Abstract
The final 15 folios of the Nepalese illuminated palm-leaf manuscript of the Sanskrit Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra of c. 1100 have more paintings per page, larger picture planes, and different types of scenes than are found on the leaves surviving from the first 340 folios. One example is Folio 348 in the Cleveland Museum of Art, which has been painted with scenes of a bodhisattva tossing a blue-skinned heretic, an unusual image of a monk or upāsika wearing blue robes, and a Vajrācārya priest setting a Hindu rishi ablaze. From the point of view of the Mahāyāna Buddhist makers of this manuscript, these figures may personify the wrong views that derail pilgrims on the bodhisattva path to enlightenment. The dramatic shift in imagery appears to reflect the transition from the end of the inspirational pilgrimage of Sudhana to the popular, protective dhāraṇī verses of the Bhadracarī that form the finale to the text. The scenes of destruction and elimination of heretical figures correspond with sentiments in the Bhadracarī, indicating that the artists understood the structure and content of the text.
Highlights
Gan.d.avyūha-sūtra of c. 1100 have more paintings per page, larger picture planes, and different types of scenes than are found on the leaves surviving from the first 340 folios
I am aware of the following: 144 folios plus two wooden covers painted on the inner sides in the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow; 9 folios in a private collection; 7 folios in the Cleveland Museum of Art; 6 folios in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; 4 folios at the Asia Society, NY; 4 folios at the San Diego Museum of Art; 3 folios at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; 3 folios at the Harvard Art Museums; 2 folios at the Brooklyn Museum, 2 folios at the Seattle Art Museum, and 1 folio at the Minneapolis Institute of Art
The images in the scenes painted in the center and at the right of the verso of Folio 348 resonate with the language of this section in which the text describes its own purpose, which includes “abandoning of evil states of existence and bad friends” and bringing the consequence of wrong actions conducted out of ignorance “entirely to its destruction” so as to be “unassailable by hosts of heretics and māras.”
Summary
Gum tempera and ink on palm (Scripture of the Supreme Array), c. 1100, Nepal, gum tempera and ink on palmleaf; leaf;average: 4.2 × 52.4 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. Gum tempera and ink on palm (Scripture of the Supreme Array), c. 1100, Nepal, gum tempera and ink on palmleaf; leaf;average: 4.2 × 52.4 cm, The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1955.49.7.b. 11, 183 of the Supreme Array), c. 1100, Nepal, gum tempera and ink on palm leaf; average: sūtra2020,
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