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)
88 (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)
172
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the mythical acquatic animal.
In the Raveda, Varuna was originally considered as
an atmospheric deity. Both the Raveda and the Atharvaveda
consider him as Aditya, and the Pur膩峁嘺s invariably refer
him as belonging to the group of twelve Adityas. His consert
according to the Raveda is Varunani, "who lacks any indivi-
duality. However, Reveda depicts him as the upholder of the
physical order and moral order*1
Being the lord of waters Varuna causes the rivers
to flow. He is naturally invoked as the bestower of rain.
In fact, he was considered to be the regulator of the
seasons and lord of light and darkness, i.e. day and night.
Some other texts describe the deity in various other ways.
A Japanese text Shonsh艒-Bucch艒-Shu-Yuga-H艒-Giki
mentions that the god, clad in armour, is placed on the
'south eastern direction of the west facing gate " 2. A hood
of snake appears over his head. He is depicted seated in
the knelt down position with four attendants on both sides.
He holds a N膩ga-string.
According to the Shosetsu Fud艒 ki Suiten is depicted
in the south of the western gate in the Genzu Mandara. The
Kong艒-kai Sichi-Sh奴 states that the colour of the god is
lightblue. His left hand in fist is held against his waist
1. HDIJBP, p. 62.
2. BZZI, p. 145.
