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Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array)

Unknown

1100

unspecified

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Medieval Religious Nepal

Dominant colour

Seven Leaves from a Manuscript of the Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array) is a 1100 unspecified by Unknown, depicting Nepal, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?: Unknown
When & what style?: 1100
Where can I see it?: Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

You see seven narrow palm-leaf pages lined up like a tiny accordion book. Each page shows one scene: a young man in a red robe meeting teachers, gods, or spirits under trees or inside temples. These pages are the only known pictures from a 355-page Sanskrit book that once told the story of Sudhana’s search for wisdom. The book was taken apart long ago, and its leaves are now scattered in museums around the world. To see more of this kind of work, look up Nepal.

The story of this work

Overview

These pages come from a long horizontal book of 355 palm leaves, now dispersed among many collections. Featuring the pilgrim Sudhana on his quest to reach enlightenment, the text was especially influential in the spread of Buddhism to East Asia. These leaves are from the sole surviving illustrated manuscript of this text in its original language of Sanskrit.