The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India: A Study of Indo-Aryan Civilisation c17.30

c17.30

¹ I had identified Avalokiteshvara with Brahmâ by this process of reasoning before I noticed that Colonel Waddell had arrived at the same conclusion by a comparison of the attributes of Brahmanical and Buddhist images. M. Foucher’s objections (“Étude sur l’iconographie Bouddhique,” p. 173 n.) can, I think, be easily met. Avalokiteshvara has a sâttvic as well as a tâmasic aspect, according as he is related to the rising or the setting sun. In the former case (as in Nepal) his image is red; in the latter white. The eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara is derived from the five-headed Brahmâ or Siva symbol, representing the five cosmic elements.