Essay name: Buddhist iconography in and outside India (Study)
Author:
Purabi Gangopadhyay
Affiliation: University of Calcutta / Department of Ancient Indian History and Culture
This work aims to systematically present the development and expansion of Mahayana-Vajrayana Buddhist iconography from India to other countries, such as China, Korea, and Japan. This study includes a historical account of Indian Buddhist iconography and the integration of Brahmanical gods into the Mahayana-Vajrayana phase.
Chapter 1: Introduction (History of Indian Culture)
14 (of 18)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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14
It may, however, be mentioned here that there are many My艒-艒
figures which are not fierce-looking. Kujak眉-My枚-枚 (Mah膩m膩y奴r墨
Vidy膩r膩ja) is an example of the My艒-艒 figure which is not
portrayed as fierce-looking.
One would be simply astonished to see the existence of
a large number of deities both Buddhist and Brahmanical, in the
temples and museums of Japan. The sculptural representations
and painted figures of the saints or the deified personages
are also varied in number. Some of these personages are
Ragora Sonja (Rahula), N盲gasena Sonja (N膩gasena) Bindora-
bharadvaja Sonja (Pindolabharadraja), Nakora Sonja (Nokula).
Badara Sonja (Bhadra), Jubaka Sonja (J墨vaka). Daikasho
(Mah膩k膩艣yapa), Furuno (Pur峁嘺), Ubari (Up膩li) Sarihotsu
(S膩riputra), Mokukenren (Moudgalyaya峁嘺) Yuima (Vimalakirti),
Daruma (Boddhidhama), Baramon Sonja or Bodaisena (Bodhisena),
Muchaku ( Asanga 鈼�) and others. Not only the above perso-
nages of India but also the religious personages of China and
Japan were also represented in Japanese paintings and sculp-
tures.
-
Among the sculptural and painted representations of the
prominent Japanese religious leaders there are the figures of
Sh艒toku-Taishi, K奴kai or K艒b艒 Daishi, Saich艒 or Dengy枚-Daishi,
H艒nen, Shinran, Nichiren, Dosho, Gyoki, Ryoben, Enchin, K眉ya,
Koben and many others.
The Chinese religious personages have also been
