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 4: Japanese Buddhist Iconography (a Comparative Study)
59 (of 101)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
Download the PDF file of the original publication
Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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full armour and carrying a spear. But in his other hand he
carries a miniature Buddhist pagoda. These two objects show
that he is intending to combine missionary zeal and the warrior' s
Another important texts like Maka Heishitsuramanava-
Daibaketsuraja-Darani-Giki, Darani-Sh奴-Kyo etc. describe the
deity in a quite different manner.
spirit.
Another important statue should be mentioned here
(P1XX|N|Fig.4. ). In this aspect the deity is illustrated as
standing in a peculiar posture. He stands on a rocky pedestal.
He fixes his left hand on his forehead, which makes a shade
over the eyes. It means as if he is engaged in watching the
distant objects. As he is one of the four guardian deities
(Shi-tenno) of Japan his duty is to keep an eye over the capital
of the country to guard it from any possible harm which might
be inflicted by the enemies.
Karttikeya/Kumara-ten
Karttikeya and Kumara in India or Kumara-ten in Japan
also known as kenda (i.e. Skanda) or Ida-ten. He is the son of
Daijizai-ten i.e. Mahe艣vara. Usually he rides on a peacock.
He has one or six faces and has two or more arms.
In the Brahmanical tradition there is a close mytholo-
But this cult
gical association between this god and Ganapati.
entered into the orthodox Hindu Pantheon at a much earlier date
1, BZZT, p. 133.
