id: 117673 accession number: 1938.301.1.b share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1938.301.1.b updated: 2023-08-23 19:51:12.669000 Prajnaparamita flanked by two female figures, folio 1 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra), Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina). Eastern India, Bihar, Vikramashila Monastery. Painting: Nepal, Kathmandu. Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf; leaf: 5.4 x 54.3 cm (2 1/8 x 21 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.301.1.b title: Prajnaparamita flanked by two female figures, folio 1 (verso), from a Manuscript of the Perfection of Wisdom in Eight Thousand Lines (Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita-sutra) title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: Sunday, September 14, 1119 (year 239 of the Newar Samvat in the month of Ashvina) creation date earliest: 1119 creation date latest: 1119 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Eastern India, Bihar, Vikramashila Monastery. Painting: Nepal, Kathmandu technique: Gum tempera and ink on palm leaf department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Nepalese Art type: Painting find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Leaf: 5.4 x 54.3 cm (2 1/8 x 21 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: inscription: Om namo bhagavatya ārya Prajñāpāramitāyai // nirvikalpe namas tubhyaṃ prajñāpāramite 'mite yā tvaṃ sarvānavadyāṅgi niravadyair nirīkṣyase // ākāśam iva nirlepāṃ niṣprapañcāṃ nirakṣarām yas tvāṃ paśyati bhāvena sa paśyati tathāgatam // tava cārye guṇāḍhyāyā buddhasya ca jagadguroḥ na paśyanty antaraṃ santaś candracandrikayor iva // kṛpātmakāḥ prapadya tvāṃ buddhadharmapuraḥsarīm sukhenāyānti māhātmyam atulaṃ bhaktivatsale // sakṛd apy āśaye śuddhe yas tvāṃ vidhivad īkṣate tenāpi niyataṃ siddhiḥ prāpyate 'moghadarśane // sarveṣām api vīrāṇāṃ parārthaniratātmanām poṣikā janayitrī ca mātā tvam asi vatsalā // yad buddhā lokaguravaḥ putrās tava kṛpālavaḥ tena tvam api kalyāṇi sarvasattvapitāmahī // sarvapāramitābhis tvaṃ nirmalābhir anindite candralekheva tārābhir anuyātāsi sarvadā // vineyaṃ janam āsādya tatra tatra tathāgataiḥ bahurūpā tvam evaikā nānānāmabhir īḍyase // prabhāṃ prāpyeva dīptāṃśor avaśyāyodabindavaḥ tvāṃ prāpya pralayaṃ yānti doṣā vādāś ca vādinām // tvam eva trāsajananī bālānāṃ bhīmadarśanā āśvāsajananī cāsi viduṣāṃ saumyadarśanā // yasya tvayy apy abhiṣvaṅgas tvannāthasya na vidyate tasyāmba katham anyatra rāgadveṣau bhaviṣyataḥ // nāgacchasi kutaś cit tvaṃ na ca kva cana gacchasi sthāneṣv api ca [sarveṣu vidvadbhir nopalabhyase //] translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021). --- PROVENANCE (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1938 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1938– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Although barely visible now, delicate diaphanous scarves are draped around the arms of all three figures. digital description: In the center of the first folio, the personification of the texts found within the manuscript is shown as a crowned four-armed goddess holding a rosary, palm leaf, and giving a mudra, or symbolic hand gesture, indicating that she is in the process of teaching. The haloed Prajnaparamita’s golden skin tone and accoutrements showcase the image’s self-reflexive relationship to the light-colored palm leaf that was used to make this book. The text on this leaf is not the Perfection of Wisdom itself, but rather a preamble of praises to the goddess known as the Prajnaparamita-stotra of Rahula. These hymns would have continued onto folio 2 of the manuscript, which was unfortunately lost before the volume was acquired by the Cleveland Museum of Art. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 754 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n136 O’Mara, Reed. “‘On Golden Tablets’: The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Aṣṭasāhasrikā Prajñāpāramitā Manuscript as a Self-Referential Icon.” Religions 11, no. 274 (2020): 1-19. page number: Reproduced: p. 2, figs. 1-2. url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.301.1.b/1938.301.1.b_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.301.1.b/1938.301.1.b_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1938.301.1.b/1938.301.1.b_full.tif