Painted Banner (Thangka) from a Set of Seven Honoring Gayadhara, a Pandit from India

Discussion

FROM THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO’S CATALOG

This thangka features Hvashang, a legendary devotee of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Although his name means “Chinese monk,” he is also identified as the Buddha’s patron, and in Tibetan art he is frequently dressed in lay robes and adorned with jewelry like a merchant. He is also associated with children and often appears, as shown here, surrounded by children at play. Hvashang is one of the additional figures who make up the full iconographic grouping included with representations of Shakyamuni and the sixteen arhats, the subject of the seven thangka set to which this work belongs. Such sets typically contain twenty-five figures in all, centering on Shakyamuni surrounded by his close attendants Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, the sixteen arhats, the four guardian kings who protect the cardinal directions, and the two devotees, Hvashang and Dharmata. Hvashang, like a number of these figures, is generally not worshipped on his own, but collectively the grouping has become a popular subject for both devotional practice and artistic representation. In painting, the group may appear in a single thangka or in sets with one or more figures per thangka. In the present work, Hvashang is accompanied

Source ↗