Unheard Voices: Womens Roles

in Medieval Buddhist Artistic

Production and Religious
Practices in South Asia
Jinah Kim*
Previous scholarship on womens involvement in Buddhism in medieval
India assumes that women, both lay and monastic, disappeared from
the scene by the ninth century. This view may be rooted more in our
way of seeing (or not seeing) than in historical reality. By exploring
neglected material evidence that shows patronage patterns of Buddhist
religious objects, such as inscriptions, manuscript colophons, and visual
representations of donors, this article suggests that women played a
visible role in supporting medieval Indian Buddhist institutions. First,
two objects donated by two nuns are examined to discuss the continuing
existence of the bhiks
.
un
.
(Buddhist nuns) order in twelfth-century India
that had a considerable command over economic resources. The second
part of this article attempts to uncover the voice for lay female donors
*
Jinah Kim, Assistant Professor, South Asian Art, Department of Art History, Rutgers, the State
University of New Jersey, Voorhees Hall, 71 Hamilton Street, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA.
E-mail: prajna03@gmail.com. The research for this article was funded in part by Vanderbilt
Universitys Research Scholar Grant. Early versions of this article were presented in the Historical
Studies colloquia series at the Institute for Advanced Study (2009) and at the Annual South Asia
Conference (Madison, 2009). I thank the members and the faculty of Historical Studies for their
feedback on the article. I also thank Joanna Williams for inspiring me to write this article. Ute
Hsken helped frame my research with an awareness of the contemporary issues regarding the
Mahyna Buddhist nuns order, and Petra Kieffer-Plz provided me with references and insights
regarding monastic codes and practices. I thank Daud Ali, Ruth Bielfield, Shayne Clark, and
Alexander von Rospatt, who generously offered references and insights. My gratitude also extends
to Padma Kaimal for her help and encouragement with the writing of this article, and to the
JAARs anonymous readers for their constructive feedback.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, March 2012, Vol. 80, No. 1, pp. 200232
doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfr103
The Author 2012. Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the American Academy of
Religion. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com

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and addresses their participation in religious practices in a medieval
Indian Buddhist context based on a socioeconomic analysis of art his-
torical and epigraphic evidence.
YIJING, A CHINESE PILGRIM who visited India in the eighth
century, remarked, The nuns in India support themselves by begging
food, and live a poor and simple life (I-ching 1966). This observation,
1
coupled with the small number of known inscriptions identifying female
donors of Buddhist offerings, especially of the tenth to twelfth centuries,
has led scholars to assume that as Tantric Buddhism developed in medie-
val India, the order of nuns disappeared and the involvement of women
in Buddhist matters decreased markedly as early as the ninth century
(Law 193940: 34; Falk 1980; Davidson 2002: 9198).
2
But were the nuns
truly vanishing from India during this period? Were the doors to par-
ticipation in Buddhist practice closing on women? This article takes a
first step toward uncovering the role of nuns and lay women in medieval
India by means of a socioeconomic analysis of art historical and epi-
graphic material. First, I provide evidence for the continuing existence of
the bhiks
.
un
.
(Buddhist nun) order in medieval India and show that it
had a considerable command over economic resources. Second, by exam-
ining patterns of patronage and representations of donors in religious
objects such as illustrated manuscripts and sculptures, I demonstrate that
women played a visible role in supporting medieval Indian Buddhism.
While many early studies on the ancient and medieval history of
Bihar and Bengal
3
have made use of epigraphic data, they focus primarily
on dated and datable material in order to reconstruct dynastic histories.
Following Gregory Schopens seminal studies on the sociocultural signifi-
cance of early Indian Buddhist inscriptions and other material evidence
(Schopen 1988a, 1988b, 1997, 2005), I view the donor inscriptions and
colophons on Buddhist sacred objects, whether dated or not, as unheard
voices that can help us understand what it meant to be Buddhist in
medieval India. My data are drawn from Buddhist sacred objects, mainly
stone sculptures and palm-leaf manuscripts, dating between the tenth
1
Yijings remarks on the state of Indian Buddhist monastic institutions should be taken with
caution. As Benn (1998) notes, Yijings goal in reporting what he observed in India was not free
from the political climate of his time in China. On the political nature of Yijings report, see also
Barrett (1998).
2
Peter Skilling, while drawing a similar conclusion regarding the disappearance of Buddhist nuns
in early medieval eastern India, observed some time ago that more study on donative inscriptions
from the period may present a different picture (Skilling 199394: 33).
3
In this study, Bengal refers to the region comprising the modern state of West Bengal in India
and Bangladesh.
Kim: Unheard Voices 201

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and the twelfth century, in particular from the ancient region of
Magadha ( present-day Bihar in India), where Buddhist institutions
thrived under the Pla kings.
4
Donating sacred objects such as images, votive stupas, and manuscripts
was a common practice within the Tantric Buddhist school, which devel-
oped in India during the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Tantric
Buddhism (also known as Vajrayna or Esoteric Buddhism) can be differ-
entiated from other Buddhist schools principally by its ritual means
(upaya), which include sexual yoga and the five forbidden substances
(Sanderson 1994; Isaacson 1998). But in its soteriological goals, theological
perspectives, and many of its devotional practices, Vajrayna retained its
roots in Mahyna (Great Vehicle) Buddhism. In fact, the majority of prac-
ticing Buddhists in medieval eastern India were, according to epigraphic
evidence, self-proclaimed Mahynaists, even if the donated objects may be
classified as of Tantric Buddhism.
5
The material evidence of Mahyna
piety,
6
that is, the sacred objects donated in the tenth through the twelfth
centuries, frequently bears witness to the existence of its donors in the form
of an inscription or a visual representation. This practice of leaving physical
traces of a donor, already in evidence at early Buddhist stupa sites, devel-
oped in connection with the practice of marking and consecrating a sacred
object with the so-called Buddhist creed or dharma relic, which contains
the verse epitome of the Buddhas teaching as expounded in the
Prati

tyasamutpadagath (Boucher 1991). The formulaic expression for

recording a Mahyna donors existence and piety begins to appear in the
sixth century (Schopen 1979). The formula inscribed in or written on
eleventh- and twelfth-century religious donations reads,
deyadharmo 'yam pravaramahynayyina [-yyiny for female] . . .
yadatra pun
.
yam
.
tadbhavatu cryopadhyyamtpitr
.
prvam
.
gamam
.
kr
.
tv sakalasatvarser-anuttarajnaphalavptaya iti
[7]
4
The conclusions presented here are also guided by my larger study on Buddhist sacred objects,
including manuscripts, metal images, and votive stupas. For a detailed stylistic analysis of the
artistic output of the Pla period, see Susan Huntingtons study of sculptures from Bihar and
Bengal (Huntington 1984).
5
For example, a twelfth-century manuscript of the Laghukalacakra-t

ika (a commentary on the

Kalacakra tantra) in the Asiatic Society, Kolkata (G.10766) identifies the donor as a Mahayana
elder Mahakaragupta ( pravaramahayanayayina sthaviramahakaragupta).
6
The inscriptions and colophons assert that each object is a pious gift of an excellent Mahyna
follower ( pravaramahayanayayina, or nya in case of female).
7
Cited from a Nland manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom Stra now in the Asia Society,
New York, fol. 301r (John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection, ASIA.1987.001). In sculptural donations
with limited available space, this formula is often abbreviated to read deyadharmo 'yam . . . sya.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 202

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This is the religious gift of an excellent Mahynaist . . . what here
is the merit, may that, having placed my teacher and preceptor and my
parents first, be for the fruit of obtaining supreme knowledge by all the
multitude of beings.
8
It would not be exaggerating to state that over 80 percent of the
images made in the ancient region of Magadha in the tenth through
the twelfth centuries bear the verse of the dharma relic, and over half of
these images have donor inscriptions.
9
Many of these images also bear
representations of the donors (Bautze-Picron 1995). If we consider both
textual formulas and visual depictions as markers of a donors existence,
we may conclude that it was in fact customary for patrons to represent
themselves on their Buddhist image donations. Despite these remark-
able links to the past, the rather quotidian act of donating a religious
object has received little scholarly consideration due to the lack of inter-
est in undated epigraphic material. Thus, ordinary monks, nuns, lay
men, and lay women who made pious donations are not remembered
or romanticized in hagiographic literature, nor do they find a place in
the grand historical narrative of royal genealogies, great religious teach-
ers, and Tantric practitioners.
10
Only a few of the studies on early Indian Buddhist epigraphic
records shed light on the social status of women in ancient India (Roy
1988; Shah 2001).
11
Orr (2000) has shown in her study of female reli-
gious patronage based on medieval Tamil inscriptions that a
8
The translation is slightly modified from Schopens translation (1979: 5) of the almost identical
phrase to accommodate the change from prptaye to phalavptaya.
9
This estimate is based on a stylistic and epigraphic analysis of fifty-four stone sculptures from
Bihar datable to the ninth through the twelfth centuries that were on display at the Indian
Museum, Kolkata, in 2003 and 2004. Established in 1814, the Indian Museum holds the most
complete and wide-ranging collection of Buddhist sculptures of the Pla period in the world. I am
aware that fifty-four images are a small data pool given the vast number of such images ( perhaps
more than one thousand) known from the region and now scattered all over the world. This is an
exemplary sample, not a representative sample, but I give the estimate to underscore the ubiquitous
presence of the dharma verse already noted by Boucher (1991) and others, and the prominent
inclusion of donor figures in Buddhist artistic productions discussed by Bautze-Picron (1995). I
have examined more than two hundred such images not only on display but also in the reserve
collections at various museums in India, including the Indian Museum, Patna Museum, Lucknow
Museum, National Museum of India, New Delhi, and the Archeological Survey of Indias site
museums at Nalanda, Bodhgaya, Antichak (Vikramasila), and Sarnath, and similar percentages
could be drawn from the sculptures in these collections. If we include other types of sacred objects,
such as bronze sculptures and palm-leaf manuscripts, the percentage may in fact be higher.
10
Ronald Davidsons extensive study (2002) of Indian Tantric Buddhism goes a step beyond the
limited views offered by such tendencies. Examining Indian Buddhist siddhas in received literature
along with art historical, archeological, and anthropological evidence, Davidson addresses a wider
range of personalities, leading to a more nuanced understanding of the social and cultural impetus
for the development of Tantric Buddhism in early medieval India.
11
I would like to thank Daud Ali for these references.
Kim: Unheard Voices 203

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quantitative analysis of inscriptions can yield valuable insights into an
otherwise poorly documented aspect of Indian history. While the
present study is by no means a quantitative analysis of the epigraphic
records, I analyze the inscriptions and colophons collectively, as if they
were ethnographic field notes, in order to understand the role of
women in medieval Buddhist artistic production, to draw conclusions
about their social and economic status, and to locate them within an
immediate religious environment. The picture of Buddhist practice that
emerges will also help us understand the social functions of Buddhism
in medieval eastern India.
INVISIBLE WOMEN?
In previous scholarship on Buddhist women in medieval India, we
find two seemingly contrasting pictures. One sees both lay and monas-
tic women disappearing from the Buddhist scene (Law 193940; Falk
1980; Shah 2001; Davidson 2002);
12
the other sees women playing a
prominent role in Tantric Buddhist circles (Ray 1980; Shaw 1994).
These two perspectives need not be understood in opposition to each
other, of course, for their conclusions are drawn from different histori-
cal materials. The evidence for the argument of the decreased involve-
ment of women in Buddhist matters is drawn mainly from the
archeological and textual sources dating from the sixth through the
ninth centuries. Because of the scarcity of epigraphic material, it has
been assumed that women had disappeared from the scene by the time
Tantric Buddhism was in full flower. Although Davidson (2002: 95)
asserts that archeologists have been eagerly searching for evidence of
nuns in early medieval Buddhist sites, I do not think that this search
has ever been thorough.
13
Just as important, discussions of female patronage rarely consider
art historical evidence, such as the visual representations of donors,
perhaps because of disciplinary bias. Depictions of female donors are
12
Although otherwise critical of Anant Sadhashiv Altekars approach, Shah (2001: 21) follows
Altekars observation that Buddhist nunneries folded around the fourth century, a conclusion
reached solely on the absence of any mention of them in Chinese pilgrims accounts. Shah also
notes that the use of metronymic attributes in constructing male identity went out of vogue around
the same time, but there are examples of matrilineal constructions even in the twelfth century, as
suggested by Daud Alis recent study (2009: 796) on two mercantile families active at the Hoysala
court in South India.
13
For example, the inscription on a tenth-century image of Tr from Kurkiha, Bihar, now in
the Indian Museum, Kolkata (I.M. 5862/A25133), clearly identifies the donor as bhiks
.
un
.

Gun
.
amt (nun Gun
.
amata). The complete donor inscription reads, deya dharmoyam
.
kyabhiks
.
un
.
gun
.
amteh
.
. See Huntington (1984: Figure 113).
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 204

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not uncommon if we just look for them, because the visual representa-
tions of the donors are a common feature in Buddhist artistic produc-
tion of the ninth through the twelfth centuries (Bautze-Picron 1995:
6061). Donors are always located in the periphery space of a sculpture,
in the lowest position in the divine hierarchy, so as to emphasize the
magnitude and power of the central deity. Female patrons are usually
depicted alongside a man, but not always (for examples, see Figures 7
and 8). A womans social identity in this period was constructed on her
relationship to a male relativea father, husband, or sonjust as in
early epigraphic records (Roy 1988; Shah 2001) and in the dharmaastra
literature (Kane 1968). But the fact that a woman could be represented
visually and identified epigraphically as a single donor of a sacred object
bespeaks a more active role for women in mainstream Buddhist practice
than is often assumed. Without doubt, the number of female donors
identified in inscriptions is much smaller than that of male donors
(Davidson 2002: 9495). Yet even when an inscription identifies the
donor as male, we often see the women of his family visually represented
alongside him. While it is impossible to assess how much influence the
wife of Bhat
.
t
.
a Ivara, son of Bhat
.
t
.
a Nbha, might have had on the deci-
sion to donate an over life-size standing Tr image, now in the Indian
Museum (3824. A25158), she nevertheless remains kneeling piously
under Trs feet, even though her husbands figure is missing his head
(see Huntington 1984: Figure 74). Thus, if we include visual representa-
tions of women in our data pool, we find that Buddhist women have
greater prominence than inscriptions alone would suggest.
Challenging the disappearing women scenario, Miranda Shaws
feminist approach (1994) accentuates the active roles women played in
Tantric traditions. Her analysis focuses chiefly on the received literature
from Tibet and elsewhere about women in Indian Buddhist traditions.
Her sources, however, are not all carefully verified, nor does she con-
sider archeological and historical evidence from the period.
14
Shaws
women are all Tantric practitioners, many of whose historical existence
is tentative and shrouded in mystery. Her fantastic accounts of powerful
female Tantric practitioners underline the active roles a select few
women played in transmitting and developing Tantric Buddhist teach-
ings, but provide little enlightenment on the social status of women,
whether lay or monastic, in Bihar and Bengal during the ninth through
the twelfth centuries.
14
As Kinnard (1995: 457) points out, the illustrations accompanying her text are extremely
ahistorical and conspicuously creative.
Kim: Unheard Voices 205

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The development of Tantric Buddhism certainly had a positive
impact on womens participation in Buddhist practices, especially
among the laity. Textual and art historical evidence from the eleventh
century onwards suggests that married lay couples could become vajra-
masters [vajrac arya, ritual master of Vajrayana or Tantric Buddhism].
15
For example, the Buddhist teacher Atis a admonished monks to remain
celibate but recommended sexual activity for the laity (Davidson 2002:
200),
16
and the Vimalaprabh commentary on the Klacakratantra
condemns the practice of monks venerating married vajra-masters
[gr
.
hasthcrya] as their gurus (Sanderson 1994: 92).
17
While a reli-
gious role for lay couples may not mean an elevated status for women
nor would it mean that women were making autonomous decisions to
become vajra-masters, the fact that married women could indeed par-
ticipate in serious religious activities with their husbands suggests an
acceptance of women in Buddhist practice.
18
Another source of valuable insight into the active involvement of
women in Buddhism during this period is illustrated Buddhist manu-
scripts, most of which date to the eleventh and twelfth centuries, the
precise period when Tantric Buddhism held sway in eastern India. The
earliest surviving illustrated manuscripts from Bihar and Bengal
(ancient regions of Magadha, Anga, and Varendra) date to the turn of
the eleventh century, and among the dated works fully half of the
donors are women (Kim 2006: appendix 1). Indeed, the most inventive
and elaborate iconographic program of this century is employed in a
Pacaraks
.
manuscript donated by a queen, Uddk (Kim 2010).
Moreover, in the mid-twelfth century, a nunwho, according to con-
ventional wisdom, either should not have existed or should have been
leading a poor and simple lifemade a splendid donation of an illus-
trated manuscript, the colophon of which tells us that her teacher was
15
Vajracarya is also a name for the sacerdotal priest caste of Newar Buddhism in the Kathmandu
valley.
16
Atias goal in this comment is to forbid the introduction of such rituals into the monastic
context, not necessarily to encourage them among laity. Nonetheless, we could still take it to
suggest that lay Buddhist practitioners were allowed to participate in erotic rituals of Tantric
Buddhism once they were initiated into the path.
17
I am preparing a separate study of this matter based on art historical evidence. Although not
always the case, there is a possibility that the inclusion of the couples as devotees on the bottom
registers of some medieval Indian Buddhist sculptures may be related to the spread of Tantric
Buddhist teachings to the laity.
18
The introduction of the visual narrative of Sadaprarudita in twelfth-century manuscript
paintings of the Prajaparamita sutra, where Sadapraruditas search for the Prajaparamita is
aided by a merchants daughter, can also be understood as renewed emphasis on womens roles as
spiritual companions to their husbands or consorts. On the manuscript paintings of the
Sadaprarudita narrative, see Kim (2009).
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 206

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another nun. Let us look more closely at this twelfth-century manu-
script and at the two Buddhist nuns it mentions.
TWO INDIAN BUDDHIST NUNS
The twelfth-century donation referred to above is a complete manu-
script of the As
.
t
.
ashasrik Prajpramit stra (The Perfection of
Wisdom in Eight Thousand Verses; henceforth AsP), now in the
Detroit Institute of Art. Dated to the seventeenth regnal year of the Pla
king Madanapla (c. 1160 CE),
19
it was prepared by a scribe (lekhaka)
named rdharaka in the town of Ghoalgrama. The donor of the
manuscript was a nun (bhiks
.
un
.
) named Mahrbhadr, who is identi-
fied as a disciple (is
.
y) of a kya elder (kyasthar, sic.),
Vijayarbhadr. The teacher, Vijayarbhadr, must have been well
known at the time, for the donor identifies herself proudly as her pupil.
I have not, however, been able to find references to these nuns in his-
torical documents, nor to identify the town where the manuscript was
prepared.
As luck would have it, while scrutinizing inscriptions in the
Museum fr Indische Kunst, Berlin, I discovered the name of the
teacher on a stone image of Sim
.
handa Lokevara
20
that was found in
Jaynagar, a village located south of Lakhi Sarai (Figure 1), the latter a
site of considerable importance for late Buddhist activities in eastern
India (Bautze-Picron 199192). The inscription reads, This is the meri-
torious [gift] of the elderly Buddhist nun Vijayarbhadr, belonging to
the branch (?) (vit
.
ap) of Mallikdev (mallik-dev-vitov-sthit-kya-
sthavir/vijayarbhadry deyadharmmo yam
.
//).
21
If we follow
Gouriswar Bhattacharyas reading, the inscription seems to suggest that
Mallikdev was a patron of a nunnery; of which, Vijayarbhadr was
19
Dates for Pla kings are based on a relative chronology, and varying dates have been proposed
for Madanaplas reign (114365 CE or 115876 CE). See Huntington (1984) for a discussion of
Pla chronology. Calculating from the Valgudar inscription, in which Madanaplas eighteenth
year is identified with aka 1083 (c. 116162 CE), Madanaplas seventeenth year is identified here
as c. 1160 CE.
20
Seeking permission to publish this image led to a discovery that the image was taken from
Berlin to St. Petersburg, Russia during the Second World War as part of the war booty. It currently
resides in the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia (Acc. No. BD-561). I thank Gerd
Mevissen, Martina Stoye of Museum fr Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, and Olga Deshpande of the State
Hermitage museum, St. Petersburg, for their help in locating this image. I also thank the rights
and reproductions office of the State Hermitage museum for kindly arranging for fresh
photography of the image.
21
Gouriswar Bhattacharya suggests that vitov may be a misspelling of vit
.
ap (branch) but
concludes that the meaning of the term is vague (Bautze-Picron 1998: 42).
Kim: Unheard Voices 207

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an elder, although the historical identity of Mallikdev has yet to be
established.
22
From these short references, it is not clear whether the
pupil and her teacher belonged to a nunnery or not. But while the AsP
manuscript and the Sim
.
handa image do not provide enough evidence
to argue for the existence of a thriving community of nuns in twelfth-
century eastern India, an art historical analysis of their donations
suggests that the two nuns enjoyed social status and had access to
economic resources.
FIGURE 1. ANCIENT MAGADHA REGION MARKING THE SITES OF NLAND (5),
GHOSRWN (12), AND JAYNAGAR (15), AFTER CHOWDHURY, DYNASTIC HISTORY OF
BENGAL (1967).
22
There is a record of a Mn
.
ikyadev who was the wife of rapla (I) in the ninth century.
However, it is difficult to identify Mn
.
ikyadev as Mallikdev in our inscription. Claudine Bautze-
Picron suggests the existence of an earlier Buddhist vihra at Indapaigarh, south of Lakhi Sarai, but
the material from this site is dated to the seventh century. She contends that Buddhist material
from Lakhi Sarai mainly dates from the eleventh through the thirteenth centuries (Bautze-Picron
199192: 241).
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 208

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FIGURE 2. SIM
.
HANDA LOKEVARA, LAKHI SARAI, BIHAR. PYLLITE, CA. 1150 CE.
DONATED BY VIJAYARBHADR. THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM, ST. PETERSBURG
(UNTIL 1945MUSEUM FR VLKERKUNDE, BERLIN). INV. NO. VD-561. PHOTOGRAPH
THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM/PHOTO BY SVETLANA SUETOVA, KONSTANTIN
SINYAVSKY.
Kim: Unheard Voices 209

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Vijayarbhadrs Donation: The Sim
.
handa Avalokitevara
This form of Avalokitevara, a bodhisattva of compassion, became
popular only in the late eleventh century.
23
The iconography closely
follows descriptions in the sdhana texts, one of which attributes this
form to an eminent Tantric Buddhist teacher, Advayavajra (active
c. 9781053 CE).
24
Sim
.
handa Avalokitevara is well known as a curer
of diseases, especially leprosy, in Himalayan traditions.
25
His distinctive
iconographic featuresa trident with a snake, heavily matted hair, and
a pronounced third eye, all of which appropriate attributes of S

iva
accompanied by a unique bowl of fragrant flowers, which may have had
medicinal associations, suggest his power as a cultic deity, one that
must have appealed to many in the community.
The quality of carving in the Sim
.
handa image is extraordinary
(Figure 2). The details, such as foliated scrolls on the cushion and a
band of swirling fire on the edge of the back slab, are intricately carved
with care. Large areas on the torso of the bodhisattva and on the body
of the lion are left unadorned, but the plasticity and the movement of
their bodies are clearly suggested through the smooth treatment of the
surface. The ribbons flowing behind the ears, the slender and smooth
lines of the body, and the intricate foliage designs together express an
almost ethereal vision of the deity. It would have been impossible to
donate such a splendid image without some economic means. The fine
craftsmanship, the prominence of the donor inscription in terms of the
size and the location on image, and the donors marked status as a
kya eldress are all signs of Vijayarbhadrs high social rank. The
choice of Sim
.
handa Avalokitevara, known for its efficacy in curing
diseases, within the context of late Buddhist activities around the Lakhi
Sarai area,
26
makes me wonder if she may have been a local religious
23
Most images of this specific iconography date to the late eleventh or twelfth century.
24
There are three Sim
.
handa sdhanas (SM 17, 20, 22) and one titled Sim
.
handadhran
.
(SM
23) in the Sdhanaml. SM 17 is the most elaborate and is attributed to Advayavajra, whose full
title is given as pan
.
d
.
itvadhta-rmadadvayavajra with his popular name Avadhta in it. The
descriptions are more or less identical, and the conformity between the texts and the surviving
images seems to suggest a close proximity of their production dates (Bhattacharyya 1968a: 4748,
51, 5354).
25
Bhattacharyya (1968b) does not give his source for this association of Sim

handa with curing

leprosy, but according to the discussion by Bautze-Picron and Gouriswar Bhattacharya (Bautze-
Picron 1998: n.157) it seems to originate from the account given in Albert Grnwedels
Buddhistische Kunst in Indien (1900).
26
As noted by Bautze-Picron (199192), Lakhi Sarai seems to have been an important cultic site
and is especially noteworthy for its late Buddhist iconography as well as a goddess cult. Another
image found in Jaynagar, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (I.S. 71-1880), elucidates the
nature of late Buddhist activities around the area. The inscription identifies this image of a four-
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 210

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leader. Certainly, she had a following and produced at least one disciple,
Mahrbhadr.
Mahrbhadrs Donation: The As
.
t
.
ashasrik Prajpramit
stra
The donation made by Mahrbhadr was no less splendid than
that of her teacher, Vijayarbhadr. The manuscript of the AsP was
prepared on 248 palm-leaf folios, each measuring 2 18.5 inches.
Fourteen painted panels depicting scenes from the life of the Buddha,
the Prajpramit deities, and other cultic deities are placed at the
beginning, the middle, and the end of the manuscript (Kim 2008). The
paintings are similar in style to those prepared in the famous monastery
of Nland. As seen in the panel of the goddess Prajpramit and
her attendants (folio 2r), the painter was skillful in drawing, and he
executed his lines confidently in a swift fashion (Figure 3). However, he
FIGURE 3. FOLIO 2R CENTER PANEL, GODDESS PRAJPRAMIT WITH
ATTENDANTS, FROM THE AS

ASHASRIK PRAJPRAMIT MS, DONATED BY

MAHRBHADR, PREPARED BY A SCRIBE, RDHARAKA IN GHOALGRAMA, CA.
1160 CE, MADANAPLAS 17TH YEAR, INK AND NATURAL PIGMENTS ON PALM
LEAVES. DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS, 27.586. GIFT OF P. JACKSON HIGGS. IMAGE: THE
BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY.
armed goddess with a child as Purn
.
evar (or Pun
.
yavar). The iconography is very close to that of
the Hindu goddess Prvati

, but the inscription suggests a Buddhist association of the donor. It

specifies the merit from installing this image to go to the communities of the siddhas (lit.
perfected one, yogic practitioner) and the congregations of raman
.
as (i.e. Buddhist monks). This
inscription is dated to the 35th year of Palapla, whoas some believewas the last Pla king of
the region and may have been active at the end of the twelfth century. It alludes to the
simultaneous existence of monastic communities (raman
.
a-sanghnm
.
) and those of Tantric
Buddhist practitioners (siddha-samja) within the religious landscape of a town, in this case, the
illustrious city of Cam
.
pa. For the inscription, see Sircar (1955).
Kim: Unheard Voices 211

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did not use the high-quality pigments seen in another painted panel of
the goddess and her retinue from a manuscript now in the Asia Society,
New York (ASIA1987.001).
27
It is obvious, then, that Mahrbhadr
and the maker(s) of her donation lacked the resources to acquire the
materials that would have been available to an affluent monastery such
as Nland. Nonetheless, the manuscript as a whole was beautifully
written and made very carefully, with all the features of the most elabo-
rate monastic productions, such as the stamp-like symbols drawn to
mark the end of each chapter. For Mahrbhadr to make such a don-
ation, she, like her teacher, must have had some command over eco-
nomic resources.
28
Locating Vijayarbhadr and Mahrbhadr
Identifying these two objects as related to each other by a lineage of
nuns also helps us fix these two women donors in a historical time
frame. The Sim
.
handa image is not dated but has been attributed to
the eleventh or twelfth century based on stylistic analysis (Bautze-
Picron 1988, 1998). Dated inscriptions from the area suggest that
Buddhist donations in Lakhi Sarai became more prevalent during the
reign of Madanapla, around 1150 CE (Bautze-Picron 1988, 199192).
This information, coupled with the dating of the pupils manuscript to
around 1160 CE, allows us to date the Sim
.
handa to roughly 1150 CE,
and thus to propose that the master nun Vijayarbhadr made her
donation during the peak period of Buddhist activity in Lakhi Sarai.
Mahrbhadrs manuscript, in contrast, is clearly a provincial pro-
duction, made by a nonmonastic scribe in a town called Ghoalgrama.
I have been unable to locate this town in any historical sources, but
suggest that the production site of this manuscript was in the ancient
region of Magadha, possibly near Nland, based on stylistic similarities
and shared visual idioms with contemporary Nland manuscripts
(Kim 2008: 8788). Knowing that Mahrbhadrs teacher made a don-
ation in Jaynagar near Lakhi Sarai, I propose Ghosrwn, a town
located between Nlanda and Lakhi Sra, as a possible candidate for
the location of Ghoalgrama (Figure 1). One immediately notices the
27
See Huntington and Huntington (1990) for the image and the discussion of the colophons.
The first two illustrated folios of this Nland manuscript, including the goddess Prajpramit
panel, were prepared during the eighth regnal year of Gopla IV in the mid-twelfth century (ca.
1140 CE) when the manuscript was repaired at the monastery. On the dating of this manuscript,
see Kim (2008).
28
All the known donors of eastern Indian manuscripts are people of high social and economic
status, including queens, princes, wives of wealthy merchants, officials, and high-ranking monks.
See Kim (2006: 51128).
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 212

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similarity in the sounds of the two names Ghoalgrama and
Ghosrwn, although their linguistic connection is beyond my ability to
confirm. Given the towns proximity to both Nland and Lakhi Sarai,
and the known stylistic affinities between Ghosrwn sculptures and
works from these two areas (Bautze-Picron 199192: 244), we have cir-
cumstantial evidence to identify Ghoalgrama with Ghosrwn.
29
As noted above, the visual idioms of Mahrbhadrs manuscript
closely follow those of the Asia Societys Nland manuscript, which
was prepared only one or two decades earlier. But despite its later date,
the nuns manuscript displays a more conventional iconographic
program than does its Nland predecessor. One wonders whether,
after finishing her training with her teacher in a Tantric center near
Lakhi Sarai, Mahrbhadr moved toward the monastic center of
Nland. For a reason that is difficult to explain with our current
knowledge about the status of a Buddhist nun in twelfth-century
Nland, she found a nonmonastic scribe in Ghosrwn, who could
make a manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom sut

ra, a profound
Mahyna philosophical treatise on emptiness, in the Nland style.
THE ABSENT NUN
Although Maharbhadrs manuscript is fashioned after a Nland
production in terms of iconography and style (Kim 2008), there is one
clear deviation from the examples from Nland. This can be seen in
FIGURE 4. FOLIO 126B BUDDHAS DESCENT FROM THE TRYASTRIM
.
A HEAVEN,
FROM THE AS
.
T
.
ASHASRIK PRAJPRAMIT MS, DONATED BY MAHRBHADR,
PREPARED BY A SCRIBE, RDHARAKA IN GHOALGRAMA, CA. 1160 CE,
MADANAPLAS 17TH YEAR, INK AND NATURAL PIGMENTS ON PALM LEAVES.
DETROIT INSTITUTE OF ARTS, 27.586. GIFT OF P. JACKSON HIGGS. IMAGE: THE
BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY.
29
Ghos algrama, in fact, seems to have been a center for Buddhist manuscript production,
because at least two twelfth-century manuscripts identify the production site as Ghos ali

grama. In
addition to the Prajaparamita manuscript discussed here, a manuscript of the Maitreya-
vyakaran
.
am now in the Asiatic Society Kolkata (G.4806) was prepared for a monastic donor from
Tibet during the fifty-seventh regnal year of Gopala (IV).
Kim: Unheard Voices 213

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the panel depicting the Buddhas descent from the Tryastrim
.
a heaven,
located in the center of the manuscript on folio 126v (Figure 4). After
preaching to his late mother, Lady My, in the heaven of thirty-three
gods, the Buddha came down to Snkya, accompanied by Brahma
and Indra. In the panel, Indra, identified by the eyes all over his body,
holds an umbrella, and four-armed Brahma attends the Buddha, who
stands in the middle displaying varada mudr (the gesture of giving).
What is remarkable about this painting is the absence of the nun
Utpalavarn
.
, who was the first to greet the Buddha as he approached
the earth (Williams 1975: 184). In many eastern Indian manuscript
paintings of this scene, including images in Nland productions,
Utpalavarn
.
is represented as kneeling at the feet of the Buddha.
Interestingly, the Nland illustrations suggest that her gender was not
a primary concern for the painters (Figure 5), for while her breasts are
sometimes delineated under the monastic robe, she is almost always
painted blue, indicating a dark skin color,
30
and her femininity is
ignored.
31
But those familiar with the story would know that this is a
nun. Why then is she absent from the scene in a nuns donation?
FIGURE 5. BUDDHAS DESCENT FROM THE TRYASTRIM
.
A HEAVEN WITH THE NUN
UTPALAVARN
.
KNEELING AT HIS FEET, FOL. 101 LEFT PANEL, ASP MS. NLAND
MONASTERY, BIHAR. GOVINDAPLAS 4TH YEAR (CA. 1180). DONATED BY A PRINCE
(SAURJASUTA) LAKS
.
MDHARA. INK AND NATURAL PIGMENTS ON PALM LEAF.
ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY LONDON, HODGSON MS 1. IMAGE REPRODUCED BY
PERMISSION OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND.
30
The dark color downplays her femininity since light skin is considered a hallmark of female
beauty in Indic cultural traditions. The choice of blue color for her skin literally represents her
name, Utpalavarn
.
a, which means (filled with) the color of blue-lotus.
31
The lack of feminine traits in her representations has led scholars like Bautze-Picron (199596:
367), who is otherwise meticulous in her iconographic and stylistic analyses, to assume that this
figure is a monk.
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One possible explanation is that the artist followed iconography
more commonly known in the region. Sculptural representations from
eastern India sometimes omit the nun. For example, in a life scene
stele from Ghosrwn dated to the eleventh century, now in the
Indian Museum (I.M. 3752/A25151), all the scenes contain narrative
elementsan elephant subdued by the Buddha, a heretic who falls to
the ground upon seeing Buddhas miraculous multiplication, a
monkey who offers him honeyexcept the scene of the Buddhas
descent, which displays neither the kneeling nun nor Indra and
Brahma. Her absence is not because of the size of the scene in this
stele, since the nun Utpalavaran
.
is often represented to distinguish
the moment from others, as seen in a life scene stele in the Asian Art
Museum in San Francisco (B65S11) where the nun is represented as
FIGURE 6. STANDING CROWNED BUDDHA WITH TWO FEMALE DONORS AND FOUR
SCENES OF HIS LIFE. SOUTHERN MAGADHA REGION, BIHAR. APPROXIMATELY 1050
1100 CE. STONE. THE AVERY BRUNDAGE COLLECTION, B65S11. ASIAN ART MUSEUM
OF SAN FRANCISCO. USED BY PERMISSION.
Kim: Unheard Voices 215

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an identifiable female figure (Figure 6).
32
Thus, it may have been the
case that in Ghosrwn, it was simply more common not to represent
the nun in the scene.
A more intriguing possibility is that the absence of the nun was an
iconographic device that enabled the donor, Mahrbhadr, also a nun,
to imagine herself at the feet of the Buddha.
33
The placement of this
panel in the middle of the manuscript, facing the scene of the taming
of the mad elephants on folio 127r but with no flanking panels, creates
a slight imbalance in the overall iconographic program, especially in
comparison to the Nland manuscripts. Given that the center of most
twelfth-century illustrated manuscripts was reserved for the most
powerful and esoteric deities, one may speculate that this iconographic
choice was personalized for our monastic female donor. If the manu-
script remained in her possession for her use, Mahrbhadr, knowing
the narrative well, could have imagined herself in place of Utpalavarn
.
.
It is interesting to note that this folio is the most severely damaged in
the entire manuscript, possibly suggesting more extensive handling.
However, it is difficult to prove that this was the result of use by the
original donor because the manuscript remained in use and was
repaired and worshiped in Nepal as late as 1687 CE (Kim 2008: 88,
n.24).
LADIES KNEELING: SINGLE FEMALE DONORS
We have seen that, in the face of androcentric and patriarchal atti-
tudes, as well as a hierarchical understanding of gender roles as pre-
scribed in Dharmastra literature, women in medieval India took on
visible roles as donors of sacred objects. Let us now turn to the visual
representations of lay women on donated sculptures to see what can be
gleaned from their attributes.
The majority of female donors are represented alongside their hus-
bands and identified as somebodys wife. Thus, their role in the com-
missioning of the donation may be questionable. However, it was
possible for a woman to be the primary donor even when she is identi-
fied through and represented with her husband. A ninth-century sculp-
ture of Khadiravan
.
Tr from Bihar, now in the Muse Guimet in
Paris (MA 2480), shows a couple kneeling on the bottom register of the
32
The nun is depicted with full breasts. It is interesting to note that this stele was a donation by
two women depicted as kneeling in ajali

mudra on the bottom register of the stele.

33
Imagining oneself at the feet of the Buddha is not an unusual practice in Buddhist context. I
thank Lisa Florman for this suggestion.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 216

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stele with the woman on the viewers right and the man on the viewers
left (Figure 7) (Okada 2000: 56). Although the man, being placed on
the proper right side of the deity, commands a higher position in the
hierarchy between them, the inscription in the middle of this register
identifies the donor not as the oil merchant (tailika) Lejja[?], but as
S
.
as
.
k, his wife.
34
FIGURE 7. KHADIRAVAN
.
TRA STELE, BIHAR. CA. NINTH CENTURY. DONATED BY
S
.
AS
.
K, WIFE OF AN OIL MERCHANT (TAILIKA) LEJJA(?). STONE. MUSE NATIONAL
DES ARTS ASIATIQUES GUIMET, PARIS, MA2480. PHOTO BY AUTHOR.
34
The inscription reads, This is the pious gift of S
.
as
.
k, wife of an oil merchant, Lejja (deya
dharmo yam
.
tailikalejjapatns
.
as
.
ikyah
.
|). The reading of the husbands name is uncertain.
Kim: Unheard Voices 217

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A number of donations have been identified that were made by
single women, who are often represented as kneeling piously with their
heads covered with scarves. Who were these women and how were they
able to make a religious donation independently of a man if a womans
social status was solely defined and determined by her man? The
images and manuscripts donated by women in eleventh- and twelfth-
century India are usually of superb artistic quality. I am certain that
these donors belonged to socially privileged groups.
35
The fact that a
religious donation of a public nature was made by a single woman sug-
gests that she had some access to economic resources, even if she was
principally identified as a daughter, a wife, or a mother of a male
member of the family. For example, a beautifully carved image of
Avalokitevara and his retinue donated to Nland identifies the donor
as Appark, daughter of Rambhu (Figure 8).
36
The size of the work
and the high quality of the carving, apparent in the intricate designs of
the jewelry and clothes as well as in the halo and throne back decora-
tions, suggests that it was a costly donation. The money may have come
from Apparks father, but she made the donation in her own name.
Appark piously kneels at the feet of Avalokitevara, alone; her father
is acknowledged in name only.
Another impressive image from Nland, this one of Khasarpan
.
a
Avalokitevara, depicts a group of women as the donors (Figure 9). The
size (over four feet high) and the superb quality of the carving, visible
in the elaborate decorative motifs and gracious rendering of physiques
of the divine entourage, attest to the wealth of the patrons. Three of the
women kneel on the left side of the bottom register, the usual location
reserved for humans. The woman at the head of the group wears elabo-
rate ornaments and a headscarf. The other two ladies, who hold offer-
ings, are smaller in scale with the third lady being the smallest of all.
The hierarchical relationship among these three women is clear: the
foremost lady on this register is very likely the main donor and the
other two are her attendants.
The most intriguing aspect of this stele is the presence of a fourth
woman, separate from the group, kneeling next to Avalokitevaras right
foot and paying homage to him. It is unusual to have a donor
35
The following discussion of lay female patronage is limited to sculptural donations to suggest
how visual representations of donors can help us understand womens social and economic status
and roles. Visual representations of donors are less commonly found in the illustrated manuscripts
of eastern India.
36
The image has been dated to the late tenth-century CE based on stylistic analysis. Mira (1998:
168169) takes the inscription to be written in eleventh-century characters.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 218

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figure integrated into the divine realm as is the case here. Her attire and
ornaments are as rich and bejeweled as those of Tr, and she has
pushed Schmukha, a needle-faced hungry ghost, out of his usual loca-
tion, into the lowest position under her lotus seat. It is unlikely that the
main donor has been represented twice, although there is some similar-
ity in their attire. Given her elevated status, indicated by the single layer
lotus seat above Schmukha, I wonder if this fourth woman was a
deceased superior (i.e., a queen or princess) or a beloved relative (i.e., a
FIGURE 8. STANDING AVALOKITEVARA WITH TR, BHR
.
KUT
.
AND SCMUKHA.
NLAND MONASTERY. CA. EARLY ELEVENTH CENTURY. DONATED BY APPARK,
DAUGHTER OF RAMBHU. STONE. NALANDA ASI SITE MUSEUM, 10506. 389/55. PHOTO
BY AUTHOR.
Kim: Unheard Voices 219

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mother or sister) to the other three women, who donated this image to
pray for her rebirth in Sukhvat, where beings are born in a jewel-
lotus. Although Pure Land Buddhism does not seem to have had much
following in Indiaunlike in East Asia, where rebirth in Sukhvat has
been a major impetus behind its success (Amstutz 1998)I believe con-
temporary evidence related to the popularity of Avalokitevara suggests
the existence of a practice of praying for rebirth in a jewel-lotus in
Sukhvat (Studholme 2002: 116). The large number of donated
Avalokitevara images and the contemporary production of illustrated
manuscripts of the Kran
.
d
.
avyha stra all suggest this.
37
The focus of
FIGURE 9. KHASARPAN
.
A AVALOKITEVARA, NLAND MONASTERY. CA. LATE
ELEVENTHEARLY TWELFTH CENTURY. DONATED BY A GROUP OF ROYAL FEMALE
DONORS. STONE. NALANDA ASI SITE MUSEUM, 0007. 332/55. PHOTO BY AUTHOR.
37
Archaeological support for the cultic popularity of Avalokitevaras six-syllable mantra, om
.
man
.
ipadme hm
.
, as it is later used in Tibet, is sketchy. The production of illustrated manuscripts
of the Kran
.
d
.
avyha stra, in which this mantras import for ones spiritual quest is compared to
the Prajpramit, suggests the popularity of the Avalokitevara cult. See Studholme (2002) for a
detailed study of the Kran
.
d
.
avyha stra.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 220

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this practice seems to have been Avalokitevara rather than Amitbha,
perhaps a sign of its late Mahyana Buddhist character, according to
which a bodhisattva could be more effective and mightier than a
Buddha (Studholme 2002).
Although there is no inscription to identify any of the women by
name or social status, the scale of the donation and their bejeweled
appearance imply that their donation was a financial contribution to
the monastery.
38
It is not difficult to imagine Buddhist monasteries pro-
viding services for death rituals in medieval eastern India (Schopen
1997). Even Nland, the acclaimed international university (Dutt
1962), attracted many lay devotees who donated votive stupas or
kulas for their deceased relatives. Here, we may conclude that these
women had every right to patronize a monastic institution, while the
monastery of Nland provided a proper channel for their emotions.
MONASTIC LAY WOMEN?
While rich and powerful women making religious donations are not
unusual in Indian Buddhist history,
39
I find one group of female donors
tantalizing since they suggest the presence of women within the monastic
walls as unordained members in medieval India.
40
A stele depicting the
Buddha subjugating the mad elephant Nalagri in Rajgr
.
ha was donated
by a woman named Gautam (Indian Museum, Kolkata, IM4246/A25297).
The inscription identifies her as the mother of a monk, Dharmamitra,
41
and she is seated on the proper right side of the Buddha as the sole donor
of the stele (Figure 10). She seems to be making a gesture of greeting
(bandana mudr) with her left hand. Gautam is represented quite differ-
ently from other female donor figures, with or without men: she does not
have a scarf around her head and she sits in a more relaxed pose with her
right leg crossed on the floor and her left leg supporting her raised left
hand.
42
She also seems to have a shaven head and the size of her ears is
exaggerated with elongated earlobestypical features in depictions of
38
The monastery probably profited from their patronage of this image, for it is not unlikely that
there was a handsome fee involved in installing this donation on the monastic property.
39
Queen Kumaradevs patronage of construction of a new monastery at Sarnth in the twelfth
century is one such case. See Woodward (198183: 93).
40
Karma Tsomo (1989: 121) reports the existence of women who were not formally ordained
but were still living as nuns in the Tibetan tradition. In contemporary East Asia, it is common for
unordained women to live in Buddhist temples.
41
The image is dated to Mahendraplas fourth year, probably in the late ninth century. See
Huntington (1984: 240 and Figure 38).
42
This sitting posture is seen most often in representations of male monastic donors.
Kim: Unheard Voices 221

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monks. Her ears and head look similar to those of Gun
.
akara, a monk who
donated a stele depicting the Buddhas first sermon now in the Indian
Museum, and she holds an incense burner like Prajseva, a monk who
donated a stele of Avalokitevara, now in the Museum Rietberg in Zurich
(RVI 106)
43
(Figure 10). In short, except for the pendulous breasts, this
woman could easily be mistaken for a monk.
FIGURE 10. TOP: GAUTAM, LAY FEMALE DONOR OF THE BUDDHAS TAMING OF THE
MAD ELEPHANT STELE (CA. TENTH CENTURY, BIHAR), INDIAN MUSEUM, KOLKATA,
IM4246/A25297. BOTTOM: GUN
.
AKARA, A MALE MONASTIC DONOR OF THE BUDDHAS
FIRST SERMON STELE (CA. TENTH CENTURY, BIHAR), INDIAN MUSEUM, KOLKATA,
IM3729. LEFT: PRAJSEVA, A MALE MONASTIC DONOR OF THE AVALOKITEVARA
STELE (CA. TENTH CENTURY, TELADHAVIHARA, BIHAR), MUSEUM RIETBERG,
ZURICH, RVI106. IMAGE BY AUTHOR.
43
The image hails from Bihar. For a detailed discussion of the images provenance, see Bautze-
Picron (2005).
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 222

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Gautams unusual monastic appearance, along with her clearly
Buddhist namea derivation of Maha Pajapati Gotam, the Buddhas
maternal aunt who became the first nunconvey a strong impression
that she was a member of a monastic community. She is certainly not
identified as a nun, bhiks
.
un
.
, even though this was an available path. If
we conclude, based on her appearance and her social identity as the
mother of a monk, that Gautam was indeed an unordained member of
a monastic community in late ninth-century eastern India, we may ask
how she came to assume this role. Is it possible that after her husbands
death, she retired to a monastery, possibly where her son was a monk?
It was not unheard of in ancient India for women to join a monastic
order after being widowed (Sen 1975; Jain 1988; Shah 2001).
44
It may
have been a common practice in early medieval India as well, especially
for women from socially privileged groups. In Bn
.
as Hars
.
acarita
(c. 630 CE), the Buddhist monk Divkaramitra dissuades Rjyar,
Hars
.
as sister, from committing sat and provides mental support (Kane
1965).
45
Similarly, in the beginning of the twelfth century, a queen
(raj) named Karpur
.
ar retired to Ratnagiri in Orissa, where a royal
grant was issued to meet her personal expenses and to provide her to
make contributions to the Buddhist establishment of Ratnagiri(Mitra
1981).
46
It is difficult to assess what kind of life Gautam might have
led as an unordained monastic woman. She may have had a role similar
to an aramika (monastery attendant) known in the Vinaya (rules on
monastic code of conduct) literature.
47
The fact that she is represented
like a monk in a relaxed and authoritative posture makes me doubt that
she was employed to do menial chores.
48
She certainly had control over
44
For example, a nun named R
.
s
.
ids is identified as a mother in a Sanchi votive inscription,
suggesting that she was married at one point in her life. Jainism also played a similar role for
widows, see Sen (1975: 106) and Jain (1988: 144).
45
As Davidson (2002: 98) points out, Rjyar, impressed by the Buddhist teaching of
Divakramitra, expresses her will to join the monastic order but her brother stops her. This may be
taken as evidence for the dwindling of the nuns order, but it is also important to note that
Rjyars brother, Hara, insists that she remains at his side, i.e., not join the order, while seeking
enlightenment (Kane 1965: 132135), echoing the goal of a lay Buddhist practitioner in Tantric
Buddhism.
46
Although Mitra (1981: 23) suggests that she may be a lay woman or a nun, Skilling (199394:
n.94) rightly cautions us from taking this reference as an indication of the existence of nuns in
twelfth-century Orissa.
47
According to Kieffer-Plz (2007: 1520), aramikas could hold a position of some authority in
regard to the organization of the monastery and could also function as a legalizer in the capacity of
the personal attendant to a monk. Although Keifer-Plzs study is based on the Vinaya literature in
the Theravada tradition, the existence of unordained members of a monastic community attending
the daily life would not be surprising in the context of medieval Indian Buddhism.
48
Another possibility for her role is that of a personal servant for her son, in which case she may
have done chores.
Kim: Unheard Voices 223

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enough economic resources to donate an image of considerable size and
quality in her own name.
We may ask how much individuality we can read from these donor
representations. They are certainly stylized types rather than true like-
nesses of individuals.
49
Even so, they may be said to reflect individuality
in the same manner as early Tibetan portrait paintings of prominent
Buddhist teachers, which display idealized yet idiosyncratic physical fea-
tures for each historical person represented (Singer 1995: 82).
According to the Majurimulakalpa, a medieval Indian Buddhist prac-
tice manual, the practitioner (sdhaka) should be represented at the
bottom of a pat
.
a (cotton scroll painting), paying homage to the divine
assembly above, as our female donors do in their respective sculptures
(Wallis 2002: 9091). The text also recommends that the practitioner be
drawn after the person, expressing a concern for representing individu-
ality.
50
The elderly woman in monastic attire and bald pate seen in the
sculpture may not be an exact portrait of the woman known as
Gautam. Yet a recognizable identity has clearly been conveyed and
would have been perfectly understood by the community.
Another image from Nland identifies the donor as a lay female,
Gangk (deya dharmoyam
.
paramopsikyh
.
gangkyh
.
). Again, she
is represented alone on the proper side of the Buddha as a sole
donor, holding a flower garland (Figure 11). The stele depicts the
Buddhas first sermon, and its configuration makes Gangk a direct
beneficiary of his words. The quality of the sculpture is remarkable,
as is the size (almost six feet high), and the inscriptions too are
neatly carved, all of which point toward a unified and well-managed
production with sufficient funding. The woman is dressed in a
simple robe with few ornaments and has exaggerated ears, just like
Gautam. Although simply dressed, Gangk must have been a lady
of means to make a donation of such grandeur. Lady Gangk might
have hailed from a family of high social status, like Rajyr in the
Hars
.
acarita and Karprar of Salon
.
apura monastery at Ratnagiri,
who were given space in the monastery. Was Gangk too a widow
who retired to the Buddhist monastery of Nland? Did she
have any influence on the iconographic program of the stele, in par-
ticular the choice to represent the disciples ariputra and
Mahmaudgalyayana as flying above the Buddha like celestial beings
in monastic robes? If so, this would suggest her respect for, and
49
For the idea of portrait in the medieval South Asian context, see Dehejia (1998).
50
The passage quoted in Lalou (1930: 15) reads, yathves
.
asam
.
sthnagr
.
htalingan
.
, which she
translates as quon le peigne avec le corps, le vtement, laspect qui lui sont habituels.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 224

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affiliation with, a monastic lineage.
51
Her offering of a garland paired
with the same action by the two foremost disciples of the Buddha
may reflect her monastic aspiration.
With our current knowledge, we will never know why Gangk,
Gautam, or any of our women donated an image. My depictions of lay
Buddhist womens social and economic status and their relation to
monastic communities are still conjectural. The examples I have col-
lected here present more questions than answers, and we still need
much more research to understand womens roles in medieval Indian
Buddhist practice. What I have tried to show with this brief survey is
FIGURE 11. BUDDHAS FIRST SERMON, NLAND MONASTERY. CA. TENTH CENTURY.
DONATED BY GAN
.
GK. STONE. NALANDA ASI SITE MUSEUM. PHOTO BY AUTHOR.
51
The two flying figures are identified by accompanying inscriptions, ryaariputra and rya
[maha] maudgalyayana. This upper position is usually reserved for celestial beings, and it is
unique to have two human disciples represented in this manner.
Kim: Unheard Voices 225

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that women in medieval India were not quarantined in their homes as
is often assumed. They had the resources to make substantial donations
and to commission skilled artisans. They were active participants in
Buddhist religious practices and supporters of Buddhist institutions,
perhaps just not as visibly as their male counterparts.
EPILOGUE: A WAY OF SEEING
In the Archaeological Survey of Indias site museum at Nland, not
far from Appriks Avalokitevara image, there is a carved slab that may
have been an image pedestal (Figure 12). Two elephants look at each
other from either end, supporting whatever was once on top of this slab.
The horse with triratna (lit. three jewels; a symbol referring to Buddha,
dharma, sam

ghamonastic order) on his back, a sword, an umbrella,

two men, and a woman seem to allude to the seven jewels of the cakra-
vartin (universal monarch), a motif often found in image pedestals of the
period. The precise meaning of the whole iconography is elusive,
52
but
what interests me most is the donor figures seated on the right side of
the slab. Their partly exposed breasts, shaven heads, and monastic robes
clearly indicate that they are nuns.
53
Given the differences in their sizes
FIGURE 12. IMAGE PEDESTAL (?) DEPICTING SAPTARANTA, SEVEN JEWELS OF A
CAKRAVARTIN (UNIVERSAL MONARCH), AND A RITUAL SCENE WITH TWO NUNS.
NLAND MONASTERY. CA. NINTHTENTH CENTURY. BASALT STONE. NALANDA ASI
SITE MUSEUM, 00002.A. PHOTO BY AUTHOR.
52
It is unusual for human figures of the saptaratna motif to be represented in action, as if
singing and dancing, as shown here. The presence of aquatic creatures in the water on the bottom
of the stele is also unique to this example.
53
The inscription mentioned earlier identifies the donor as a nun (bhiks
.
un
.
), but unfortunately,
the rest of the information is difficult to read.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion 226

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and postures, we can assume that the nun seated in front is a teacher or
master, and the one kneeling behind her is a student or assistant. This
tenth-century slab demonstrates that our two twelfth-century nuns, the
master Vijayrbhadr and the pupil Mahrbhadr, were certainly not
an exception to the rule in Indian Buddhist history. The number of
Buddhist nuns may have been reduced from the early centuries of the
Common Era. They may have had difficult times, as Yijing reported. But
like their lay sisters, they actively contributed to the medieval Indian
Buddhist institutions. We just have not seen themeven when they have
been right in front of our eyes. In a way, the invisibility of Buddhist
women in medieval India lies in the eye of the beholder.
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