2. Author Affiliation: Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities / Leipzig University, Germany.
關鍵詞
Kucha; Buddhist murals; self-sacrifice; Maitreya; Avalokiteśvara
摘要
Narrative art requires pictorial conventions to convey the content of pictures. Artists have to provide information about the social status of a person, the place and time of an event, etc., without employing words. Pictorial conventions have to be consistent to be understandable; any deviation will be detected and is therefore probably meaningful. In paintings from Kucha, a clear distinction is made between the headgear of a king and the hairdo of a Brahmanical ascetic. However, in a number of jātaka representations the self-sacrificing king is shown with the hairstyle of a Brahmanical ascetic. There even are jātaka paintings in which the Bodhisatva is shown with a mandorla—a feature reserved in Kucha exclusively for the samyaksaṃbuddhas and the ‘Mahābodhisatvas’ like the future Buddha Maitreya. It is obvious that the paintings are transmitting a particular message. But how would a viewer in the past have understood, for example, an image of the King Pradīpapradyota—shown guiding the merchants on their way with his hands burning—represented with the ascetic hairdo of Maitreya… or rather, of Avalokiteśvara?
