Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana
Ink and color on paper
Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana
CHINA, Gansu, Dunhuang; Northern Song dynasty
Vaisravana, Heavenly King of the North wears a tall headdress and scaled armor. The simply painted face has wide eyes and a faint mustache and beard. Distinctive curved spikes representing flames rise from the Heavenly King’s shoulders. He supports a pagoda with his left hand and holds a halberd in his right. A long sword hangs from the waist. Based on other images of Vaisravana, the missing bottom section likely depicts the Earth Goddess, Prthivi, supporting the feet of the Heavenly King. The cartouches on both sides are left empty.
For more details, go to the Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O, page 681.
Cite this article:
Hsingyun, et al. "Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana." Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O, vol. 15, 2016, pp. 681.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youlu, Graham Wilson, Manho, Mankuang, and Susan Huntington. 2016. "Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana" In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O, 15:681.
Hsingyun, Youheng, Youlu, Wilson, G., Manho, Mankuang, & Huntington, S.. (2016). Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana. In Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O (Vol. 15, pp. 681).
@misc{Hsingyun2016,
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youlu and Wilson, Graham and Manho and Mankuang and Huntington, Susan,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O},
pages = 681,
title = {{Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana}},
volume = 15,
year = {2016}}
author = Hsingyun and Youheng and Youlu and Wilson, Graham and Manho and Mankuang and Huntington, Susan,
booktitle = {Encyclopedia of Buddhist Arts: Painting I-O},
pages = 681,
title = {{Mogao Cave 17: Vaisravana}},
volume = 15,
year = {2016}}