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『東洋文庫所蔵』貴重書デジタルアーカイブ

Female figures supporting Lokapalas.

Groups of Lokapala banners.

Indian' or

Central-Asian' type of Lokapala.

872 PICTORIAL REMAINS FROM THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Chap. XXIII

etc., unmistakably recall the type of female beauty which prevails in Khotan paintings and sculptural remains alike. And in striking agreement with this impression we find exactly the same girl busts rising beneath two of the Lokapala statues which guarded the entrance of the Rawak Vihâra previously referred to.12

In discussing these figures I have already called attention to the curious resemblance between them and the female figures which are seen rising singly or in pairs between the feet of Kanthaka in well-known Gandhâra relievos representing Prince Siddhartha's escape from his palace.i3 Whatever their interpretation may be—and there is much to support the very ingenious and tempting conjecture of Professor Grinwedel that a representation of the earth-goddess, inspired by a motif of classical art (Gê, Gaia), is intended 14-there can be no doubt that we have here another clear link between our paintings and that Buddhist art of the Tarim Basin, and in particular of Khotan, about the influence of which on Buddhist painting in China the historical notice of the activity of the Khotanese painter prince Wei-ch`ih I-sêng has preserved for us so definite and interesting a record.l"

Since the distinct attributes already referred to enable us to identify the individual Lokapalas represented in the various pictures, it will be best to survey them in their iconographic grouping according to subjects. Before, however, proceeding to do so some general observations must be offered.18 Throughout the Lokapalas are presented as warrior kings, and no distinction of individual Regents is indicated except by the arms that serve as attributes. In the rich dress the warrior's part invariably predominates, being expressed by elaborate defensive armour. It is less in this than in the treatment of physical features and in style generally that two groups can .be distinguished among the Lokapala banners. One of them, for which Miss Lorimer has for convenience sake used the term ' Indian ', but which in view of its obvious line of descent can safely be designated as ` Central-Asian ', undoubtedly represents an older type. Among its characteristics may be mentioned the entirely human, if sometimes fierce, features ; the position always facing the spectator ; a certain stiffness of pose and dress." The faces with their generally straight, if sometimes grotesquely opened, eyes show a distinctly non-Chinese type. The long-waisted, slim bodies plainly betray the influence of a foreign and quasi-Iranian ideal of manly beauty. There are differences also in dress, such as feet shod always in close-fitting shoes instead of the sandals characteristic of the Chinese group ; in the haloes, etc.18 Referring for all details to the Descriptive List I may content myself with emphasizing the fact that the physical type aimed at in the figures of this group is manifestly more Central-Asian and less Chinese than in the other."

12 See Ancient Khotan, i. 495; ii. Pl. XIV, LXXXV.

13 Cf. Foucher, L'art du Gandhdra, i. pp. 358 sqq.

l' See Grtinwedel-Burgess, Buddhist Art, pp. Ioo sqq., figs. 58, 52, with M. Foucher's very pertinent observations, /oc. cil., i. pp. 358 sq.

I may point out with due reserve that this interpretation of the female figures as the Earth (Mahâprthivi) may possibly be supported by another exceptional representation among our Lokapala pictures, that in the illustrations of the manuscript book Ch. xxii. 0026, Pl. xCII. There the Regents are shown standing on island-like pieces of ground, evidently meant to symbolize the quarters of the world that they protect.

16 Cf. Hirth, Ober fremde Einflüsse in der chinesischen Kunst, pp. 43 sqq. ; Scraps from a Collector's Notebook,

pp. 7o sqq.

16 For details of the characteristic features common to all

Lokapala representations in the silk banners, see below, Descriptive List,* Ch. ooxo, General Note; also introductory remarks under *Ch. 0035 and Ch. xxvi. a. oo6.

17 For illustrations of such figures, see Ch. xxvi. a. oo6, Pl. LXXXVII (belonging to the same series as certain ' Indian' Bodhisattva banners) ; *Ch. ooio, Pl. LXXXIV, which however shows also an influence of Chinese style in some details. Other examples are Ch. 0085, 0087, 00106 ; xlix. 007, etc.

19 For details of such distinctions, see below, Descriptive List, Ch. xxvi. a. oo6. It deserves to be specially noted that the same distinctions of style appear with constancy in banners forming part of a series ; thus e. g. in Ch. xxvi. a. oo6 ; xlix. 007, forming a pair ; in *Ch. lv. 004, 005 ; in Ch.

0022, *0035; xx. 00I I.

19 Besides the non-oblique eyes, attention may be called to the straight, high-bridged noses and the light-coloured (green or blue) iris to be seen in *Ch. ooio ; xxvi. a. ooi,