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42
PRATAPADITYAPAL
fact, stylistically comparable to some fine Panicaraksii illuminations in the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art (fig. 4). There, too, we notice similar
compositions which depict kneeling figures representing forces of disease and evil, who tum away as if
unable to bear the wrath of the Goddess. In both
manuscripts, the drawing is exceptionally fine and
the compositions lively. The donor couple in the
Dev-m&hiitmya folio is especially engaging. Less
than an inch in size, they are fully modeled figures, at
once dignified and elegant. The details of their
garments and physical features, as well as the
offerings before them, are precisely articulated. In
general, the luminous colors of these small pictures
reflect the intensity and richness of early Buddhist
manuscript illuminations.
The most richly illustrated Nepali manuscript of
the Dezimdhdtmya is in the Bharat Kala Bhavan
(figs. 5-15). In terms of both narrative intent and
iconographic feature, this is the most elaborately
illuminated manuscript known to date. The pictures, which are generally placed in the center of the
folio, illustrate literally the themes narrated in the
text. A few of the illustrations depict hieratic
representations of the goddess Durga, or Ambika. In
addition to these, the artist has provided some
remarkably lively renderings of combat scenes.
A typical hieratic representation (fig. 5) shows us
three devotees, wearing dhoti, ornaments, and tiaras,
engaged in adoring a white-complexioned goddess
who is seated on a blue lion. The four hands on the
right hold a skull-cup, an elephant goad, an arrow,
and a sword. Those on the left display a shield, a
bow, a noose, and the gesture of exposition.
Although the image does not correspond to any
particular description in the text, it may represent
the Goddess as Mah5sarasvati, the presiding deity of
the third part of the text. The red background is
strewn with flowers; these are seen in the majority of
the illustrations. The three devotees, shown in threequarter profile, stand or kneel quite naturally. Two
of them may represent King Suratha and the
merchant Samadhi, for whom the text was narrated
by the sage Medhas.
In another hieratic representation, two goddesses,
one white and one black, are shown seated in an
identical manner on a single lotus (fig. 6). The skullcup and the gesture of meditation are common to
both, but the white goddess carries a bow and an
arrow and the black goddess a sword and a noose.
Once again, the images do not agree with any of the
descriptions in the text but are obviously two
different manifestations of the Devi.
In two other folios (figs. 7, 8), two very spirited
images are shown being worshipped by devotees.
43
44
PRATAPADITYAPAL
'I
45
46
PRATAPADITYA PAL
Notes
47
Pal, The Arts of Nepal, vol. 1: Sculpture, fig. 14. The tying
of the asura with a serpent by the Goddess is described in the
Devfpurina (tarjjamianam hatam murddhni nagapa-s'ena
vestitam // chap. 32, v. 37).
9.
48
PRATAPADITYAPAL
patacitras, which confirms the suggestion made above that
painted images of the Goddess in India must have existed
much earlier than the present evidence indicates. Another
passage in the text prescribes both a manuscript and a
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