Vol. Ill, No. 7.} • Notes on Clay Tableh. 467 



bir^ Garuda and the lord Visnu) as his vehicle white in all his 

 limbs crowned with clotted hair, dressed in a manner inspirinf? 

 tranquillity of mind (with six hands), with the right hand calling 

 the lord Tathagata to witness, holding a rosary in the second 

 (right hand), pointing out the world as badly deceived, holding a 

 staff in the left hand, a black-antelope skin in the second (left) 

 hand, and a Kamandalu (water-pot) in the third (left hand), and 

 riding on the shoulders of a lion or Garuda or Visnu ; one shoixld 

 repeat the mystic formula * Om hrih hum/ " 



It is to be observed that the form of Lokesvara here described 



I 



possesses six arms, whereas the figure under consideration has only 

 two. But this difference is not of much importance since the 

 number of hands in Buddhist Iconography cannot be strictly 

 limited and the figure on the seal and the description in the 

 Sadhana figree in two of their main characteristics. 



The figure ou the seal holds in his right hand a smaller figure 

 which is evidently the image of the lord Buddha whom the Bodhi- 

 sattva holds as witness {Bhagavantam Tathagatam S^ksinam-Kiir-- 

 vantam). On the Oxford duplicate of the seal I find the head of 

 an animal with open jaws under the seated figure. This undoubt- 

 edly is a lion (Skt. hari) which is one of the Vahanas of this 

 Bodhisattva. 



r 



Out of the remaining four seals three are from the same die. 

 These seals measure 3J inches by 3 inches and bear a single im- 

 pression on the obverse. It z'epresents a four-armed figure seated 

 on a lotus nnder a canopy and with a lialo around its head. 

 Without doubt this is the Bodhisattva Avalokite^vara, surnamed 

 Padmapani. On the right side of his head there is a stupa, and 

 just below this an inscription consisting of ** Ye Dharma, etc." in 

 seven lines in the Nagari characters of the 11th century A.u. 

 The Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is usually recognised by the pre- 

 sence of his spiritual father the divine (Dhyani) Bnddha Amitabha. 

 The number of arms in this case also cannot be limitedj Accord- 

 ing to Dr. Vogel in the case of a four-armed Padmapani one of 

 the right hands is stretched out in the gift-bestowing gesture 

 iYarada U'udrS) while the other holds a rosary (Aksa-sutra), and 

 one of the left hands holds a lotus stalk, the other holding a book 

 or Kamandalu. In this image, however, the first of the right 

 hands holds a string which may be a rosary, but I think it is a 

 snare (Pa§a) which is found on certain figures of Avalokites- 

 vara.* This form of the Bodhisattva is known as Amoghapasa.^ 

 The other rii^ht hand is in the Varada Mudra. The first left 

 hand holds a lotus-stalk, the other being placed on the lap. But 

 this left hand is indistinct in all of the tl»ree specimens and 

 also in the Oxford University Museum's specimen, so that it is 

 impossible to know whether it hold.^^ a Pustaka or a Kamandalu 



1 Annual Report of the Archaeological Survey of India, 1903-4, pl'214*!&i 



2 Griiawedel and Bartceas'w Buddhist Art in India, p. 121*. fiors. 105-6. 



3 Archseologisch Onderzoek of Java en Mndnra/pl 19, I9n, This statile' 

 is inscribed with the name of the Bodhisattva. It has eight ftfms. ' ' 



