Manuscript Illustrations Of Uttaradhyayana Sutra

Author(s): W Norman Brown
Publisher: American Oriental Society

Page 72

en before imes used for the preach. In the lower part of wo women, not
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THE STORY OF RATHANEMI "continuous narration," appears twice in his chariot: at the bottom he is approaching the pen; at the top he has turned around and is leaving. His charioteer is none other than his cousin Krishna, the god Vishnu in avatāra, whose four arms with disk and conch in two of them make his identity certain. In the second painting (fig. 86) is Aristanemi shown as when in heaven before his descent to earth for his final birth, although this kind of representation is also sometimes used for the preaching of the first sermon (samavasarana) and even for his release as a perfected being (siddha). In the lower part of that same scene Krishna, recognizable by his four arms and attributes, is speaking to two women, not unreasonably to be taken for Rājimati and an attendant, perhaps announcing to them that Ariştanemi has left the world and so causing Rājimati's awakening. The third painting (fig. 87, which is wrongly placed in the manuscript with Chapter 20) shows the peaks of mount Raivataka, on top of which stands Aristanemi in meditation. In the cave, which is represented with a partition, are Rājimati and Rathanemi in conversation. The painting shows her as a laywoman and him as a monk, but at this time both had taken the vows. She is not shown naked, as the story relates, but merely at the moment of removing her scarf; the explanation is probably that the painter did not wish to show so holy a person in a state of nudity.
The painting of DV (fig. 88) shows Aristanemi seeing the penned animals. In the lower register a monk stands at the left in meditation; he might be Ariştanemi on mount Raivataka, which would then be shown in outline around him, although the scene might be in a cave. At the right is a monk plucking out his hair, and in the center is another monk preaching, as though to the monk at the left. Comparison with the subjects of the paintings in the other manuscripts suggests that the artist may have made errors in this part of the painting, and that Rājimati should have been represented. In that case, the tonsure should have been of her, and it should have been she, not a monk, who stood in the center preaching to Rathanemi, who would have been shown in the cave, as she should also have been.
See remarks above in connection with the paintings of Chapter 1.