| Avalokiteshvara:
Besides the Buddha a large number of Buddhist images
were produced in Bengal, especially in the Pala-Chandra
period. For creating the Buddhist images the sculptors
followed the well-known Buddhist iconographic text
Sadhanamala. Of the Buddhist images the most popular
deity was Bodhisatva Avalokiteshvara, who is shown
either seated or standing on a lotus, two, four,
six-armed or twelve-armed. When two-armed, and this
is the common form, he shows varada-mudra in the
right hand and holds the stalk of a full-blown lotus
in the left hand. He wears a jata-makuta, upavita
and various pieces of jewelry. When seated he sits
in the lalitaksepa or lalitasana position, and while
standing he stands in abhanga position. The Sadhanamala
describes various forms of Avalokiteshvara and calls
the deity Lokanatha, Lokeshvara, etc of which the
form Khasarpana-Lokeshvara is quite common. In this
form Lokeshvara is accompanied by the deities Tara,
Sudhanakumara, Bhrkuti and Hayagriva. Sometimes
the ugly ghost (preta) Suchimukha (needle-mouthed)
is shown sitting below and begging nectar from the
merciful Lord. For a beautiful form of this type
see the Mulchar (Munshiganj) image, now in the VRM,
dated c 11th century. The Transcendent Buddha Amitabha
(to whose family Avalokiteshvara belongs) is shown
twice, once in the jata-makuta of the Bodhisatva
and then in the middle of the five transcendent
Buddhas above. For a standing image of this type
compare the VRM image found at Sonarang (Munshiganj).
|
Buddha: found from Mulchar
(Munshiganj) dated 11th century |
