Collection Online as of September 27, 2023

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)

Part of a set. See all set records

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.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1938.301.1.b

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

Although barely visible now, delicate diaphanous scarves are draped around the arms of all three figures.

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.

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 //]

Inscription Remark

With the exception of the first line, this inscription is copied from the standardized edition of the Prajnaparamitastotra of Rahula and does not reflect this specific leaf.

Provenance

?–1938

(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1938–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: cat. no. 754 archive.org

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. Reproduced: p. 2, figs. 1-2.

Exhibition history

Stories From Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).