A History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, from the Earliest Times to the Present Day c15.s3.t1.24

c15.s3.t1.24

The first chosen is Mongolian rather than Tibetan, but the religion and art of Mongolia are so closely connected with those of Tibet, and through Tibet with India, that the picture will not be out of place here. The figure of a Buddha or a Bodhisattva seated on the clouds in the corner is quite Indian, the rest of the composition is on Chinese lines. The 'White-bearded Old Man', originally a Mongolian tutelary deity of the earth, the foe of all evil-doing, becomes Kshitipati ('Lord of the Earth') in Indian Buddhism; is identified in China with the genius of long life; in Japan with one of the eight gods of happiness; and now in Mongolia, at Urga and other places, with St. Nicholas of Moscow (Fig. 218).