A study on Ava1okitesvara the Savior in the Ajanta Caves

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  • アジャンター石窟における観音諸難救済図
  • アジャンター セックツ ニ オケル カンノン ショ ナン キュウサイズ

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Abstract

Avalokitesvara who saves people from eight kinds of dreads, was much popularity with Buddhist people. According to the 'Saddharmapundarika-sutra', merciful Ava1okitesvara Bodhisattva rescues people from many kinds of disasters - elephants, snakes, swords, evil spirits such as ogresses, lions, fire, robbers and shipwreck. As far as the Avalokitesvara the savior images in the Ajanta caves, there are already some articles published by D. Schlingloff, M. Mallmann, and Japanese scholars. I examine those images of Avalokitesvara the Savior to find out the elements that influenced the selection of disasters, and more to clarify the meaning of the execution of those images in the Ajanta Caves. Dreads seen in those images are unable to be interpreted with 'Saddharmapundarika-sutra'. They might be rather related with the actual disasters in the ancient India. However, in the Pala period, important role of rescuing people was expanded from Ava1okitesvara to include its consort Taraas a savior. There are some of Chinese materials of Astabhaya-Tara Sutras where we can recognize some characteristic of this deity. Surprisingly, the details of disasters match the ones of Ajanta images. As no direct evidence exists, this hypothesis may be possible that the actual images have influenced to the textual version.

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