AN ILLUMINATED COVER AND FRONTISPIECE OF AN ASHTASAHASRIKA PRAJNAPARAMITA MANUSCRIPT WEST TIBET, GUGE, LATE 15TH CENTURY |

i) the manuscript title “Prajnaparamita in eight thousand verses, Volume A” in raised gold script within rectangular space at the centre of the cover, flanked by Shakyamuni Buddha to the left seated in vajraparyankasana on a snow lion throne, with Sariputra and Maudgalyayana standing at either side holding patra and khakkhara, with Tara, the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje, Dipamkara Buddha and Jetsun Rimpoche below, all identified by inscription, four-armed Prajnaparamita to the right of the manuscript title with hands in dharmachakra mudra and holding vajra and pustaka on golden lotus flowers at the shoulder, seated in vajraparyankasana on a snow lion throne with standing bodhisattvas at either side, Drungchen Choje, Maitreya, Zutön Nawangpa, and Jambhala below, all identified by inscription, with the sixteen arhats, the attendant Dharmatala and patron Hvashang depicted above and below the manuscript title and each identified by inscription ii) the illuminated frontispiece with illustrations of different episodes of the Prajnaparamita text surrounding the central rectangular panel, with Buddha in the upper register narrating the story of the bodhisattva Sadaprarudita seeking enlightenment, his meeting with the Hindu god Indra, his encounter with a merchant’s daughter, and in the lower register Sadaprarudita travelling with the daughter, her parents and maids by chariot towards Gandhavati, the paradise of Bodhisattva Arya Dharma, the temple courtyard showing the bodhisattva teaching the dharma and worshiping a gold and lapis lazuli Prajnaparamita text bound in a white khatta and placed in the upper tiers of the temple, the scenes described in captions throughout Himalayan Art Resources item no. 18451 and 18452.

“Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure”, The Art Institute of Chicago, 5 April-17 August 2003; and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, D.C., 18 October 2003-11 January 2004.

Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, cat. no. 104

These rare illustrated components of an Ashatasahasrika Prajnaparamita manuscript epitomise the narrative style of the artistic revival at Guge in the late fifteenth century. Dr. Pal speculates that the manuscript may have been commissioned by a royal patron of Ngari, such as Queen Döndubma in the last quarter of the fifteenth century, and was almost certainly painted by one of the artists responsible for the narrative murals in the Red Temple at Tsaparang, see Pratapaditya Pal, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, Chicago, 2003, p. 158. The commission includes homage to at least two Tibetan religious orders with the inclusion of a Kagyu hierarch, the Third Karmapa Rangjung Dorje (1281-1339), and other hierarchs wearing yellow caps, possibly monks of the Sakya or the Gelukpa order. The figure of a lama seated with the attributes of book and sword inscribed with the name Jetsun Rinpoche may be the founder of the Gelukpa order, Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) according to Amy Heller, see “The Tibetan Inscriptions: Dedications, History, and Prayers”, ibid., p. 290. No other Tibetan manuscript pages depict the legend of the bodhisattva Sadaprarudita in such detail: the tale is narrated in the last three chapters of the Ashatasahasrika Prajnaparamita text, ibid., p. 158.