Visualizing a Buddhist Sutra: Text and Figure in Himalayan Art - Tapa dura

Sinopsis

The present volume analyses the inscriptions, murals, and manuscripts of the Avatamsakasutra of the Tabo Monastery. It particularly focuses on the Gandavyuhasutra, which forms part of the larger magnum opus and prescribes ways and means of attaining nirvana. It details the various stages through which a seeker of truth named Sadhana passed during his long spiritual sojourn. The murals are addressed to an audience primarily consisting of nomadic, pastoral, and semi-agricultural communities living in the most inhospitable zone of the western Himalaya. The artists and patrons behind these murals and inscriptions sought to use the method of narrative visualization through which to communicate to the audience the principal ideas expounded in the Sutra. This book is based on extensive fieldwork conducted by the author over a period of fourteen years in the Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti region. On this basis, the author presents an insightful comparison between text and mural, and also comments on the larger field of Buddhist art as being a mode of transmission of Buddhist ideas contained in texts such as the Gandavyuhasutra.

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