Folio 348 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Bodhisattva Manjushri with two forms of Avalokiteshvara (recto); Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with

Folio 348 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Bodhisattva Manjushri with two forms of Avalokiteshvara (recto); Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with Manjushri (verso) (1000–1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This leaf has six paintings, three on the recto and three on the verso, creating part of a visual grand finale. The first 340 leaves of the manuscript mainly have a single painting, but at the end there are more, and they depict varied and sometimes aggressive imagery. Similarly, the text ends with a hymn, the Buddhisattva vow to clear the path to enlightenment of evil obstacles, such as wrong views and bad influences.

Object facts

• Title: Folio 348 from a Gandavyuha-sutra (Scripture of the Supreme Array): Bodhisattva Manjushri with two forms of Avalokiteshvara (recto); Bodhisattva Samantabhadra purifies the path to enlightenment, with Manjushri (verso)
• Date: 1000–1100s
• Culture: Nepal
• Type: Painting
• Technique: gum tempera and ink on palm leaf
• Dimensions: Average: 4.2 x 52.4 cm (1 5/8 x 20 5/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1955.49.7

A detail from the museum

The same Bodhisattva of Wisdom, Manjushri, is slim and splendid on the front in the middle, portly and protective on the back at the left.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Mace, Sonya Rhie. “Clearing the Course: Folio 348 of the Nepalese Gaṇḍavyūha-sūtra in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” Religions 2020, 11(4), 183.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.