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Padmapâni with attendant goddesses

The Bodhisattva Padmapâni “Lotus in Hand” belongs to the Family ofthe Lotus, the progenitor of which is the Cosmic Buddha, Amitâbha, the guardian of the western direction, depicted on the diadem he is wearing. this was one of the very first Bodhisattva figures to appear as an attendant beside the historical Buddha, Shâkyamuni. He is depicted holding the long stalk of an open lotus flower in his left hand, at the height of his face, whilst his right hand makes the gesture of the gift, affording the Buddhist doctrine. The Bodhisattva is flanked by two goddesses, probably Târâ and Bhrkhutî, often depicted as his attendants (1). This stone relief has a number of analogies in style with reliefs and sculptures which can be dated from the 7th to the 12th centuries, such as the way in which the torso of the main figure is depicted, his garments, or the slightly pointed shape of the halo and the lotus flowers on which the figures stand (2). This could, therefore, be a work modelled on a previous relief which may have been placed either in a temple or in a niche on the urn of a stupa.

(1) Erberto Lo Bue, Tesori del Tibet. Oggetti d’arte dai monasteri di Lhasa, La Rinascente, Milano 1994, p. 109. (2) Cf. Mary Sheperd Slusser, Nepal Mandala. A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley, Mandala Book Point, Kathmandu 1998, figs 276, 470, 471; Pratapaditya Pal, The Arts of Nepal, vol. 1, Sculpture, Brill, Leiden-Köln 1974, figs 187, 191 and 202; and Renzo Freschi (ed.), L’arte del buddhismo dall’India alla Cina/ The Art of Buddhism from India to China, Renzo Freschi - Ori- ental Art, Milano 1999, pp. 84-85.

ALC (Free Circulation)