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)
95 (of 101)
External source: Shodhganga (Repository of Indian theses)
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Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0)
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.- : from the yellow germ syllable. She is two-armed. She is generally of yellow in complexion and has one face. The In the Brahmanical icongraphy she was assigned an important position from the vedic times. Visnudharmottara in its different chapters variously describes the goddess. The text narrates that she is a beautiful woman. She is two-armed 1 In Japan Ji-ten (P峁泃hivi or Vasudh膩r膩) is regarded
as one of the gods in the Juni-ten group (or twelve
guardian deities). Many Japanese texts, such as Ky艒-j奴ni-
dai-itokuten-hoonbon, Dainichi-ky艒-so, Bodaiba-Shosets奴-
Ichiji-Chorin-O-Ky艒, Daih艒k艒-Manjuh艒ri-Kyoshuku-Jizai-
Bodai-Juki-Hon, Kenro-Jiten-Giki and Asabo-sh艒 speak about
the Ji-ten. Curiously enough, in Japan Ji-ten is regarded
as a male deity instead of a female one 虏. But in Indian
Brahmanical concept or in Buddhism P峁泃hivi or Vasudh膩r膩 is
considered to be a female deity. Only the text Kenro-
Jiten-giki describes that the deity has both male and femalo
forms. But in Indian Brahmanism and Buddhism she is
worshipped as mother-goddess.
Candra/Gat-ten
Candra is another important deity in the Buddhist
1. Chap. 60, 61, 79 & 85.
2. HDIJBP, p. 83.
