Sarvanivaranavishkambhin; Sculpture, volcanic rock, C Java, C11

A four armed seated figure carved from volcanic stone. The upper right arm holds a sword, the lower raised in abhaya mudra, the upper left holds a visvavajra and the lower rests in the lap in dhyana mudra. The legs are crossed in padmasana. The figure wears a crown and other bodhisattva ornaments and sits on a doubler lotus throne.

Bought from Willaim Clayton Ltd.

The figure has four arms, the upper right holding a sword, the lower raised in abhaya mudra; the upper left holds a visvarajra and the lower rests in the lap in dhyana mudra. The legs are crossed in virasana. The figure wears a crown and other Bodhisattva ornaments and is seated on a low dais which rests on a double lotus throne which, in turn, rests on a low platform.

The style is similar to that of the art of Plaosan which correspnds to the late Central Javanese period of about 1000 AD (see B Kempers `Ancient Indonesian Art' pl 135) or, possibly, to the earlier style of the Dieng Plateau of about the late 9th or early 10th century (see ibid, pl 28)

The iconography is uncertain. The figure is similar to an illustration of Sarvanivaranarishkambhin in B Bhattacharrya, The Indian Buddhist Iconography, pl 64 which is, however, only two armed. Dr P H Pott (in a letter in the R/pp) says that the iconography is unusual in Javanese art and tentatively suggests an identification of Visvapani.

Central Java, Indonesia

This figure of a bodhisattva reflects the popularity of Mahayana Buddhism in Java at this time (9th-10th century). The presence of a double or crossed vajra in one of the figure's hands suggests the presence of tantric or Vajrayana elements which were to become important in Java during the 12th to 14th centuries. The bodhisattva may be a form of Sarvanivaranarishkambhin.

IS.2-1968