 mention is made of two more gods namely Akṣobhya as a Tathāgata and Mañjuśrī as a Bodhisattva. Fa-Hien (A. D. 394-414) mentions the names of Mañjuśrī, Avalokiteśvara, and the future Buddha Maitreya, while Yuan Chwang (629-645 A. D.) refers to the names of Avalokiteśvara, Hārītī, Kṣitigarbha, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī, Padmapāṇi, Vaiśravaṇa, Śākya Buddha, Śākya Bodhisattva, and Yama together with such deified saints as Aśvaghoṣa, Nāgārjuna, Asaṅga, Sumedhas and others. I-Tsing (671-695 A.D.) mentions the names of Avalokiteśvara, Amitāyus, Hārītī, the Catur-Mahārājikas, Maitreya, Mañjuśrī and Yama besides several others. Śāntideva (695-730 A.D.) in his Śikṣāsamuccaya mentions the names of Akṣobhya as a Tathāgata, Gaganagañja as a Bodhisattva, Siṃhavikrīḍita as a Tathāgata. Cundā, Trisamayarāja, Mārīcī, Siṃhanāda, Mañjughoṣa and many others.¹ After Śāntideva the Tantra of the Buddhists got wide publicity, and the Tāntric works written after his time all referred to the pantheon and described numerous gods, especially the Dhyāni Buddhas a definite product of Tāntric Buddhism. The Sādhana literature which describes the forms of gods and goddesses and lays down the procedure for worshipping them was developed by the Mahāsiddhas or great magicians like Saraha, Nāgārjuna, Śabarīpā, Anaṅgavajra, Indrabhūti and others, although it is very probable that the earliest Sādhana was composed by Asaṅga who flourished in circa 300 A.D. In the Sādhana attributed to Asaṅga the Dhyāni Buddhas and their emanations are referred to.

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¹ Sukhāvatī Vyūha, pp. 1, 28, 32.

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¹ Bendall's introduction to Śikṣāsamuccaya, p. V.

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When a reference is made to the numerous images executed in the different schools of art it also becomes palpable that the Buddhist pantheon was not well developed before the Tantras got wide publicity in about the middle of the 7th century A D. In the Gandhara school, for instance, besides the Buddha images, there are images of Jambhala Kubera, Indra, Maitreya, Hārītī and several unidentified Bodhisattva images. In the Mathura school which was either contemporaneous or somewhat later than the Gandhara school there are numerous Buddha and Bodhisattva images along with those of Kubera, the Yakṣas and Nāgas. The Mathura school extended to the early Gupta period² and here also later Buddhist images of Tāntric flavour are not met with. Not even the images of Avalokiteśvara, Mañjuśrī are to be found in this school. The case of the later Magadha school however, is otherwise. The Magadha school included the images found in Sarnath, Nālandā, Odantapuri, Kurkihar, Gaya and other ancient sites in Bihar. The most flourishing period of the Magadha school

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² Vogel : The Mathura School of Sculpture in A.S I. Annual Report, 1906-7, p. 145.

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Fig. 3 Buddha's Head-dress. (Bharhut)

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Fig. 4 Buddha's Foot-prints. (Bharhut)

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Fig. 5 Wheel-of-the-Law. (Bharhut)

Cites (8)