A Dvāravatī Votive Tablet Reconsidered

Abstract

A Dvāravatī votive tablet was originally identified as a depiction of the Buddha’s miracle of double appearances ; more recently, the subject has been called the Eight Great Bodhisattvas or, simply, a Buddhist assembly. In this brief article it is proposed, on the basis of literary evidence, that the subject is “ Under the Rājāyatana Tree, the Buddha Visits the Kingdom of the Nāgas, Awaited by Bodhisattvas on the Bordering Mountain.” The identification, if correct, has implications for the understanding of the relations between Sri Lanka and Dvāravatī in the seventh to eighth centuries.