National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

PLATE VI

PAINTED FRAGMENTS PRESENTED BY MR. H. I. HARDING

As noted by Sir Aurel Stein, no definite information is available as to the provenance of the paintings under the designation Har. They were obtained by Mr. H. I. Harding, H. B. M.'s late Vice-Consul, Kashgar, from Badruddin Khan of Khotan, and presented by Mr. Harding for inclusion in the collections in the Central Asian Antiquities Museum, New Delhi. They are said to have been the result of digging by villagers at some ruins NE. of Domoko, probably Balawaste. See p. 1o58, Innermost Asia.

Har. A

HEAD of a Bodhisattva, probably Háriti. The round face, half-closed eyes with dreamy expression, the pursed lips with bow-shaped dividing line, the plump neck with comfortable creases, agree in their character with these features in the Háriti of plate iv. The ears are large and carry lozenge-

shape, drop ear-rings, yellow, crossed with red lines. The forehead bears a

simple tilaka mark. There is a faint suggestion of a necklace on the left side. The

smooth, black hair forms a point over the centre of the forehead, rises in a large

top-knot, and, slightly bunched behind the ears, falls in heavy symmetrical tresses,

spreading at each side, behind the shoulders. A narrow red taenia, spotted with

white pearls, knotted behind the bunches of hair above the ears, the ends showing

beside the hair, falls below the ears. A similar pearl band encircles the top-knot.

Above the centre of the forehead is a white crescent-shaped ornament resting on

a base-block and supporting an elliptical grey ornament, from which all details

have faded. On either side of this and resting on the taenia is a similar crescent,

supporting a domed boss, outlined with black, from the centre of which springs a

curving horn or rod, outlined with red. These crescents cow's horns or moons

are, perhaps, a fusion of the ideas of fertility and Háriti's identification with the

moon-goddess Chandi. The nimbus, now a dark grey, outlined with black, is

surrounded by buff and light grey bands contoured with red lines. There is a trace

of dark red drapery at the lower right corner. The background is red-brown. The

whole surface is faded and abraded.

Har. C

Two youthful figures, in devotional pose, are placed one on either side of a kind

of console which seems to support inadequately the trabeate abutment of two

angular trusses. The details are very indistinct, but the necessarily imperfect

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