Book Reviews

Author(s): J W De Jong
Publisher: J W De Jong

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REVIEWS
229
I refrained from venturing an opinion as to whether Rahulabhadra preceded or followed Nāgārjuna because the available evidence seemed too contradictory. In a recent article Sey fort Ruegg adduces weighty arguments for considering Rāhulabhadra to have been Nägärjuna's successor. 5
NOTES
1 Cf. OE 9 (1962), p. 48, Buddhist Studies (Berkeley, 1979), p. 542. 2 'Die Lehre Nägarjunas in den Müla-Madhyamaka-Kärikās', Epiphanie des Heils (Wien, 1982), p. 101. 3 Nagarjunas filosofiske vaerker (København, 1982), p. 39. According to Lindtner the MMK contain 448 stanzas distributed over 27 chapters (op. cit., p. 27). However, his edition contains 447 stanzas: the two introductory stanzas and 445 stanzas. Lindtner omits XII, 6 and XXXIII, 20. 4 Marcelle Lalou, 'Les textes bouddhiques au temps du roi Khri-sron-lde-bcan', JA 1953, p. 333. 5 "Towards a chronology of the Madhyamaka school', Indological and Buddhist Studies (Canberra, 1982), p. 511.
A Buddhist Paradise. The Murals of Alchi Western Himalayas. Text by Pratapaditya Pal. Pho tographs by Lionel Fournier. Published by Ravi Kumar for Visual Dharma Publications Ltd., Hongkong, 1982. 288 pages with 160 color plates. $60.-.
The temples of the Alchi monastery and their mural paintings have been described in great detail by D. L. Snellgrove and T. Skorupski in The Cultural Heritage of Ladakh (Vol. One, Boulder, 1977, pp. 29-80). The inscriptions were edited and translated by Philip Denwood (op. cit., Vol. Two, Warminster, 1980, pp. 119-153). According to Pratapaditya Pal's preface, several books have been published on Alchi, and those published in Japanese are richly adorned with numerous colour reproductions. However, his bibliography does not mention any of these Japanese publications and the only book listed which contains a detailed study of Alchi is the above-mentioned work by Snellgrove and Skorupski. Pratapaditya Pal refers to "Professor Tucci's discussion (written in the Thirties) on Alchi and related monuments of Western Tibet", but without indicating where this was published. Snellgrove and Skorupski point out that in Tucci's Indo-Tibetica one will find detailed descriptions of temples in Western Tibet contemporary with Alchi (op. cit., Vol. One, p. 143) and Philip Denwood writes that Tucci visited the temples at Alchi and occasionally referred to them (op. cit., Vol. Two, p. 119). One wonders where Pratapaditya Pal has found Tucci's discussion on Alchi.
Pratapaditya Pal's Introduction to this volume seems to have been written mainly in order to accompany the beautiful photographs taken by Lionel Fournier. The splendid colour plates in this volume will be enjoyed by all those who are interested in the murals of the Alchi temples. The Introduction is much less satisfactory. Most of it deals with a discussion of artistic styles and of the dates of the murals. The section entitled "Religious Background" shows that Pratapaditya Pal is not very well acquainted with Buddhist literature. It may suffice to quote one example. On p. 37 he writes: “One of the most important texts for Yogatantra is the Tattvasamgraha which was compiled in India, probably in the seventh century and apparently by Santarakṣita whose portrait is included in the Lhakhang Some (LS 19). It was a text of special significance for the Kadampa order and was jointly translated into Tibetan by Sraddhākavarman and Rinchen Sangpo." Pratapaditya Pal is blissfully unaware of the fact that
Indo-Iranian Journal 27 (1984)