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On Ancient Central-Asian Tracks : vol.1 |
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of their celestial childhood. Two other re-born souls are seen
sitting upright, but with an unconscious air, on lotuses rising
from the lake in the foreground. Only passing reference can
be made here to varied details of interest, such as the archi-
tecture of the double-storied pavilions rising on either side,
or the small Bodhisattvas who are seen playfully seated on
railings or otherwise taking their ease. The marginal scenes
quite Chinese in style represent incidents of the last in-
carnation of Bhaishajyaguru.
But it is Amitabha's Paradise in the West which is the
most popular of these Buddhist Heavens. The Bodhisattvas
Avalokitesvara and Mahasthama seated by the side of the
Buddha make up his regular triad. Between and below them
there are seated lesser Bodhisattvas. On a projection of the
terrace is seen the dancer performing between six musicians.
The stole waved in her hands and the fluttering bands of her
head-dress accentuate her rhythmic movement. A newly
born soul seated on a lotus and about to join the celestial
company floats up on either side to the terrace.
Briefest reference must suffice to two grand fragments of a
silk painting (Figs. 110, 111) which must have been intended
when complete to cover the whole back of a vaulted chapel
or of the aisle of an antechapel. Of the two pieces the better
preserved one, on the right, even in its broken state meas-
ures fully six and a half feet in height and about three and
a half feet in width. Both pieces had formed the outer wings,
triptych-like, of an exceptionally large arch-shaped picture
which evidently represented a Buddhist triad.
The Bodhisattva on the right is Manjusri mounted on his
white lion, which a dark-skinned attendant, intended for an
Indian but suggestive of a Negro type, leads. The sumptu-
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537
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550
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561
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571
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578
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