Images of Devotion - capriaquar.it

1. Stupa of the Heaped Lotuses (Padmâvali Chaitya)
Stone
Nepal
17 th century
17x13 cm
The term “chaitya” or ”stupa” refers to a mound of earth or
stone, the function of which is to mark the place where a
funeral pyre has been built. The stupa has taken on greater
importance in Buddhism, where it also serves as a shrine.
For a long time this object replaced the image of the historical
Buddha, Shâkyamuni, during an aniconic phase of Buddhist
art, and this symbolic identity between the stupa and
the Buddha still remains the same today.
Buddhist literature identifies a series of eight different kinds
of stupas deriving from the Indian prototypes which were
built, according to tradition, in each of the places connected
with the life or teaching of Shâkyamuni. These stupas are
commemorative monuments, and their function is to evoke
both the four essential moments of the Buddha’s earthly life,
i.e. birth, enlightenment, first preaching and parinirvâna, as
well as his four best-known miracles, his descent from the
Tushita sky, the great miracle of Shravasti, the miracle of
Vaishali, and the reconciliation of the dissenters 1 .
The miniature stupa presented here belongs to the “heaped
lotuses” 2 type, clearly visible above a lotus corolla supported
by a quadrangular base. It can be connected to the stupa
erected by Shuddhodana, father of Shâkyamuni, in the garden
of Lumbinî in Kapilavastu when his son was born. That
stupa was built to commemorate the child’s first seven steps,
with the same number of lotus flowers blossoming from the
earth upon the touch of his little feet 3 . Indeed, the Buddha’s
two footprints, surrounded by lotus petals, are depicted beneath
the base of this stupa.
This ingenious stupa, characterized by the fact it can be
disassembled, has a didactic function and also summarizes
the symbology of the first four stupas in the above-mentioned
series. It features five important moments in the Buddha’s
life, namely, his miraculous birth, depicted by the footprints
on the base; his reaching enlightenment and his first
sermon, represented in a specular fashion in the lower part
of the two halves of the petal-shaped base of the urn; death
and the parinirvâna, also specular, depicted in the two upper
registers. Each scene is enhanced by the presence of
believers, showing devotional behaviour and testifying the
fashions of the period with regard to clothing, hairstyles and
jewels.
This kind of stupa is known as Padmâvali, meaning literally
11
“row of lotuses”, with reference to the nine petal-shaped rings
formed by the heaped lotuses. In Nepal, it is linked to the
ancient symbology of the lotus flower, described in a legend
of creation in which the flower appeared, having manifested
itself, on the surface of lake Nâghrada. That lake covered the
entire Nepal Valley, except for the hill of Svayambhû, where
the most important stupa in the Valley can be found today.
According to tradition, the resplendent, self-generated flower
had a million petals, symbolising its manifold qualities and
corresponding to the same number of multiform manifestations
of the universe 4 .
Most of the examples of Padmâvali Chaitya are found in the
town of Patan, and the dates appearing on many of them
span a period running from the 18 th to the 20 th century, although
others may have been produced even earlier.
There are four niches at the base of the dome-shaped urn,
corresponding to the most important part of the stupa. Each
niche houses a Cosmic Buddha, presiding over one of the
four cardinal points. A Buddha is also carved on each side of
the base of the stupa, each Buddha being flanked by four
Bodhisattvas, on either side of whom there is a stupa.
The function of miniature stupas such as this one, besides
that of enabling whomever commissioned their execution to
accumulate merits, is connected to ceremonial and ritual
Newar celebrations. During said celebrations, such stupas
are exhibited by believers in the streets, forming a sort of
long pathway of pilgrimage. These ritual processions are held
in a number of centres in the Valley at different times of the
year 5 .
1 Giuseppe Tucci, Indo-tibetica, vol. I, “Mc’od rten” e “Ts’a Ts’a”
nel Tibet Indiano e Occidentale. Contributo allo studio dell’arte religiosa
tibetana e del suo significato, Reale Accademia d’Italia, Roma
1923, pp. 23-24.
2 Ibidem.
3 Ibidem, p. 14.
4 Niels Gutschow, The Nepalese Caitya. 1500 Years of Buddhist
Votive Architecture in the Kathmandu Valley, Edition Axel Menges,
London 1997, p. 271.
5 Ibidem, pp. 77, 79.