The art and architecture of India - Buddhist, Hindu, Jain (Art Ebook)

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206. Banner of Avalokitesvara from Tun-huang.
London, British Museum
207. Banner of the White Tara from Tibet.
Cambridge, Mass., B. Rowland
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Compassion [206]. The central figure of Avalokitesvara
is immediately reminiscent of the
types of Bodhisattvas found in the fragments of
Pala manuscripts from Bengal and Nepal, as
may be seen in the sensuous elegance of the
proportions and the dry, linear definition of
form. The surrounding little scenes illustrating
the perils from which this Bodhisattva delivers
the devotee are entirely Chinese in costumes,
setting, and execution.
A comparison of this painting with a banner
of the goddess Tara in the author's collection
[207], dating presumably from the late eighteenth
or early nineteenth century, reveals how
little change has taken place in nearly a thousand
years. The resemblance is almost unbelievable
between the two figures, in pose and attributes
as well as drawing. Both are of course ultimate
derivations from the late Buddhist school of
Bengal, as seen also in the Xepalese manuscript
in the Boston Museum [203]. In the illumination
of Tara only the painting of such
accessories as the clouds, flowers, and the waves
beneath Tara's lotus throne reveal an assimilation
of Chinese decorative forms. It is this
admixture of Chinese motifs that more than
anything else distinguishes the late tankas from
their age-old prototypes.
The principal subjects of the votive banners
are scenes from the life of Buddha, the Dhyani
Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Taras, etc., local saints
and heroes, and Bonpo themes. 11 As has often
been said, there is no variety, even stylistic, in
Tibetan painting beyond that which comes
from the multiplicity of subjects and the richness
of the Buddhist pantheon. Indeed, Tibetan
art furnishes us with the supreme example of
how all creative effort without anv freedom or