294 Chinese Clay Figures 



The most interesting source for the study of T'ang defensive armor 

 is naturally offered by the clay figures and figurines; and these reveal 

 to us a new style of armor, that of sheet armor, which is thoroughly 

 characteristic, not of the life, but of the art, of this period. 



The type of clay image which comes here into question is of the great- 

 est interest, as it originated in the £ivaitic worship of India, and be- 

 came widely diffused over Tibet, Turkistan, China, and Japan. We 

 may in general classify the manifold variations of this type among the 

 so-called Dharmapala ("Protectors of Religion"), guardian deities 

 adopted by Buddhism, and more specifically designate it as Yama, the 

 God of Death, who still plays such a prominent role in Tibetan Lamaism. 

 J. Edkins 1 holds that he may be pointed to as the most remarkable 

 example of the influence of Hindu mythology on the popular mind of 

 China. 



Among the clay figures of the T'ang period we find two fundamental 

 types of this Hindu god, — a zoomorphic and an anthropomorphic 

 form. The zoomorphic form is doubtless the older one, and is closely 

 associated with the Lamaist representation of Yama as Dharmaraja 

 (" King of the Law "), figured with the head of a bull, and dancing on the 

 back of this animal. 2 Old Ziegenbalg, who wrote in 17 13 at Tran- 

 quebar on the coast of Coromandel, gives the following description of 

 his image as found in southern India: "Yama is represented as being 

 quite black, with a horrible face, and a crown on his head, and al- 

 together surrounded by fire. In his mouth he has a lion's teeth, and 

 in his four hands he holds respectively a club, ropes, a trident, and a 

 wine-jug, from which he gives wine to the dying to mitigate the bitter- 

 ness of death. On the whole he is adorned like the king, and rides on a 

 black buffalo. The poets have written many stories about him, which 

 these heathens receive with undoubted credence." 3 



On Plate XLIV we see him modelled in clay, with most powerful 



can neither wound his enemy nor extract his weapon, and if his enemy is an archer or 

 is armed with a long sword or javelin, he is likely to lose his life for his mischance. 

 The suit of a famous Yiin-nan bandit consisted of sixty thicknesses of cotton cloth 

 and paper, and made him practically invulnerable. These suits are comparatively 

 light, are very durable, and of course, extremely cheap." Heavy quilted cotton 

 armors are still occasionally worn by Chinese in this country under their garments, 

 when the members of secret societies are on the war-path. The writer was once shown 

 a wonderful specimen in the Police Department of New York, which weighed so 

 heavily upon the unfortunate Chinaman that he was unable to run, and was easily 

 captured after a shooting-affair. 



1 Chinese Buddhism, p. 219 (London, 1893). 



2 Pander and Grunwedel, Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu, p. 62 ; Gr&n- 

 WEDEL, Mythologie des Buddhismus, pp. 62, 168, 174. 



3 B. Ziegenbalg, Genealogy of the South-Indian Gods (translated into English 

 by G. J. Metzger), p. 192 (Madras, 1869). 



