466 



Jom^al of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [July, 1907. 



attendant figures each represent a Bodhisattva of the Mahayanist 



own 



the researches of M. Foucher. 



M 



cher*s works I have been able to identify only one of these atten- 

 dant figures, and so I shall be obliged to describe the other figures 

 simply. The hands of these figures are in different positions and 

 they are seated in different postui^es. It is impossible to identify 

 any of these attitudes with any particular mudra since they hnre 



with 



ure 



^ ^ on the top of the shrine. It is seated 

 on a full-blown lotus and on its breast there is a garland or neck- 

 lace. On each side of the halo there is a small votive stupa sup- 

 ported on a miniature full-blown lotus. On each side of the arch 

 of the shrine there is a figure seated also on a lotus. Ifear the 

 left arm of the right-hand side figure occurs the Nagari letter ye^ 

 and near the upraised right-hand of the left-hand side figure the 

 word Dliarmn also in Nagari. Below this on each side of the 

 shrine there is a similar figure. Just below the inscription under 

 the large lotus there is a single figure, on each side of which there 

 is, in a position similar to those on the sides of the arch of the 

 shrine, a figure also seated on a lotus. Oat of these eight atten- 

 dant figures I have been able to identify only one, which is just 

 below the inscription under the large lotus. In the seal before me 

 this figure has been much injured. But the duplicate in the 

 Oxford University Museum is in a better state of preservation,, 

 and I describe the figure from the plate published in the Man. 

 The figure has only two arms. The right hand is stretched for- 

 wards and holds another smaller figure in its palm, while the left 

 holds a round object which may be a Kamandalu. It is sitting 

 cross-legged (Vajra-paryanka-nisanoab), With the exception of 

 one thing this figure resembles the description of Hari-hari-hari- 

 vahauodbhava-lokesvara discovered by Dr. Foucher in the Sadhana 

 of this Bodhisattva in the Cambridgre and Paris MSS. The des- 

 cription is as follows : 



** Purvoktavidhanena S^unyatabhavananantaram Sita-hrih- 

 kara-nispannarh Hari-hari-hari-Vahanodbhavam Bhagavantam 

 Aryavalokitesvaram Sarvangasuklam jatamukutinam S'antavesaih 

 (Sadbhujam) Daksinakarena Bhagavantam Tathagatam Saksinam- 

 kurvantam, dvitiyena-ksamaladharinarii Tritiyena Dohkuhakam 

 lokamupadarsayantam, vamena dandadharam, dvitiyena Kysna- 

 jihadharam, trtiyena Kamandaludharam, Simha-Gariida-Visnu- 

 skandha-sarusthitamatmanam dhyatva ; Orh hrih hum iti man- 



trfl-m innpf. "1 



"After meditating on S'unyata or void in the 

 manner prescribed above, and after meditating oneself as the noble 

 lord Avalokitesvara evolved out of the white (mystic) syllable hrih 

 rising from the ffod who has Hari-hari-hari Ca lion, the mvthical 



tram japet. 



Translation. 



\ - 



p. 35. 



1 E'tade Sur L'Tconographie Boaddhiqiie de L'Inde, Deuxieme Pj^rtie, 



