Picture Details
The Bodhisattva Manjusri
Partner:
British LibraryImage reference:
BL.Or.6902.f.336bOrigin:
Bihar, IndiaArtist / Date:
Unknown, 10th - 12th centurySize:
69 x 69 mmDescription:
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The Bodhisattva Manjusri is delineated on a talipot palm leaf manuscript, the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita, dating from the reign of the Buddhist Pala dynasty of Eastern India. It was part of the library in the Vikramashila monastery in Bihar, destroyed by Muslim invaders in the 12th century. Bodhisattvas are Buddha-designates or higher beings who have temporarily set aside the attainment of nirvana in order to help others find the way, and alleviate suffering. Manjusri personifies wisdom and is shown as eternally young and beautiful. His right hand holds a blue lotus, a mark of his virtues, the flower supporting a book, the emblem of wisdom (usually the Prajnaparamita or the Perfect Wisdom). In Buddhism the lotus signifies many virtues such as purity, compassion and spiritual growth, and Manjusri is also seated on a white lotus. Behind the trefoil-arched shrine in which he sits are ashoka trees, auspicious in Buddhism. The Buddha's mother Maya supported herself against an ashoka tree while enduring the pangs of his birth. The blue lotus is extremely rare and perhaps even extinct in the wild.
