1104
unspecified
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art
Folio 348 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Bodhisattva Manjushri with two forms of Avalokiteshvara (recto); Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with Manjushri (verso) is a 1104 unspecified by Unknown, depicting Nepal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.
You see two sides of a single painted page from an old Buddhist book. On one side, a blue-skinned figure with a sword sits between two others holding lotuses. On the back, a white elephant rides a rainbow while tiny monks bow below. This page is part of the book’s big finish—earlier pages only had one picture, but the last few pack in three at once. The images get wilder, matching the text’s promise to clear away bad ideas and obstacles. To see more pages like this, look up *Nepal*.
This leaf has six paintings, three on the recto and three on the verso, creating part of a visual grand finale. The first 340 leaves of the manuscript mainly have a single painting, but at the end there are more, and they depict varied and sometimes aggressive imagery. Similarly, the text ends with a hymn, the Buddhisattva vow to clear the path to enlightenment of evil obstacles, such as wrong views and bad influences.
The same Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, is slim and splendid on the front in the middle, portly and protective on the back at the left.
Read the full account in the museum source.
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