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Avalokitesvara's cortège, besides the Buddhas of the ten quarters, Lokapâlas, etc., two monkish disciples, such as we shall meet with further on in certain pictures of Buddhist Heavens ; it offers additional iconographic interest because all these divine personages are named by inscriptions.42

There remains for review only one class of Bodhisattva paintings, the one which represents the ` Thousand-armed Avalokitesvara', in almost all cases surrounded by more or less numerous divinities constituting his ' Mandala'.43 These paintings comprise some which may rank among the richest of the collection in respect of decorative effect and colouring. Elaborate as most of them are, they need not detain us long ; for they are all arranged on practically the same scheme, of which a full analysis will be found in Miss Lorimer's General Noie on *Ch. 00223, and the colour reproductions provided of two particularly fine specimens, Ch. xxviii. oo6 (Plate Lxiv) ; lvi. 0019 (Plate LXIII), will help better than any description to illustrate the characteristic features of the class. In addition, M. Petrucci has discussed at length the numerous and interesting questions of iconographic detail which are raised by figures attending Avalokite§vara in the sumptuous compositions.'"

In all these paintings Avalokitesvara's large figure is seen in the centre surrounded by a nimbus-like disc. This is formed by his outer hands making up the theoretical number of a thousand, and each showing an open eye marked on the palm.45 The inner hands, which vary in number, carry a multiplicity of sacred emblems. The Bodhisattva is always shown single-headed, except in Ch. liv. 001 ; lvi. 0019, where he carries eleven heads arranged in the manner of his six or eight-armed manifestation. In all pictures on silk Or linen he appears seated, and only one of them, Ch. 0029, represents him singly, as do two out of the three paper paintings.46 In these last he is shown standing. The number of divine personages depicted in Avalokitesvara's Mandala varies greatly, from the two seen in Ch. xl. 007 (Plate XCI) and xxxiii. 002 to the pompous array of Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Lokapâlas, etc., surrounding his image in such elaborate compositions as Ch. lvi. oo 14, 0019 (Plate LXIII).47

Among these attendant divinities some deserve to be mentioned here : the Bodhisattvas of the Sun and Moon because they are almost invariably represented, others on account of their special character, or because they are confined to Avalokitesvara's Mandalas. Thus in the lower portion of these pictures there are always found demonic Vajrapanis in violent attitudes clearly suggestive of Tantric origin ; also two human-shaped Nagas standing in the tank below Avalokitesvara's figure and supporting the cloud on which his disc rises. Interesting are two ever-present figures, usually drawn with particular skill and grace, representing the ' Nymph of Virtue' and the ` Sage of the Air' (?).48 The two paintings Ch. lvi. 0014, 0019 are particularly rich in attendant divinities, and the iconographic interest of these is increased by the inscriptions which fortunately are filled in

Paintings of Thousand- armed Avalokite- ivara.

Figure of Thousand-armed Avalokite§vara.

Attendants of Thousand-armed Avalokite-

gvara.   '

42 Attention may be called here in passing to the deep pink colour of Avalokiteivarâ s head and body in this painting and apparently in others of which it is a typical specimen (see Ch. *00202, in List). This colouring seems peculiar to Nepalese representations of Avalokite§vara; cf. Foucher, Iconographie bouddhique, i. p. 99.

41 The silk paintings belonging to this class are : Ch. 0029, *00223, 00452, 00458-9 ; m. 004; xxviii. oo6 (Pl. LXIV); xxxiii. 002 ; xxvvii1. 001 ; liv. oor ; 1vi. 0014, 0029 (Pl. LXIII) ; on linen : xxi. oo6 (PI. LXV) ; on paper : 00386, 00394. a, b; xl. 007 (Pl. XCI).

4' See Petrucci, Appendix E, ni. viii. r.

/6 Avalokitegvara's thousand arms, arranged in this fashion and emblematic of the merciful divinity's desire to

save all human beings at the same time, are well known, too, to the later Buddhist iconography of India ; cf. Foucher, Iconographie bouddhique, i. p. 106, for references to representations of Sahasrabhuja, Sahasrabahu Lokanâtha (Avalok.).

46 Ch. 00386, 00394. a, b. In Ch. xl. 007 (Pl. xCi) the attendants are confined to the ' Nymph of Virtue ' and ' the Sage '.

47 For a fragmentary Mandala of Avalokites`vara, with processions of Samantabhadra and Mafijugri, Ch. xxxvii. 004, cf. below, p. 881.

4' Thus described by inscriptions in Ch. lvi. 0014 (see List) ; for representations see Pl. LXIV (Ch. xxviii. oo6); XCI (Ch. xl. 007).