CH. LXVII MINOR BUDDHIST DIVINITIES 203
and elaborate bosses of the gold ornaments are distinctly suggestive of Chinese taste. Very curious is the profile representation of the halo, which is here indicated by a mere colourless disk instead of the usual multi-coloured circle.
The Chinese style of local art seems to have annexed
altogether the images, represented with relative frequency, of the four Lokapalas or Guardian-kings of the-four world-regions. They appear to have been popular objects of worship in Chinese Buddhism of the period, and the numerous pictures of them are often executed with much care. They are all represented in warrior guise, heavily armed from head to foot. The inscribed miniatures which a small illuminated Chinese manuscript gives of them enable us to identify with full assurance Vaisravana, king of the Northern Region, by his halberd ; Dhritarashtra, of the
East, by his bow or arrow ; Virudhaka, of the South, by his club ; and Virupaksha, who rules the West, by his sword.
Another group of minor divinities which figure with relative frequency among the banners, that of the Dharmapalas or ` Protectors of Religion,' also bear a distinctly Chinese look, though even here peculiar features of their presentation are foreshadowed in Graeco- Buddhist sculpture. As manifestations of Vajrapani in fury, they are made to display an exaggerated development of muscles ; and thus, as M. Foucher observes, " they recall quite as much the athletic demons of Japan as the horrible apparitions of Lamaistic worship. It is only fair to point out, however, that they show as yet neither the extravagant multiplication of limbs nor the monstrous obscenities of
the latter." Altogether, it is a relief to observe that
among the images represented by these painters, whether on banners or in frescoes, very few are found of a form not simply human. Female divinities also are extremely rare. " The Pantheon which the paintings of Tun-huang reveal to us," so M. Foucher remarks with full justice, " was evidently composed for the benefit of donors reasonable in their tastes and under the direction of monks still heedful of decency."
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