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

PLATE XXI

PAINTINGS FROM BEZEKLIK

Bez. v. A—E

FROM the south wall of the long narrow shrine adjoining the larger shrine on its north. Although these animated figures are creations inspired by a degenerate form of Maháyána Buddhism, they are highly decorative. Charming in their supple swaying forms they carry symbols of threatening import sanc-

tioned by the repulsive ritual of Tantric philosophy, which professes to advance

the aspirant towards the ultimate goal of perfect peace, or, more correctly, torpidity.

These female fiends dákinis endowed with four arms and four heads, and

equipped with appropriate means, seek to capture the individual and, it is claimed,

to subjugate his natural evil impulses by encouraging and promoting their practice

to the excess that ends in exhaustion. Whence this peculiar and insidious philo-

sophy came, or whether its inspiration may derive from remote forms of belief

in spells and charms and from ungoverned, primitive human lusts, is uncertain.

Whatever its origin, it became a powerful influence on Maháyána Buddhism in

about the seventh century A.D.

The implements of their mission, so spiritedly displayed, are the noose (păs'a)

with which to capture their quarry, the sacrificial knife (kadga) for sanguinary cere-

monies, the skull (kapaia to be used as a cup for blood, and the thunderbolt (vajra)

which has complicated significance. Besides the four arms, the dákinis are endowed

with four heads. At first sight, the expression of the principal face would seem

disarmingly simple, but for the hard, cruel tilt of the eyebrows which prompts

detection of further and less pleasant implications in the features. The subsidiary

faces appear to express either mild surprise or alarm or malevolence. All the faces

have been wantonly damaged.

The costume is an effeminate adaptation of that of the warrior guardians

dharmapála. The long, streaming scarves lend animation, accentuating the suggestion

of brisk breezes induced by the forward progress of the plunging fish vahana, to which

the backward leaning of the shoulders, advanced hips, and swaying skirt add

realism. The peculiar imbricated treatment of the sleeves covering the forearms

has already been noticed in connexion with Bez. iii. W—Y, plate xvi, and also

the scaly character of the foot-covering appearing in Bez. v. I on the present plate.

They may have implications associated with the fish; but of the fish as a vahana

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