Thousand-Armed Avalokiteshvara

A miracle in metal-cast as takes place only rarely, a copper image, every part plated with twenty-four carat gold dazzling the eye by its sheer beauty and disabling imagination to soar as high as this reality – an artifact but transcending both, the art and the art’s fact, this lustrous image represents the Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara. The Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara has an eye on every palm by which he sees the sufferings of mankind, extends a helping hand to all and illuminates everyone’s mind with the light of wisdom. The Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara is infinite compassion and boundless wisdom. The Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara has very early presence in arts, which a painting from the first quarter of the sixth century presented to the most loved Tibetan king Sron-btsan-sgam-pa, the founder of Buddhism in Tibet, attests. Except seven of the foremost eight hands forming part of the figure’s regular anatomy, the two normal ones holding ‘Mani’, and the other five, rosary, lotus, Vajra, bow and kamandala – pot with a handle and spout, palms of all other hands, even those represented symbolically as mere palms, have on them a miniaturised form of eye – a rare and amazing skill to have on these microbial palms such well defined forms of eye.

Not casually or by his own whim, in conceiving the image with a thousand hands the artist has kept to the prescribed tradition. As emphasizes the tradition, this statue has conceived forty of the Avalokiteshvara’s thousand arms as his main operative hands, each protecting against a particular trouble and might be specifically invoked for redeeming from it. For a balanced anatomy the artist has bifurcated these forty hands into two units, eight branching amicably from the figure’s main anatomy, and remaining thirty-two, emerging a ring-like from his back. The rest nine hundred sixty hands have been cast like an aureole in the background, exactly in the manner the tradition prescribes, symbolising measureless benevolence and representing skillful means for effecting it. This iconographic placement of two sets of hands, thirty-two and nine hundred sixty, creates two discs, outer being sun-disc that protects from blindness, and the inner, moon-disc that by providing coolness relieves from fever. These hands and wisdom are deeply linked. It is only when the Wisdom Immovable is realised that these hands operate. The Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara is invoked for granting sway over vast dominions.

Not merely multi-armed, this manifestation of Avalokiteshvara is also multi-faced having twelve faces, nine visible and other three implied, in vertically rising three units of four each, guarding all four directions and the three cosmic zones. Though identically perceived with angular faces, sharp features, small comely lips, large half open eyes, broad foreheads with a common single crown for the unit of four heads, dark thick hair with locks reaching the shoulders, the size of these heads reduces gradually in vertical rise. As mandates the iconographic tradition of the Buddhist iconography, atop the figure of Avalokiteshvara there enshrines the seated image of Buddha in meditation with an icon of Mahakala in his lap. As usual, the Buddha’s image is in red sanghati – large shoulder-cloth, covering both shoulders, and the awe-striking Mahakala with usual third eye and three skulls tied along the forehead. The elegantly bejeweled standing image of Avalokiteshvara is wearing an ‘antariya’, besides a large sash, both reaching the lotus seat and flanking on either side.

Abounding in unique lustre the image of Avalokiteshvara has been installed on a three-tiered golden pedestal, the base and the uppermost consisting of lotus motifs, and the middle, a relatively plain plank structured supported on a pair of lions and a stylized feet-motif in the centre. The base and middle tiers have been conceived in a triangle’s form with broad foreside, and a narrower back. There rises from this narrower side of the pedestal an impressive disc with a temple-tower like apex. This disc has multi-role. A halo revealing divine aura it defines the divinity of the Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara; it comprise base for the aureole comprising nine hundred sixty arms of the deity; and it represents cosmos with a colourful outer ring with motifs of conch which represent cosmic sound, and flames, red and blue, that represent cosmic fire – red, the fire above, and blue, the oceanic fire, the cosmic energy and the life on the cosmos.

This description by Prof. P.C. Jain and Dr. Daljeet. Prof. Jain specializes on the aesthetics of literature and is the author of numerous books on Indian art and culture. Dr. Daljeet is the curator of the Miniature Painting Gallery, National Museum, New Delhi. They have both collaborated together on a number of books.