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874 PICTORIAL REMAINS FROM THE THOUSAND BUDDHAS [Chap. XXIII

and the shoes woven of cord which are peculiar to the figures of the ` Chinese ' group can be matched exactly by relics from the sites of Mirän, Lou-lan, and the Limes.29 That the fashion of this foot-gear persisted in actual use for many centuries before and during the Tang period is a fact conclusively proved by datable finds, and gives no cause for surprise. I must pass by with a mere mention such archaeologically interesting details as the varieties of sword hilts and scabbards or the ornamental lion-heads at the ends of the shoulder-pieces display in certain paintings.3o

Western-   But special notice is due to the clear evidence which peculiarities of the head-gear worn by the

Asiatic style majority of the Lokapâlas afford of the influence exercised on their costume by Western-Asiatic in head-

taste and style. Whatever form of tiara crowns their head, heavy metal crown or jewel-decked fillet, we see flying up from behind it light streamers rippling in the breeze, and these M. Petrucci had already rightly recognized in Ch. ow 8 as borrowed from the characteristic head-dress of Persian kings of the Sassanian period.31 It appears very probable that the high three-leaved and bejewelled crown which appears on Vai§ravana's head in two fine paintings representing his triumphant progress is also of Persian origin.3L Another likely loan from Western-Asian art is suggested by the curious emblem of flames which certain paintings show rising from the shoulders of Vaigravana or Virûpâka.33 But I lack at present the materials for following up this nexus further. That the motif is closely connected with the ancient Iranian worship of the ` royal glory ' (garenahla in Avesta, the Persian farr) can scarcely be doubted.

Vai§ravana's   We may now proceed to the iconographic grouping of our Lokapala paintings. The place of

w

with demon honour rightly belongs to Vaigravana ; his pre-eminent position is attested by the numerous

host,   representations of him, as well as by the fact that in them only we have pictures which show the

Ch. oor8. Protector of the North accompanied by his demon host in triumphant procession. The finest of these is the Kakemono-shaped silk painting Ch. ow 8 which Plate LXXII reproduces in colours. I t is a work of high artistic merit, clearly from the brush of a master, and fortunately in excellent preservation. It presents the Guardian King as he advances on a cloud across the heaving sea attended by an imposing array, all figures gorgeously attired. Referring for all details to the Descriptive List below and leaving the artistic beauties of composition and colouring to be appreciated elsewhere,34 I shall note here a few essential iconographic points. The main figure of Vaigravana, disproportionately large in accordance with a convention already familiar to GraecoBuddhist as well as to late Hellenistic art, strides ahead carrying the halberd in his right hand and, on a cloud rising from his left, a small shrine. This well-known secondary attribute of the god recurs

gear.

29 Cf. e.g. M. I. ii. 0025 (PI. L) ; L. A. vi. ii. 0025 (Pl. XXXVII); T. xiv. a. 002 (Pl. LIV) with Ch. 0022 ; xx. oor I ; lv. 0046 (Pl. LXXXIV).

30 For the swords carried by Virapâksa, see Pl. LXXXIV, LxxXV ; for one of archaic shape on Vaiiravana's belt, Ch. 0087. With the lions' heads through the jaws of which Vaiiravana's arms pass in Ch. 0018, 0069, cf. the stucco relievo Mi. xviii. 003, Pl. CxxxVIII.

S1 Cf. Petrucci, Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 1911, septembre, p. zoo; also Annales du Musée Guimet, xli. p. 135.

These floating bands or streamers, well known from the royal figures on Sassanian sculptures and coins, are seen quite clearly behind the Lokapâlas' heads in *Ch. ooro, 0018 (Pl. LXXII), 003r, *0035, 0087 ; xviii. 002 (Pl. xC); xx. 0011 ; xxxvii. 002 (Pl. LXXIII); liv. oo3; Iv. 005, 0018 (PI. LXXXV) ; 0020 (Pl. LXXXIV), 0046 ; lxi. oor.

For similar but stiffer bands descending from the headdress of demon-kings in frescoes of Kum-tura, near Kuchâ,

cf. Griinwedel, Allbuddh. Kullstäien, p. 25, with Figs. 48, 49.

39 See Ch. oo18 (PI. LXXII); xxxvii. 002 (Pl. LXXIII).

33 See Ch. oo18 (Pl. LXxII), 0031, 0087, 00161 (Pl. XCII) ; xviii. 002 (Pl. XC) ; xxxvii. 002 (Pl. LXXIII); xlix. 007 ; 1v. 0020 (Pl. LXxxIV).

Cf. for flames rising on the shoulders of a divinity represented on coins of the Arsaco-Indian king Hyrcodes, P. Gardner, Coins of Greek and Scythie Kings of Baclria, p. 117, Pl. XXIV, Figs. 8—ro. For another interpretation, see Griinwedel, Allbuddh. KullslälIen, p. 25, note 1. For many representations of these flames on frescoes of Kucha, Shôrchuk, etc., cf. Griinwedel, toc. cit., Index, p. 350, s.v. Flammen ; also p. 22, note i, for an early instance on a Graeco-Buddhist sculpture.

34 See below, Descriptive List, pp. 942 sq., and comments on Pl. XLV of Thousand Buddhas.