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Early conception and popularity of Lokapalas.

Indian type of kings of demons.

Lokapala figures in Turkestan and China.

870 PICTORIAL REMAINS FROM THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Chap. XXIII

to explain them. Here it must suffice to note that besides other Indian gods, such as Indra and Brahma., there also appear among them unmistakably ivaitic deities like Mahegvara and Mahakala. They afford further clear evidence that Hindu mythology, even in its later development, did not cease to assert its influence on the Buddhist Pantheon as it meets us here at the confines of Central Asia and the Far East.

SECTION VI.—LOKAPALAS AND VAJRAPÂNIS

From the great array of Bodhisattva representations, with their often ill-defined types and the manifold problems and doubts which attend their iconographic interpretation, we may turn with some relief to the much smaller, but in various respects distinctly interesting, group of paintings which show us the Four Lokapalas, or Guardians of the Regions. Minor divinities though they are, their importance for Buddhist iconography is subject to no doubt. The early origin of their conception is well attested in Indian art and tradition alike, and equally certain is the great popularity they have attained in the Far East, as shown by the conspicuous place which their figures still continue to occupy at the gates of, as well as within, Chinese and Japanese temples. The fact that the iconographic type of these modern representations is in all essentials directly derived from the one clearly fixed in our Ch`ien-fo-tang paintings adds greatly to the interest of the latter.

The Protectors of the Four Regions appear there invariably as warrior kings arrayed in gorgeous dress and armour and accompanied by ` supporters ' symbolizing the hosts of Yaksas, or demons, over whom they rule according to early Indian notion. The uniformity with which these figures are presented to us, in spite of all the richness and freedom of details, indicates a fully established type, and fortunately frescoes and sculptures brought to light by recent explorations in Eastern Turkestan permit us clearly to trace back its essential elements to Central Asia, and thence to Gandhara. It cannot be my task here to follow up this development, nor even to attempt a documentation of its principal stages. As regards early Indian representations it must suffice to mention that the principal Lokapala, Vaigravana, the Guardian of the North, already figures as the Yaksa king Kubera on a pillar of Barhut, standing in characteristic pose on his demon ` cognizance',1 and that Gandhara sculpture, too, represents him with attributes which we can still trace in our Chien-fo-tung paintings.2

Turning to Central Asia we meet with an abundance of close links. Among my own earliest finds there was the stucco figure of Kubera in a Dandan-oilik shrine which shows him accoutred in elaborate scale armour and with his feet on a crouching demon, exactly as we see him in our paintings, and yet without any trace of Chinese influence in the treatment.3 The four Lokapala statues that I found guarding the entrance to the great Rawak Vihâra of Khotan were an earlier link with Gandhara, but showed with equal clearness characteristic features of dress and the gods' significant cognizances.4 Since then the wall-paintings and sculptures of Buddhist shrines near Kucha, Kara-shahr, and Turfân have been found to display Lokapala representations in plenty. Among them not a few either closely resemble those of our paintings or in striking fashion illustrate

' Cf. e.g. Grünwedel, Mythologie des Buddhismus, p. 15, Fig. 6.

9 Cf. Grünwedel-Burgess, Buddhist An in India, pp. 4o, 45, 136 sqq. Fig. 88 shows VaiAravana seated as king, with features unmistakably those of a foreigner from the ` Scythian' north, and holding the spear in his left hand. With his other characteristic emblem, the bag of gold coins, he appears in other Gandhara sculptures (see e.g. Grünwedel, Mythologie

des Buddhismus, p. 23, Fig. 14 ; the Takht-i-Bahi relievo in my Archaeol. Survey Report, Frontier Circle, 19 r 2, Fig. z). For four Lokapalas in Gandhara relievos, cf. Foucher, Beginnings of Buddhist Art, pp. 173 sq., Figs. XXVI, XXVII.

3 Cf. Ancient Khotan, i. pp. 25! sqq., Figs. 3o, 31; ii. PI. II.

' See Ancient Khotan, i.pp. 494 sq., Fig. 67 ; ii. Pl. XIV, LXXXV.