A Mediaeval Bronze Sculpture of Arapachana from Nepal

This remarkable bronze sculpture of Arapachana, one of the popular varieties of Maiijueri, belongs to the collection of Dewan Bahadur Radhakrishnna Jalan of Patna City. Its findspot is Nepal which had been an important centre of M¡h¡y¡na and Vajray¡na Buddhism in mediaeval times. I am grateful to the Dewan Bahadur for his kindly permitting me to write on this sculpture. My thanks are due to Mr. A. Ghosh, Superintendent, Archaeological Survey, Government of India, who has obliged me with valuable suggestions in writing this article and has also got me four photographs of the sculpture (reproduced here) through his departmental photographer, Mr. N. Bose, Patna.

The present sculpture is in the form of a lotus with eight, petals, standing on a pedestal. Thanks to the skilful mechanism of the artist, the petals can be opened and closed. When opened, the sculpture looks like a full blown lotus and when closed, it looks like a lotus bud. The pedestal consists of a moulded circular basewith a beaded border on which stands an ornamental shaft with lotus-petal design near its base. It is flanked on two sides by two highly decorated volutes and in turn supports a moulded circular piece which again has a beaded border. The top portion of this piece contains eight rectangular holes in which are inserted the, projecting lotus petals. The petals themselves are lenticular in shape, and convex, in section and meet, when closed, in a point at the top. The two side-petals are provided with two projecting hollowed pieces through which a thread can be passed to tie the petals together (cf. Pl. II). The petals are numbered by numerals 1 to 8 .on their outer sides and contain each a deity in relief on the inner concave sides; the centre of the lotus, is occupied by Arapachana Maµju¿r¢. The total height, of the sculpture, when closed is 6 inches.

Arapachana is seated on a lotus pedestal (in the centre of the sculpture as noted above) crossed leged in Vajraparya´ka attitude. He wears a beautiful crown and has a radiant face. He holdsin the right hand a sword the end of which touches the top of the crown and has in theleft hand the Prajµ¡p¡ramit¡ Book close to the brest. He is decorated elaborated with ornaments (ear-rings, necklace, armlets, bracelets and anklets etc) all over the body. He wears a rich stirpped cloth falling in orranged folds below thekeens. The upper garment consists of a scarf going along the shoulder and with two ends flowing. The representation of Arapachana tallies substantially with the description given of him in Buddhist S¡dhan¡s[1] .... "Kha·gapustakadh¡ri¸am Vikasita Vadanam ¿a¿¡nka k¡ntitulya ¿pbham vi¿vadalakamalathabaddha parya´kam sadyonubhav¡rapachanar£pam ¡tm¡nam ¢kshyeta.

The figures on the concave side of the petals beginningn with one in front of Arapachana and proceeding in an anti-clock direction are as follows according to the numbers and names incised on the outsiders of the petals:-

(1) J¡lin¢pravha: Rapresented in front of Arapachanna, seated on a lotus pedestal in Vajraparya´ka attitude; holding a sword in the right hand, touching the breast; wearing a rich stripped cloth which falls below the knee, having ornaments all over the body, physical expression similar to that of Arapachana. In short J¡lin¢prabha as well as the other three companion deities (Chandraprabha, upake¿in¢ and Ke¿in¢) have been depected as exact replicas of Arapachana, the main deity with but slight variations.[2]

2 Amoghasiddhi (a Dhy¡n¢ Buddha) seated dn a lotus pedestal in Dhy¡n¡sana posture, the left hand placed on the legs and the right hand in abhayamundr¡ posture wearing a cloth which falls beIow the knee and an upper garment which goes along the left side of the shoulder and hangs round the wrist of the left arm; having elongated ears and a Ja¶¡-knot as the headdress.

(3) Upake¿in¢: Represented to the laft of Arapachana, seated an a lotus pedestal in vajraparya´ka, attitude, sword in the right hand, which goes over to the back of the crown, prajnapsramits Book in the left hand, touching the breast, wearing a rich stripped cloth which falls below the knee; having ornamets all over the body, breasts prominent, facial expression similar to thqt of the main deity (i.e. Arapachana).

4 Amit¡bha (a Dhy¡ni Buddha) seated on a lotus pedestal is Dhy¡n¡sana posture, hands placed on the legs in dhy¡namundr¡, wearing a cloth which falls below the knee, having an upper garment which covers the upper portion of the body and hangs round the wrist of both the arms having elongated ears, and Jat¡knot as the headdress.

(5) Chandraprabha: Represented behind Arapachana, seated on a lotus pedestal in Vrjraparya´ka attitude, sword in the right hand, touching the top of the crown over the head, the prajn¡paramits Book: in the left hand, touching the breast, wearing a rich stripped cloth which falls below the knee; having ornaments all over the body, physical expression similar to that ot Arapachana.

(6) Ratnasambhava (a Dhy¡n¢ Buddha; seated on a lotus pedestal in Dhy¡n¡sana posture, left hand placed on the legs, right hand in varada posture, wearing a cloth which falls below the knees, having an upper garment which goes along the left side of the shoulderand hangs round the wrist of the left arm, with elongated ears and a ja¶¡knot as the headdress.

(7) Ke¿in¢: Represented to the right of Arapachana, seateg on a lotus pedestal in Vajraparya´ka attitude, sword in the right hand, touching the top of the crown over the head; the Prajn¡p¡ramit¡ Book in the left handi touching the breast; wearing a rich stripped cloth which falls Ibelow the knees; having ornaments all over the body; with prominent breastrs; facial expression similar to that Arapachana).

(8) Akshobhya (a Dhy¡n¢ Buddha) seated on a lotus pedestal in Dh¡sn¡sana posture, left hand placed on the legs, the right hand in Bh£mispar¿a mudr¡; wearing a cloth which falls below the knees, having an upper garment which goes along the Ieft side of the shoulder and hangs round the wrist of the left arms, with elongated ears and a ja¶¡-knot as the headdress.

J¡lin¢prabha (also called J¡lin¢kum¡ra and S£ryaprabha), Chandraprabha, Ke¿in¢ and Upake¡in¢ are according to the sadhanas, the four usual companions of Arapachana.[3] According as the Sadhanas desire, they have been depicted around him as his replicas, J¡lin¢prabha in front of him, Chandraprabha behind, Ke¿in¢ to the right and Upake¿ini to the left. In short, the representation of Arapachana and that of his companions agree fully to the descriptions given of them in various s¡dhanas, .... áubhr¡k¡ranishpannamarapachan¡khyam sitam sarv¡la´kal¡kuµchita asipustakau dh¡na¤kanish¶ham vajraparya´keno pavishtam dakshi¸av¡makar¡bhyam vajraparya´keno pavish¶am dakshi¸av¡makar¡bhy¡m asiputakau dh¡raparya´keno

Indran¢lasakal¡kuµchita paµchach¢radharamsphuradindusam¡nanam Vadat¡mvaram svab¢jenduyuktah¤idayam vibh¡vya, Tasya pura¶aÅ ¿uklaraphodbhava j¡lin¢prabham Arapachanavaddvibhuj¡diyuktam svah¤d¢ndau svab¢j¡dhish¶hitam dristv¡ tadanu prish¶hataÅ ¿uklarephodbhava j¡lin¢prabham Arapachanavaddvibhuj¡diyuktam Vadat¡mvaram svab¢jenduyuktah¤idayam vibh¡vya, Tasya pura¶aÅ ¿uklarephodbhava j¡lin¢prabham Arapachnavaddvibhuj¡diyuktam svah¤id¢ndau svab¢jenduyuktah¤idayam dristv¡ tadanau prish¶hataÅ sitapak¡ra nishpannam

Chandraprabham Svah¤id¢ndau b¢jasamyuktama valokya tato dakshi¸e ¿ubhrach¡kara nishpann¡m ke¿in¢m sitapak¡ra nishpannam Chandraprabham Svah¤d¢ndau b¢jasamyuktama valokya tato dakshi¸e ¿ubhrach¡kara nishpann¡m ke¿in¢m sit¡m sarv¡la´k¡rabh£shit¡m p¢napayodhar¡m savy¡vas¡vyen¡sipustakadhar¡m Chandaprabham Svah¤id¢ndau b¢jasamyuktama valokya tato dakshi¸e ¿ubhrach¡kara nishpann¡m ke¿in¢m sit¡m sarv¡la´k¡rabh£shit¡m p¢j¡nvit¡m vichinya evamuttare¸a ¿uklanak¡ra nishpann¡mupake¿in¢m cha svah¤id¢ndau b¢jasamanvit¡m vibh¡vya sarv¡narapachana sad¤¿¡n vichintayet.[4]

Sculptures representing Arapachana are very common. But in most of the cases he is found represented either singly or with his four companions noted above. The present composition is rare in as much it represnts Arapachana not only with his four usual companions but also four Dhy¡n¢Buddhas (Amoghasiddhi Amit¡bha, Ratnasambhava and Akshobhya). Besides the present one, there is to my konwledge only one more sculpture[5] (a stone panel) representing Araphachana with four companion deities and four Dh¡yan¢ Budhas (Vairochana, ratnasambhava, Amit¡bha and Akshobhya) which is now preserved in the Decca Museum, Decca.

A remarkable feature of four sculpture deserving a special mention, is that Arapachana has been represented in a ma¸dla exactly after the Buddhist Tantric Ideas, i.e., Arapachana sits in the middle of the (lotus) ma¸·ala and the secondary deities are grouped around him.[6] So far as our knowledge goes we have no other representation of Arapachana in lotus Ma¸·ala up till now besides the present one.

Further, it may be stated here that sculpture in the form of lotus ma¸·ala, known so far, are very few in number. Besides the preseents one, mention may made of only two more, one[7] belongs to the Indian Museum, Calcutta and the other[8] to the Dacca Museum, Decca. Both of them contain representation of vajarat¡ra with the ancillary deities[9] and belong to the 10th-11th Century A.D.

Our sculpture is in a fair state of preservation, only the ends of two petals are broken, the images are all well executed and details are all clear.

Our sculpture bears no date but contains certain short inscriptions. The inscriptions on lthe other side of the petals reveal the names of Arapachana's four comapanions and dh¡n¢ Buddhas, viz 1. Jalan¢prabhaÅ, 2. AmoghasiddhiÅ, 3. UpakeÀin¢, 4. Amit¡bhaÅ, 5. ChandraprabhaÅ, 6. RatnasambhavaÅ, 7. Ke¿in¢, 8. AkshobhyaÅ. The inscriptions at the base read as follows:-Narar¡ja Vija¿ir¡l Mamju¿r¢Å // R¡utra Jayar¡jaÅ 1 Kanaka¿ir¡ 1.

The above sems to be the personal names being those of the donors of the image of Arapachana. We do not know if any other significance can be attached to them. The inscriptions are written in north India scripts of the 10th -11th Century A.D. Hence on palaegraphical grounds the image can be assigned to c. 11th century A.D.

[1] Arapachana S¡dhanam, p. 121, S¡dhanam¡l¡, Vol. I. Ed. By Benoytosh Bhattacharya, see also S¡dhan¡s on pp. 112 (No. 55) and 118 (No. 56).

[2] While Arapachana holds the prajµ¡p¡ramit¡ Book close to the breast and not touching it, the four companion deities have the book in their hand, touching the breast. J¡lin¢prabha, Chandraprrbha and ke¿in¢ have their sword with its end touching thetop of the crown as Arapachana, but Upake¿in¢ has sword going to the back of her crown and not touching it.

[3] Arapachanas¡dhanam s¡dhanam¡la, Vol, I. Ed. By Benoytosh Bhattacharya, p. 121 (s¡dhan¡, No.58), pp. 113-114 (s¡dhan¡, No. 58)

[4] Ed. by S¡dhanam¡la voi. I Ed. By Benoytosh bhattacharya, p.118. See also pagese 113, 114 of the same volume. This is to be noted that according to the Buddhistic conception as contained in the above s¡dhan¡ as well as in others too (see S¡dhaban¡l¡ Vol, I. P. 112 ff), the principal god (Arapachana) iriginates from syllable "A"

[5] Iconography of Buddhist and Brahmanical sculpture, Dacca Museum by Dr. N.K. Bhattas¡li pp. 28 & 29, pl. viib, I. A. (ii) b.

[6] Arapachana S¡dhanam, s¡dhanam¡la. Vol. I Ed. By benoyotosh Bhattacharya, pp. 113-120.

[7] Found in 1893 at Chadanipore near patharghata in the Bhagaplur district Iconography of the Buddhsit and Brahmanical sculpture, decca Museum by N.K. Bhattasale, pl. XV. Pp. 45 ff.

[8] Fished jout of a tank in the village of M¡jb¡·¢, two miles west of the police station of Ko¶¡li p¡·¡, istrict Faridpur. Iconography of the Buddhist and brahmannical sculptures, Dacca Museum pt. XVI.

[9] Ibid pp. 47-52.