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Some Notes On The Maitreya

Image in Western Ladakh

The road that connects Srinagar to Leh follows an ancient track

along which most of the history of these lands has taken place. At

the mid-point we come to Kargil, which is a compulsory stop

between Kashmir and Ladakh. The area is mostly Islamic; only a

few families who live in Mulbek are Buddhist, but because of the

presence of this Buddhist element, Mulbek is often considered to be

the western gate to Ladakh. "The route is very old, as proved by some works of Buddhist art

dating back to the 7th - 8th centuries, and antecedent to Tibetan

cultural supremacy in that area. In fact, on the way-side at Dras,

we meet some rock carvings representing the Bodhisattva Maitreya,

a lotus, a horseman, Avalokitesvara, and on the back of this last

stele, a stflpa. At Mulbek, as a witness to its glorious past, an im-posing rocky sculpture of Maitreya withstands the wear and tear

of time. From the iconographical point of view, it appears to be

analogous with and likely contemporary to the Dras one, even if

not as crudely made.!According to the A'l.l{ldtillakalpalatti,2 composed by ~emendra,

one of the most eminent Kashmiri polygraphists of the 11th cen-

tury, the Buddha, while crossing the Ganges on a bridge which had

been made by the nagas, showed his followers a sacrificial pole

studded with gems (ratllayflpa) which glimmered through the water.

On that occasion, the Blessed One told them this story. A god born

as King MahapraI).ada at the term of his heavenly life, possessedthis yflpa from the spiritual world in order to keep awake the

memory of the "Law" (dJzarl1la~lrtttinusara~zasmara~ltiya) in himself

and his subjects. Yet, the inhabitants of that ki'ngdom grew so

bewitched by its charm that they would later neglect any. worldly

business; so deep were they absorbed in contemplation of the

heavenly memory that their economic life languished. Therefore

MahapraQada thought it best to take that transcendental sign away

from his people, and he flung it into the river. At the conclusion of

the tale, Gautama foretold a time when another king named San-

kha would retrieve the yiipa and entrust it to Maitreya, who would

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appear as the son of his court-priest (sa purollitaputraya Maitreyayapradasyati). After breaking it into pieces, the Bodhisattva would then

give them to the poor, and by doing so would become completely

enlightened (yft]'alF datvlitlla Majtreya~1 SQl1Iyaksa1]lbuddllatli1]1gata~I).

The first texlual ~vidence for Maitreya occurs in one of the

oldest texts of the Pali Canon, the Suttalliplita, where a Tissa-

Metteyya is to be found.3 According to the tradition, Maitreya now

dwells in Tu~itaHeaven. There the former Bodhisattva, Siddharthai

Gautama, had conferred the dignity of his succession ~pon him

before coming down to earth on his last human mission.4

As we

have seen, he will be reborn in a brliltma~1afamily i~ Benares,during King Sankha's time.s His specific epithet is! 1/Ajita,1/6

'unsubdued,' while "Maitreya" is the name of his lineage (gotra), a

metonymical appellation derived from maitri, 'benevolence.' How-

ever, it refers to a protecting power which is mostly strengthened

by a supernatural force that nullifies the power of the enemy:

hence the title Ajita7Several traditions have converged.upon thefigure of this Budhislttva; each of them equally alludes t6 the same

spiritual entity, mankind's guide, and it can be referred tthe widerange of connotatio lS which the combined 1/Ajita-Maitr~ya" gives

rise to in the scholilrs' consciousness. As a solar entityj radiating

lovingness, capable)f defeating, by force of such a radiar,ce, every

appearance of evil, in Maitreya all expectations mate~lize: " ...

when evil and sin sI'read all over and any hope se~mslo;;t forever,

it is Maitreya, .., '" ho will restore good."8 The seals lof an oldpromise of victory: pread abroad. Due to the powerful devotion

and meditation, tht re are numerous images of this Bodhisattva

scattered all over th ~Buddhist lands.Carved out of a stone lying on the edge of the old track, the

image of Maitreya it Mulbek stands more than 350 cm high in a

slightly tilted positio1(abllaliga) on a three petal-ringed lotus. Naked

at the body-top" hi:; loins are girt by a simple open skirt (dhoti)

whose gathered folis hang, almost overlapping, down over the

front.9 It is fastene,l at the waist by a belt (mekhala) apparently

formed by big pea,Is, and the way it is modelled suggests its

transparence. As a ~odhisattva he is not yet wearing the monks'

dress, so typical of the Buddha images. He is bejewelled like a

prince, whereas. the Buddhas no longer have preciou~ ornaments.

Maitreya here has ona heavy necklace with two strings of pearls,

ear-pendants, bracelets and rings.10

A Brahminical cord (upavfta) is swung across his left shoulder

which has been previously observed by the English traveller

Moorcroft: 1/... the figure of one' of the Tibetan divinities named

C~mba. It differed from the same representation in the templesbemg decorated with the Brahminical cord, hanging from the left

shoulder and over the right hip."n The upavfta is an attribute that

only a male Bodhisattva wears,12 and it signifies the fuhrre

brdhma1,1abirth of Maitreya.13 There is already clear evidence of it

in the Ku~aI;laart of Mathura,14 whereas in Gandharan Maitreyas

it appears in the shape of a long necklace composed of amulets;15

the upavfta then resumes the original model in Gupta art inKashmir.16

The figure is decorated with a long garland (mala1 of muftja atypical attribute of Kashmiri art.17 Muftja (Saccharum m ll1ija) i; a

mars~y grass, us~d in the:Vedic world as filter during the pre-

paration of the ntual potion of soma, because of its pUrifying

properties.18 Besides, a layer of this grass used to be laid on the

sacred fire-tray as a l~ort of ~o~b from which Agni, the fire-god,

would be begotten, and its fibres were twined into Brahmin

belts.20

Th~ fo~ arms ~f th~ .Mulbek Maitreya .are an interestingexception, smce MaItreya s images are usually two-armed. This is

even more remarkable if we take into account that, less than 100

km away at Alchi, two four-armed representations of the Bodhi-

sattva can be found, one sculptured and the other painted.21 But

we must not be led to think that, because of its rareness, it is an

anomaly. ~n fa~t,.Maitrey~ appears ~obe four-armed (caturblmja) intwo late ntualistic texts: m the MaltreyaSiidhana from the Sadlzana-

mald22 and in the Marijuvgjrama~t4ala from the Ni$pannayogavali.23

!he top-right hand holds between the thumb and the forefinger

a nmeteen bead rosary (alc$anlalti). The alc$amaldas a non-Buddhist

attribu~ belongs to the Hindu god Brahma in whose hands it is a

symbol of time flOWingby his fingers.24Sarasvati as well, Brahma's

consort, holds the string of beads at times,25and the same can be

said of Siva26and' other gods and goddesses. In a Buddhis.tcontext

we come across the ak$l1nuilaagain as an attribute of different

spiritual entities, among which the most important are Avaloki-

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tesvara and Prajilal,aramita. Artistically, Maitreya bear~ a rosary

only later on.27 Ho,,rever, there is no evidence of it in the icono-

graphical literature. .

The bottom-right hand is in a donating gesture (var~damudrQ):

the palm is open alld turned outwards, the arm stretches down,

along the body and almost parallel to it. This mudra is not one ofthe most common 01 lesassociated with the image of Maitreya, since

the gesture of drivng fear away (abhayamudrd), or t~e gesture

representing the tUJning of the Wheel of Law (dllarmac4kranllldra)

are more common.2t Yet,even if known only through late Kashmiri

figures,29the varadal.mdra appears ol:casionallyin the ico~ographic-

liturgical literature, such as in the Maitreyasadhana an~ the Loka-

Ildthasadlrall~ from ft. e Sadlrallamdld,~ and 4' th.e.MalijuJ"rama~Ujalafrom the Nl~pannay( gamlf. 31 .'.

The top-left hand holds a stalk of nagakesara' (MeSllQ oxburghil)

or campaka (Mic/relit Clrampaka). This magnolia-like plant lisactually

Maitreya's Bodlri trei~,32but the representation of Maitreya holdinga nagakesara blosscming twig in his left hand appears !only later

on.33 In the iconog~aphical literature there is coherent evidence

about this attribute: in the Maitreyastidhana the Bodhisa~tva holds

in one of his four hands a stalk of nagakesara, as in the !Vajrasalla-sddllalla and the Lokallatlrastidlralla from the same corpus,34 as well

as in the Dllrgatipariwdlrallama~lIjala and the Ak$obhyama~lIjala from

the Ni~pannayoga!'ali.35 I

The bottom-left hand holds a water-pot, "pointing nO doubt tohis bralrmaua origin.,,36 Differently named - galigodakab/migara,

sGlwar!wbhr,igiira, ktqlljf, kll!ujikii, or kama!ltjalll,37although it is never

mentioned in the SadlrallGliterature, it is nonetheleOssfrequent inMaitreya's representations,38 and it has been documented since the

2nd century in Ku~aDaart of Mathura.39 Even though it is not

peculiar to Maitreya,40 in Gandharan art it is one of. the most

remarkable iconographical elements that distinguishes. Maitreya

from Gautama.41 It 'may be worth mentioning that, among what

most strikingly reminds one of the bll(1igdra, we have some

bacchanal representations of nagas holding a little flask not so

different from Maitreya's. That would support that the blmigara,

which is belie.ved to contain the' spiritual drink of imm~rtality

(amrta) could originally be a bottle for wine.42It is known that the

flask is also an attribute of Brahma.43He keeps in it the primordial

waters (lIdrd~l)whence he himself originated as Brahmanarayana,

he whose environment were waters, moving above them: who,

cyclically, renews the universe, at the end of eVe:! state of com-plete re-absorption in the purer spiritual element (pralaya). A.H.

Francke had already pointed out a certain similarity between the

iconographical type of the Bodhisattva Maitreya and that of theHindu god.45 In particular he focuses our attention on a wooden

bas-relief belonging to the temple dedicated to Saktidevi in

Chatrarhi, Camba. There we can see a four-armed figure of Brahma

bearing a string of beads and a little water-jug, together with a pair

of geese. Inside of the temple there is an inscription with the name

of the king who commissioned the statue of the goddess, and that

of the craftsman who made it. Such inscription dates on a paleo-

graphical basis back to the 8th century.46As it cannot be previous

to the icon of Saktidevi, nor most probably to the bas-relief, we can

presume that the iconographical type described above dates back

to ca. 700 A.D., and furthermore consider the Maitreya at Mulbek to

be of the same age as that.

On the Bodhisattva's head towers a showy hair-dress made of

braided hair, tied in a bow and ending on top in a bun. This hair-

dress can be traced back, through the iconographical Gandharan

re-interpretation,47 to the Hindu jlita. As for the two curly locks tied

in a bow on both sides of the central bun, M. Bussagli,through the

antecedents attested in Gandharan art, suggests their possible

connection with the Greek-Roman classic krl'Jbylos, the two locks

tied up in a bow on top of Apollo's head.48

Above the forehead and admist the hair, as high as the jatli, we

see a stlipa or caitya. As a typical element in the Buddhist context,

it is basically a receptacle shrine for the ashes of Buddha's body.49Thence that of a holder for the magical virtues radiated by his

subtler bodies (ritual objects), for his words about the Law (Dharma

scriptures), and for his community, the Sal1lgha (monks, saints,

ascetics' ashes). Therefore, by reason of such dramatic fimctional

widering, the Stilpa summerizes the symbolic values leading back to

the panasian conception of the axis mundi, rising to the esoteric

model of macro and microcosmus: i.e. tridimensional ma1)tfala.50

The reason why a stftpa appears in Maitreya's hair is far from

clear. Nowhere in iconographical literature, which is supposed to

be later than its early representations, is this stUpa mentioned. As

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8 THE TI BET JOURNAL

Ia matter of fact, the problem presents two aspects: its origin and its

meaning, or its semiotic function as a "distinctive mark" of the

future Buddha.51 !A clue is found iri the reports of two Chinese Buddhist pilgrims:

Fa-hsien, who visited India from 399 to 420,and especially Hsiian-I

tsang, the best known pilgrim during the T'ang epochiand a de-votee of Maitreya. The latter left China in 629 in search of the

spiritual roots of Buddhism, first travelled westward as far as where

the word Gautama had spread; eventually he got to Indi~ where he

kept on travelling, meditating and studying until 645.52

iAccording

to reports of their pilgrimage, the stilpa on Maitreya's head should

be connected with Kukkutapadagiri, "rooster's claw ~ountain"

near Bodh Gaya where, in a crevice, the body of Ma~akasyapa,

Gautama's follower and his immediate successor, should be.

We learn from Fn-hsien's repor~3 that the venerable fMyapa isin a rock of the meuntain called Chi-tsu, "rooster's claw." Better

informed, Hsiian-ts; 'ng has left a more detailed version of the samelegend. Let us read it in S.Beal's translation.

54!

To the east of N ahi river we enter a great wild for~st, and

going 100 li or s), we come to the Ki'u-ki'u-cha-po-~o-shan

(Kukkutapadagiti, the Cock's Foot Mountain).lt is al~ocalled

Kiu-liu-po-tshan(Gurupada!:l giri). [...] Behind these rms the

venerable Maha Kasyapa dwells wrapped in a con~ition of

Nlrval.la. [...] Tathagata, his work of conversion being dane,

and just on the p Jint of attaining Nirvti1;Ul, addressed Kasyapa

and said, "[ ...] N JW, as I am desirous to die (enter Mahiinir-va~a), I lay on yO.lthe charge of the Dharma Pitaka. Keep and

disseminate (thi~ doctrine) without loss or diminution. Thegolden-tissued }(1s1uiya robe given me by my foster-mother

(mother's sister), [bid you keep and deliver to Maitreya (T'se-

chi) when he ha~ completed the condition of Buddha." [...] In

future ages, whe 1Maitreya shall have come and declared the

three-fold law, fi lding the countless persons opposed to him

by pride, he will lead them to this mountain, and copling to

the place where Kasyapa is, in a moment (the snapping of

the finger) Maih eya will cause it to open of itself, [.:.]Then

KMyapa, deliver ng the robe, and having paid profound re-

verence, will as :end into the air and exhibit all sorts of

spiritual changes, emitting fire and vapour from his body.

Then he will enter Nirt'i~la. [...] Now, therefore, on the top of

the mountain is a stflpa built...

G. Bhattacharya55 informs us that A. Getty and afterward other

scholars, have confused in this legend two different Kasyapas: the

Manusibuddha Kasyapa, the predecessor of Gautama, with hisdisciple, the monk (bik$lI) Mahakasyapa. The Bengali scholar is not

fully convinced that the legend of the Chinese pilgrimhas anything

to do with the stftpa decorating the hair or the diadem in many

Maitreya figures. Had it been Buddha KMyapa, as A. Getty

thought, "it is quite inconceivable that the Maitreya Buddha willcarry the stflpa of the bilc$lI Kasyapa, on his head.,,56 In order to

prove his thesis, Bhattacharya points out two sources of the same

legend reported by Hsiian-tsang, both from the Dit1vavadana: the

Maitreytit1adtina and the Il1drallflmabrtilzma1;Ulvadalla. 5". The former

"~eroic deed" suggests that Maitreya, after becoming enlightened,

will go to Gurupadaka mountain together with a great manymonks following him. The mountain will split open and Maitreya

willtake the intact bones of the bik$lI Kasyapa kept there, and show

his disciples the mortal remains of him who was the nobles't

amongst those who possess the qualities of a purified man (dllllta-

gu1;Ulwdin). By passing the bones from the right to the left hand he

will teach the Dlzarma to the bystanders. The latter "heroic deed"

tells us about Gautama Buddha. He, together with Ananda and

other monks, came to where the untouched bones of Buddha

Kasyapa were lying near Toyika. As the Blessed One wanted to

show them to his disciples, the nagas dug them up and shortly

afterwards, they vanished. In light of the two tales from theDivytivadtilla, of their ambiguities and interferences, Bhattacharya

holds the legend of the Chinese pilgrim to be unfounded, not-

withstanding his doctrine and his moral dignity. Therefore the

theory correlated with this unreliable source on the origin of the

stftpa on Maitreya's head would be inconsistent. But, even if

Bhattacharya is right not to acknowledge special causal relations

between the legend and the stilpa, he becomes more objectionable

when he concludes that "... the Kukkutapadagiri legend has

nothing to do with the stflpa which Maitreya carries in his crownor jatti:" 58 despite the fact that it is demonstrated that Kasyapa in

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10 THE TIBET JOURNAL

the legend is not the I,redecessor of Gautama Buddha, as claimed

by A. Getty. .This is a two-fold T roblem, as suggested above, and we regard

what has been so far (bserved as worthwhile material, th~ugh not

etiologically utilizable if aiming to a comprehension of what the

stapa really is and me"ns in relation to the future BUd~ha.from .anarchaeological point 0f view the origin of such an attnbutf' which

has no record whatsoever in the iconographical literature connected

with Maitreya', should be examined in terms of t.he.post-Gap~haran

developments in the Cl llumn-shaped diadem ty~if~ng th~ hrur-dress

in many of the Bodhisattva's figures. Its senuotic functi0l' casts a

new light on far man important semantic fields,from theia~gle of

spiritual evolution. V\ hy then did such a learI~edand ~x~enen~ed

nlan as Hsuan-tsang 1 elate the Bodhisattva Maltreya With Ithe blk$u

Kasyapa? ., _ . I.When Gautama entered into Mallliparllllrval)a, Plpp.a~maQava

(better known as Ma1akasyapa) was the most authorita~ve of hisdisciples: the one without whom Buddha's funeral could not

possibly begin. Because of his ascetic rigour he was acknowledged

as the heir to the Buddha and he took over the lea~ership of the59 'th 'th

Sa1llglla after his ma~ter's passing away. M~reover: m. e s~hmg-all of the thirteenth century Ch'an collectiOnentitlediW u-nzell-

kllan, by Hui-k'ai, it is said how Buddha, being on Vult~re's Peak

to teach his disciples about DlIarnza, would show them a flower

without saying a word. Amongst the whole bemused audience only

the biksll Mahakasyapa grasped the gist of that wordless sermon,

and s~i1ed at him. In that occasion the transmission of the secr~t

essence of the teaching took place. As far as spirit~al ~story ~s

concerned the doubtful historical reliability of this episode is

something totally irrelevant. What is worth emphasizi~g is tha~one

of the most inwardly radical currents within Buddhism, Chin~se

Ch'an and Japanese Zen, acknowledged Mahakasyapa .as the hrst

heir of the occult teaching of Dllarma. Hence the blk$u Maha-

kasyapa is righteou~ly pointed out as the legitime bond between

Gautama and Maitreya.60

In the above mentioned legend from the AvadlinakalpalattI we are

told of a yl1pa which, after being thrown in~o th.e ,river Ganges,would be retreived by King Sankha and by him himself entrusted

to the Bodhisattva Maitreya. It is usually translated and therefore

regarded as "sacrificial pole" and in all the rituals of the Vedic

sacrifice, it plays the symbolic role of the cosmic tree which is

mythically situated in the centre of the world where the universe,

in an eternal present, was generated and generates itself, while

heaven and the earth separate. The yupa, in shape ofQxis mundi, is

the connection (between the heavenly being and the world be-coming. It is the place through which, once the victim chosen for

the sacrifice had been tied, the descent of the'spiritual forces on the

realm of transiency would take place.61It is therefore not irrelevant

that the responsibility of such a link should be, according to the

avadlna legend, up to the future Buddha Maitreya. Nor, even less,

must a further order of considerations be overlooked. The term

yu pa recurs periodically in the Buddhist literature to describe thestructural core, the central axis around which the stupas were setup.62Moving from the fact that originally the post did not mark the

centre of the stupa but rather it was the stapa itself that functioned

as supporting framework for the yupa,]. Irwin holds that it is to beidentified, in a Buddhist context, with the Bodhi tree. He, in fact,

observes quite convincingly that the cosmic, the illumination and

the tree of life can legitimately be assimilated to a unique

transcendental reality. Buddha appoints what in the forest was

already being worshipped as sacred to be the Bodhi tree, that is the

tree that leads us back to the VQIIQspati, the "lord of the forest,"

meaning in the Vedic literature the tree from whose wood the yftpa

itself is made.63The Tibetan term srog-shing, 'life tree,' also describesthe central core of the stftpa and that can support the above

equation.64

At the bottom of the MuJbek statue we can see some little

human figures. Two of them are carved just above the right foot of

Maitreya, two are between his feet, and another four are placed

beside the left foot of the Bodhisattva. These last four are carved on

a kind of roughly squared big step, and stand out of the stone by

about 20 cm. The eight figures are placed in niches that when

touching appear to be delimited by vegetable motifs. They are

dressed in long and heavy garments, girded on the waist by a

band. By their different postures and gestures, they are likely to be

representations of specificsubjects, and not just generic ornamental

motifs. Yet, the conditions of these bas-reliefs prevent any kind of

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iconological investigation from achieving an indubitable identi-

fication, or at least from recognizing the objects carried by some of

the figures. I

The guardians of the statue have been, from generation to

generation, members of an ancient family ofdpon-po-pa(s), 'descen-

dents,' and 'nepheM~.' Being supported to be the keepers of the

oral tradition related to it, they would maintain that the statue was

made by the n y e-ba' i s ras -dl el l b rg yad , whose images ~ould be

exactly those carved at Maitreya's feet. That is what is r~lated by

A.H. Francke, who translated nye-ba'i s ras-chen brgyad as ure "Eight

Great Sons of Nyeba.,,65 Nye-ba, 'near,' 'to be near,' 9r 'to ap-

proach,' is held by ~rancke to bean epithet meaning 'friend,'

comparable to the 5 mskrit mitra; hence the connectiv~ nye-ba'i

should be rendered as "of Nye-ba," that is "of Maitr~ya," the

Friendly One. But tl 1 S connective here could have the idifferent

function of connectin ;; the participle (l1ye-ba) to the following noun

(sras). In that case, tlle phrase could be interpreted as lithe Eight

Great Sons Who are '-Jear," where "son" should be understood as'spiritual son,' or 'di~ciple.' This is at least the interpretation that

could be worked ou from the Tibetan-English Dict ionary by Oas,

which Francke himse Ifrefers to, where this compound is ijkened to

the Sanskrit a$tamalli iupaputra. These Eight Spiritual Sons of the

Buddha would be Mai Ijusrikumarabho.ta, VajrapaDi,AvalokiteSvara,

K~tigarbha, Sarvanivi lranavi~kambhin, Akasagarbha, Maitreya, and

5amantabhadra: Bo(lhisattvas then, amongst whom Maitreya

himself. Again, A. H. Francke points out in Oas's dictionary the

existence of another: ;roup of eight "Great 50ns": sku-sra~ brgyad is

their collective name. They are the eight spiritual sons of the divine

Ban master g5hen-ra J. Therefore, according to Francke's thesis, thefigures carved at Ma treya's feet should represent eight Ban goct-

like beings who, con lerted to Buddhism, have become eight great

Buddhist saints.66 This theory, though fascinating cannot be proved

either on an iconologlcal or a philological basis. For that reason, the

little figures placed UJlder the Maitreya statue at Mulbek are for the

moment bound to bt enshrined in a dignified silence.

Notes

1. Cf. D. Snellgrove T. Skorupski, T h e C u l t ura l Her itage o f L A d akh . 1 -

3.

l1

I 4.

I5.

6.

7.

18.

9..~

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

CentralLAdakll, Warminster, 1977, pp.I, 7 (pIs. 3,4); D. Snellgrove, ed.,

The Image o f the Bwi1J1la,Paris, 1978, pp.351, 353 (pI. Z77).

2 Bodllisattva-avad4nakalpalat4, XVII avad4na, ch. XVI of the Calcutta

edition (S.c. Das, H.M. Vidyabhushana, ed., Calcutta, 1888); cf. G.

Tucci, Tibetan Pain ted Scro l ls , Rome, 1949, Il, pp.461-462, Ill, tl llmg-Iea

no. 70 - VI right (PI. 106).

Suttallipata, pp.814-823, 1006-1008,1040-1041(V. FausbOll, ed., London,1884).

Cf. LAlitavistara, V (R. Mitra, ed., Calcutta, 1877-1881).

Cf. DfglllmiJalya, XXVI, Cakkavatti-slhan4dil-stlttanta, 25-26 O . Kashyap,

ed., Varanasi, 1958).

Cf. SaddllllnnapulJ(larf1alsutra, 3.9, 7.4ff., 302.11, 16,307.11, 308.1, 309.1,

310.13, 311.1, 31213, 315.5, 316.12, 327.2, 329.11, 332.5, 345.1ft., 478.11

(B. Kern, ed., St Petersburg, 1908-1912).

Cf. M. Bussagli, LJo tr te d el Ga nd 1l4 ra , Turin, 1984, p.l87.

G. Tued, Indotibetica, I, 1, Rome, 1932, p.65.

See the 6th century Kashmiri bronze of Maitreya (Los Angeles

County Museum of Art ) in P. Pal, Bronzes o f KJJs1l1n ir ,Graz-New

York, 1975, p.122 (PI. 38).Cf. A. Foueher, Etude sur l ' iconographie bouddl liqt lede / ' Inde d 'aprls des

monumen ts nouveaux , Paris, 1900, p.71.

Travels, Il, 1820, p.17, dted in A.H. Franeke, Antiqui t ies o f Ind ian T ibet,I, Calcutta, 1914, p.lOI.

Cf. A. Foucher, op.cit., p.n.Cf. ]. Filliozat, "Le Bouddhisme," in L Renou,]. Filliozat, ed., I'Inde

dassiqlle, Il, Paris-Hanoi, 1953, p.539.

See the 2nd century Maitreya from Ahicchatra (National Museum,

New Delhi) in ]. N. Rosenfield, Tile Dynas t ic Art Of the KtlShanas ,

Berkeley - Los Angeles, 1%7, p.23.

See the Maitreya images from Gandhara (Collection De Marteau,

Bruxelles; National Museum, Karaehi; MuseoNazionale d'ArteOrientale, Roma; Indian Museum, Calcutta; Mu~e Guimet, Paris;

Central Museum, Lahore; National Museum, New Delhi) in M.

Bussagli,op. cit., pp.54-55, 108-109, 148,220-221,240.

16. See the above l)'lentioned Kashmiri bronze (note 9).

17. Cf. G. Bhattacharya, "Stlipa as Maitreya's Emblem," in The Stupa. I ts

Re lig iou s, Hi sto ric al an d Ar dli tec tu ra l Sig nif ica nc e (A.L Dalla Piccola,

ed.), Wiesbaden, 1980, p.106.

18. Cf. Rgveda, I. 161, 8.

19. Cf. Satapathabrallmana, VI, 6.1, 23.

20. Cf. Manusmrti, I1,42.

21. See the Maitreya statue (4.63 m) of the gSum-brtsegs, 'three tier

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1 4 n iE TIB ET JOUR ~AL II

(temple),' and the mural painting of the IHa-khang Iso-ma, 'new

temple,' in D. Snellgrove, T. Skorupski,op. cit., pp.45, 4

1

.7 (p1.31),66

(PI.57),67. I ,22. SadJumam4la, p.!-60(B. Bhattacharya, ed., Baroda, 1925;-1928);cf. B.

Bhattacharya, TI'e Indian Buddhis t Iconography, London, 1~24,Calcutta,

1958, p.Bt. Thi;: collection of sadJumas, written by se~eral authorsbetween the sb th and eleventh century, has Maitreya!as the main

"divinity" onI) in the Maitreyasadhana. In the VajriisanasadJull1a

Buddha is flan]:ed by Avalokite~vara and Maitreya while, in the

Lo kan 4t llas ad ha m , Lokanatha goes with Tara, Hayagnvil, and eight

Bodhisattvas, arlOngst whom is Maitreya himself. I23 . Ni$pannayogrzvali, by Abhayakaragupta pp.48-53 (B.Bhattacharya, ed.,

Baroda, 1872).In this 11th century text, Maitreya is p~sent in the

description of the mal)cjalas of Manjuvajra, Durgatipari~odhana,

A~obhya, and '/ajradhatu. I

24. See the Brahma images at Halebid and in cave no. 16 at Elura in R.

S.Gupte, Iconograplty of tlte Hindus, Buddltists, and Jains, Bombay, 1972,

1980,Pis. 1-4.25. See the Saravatj images at Halebid in ibid., PIs. 98-102.26. See in I .e. Harle, Gupta Sculpture, Oxford, 1974,PI. 54.27. See for example the rock-cut relief situated in the veranda of cave no.

3 at K~heri, dated ca. 574A. D. in D. Snellgrove, ed., op.cit. , pp. 108,110(pI. 69).

28. See two Maitreyas from Mathura (Lucknow Museum; Pennsylvania

University Museum, Philadelphia) in A.K Coomaraswamy, History of

In di an an d In do ne sia n Ar t, 1927, PIs. 79-80; see also the above

mentioned Maitreya from Ahicchatra (note 14) and that at Kal)heri

(note 27).

29. See for.example the 9th century Kashmiri bronze (Nelson Gallery,

Atkins Museum, Kansas City) in P. Pal op. cit. , p.l26 (PI.41).

30. SadJ lanam4ltl , pp.560, 49-50;cf. B. Bhattacharya, op. cit. , pp.81, 131.

31. Ni$pannayoytlvali, pA8-53;cf. B. Bhattacharya, op. cit., p. 118.

32. As such it is represented on the eastern and southern gates (toratla)of the sti'pa I at Sand (cf. D. Mitra, Sanchi, New Delhi, 1973,pp.22-24)

as well as in cav;eno 17 at AfalJta (cf. I. Bhagavanlal, "~ntiquarian

Remains at Sopara and PadalJa," Journal of t l te Bengali Branch of t i le

Ro yal As iat ic So cie ty , XV, 1881-1882,rep. 1%9, p.301);A. ~oucher, TIle

Be gi nn in gs of Bu dd lti st Ar t, an d Ot lte r Es say s in In di an an d Ce nt ral As ian

Ar dl aeo lo gy , 1914,Varanasi, 1972,pp.88, 105.

33. See the 6th century sculpture in cave no. 12 at Elura in R.S. Gupte,

op. cit. , PI. 162.

MAITREYA IMAGE IN WESTERN LADAKH 15

560 24 49-50'cf. B. Bhattacharya, op. cit. , pp. 81,78,34. sadllanam4la , pp. " ,

131. _ r 66-71 5-7' cf. B. Bhattacharya, op. cif., p. 94.35. Ni$pannayogava I, p. .' , .

G. Bhattacharya, o p. Clt., p. 100.36.37. Cf. ibid.,p. 109, n.7. 113

Cf. A. Foucher, 0 1 '. cit., p. .38.

39. Cf. notes 14and 28.. of Buddha holding a flask (Collection De40. See for example the Ima~es M seum Karachi) in M. Bussagli, 01 ' .

Marteau, Bruxelles; Natlo"~1 hult

Ga~dluI~an Art in Pakis tan , Newcit., pp.98, l O O , 103;cf. H. ng 0 , ..

York, 1957,p. 135.. . f Maitreya from Gandhara (noteSee the above mentioned Images 0

41. 15)' et M. Bussagli, op. cit. , p. 187., . 't 68-69

42. Cf. A. K. Coomaraswamy, op. Cl., pp. .

43. Cf. R. S. Gupte, 01 ' . cit.,. pp. 24a

-27.I 4' Agnipllrana, 49, 23-24.Cf Manllsmrti, I, 10; VI?lJlIplIr I)a, , , " t pp 101-102:

44. . . 102 A H Francke, o p . Cl., .45. A. H. Francke, op . Clt., p. . h: t . rt feel inclined to derive the

"Several students of Indo-Bu~d IS a f d ei ti es o f t he H in du. of Bodhlsattvas rom A

mos~ anCIent types .. a has been compared with ;,iva, andpantheon. Thus Avalo~tesv~r. fact these are representations of

Maitreya ~ith Brahhmdai~Ii~fe::~tfrom some of Mailreya..." Cf. R.S.Brahma which are ar yGupta, op. cit. , pp.24-~7.. f Ch ba State" ArdU Jeolog iCl11SurveyCf J p Vogel "InscrlptlOns 0 am ,46. ..., 19021903of India. Annual Repor ts, Calcr~~:hin ~odhi~attva, or the Bodhisattva

47. Seefor example the seated PM; Bruxelles)in M.Bussagli,01 ' .with moustache (Collection De . a ~au'AP0I10of Belvedere in thecit., pp.195, 229. For example 10 t e

Vatican Museums.

48. Ib id., pp. 204, 2 17 n . 13. . 'bbd aSllttanta VI 24ff.

49. Cf. DiglUJnikaya, XVI,M all tip arr n; n d ala Ro~e ;949 London, 1969,SO. Cf. G. Tucd, Teoria e practlal de m alJ., , ,

PA~f.tty TIle Gods of Nor tlte rn Buddl l ism, Oxford, 1914,p.28

19

-9351. . e , . P' ton 1964 1972 pp. .52. Cf. K.Chen, Bllddll ism in CJl lna , nn~e.' ' C a~bridge, 1877,

Cf. HA Giles, Record of t l te Buddll ls t Kingdoms,53 .

Varanasi, 1972,pp.82-8~. d i f t l W e ste rn W or ld , London, 1894,54. S. Beal, Si-yu-k i. Budd111st Recor 0 le

Delhi, 1%9, 11,pp. 14~-144: A G tty op. cit., p.22;also R.S.Gupte,G. Bhattacharya, o p. Clt., p., Cf. . e ,55.op. cit. , p. 111.G. Bhattacharya, op. cit. , p. 102.56.

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,

I57. Ditryovadana, HI, VI (E.B. Cowell, R.A Neil, ed., Ci!mbridge, 1886).

58. G. Bhattacharya, op. cit. , p. 108.

59. Digllaniktlya, XVI,M alz apa rin illb ana su tta nta , VI, 19ff.;TJleragtItlza, CCLXI;

T1lerigdtlu1, XXXVII. . I .60. Mamisibuddha Gautama (cosmic perspective) - f Mamisibuddha

Maitreya !Historical Buddha Gautama (sarpgha context) -> ;Mal)akasyapa ->

Mamsibuddha Maitreya

61. Cf. P. Mus, Bara/711dllr, I, Hanoi - Paris, 1935,p. 253.

62. Cf. Maluival!tsa, XV,173,cited in J . Irwin, "The Axial Symbolism of the

Early Stupa: An Exegesis," in AL. Dalla Piccola, ed: op. cit. , pp. 12-38.

63. Cf. ~gtleda, lIIi 8,3; Satapatllabrdllma1;la, Ill. 6.4, 13; 7.1, 14 etc.

64. Cf. G. Tucd, ~ndotibetica, I, 1, Rome, 1932,ppA0-41.;

65. AH. Francke,iop. cit., p.l02.66 . I b id ., p.102 n.}.