Art Institute of Chicago

Painted Banner (paubha) of Goddess Ushnishavijaya Within a Funerary Mound (chaitya) and Surrounded by Chaityas

NepalLinkedCulture matchlcp-b0908254126b

Date

1513

Medium

Opaque watercolor with gold on cotton

Culture

Nepal

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Object ID

131816

At the center of this cloth painting (paubha) from Nepal the goddess Ushnishavijaya is enshrined within a large Buddhist funeral mound or shrine (chaitya), flanked by a red and green bodhisattva. As the personification of the Buddha’s cranial bump (ushnisha), Ushnishavijaya is associated with wisdom and is worshipped for long life and freedom from rebirth. At the periphery, she is surrounded by the guardians of the four directions. The blank red spaces are areas where the painting was damaged and then restored. An upper section is also missing. The many small chaityas represent the multiplication of merit accumulated in this painting, which symbolically allow for the donation of 100,000 chaityas in a ceremony known as lakshachaitya (100,000 chaityas ). This ceremony is depicted in the bottom register, where priests officiate at the lower left and donors officiate at the lower right.

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