On Yuan Chwang's Travels in India, 629–645 A.D. v2.c17.s1.8

v2.c17.s1.8

Then the Chinese word in the above passage rendered "picture" or "representation" is *hsiang* (像), commonly and correctly translated "image", which in Julien's rendering is "la statue". Thus the words *chung-tso-wang-hsiang* (中作王像) are rendered by him— "au centre duquel s'éléve la statue du roi", but the meaning is simply— "within which is a representation of the king". In the case of the shrine at the spot where the P'usa entered Mahāmāyā's womb Julien rightly translates "on a représenté le Pou-sa". According to Fa-hsien, who has only one representation of the Queen and the P'usa, the picture shewed these two at the moment when the P'usa "mounted on a white elephant enters his mother's womb". Neither this incident, nor that of the Prince (i. c. the P'usa) flying over the city-wall on his horse, could well be represented by a statue. The likenesses or representations of the king, queen, and other persons were probably pictures of them painted on the walls of the shrines opposite the entrance. Small temples with such paintings are familiar to all travellers in India and China.¹