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Śiva and Avalokiteśvara: On the iconography and date of the Golden Window and Golden Door of Patan's Royal Palace1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2012

Gudrun Bühnemann
Gudrun Bühnemann*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
*
gbuhnema@wisc.edu
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Abstract

The Golden Window above the Golden Door of Caukoṭ Darbār, a building on the western side of the (former) Royal Palace complex, is a major attraction in the city of Patan (Nepal). The gilt window panel features a representation of Avalokiteśvara in his form as Sṛṣṭikartā (“creator”) emanating Hindu divinities from his body. The sides, base and tympanum of the window likewise display Hindu divinities. The construction of the window has been ascribed to different kings of the late Malla period (1483–1768) and is said to illustrate their support for the Buddhist practices of their subjects, while providing a Hindu interpretative framework for such practices. In this paper I identify the divinities on the window and examine textual and visual sources that shed light on the date of the window's construction, including the inscriptions above and at the sides of the Golden Door. I show that there is no evidence for such an early dating of the window and that the Golden Window was probably constructed sometime in the nineteenth century in either the Śāh period (1769–1846) or, more likely, the Rāṇā period (1846–1951). I conclude with some thoughts on the possible significance of the peculiar configuration of divinities surrounding the Bodhisattva on the window.

Keywords

Golden WindowGolden DoorCaukoṭ DarbārPatanNepalAvalokiteśvaraSṛṣṭikartā LokeśvaraMalla period
Type
Articles
Information
Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies , Volume 75 , Issue 2 , June 2012 , pp. 337 - 359
Copyright
Copyright © School of Oriental and African Studies 2012

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Footnotes

1

This is a version of a paper, originally published in Orientations (Bühnemann 2010), expanded to take into account the iconography of the Golden Door of Patan's Royal Palace. The earlier paper, which includes high-quality colour photographs, addresses a broader readership and does not use footnotes or diacritical marks. I would like to thank Kashinath Tamot, Gerd Mevissen, Niels Gutschow, Horst Brinkhaus, Iain Sinclair, Michael Meister, Philip Pierce and Adalbert Gail for valuable suggestions on drafts of this paper. For their kindly providing photographs, I am indebted to Niels Gutschow, Manik Bajracharya and Rupert Steiner.

References

Bibliography and abbreviations

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Devamālā Vaṃśāvalī. Edited by Yogī Naraharinātha. Mṛgasthalī, Kathmandu: Kṣipranātha Yogirāja, no date, c. 1956 (second edition).Google Scholar
Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha. Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha-Sūtra or The Supernatural Virtues of Avalokiteśvara. Sanskrit Text of the Metrical Version edited for the first time from original manuscripts by Lokesh Chandra. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 1999.Google Scholar
(Despite the title Kāraṇḍavyūha, the text is actually a version of the Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha.)Google Scholar
Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha. Ārya Guṇa Kāraṇḍa Vyūha Sūtra. Translated by Pandit Jog Muni Vajracharya, . Edited by Min Bahadur Shakya, . Lalitpur: Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods, 1997 (specified as a reprint of an edition published in 1976).Google Scholar
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(Despite the title Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha, the text is actually a version of the Kāraṇḍavyūha; it is based on the edition by Satyabrata Samasrami published in Calcutta in 1873.)Google Scholar
Kāraṇḍavyūha. Die Gilgitfragmente des Kāraṇḍavyūha, herausgegeben von A. Mette. Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 1997.Google Scholar
Ācārya, B. 1967. Śrī5 Baḍāmahārājādhirāja Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha (Saṃkṣipta Jīvanī). Part 2. Kathmandu: Press Secretariat of His Majesty, Royal Palace.Google Scholar
Bangdel, L.S. 1995. Inventory of Stone Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy.Google Scholar
Bühnemann, G. 2010. “Complex configurations: on the iconography and date of the Golden Window in Patan, Nepal”, Orientations 41/3, 24–30.Google Scholar
Chandra, Lokesh. 1997. “Sṛṣṭikartā Lokeśvara with twelve emanations”, in Chandra, Lokesh (ed.), Cultural Horizons of India. Volume 6. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 52–7.Google Scholar
Chandra, Lokesh 1999–2005. Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography. 15 volumes. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.Google Scholar
Dīp, D.K. 1977. “Karuṇāmaya (Rāto macchendra)kā parama bhakta rājā śrī śrīnivāsa malla”, Prajñā (Kathmandu) 12, 65–9.Google Scholar
Gail, A.J. 1988. Tempel in Nepal. Volume 2. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1992. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1994. “Monuments of Lalitpur (Patan)”, in Hutt, Michael et al. (eds), Nepal: A Guide to the Art and Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. Gartmore, Stirling: Paul Strachan/Kiscadale, 138–69.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1996. “A sketch of the history of Lalitpur (Patan) with special reference to Buddhism”, Contributions to Nepalese Studies 23/1, 125–57.Google Scholar
Hacker, P. [†] 1983. “Inklusivismus”, in Oberhammer, G. (ed.), Inklusivismus: Eine indische Denkform. Vienna: Institut für Indologie der Universität Wien, 11–28.Google Scholar
Khanāl, M.P. 1999. “Vi. saṃ. 1900 tākāko nepāla (Nepal around V.S. 1900)”, in Sketches from Nipal by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, MD. (A souvenir published for the 1999 exhibition organized by the British Embassy in Kathmandu and Himal Association), Patan Dhoka, 12–9.Google Scholar
Kvaerne, P. (trans.) 1979. “The visit of Prince Waldemar of Prussia to Nepal in February and March 1845”, Kailash 7/1, 35–50.Google Scholar
Le Bon, G. 1887. Les Civilisations de l'Inde. Paris: Librairie de Firmin-Didot.Google Scholar
Liebert, G. 1986. Iconographic Dictionary of the Indian Religions: Hinduism – Buddhism – Jainism. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications (second edition).Google Scholar
Rau, H. 1984. Nepal: Kunst- und Reiseführer. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.Google Scholar
Ruegg, D.S. 2008. The Symbiosis of Buddhism with Brahmanism/Hinduism in South Asia and of Buddhism with “Local Cults” in Tibet and the Himalayan Region. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, Nutan Dhar. 1998. “Chaukot Darbar: The Royal Palace of Patan”, unpublished MA dissertation, submitted to the Central Department of Nepalese History, Culture and Archaeology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal.Google Scholar
Shrestha, Khadga Man. 2005. “Religious syncretism and context of Buddhism in medieval Nepal”, Voice of History 20/1, 51–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slusser, M.S. 1982. Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. 2 volumes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Theophile, E.G. and Gutschow, N.. 2006. “The Patan Royal complex: 19th and early 20th century views and photographs”, Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (unpublished draft copy).Google Scholar
Tuladhar-Douglas, W. 2006. Remaking Buddhism for Medieval Nepal: The Fifteenth-Century Reformation of Newar Buddhism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wiesner, U. 1976. Nepal: Königreich im Himalaya. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur im Kathmandu-Tal. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.Google Scholar
Wright, D. (ed.). 1972 (1877). History of Nepal, Translated from the Parbatiya by Munshi S.S. Singh and Pandit Shri Gunanand with an Introductory Sketch of the Country and People of Nepal. Kathmandu: Nepal Antiquated Book Publishers, 1972 (reprint of the 1877 edition).Google Scholar
Bhāṣāvaṃśāvalī. Bhāṣā Vaṃśāvalī. Part 1. Edited by N. Pauḍel. Part 2. Edited by D. Laṃsāl. Kāṭhmāḍauṃ: Nepāla Rāṣṭrīya Pustakālaya, 1963–66.Google Scholar
Devamālā Vaṃśāvalī. Edited by Yogī Naraharinātha. Mṛgasthalī, Kathmandu: Kṣipranātha Yogirāja, no date, c. 1956 (second edition).Google Scholar
Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha. Kāraṇḍa-Vyūha-Sūtra or The Supernatural Virtues of Avalokiteśvara. Sanskrit Text of the Metrical Version edited for the first time from original manuscripts by Lokesh Chandra. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 1999.Google Scholar
(Despite the title Kāraṇḍavyūha, the text is actually a version of the Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha.)Google Scholar
Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha. Ārya Guṇa Kāraṇḍa Vyūha Sūtra. Translated by Pandit Jog Muni Vajracharya, . Edited by Min Bahadur Shakya, . Lalitpur: Nagarjuna Institute of Exact Methods, 1997 (specified as a reprint of an edition published in 1976).Google Scholar
Kāraṇḍavyūha. Avalokiteśvaraguṇakāraṇḍavyūha, in Mahāyānasūtrasaṃgraha. Edited by P.L. Vaidya. Part 1: 258–308. Darbhanga: The Mithila Institute, 1961.Google Scholar
(Despite the title Guṇakāraṇḍavyūha, the text is actually a version of the Kāraṇḍavyūha; it is based on the edition by Satyabrata Samasrami published in Calcutta in 1873.)Google Scholar
Kāraṇḍavyūha. Die Gilgitfragmente des Kāraṇḍavyūha, herausgegeben von A. Mette. Swisttal-Odendorf: Indica et Tibetica Verlag, 1997.Google Scholar
Ācārya, B. 1967. Śrī5 Baḍāmahārājādhirāja Pṛthvīnārāyaṇa Śāha (Saṃkṣipta Jīvanī). Part 2. Kathmandu: Press Secretariat of His Majesty, Royal Palace.Google Scholar
Bangdel, L.S. 1995. Inventory of Stone Sculptures of the Kathmandu Valley. Kathmandu: Royal Nepal Academy.Google Scholar
Bühnemann, G. 2010. “Complex configurations: on the iconography and date of the Golden Window in Patan, Nepal”, Orientations 41/3, 24–30.Google Scholar
Chandra, Lokesh. 1997. “Sṛṣṭikartā Lokeśvara with twelve emanations”, in Chandra, Lokesh (ed.), Cultural Horizons of India. Volume 6. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan, 52–7.Google Scholar
Chandra, Lokesh 1999–2005. Dictionary of Buddhist Iconography. 15 volumes. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture and Aditya Prakashan.Google Scholar
Dīp, D.K. 1977. “Karuṇāmaya (Rāto macchendra)kā parama bhakta rājā śrī śrīnivāsa malla”, Prajñā (Kathmandu) 12, 65–9.Google Scholar
Gail, A.J. 1988. Tempel in Nepal. Volume 2. Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1992. Monk, Householder, and Tantric Priest: Newar Buddhism and Its Hierarchy of Ritual. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1994. “Monuments of Lalitpur (Patan)”, in Hutt, Michael et al. (eds), Nepal: A Guide to the Art and Architecture of the Kathmandu Valley. Gartmore, Stirling: Paul Strachan/Kiscadale, 138–69.Google Scholar
Gellner, D.N. 1996. “A sketch of the history of Lalitpur (Patan) with special reference to Buddhism”, Contributions to Nepalese Studies 23/1, 125–57.Google Scholar
Hacker, P. [†] 1983. “Inklusivismus”, in Oberhammer, G. (ed.), Inklusivismus: Eine indische Denkform. Vienna: Institut für Indologie der Universität Wien, 11–28.Google Scholar
Khanāl, M.P. 1999. “Vi. saṃ. 1900 tākāko nepāla (Nepal around V.S. 1900)”, in Sketches from Nipal by Henry Ambrose Oldfield, MD. (A souvenir published for the 1999 exhibition organized by the British Embassy in Kathmandu and Himal Association), Patan Dhoka, 12–9.Google Scholar
Kvaerne, P. (trans.) 1979. “The visit of Prince Waldemar of Prussia to Nepal in February and March 1845”, Kailash 7/1, 35–50.Google Scholar
Le Bon, G. 1887. Les Civilisations de l'Inde. Paris: Librairie de Firmin-Didot.Google Scholar
Liebert, G. 1986. Iconographic Dictionary of the Indian Religions: Hinduism – Buddhism – Jainism. Delhi: Sri Satguru Publications (second edition).Google Scholar
Rau, H. 1984. Nepal: Kunst- und Reiseführer. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer.Google Scholar
Ruegg, D.S. 2008. The Symbiosis of Buddhism with Brahmanism/Hinduism in South Asia and of Buddhism with “Local Cults” in Tibet and the Himalayan Region. Vienna: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sharma, Nutan Dhar. 1998. “Chaukot Darbar: The Royal Palace of Patan”, unpublished MA dissertation, submitted to the Central Department of Nepalese History, Culture and Archaeology, Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal.Google Scholar
Shrestha, Khadga Man. 2005. “Religious syncretism and context of Buddhism in medieval Nepal”, Voice of History 20/1, 51–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slusser, M.S. 1982. Nepal Mandala: A Cultural Study of the Kathmandu Valley. 2 volumes. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Theophile, E.G. and Gutschow, N.. 2006. “The Patan Royal complex: 19th and early 20th century views and photographs”, Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust (unpublished draft copy).Google Scholar
Tuladhar-Douglas, W. 2006. Remaking Buddhism for Medieval Nepal: The Fifteenth-Century Reformation of Newar Buddhism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Wiesner, U. 1976. Nepal: Königreich im Himalaya. Geschichte, Kunst und Kultur im Kathmandu-Tal. Cologne: Verlag M. DuMont Schauberg.Google Scholar
Wright, D. (ed.). 1972 (1877). History of Nepal, Translated from the Parbatiya by Munshi S.S. Singh and Pandit Shri Gunanand with an Introductory Sketch of the Country and People of Nepal. Kathmandu: Nepal Antiquated Book Publishers, 1972 (reprint of the 1877 edition).Google Scholar