Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 6. (Budapest, 1963)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Tóth, Edit: The Iconography of the Portraits of the Pancaraksä-Manuscript
II. THE ICONOGRAPHY OF THE PORTRAITS OF THE PANCARAKSÄ-MANTJS C II I P T According to the five chapters of the manuscript the first page of each chapter contains one of the five Dhyänibuddha-?-, the opposite page the corresponding figure of the group of Pancaraksä-goddesses. The pictures are seen in the square field between the two holes serving to fix the manuscript. The outlines of the figures are red, the bodies, throne and halo are painted w T ith gold. The hair and the bowl for alms are blue, the remaining attributes are also gold. In addition white paint has been used to mark the wdiites of the eyes and the teeth, and black for the eyes and eyebrows. These pictures are of soft colouring, and, in most cases radiate a golden atmosphere; painted on blue-black paper they convey a pleasant colour effect. Their design, however, lacks the sufficient care and seems to be schematical. In investigating the manner in wdiich the types of faces, bodies and costumes are portrayed, we may note the strong influence of Chinese painting which is at variance with the miniatures of the Paiicaraksä-manuscript, still preserving the impact of Indian painting in the Päla period 1 published by H.J. Stooke. As to iconography, the pictures are somewdiat different from the usual representations. The group of Pancaraksä-goddesses is in fact a personified group of magic words designed to stave off evil, entirely abstract complexes of words depicted as concrete human of divine forms, respectively, thus their portraiture is expressedly symbolical. These goddesses of incantation were regarded as the spiritual emanations of the dhyänibuddha therefore the individual members of the group wore the colour, guarded the cardinal points and wore in their headdress the picture of the dhyänibuddhas under whose supervision they were. In principle this is all very clear ; in practice, however, a comparison of the single sources yields data which flatly contradict each other. Mahäpratisarä (Fig. 1) is the goddess of the first chapter of our manuscript. She is painted in yellow, appears in the South and wears the picture of Ratnasambhava in her crown according to the Sanskrit iconographical sources quoted by B. Bhattacaryya : the Sädhanamälä and the Nispannayogävali 2 and also in the work of A. Gordon. 3 Kirfel 4 gives two descriptions: according to one the goddess is yellow, according to the other she is white. Stooke 5 also describes her as white. The yellow colour represents the earth and belongs to the purvieu of Ratnasambhava Dhyänibuddha, w T hite is the colour of the ether and is con-
