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Buddhist Iconography Identification Guide
5.1 ATTRIBUTES (Sanskr. cihna (hastacihna); Tib. phyag chas, phyag mtshan)
Drawn by Alex Kocharov
The term attribute refers to symbolic implements held by figures in the Buddhist pantheon. Objects and offerings placed in front of or beside the principal figure in an icon are, as a rule, not included in the class of attributes. Only the most important varieties of the attributes represented are included in Table V, and unlike independent drawings, they are indicated by letters of the Roman alphabet. The classification of the drawings in the table is based not on the implements’ functions but on their external resemblance to various objects. This was done to facilitate work with the table when the function of a particular attribute is unknown.
If an object is placed on a lotus flower, such a combination is regarded as two separate attributes; an object placed in a vessel, however, is treated as a unit together with the vessel. We should mention that certain simplifications were unavoidable in the table. For instance, only some of the offerings that may be held by deities (see attributes 15–20) and only the major kinds of ropes (attributes 139–42) are included. A more subtle differentiation of objects, though interesting in its own right, is irrelevant for the identification of the figures represented.
One of the most common attributes used in Buddhist art is the flower. As a rule, it is a particular variety of lotus, differing from all others primarily in colour. Other characteristics of plants, such as the shape of leaves and petals, are rendered by icon painters in an arbitrary manner, making it difficult to identify a given plant unambiguously. As bronze images are usually left unpainted, we can only guess as to the colour of such an image. All flowers in blossom are indicated by the same number: 95.
Other specific features of the drawings will be pointed out in each particular case.
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1. Pātra alms bowl (Sanskr. pātra, piṇḍapātra; Tib. lhung bzed), an indispensable implement of Buddhist monks and one of the most common attributes. The main attribute of the Mahāsiddha Kankana is sometimes represented as a large vessel in the form of a patra. |
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2. Pātra with the medicinal plant myrobalan (Sanskr. āmalaka, dhātrī, oṣadhi; Tib. a ru rа). This attribute is often represented as a whole plant with its fruit (cf. No. 96). It is typical of the “Teacher of Medicine”, Bhaiṣajyaguru (Tib. Sman bla) and the yidam Amitābha (Sanskr. Amitābha yuganaddha; Tib. 'od dpad med yab yum) |
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3. Skull-cup, made from the top of a “dry” human skull (Tib. thod skam), or kapala (Sanskr. kapāla; Tib. thod pa). Such a cup could be used in place of the pātra by Hindu yogis as a stronger symbol of renunciation, as the pātra was still a product of civilization, while a human skull could be picked up at any charnel ground. (In India and Tibet the dead were not usually buried.) The kapala came to play a significant role in many rituals and became one of the most common attributes in Buddhist iconography. In literary sources this term at times refers to other vessels of a similar shape or to a severed head, with special comments on whether it is “dry” or “fresh” (Tib. thod rlon). |
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3A. “Fresh” or “moist” skull, with the hair and scalp (Tib. thod rlon), an attribute of Vajrabhairava. |
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4. Vase or vessel (Sanskr. kalaśa, kamaṇḍalu, ghaṭa, kuṇḍika, kumbha; Tib. bum pa), one of the most common attributes. Nos. 5 to 9 show independent varieties of vases. In ritual practice, two types of vase are typically employed: the “main vase” (Tib. gtso bum) depicted here and the “action vase” (Sanskr. karma kalaśa; Tib. las kyi bum pa), equipped with a spout. As a rule the vessel is “dressed” in a special apron (Tib. bum khebs) composed of variously coloured pieces of silk or brocade. This implement often appears in icons. |
5A
5B |
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5A, 5B. Treasure vase (Sanskr. ratnakalaśa, ratnapātra; Tib. gter bum, gter gyi lhung bzed), differs from No. 4 in that its lid is crowned with a jewel. |
5C |
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5C. Basket for rice or other grains (Sanskr. piṭaka, Tib. za ma tog, 'bras phor), also has a top in the form of a jewel but is larger and is usually not held in the hands but positioned alongside the central figure in the icon. The basket also represents the “Word of the Buddha”, as the traditional term for the collection of canonical Buddhist scriptures is Tripiṭaka, the “three baskets”. |
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6. Vase of immortality (Sanskr. amṛtaghaṭa, amṛtakalaśa) and “vase of long life” (Tib. tshe bum, bdud rtsi bum) are the names given to this vessel by Indians and Tibetans, respectively. The vase is filled with amṛta, the “nectar of immortality” or “life-giving water”, and the threads (as a rule, beads) hanging from the lid symbolize, according to Lavrov, “sacred pills, employed in praying for long life”. The vessel of long life is an attribute of yidams “responsible” for longevity, such as Amitāyus, White Tara, and Uṣṇīṣavijaya, as well as of the fifteenth-century Mahasiddha Thangtong Gyalpo and the Śākya monk Sonam Senge (Tib. bSod nams seng ge). |
7A
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7. Despite certain dissimilarities in form, Nos. 6 and 7 are given the same name in traditional texts and are peculiar to one yidam, Amitāyus. |
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8. Vase with peacock feathers (Sanskr. mayūrapicchakalaśa, māyūrapakṣakalaśa; Tib. rma bya'i sgro bum pa), a commonly depicted ritual implement (cf. ill. 5, 190) and attribute of the female deity Dīrgha Ayusha as well as of the monk Śrībudhi. |
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9. Vase with a spout (Sanskr. kuṇḍika, kalaśa; Tib. bum pa; las bum; spyi blugs, ril ba spyi blugs), one of the attributes of Maitreya, Avalokiteśvara, and a number of other figures (cf. No. 4). It differs from the Tibetan bronze teapot (Tib. gsol tib) only in lacking a handle. The water flask (Tib. phud tib) has a more oblong shape and resembles Persian vessels. |
10A
10B |
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10. Pot or cauldron (Sanskr. kumbha; Tib. rdza bum), the implement of several mahāsiddhas: Bhavapa uses this vessel to collect amṛta pouring from a cloud, Tengipa pounds rice in it, and Kumaripa fashions it on a potter’s wheel. T. Schmid published a representation of a rectangular vessel. |
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11, 12. Treasure casket (Sanskr. nidhi, kośa, ratnapiṭaka, ; Tib. gter, mdzod, rin po che'i sgrom bu), an attribute of the female deity Dozangma and of certain tertons (discoverers of the hidden treasures of the Teaching) in the Nyingma School. |
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13. Butter lamp (Sanskr. dīpa, āloka; Tib. mar me, sgron me), an attribute of the Buddha Ratna-agni. This implement is also personified by the deities Aloka and Dīpa. |
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14. Censer or hanging incense burner (Sanskr. aratrika; Tib. spos phor, bdug pa ma'i spos phor), commonly depicted in thangkas as an implement held by the female deity Dhupa, who personifies the “offering of incense”, the fourth in the group of “eight offerings”. The Arhat Angaja is often depicted with this attribute. |
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15. Water bowl (Sanskr. arghām; Tib. chu snod, mchod yon), the first of the “eight offerings” traditionally placed on the altar. A similar bowl of liquid is an attribute of the female deity Dorje Dragmo. A similar bowl filled with curds (Sanskr. dadhi; Tib. zho) is among the “eight blessed offerings”, which sometimes constitute an independent iconographic group. These “offerings of the eight auspicious substances”, blessed by the Buddha when presented to him, include:
- a mirror;
- medicinal dried elephant bile (Sanskr. rocanā; Tib. gi wang), represented in the form of a jewel;
- a bowl filled with curds or yoghurt;
- durva grass;
- a bowl of fruit (bilva?);
- a right-spiralling white conch shell;
- red “protective powder”, cinnabar or vermilion (Sanskr. rākṣareṇu, sindhura; Tib. li khri). In some cases depicted, like attribute 16, as a bowl filled with this powder, in other cases it is shown as a gtor ma sacrificial cake.
- white mustard seed (Tib. yungs dkar).
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16. Bowl (Sanskr. karoṭa; Tib. gzhon pa) filled with white mustard seed (Sanskr. sarṣapa; Tib. yungs dkar), offered to the Buddha by Vajrapāṇi. “Protective powder”, offered to the Buddha by the brahman Jyotirāja, is one of the “eight blessed offerings” and is depicted in a similar manner. |
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17. This attribute, an offering bowl with precious elephant tusks (Tib. nor bu glang mche ba), differs from a typologically similar attribute – the bowl filled with jewels (cf. No. 32A) – only in having elephant tusks on either side of the jewels. The second of the “eight blessed jewels”, medicinal dried elephant bile, is represented similarly. A bowl filled with jewels is an attribute of a number of figures, while the “precious elephant tusk” is one of the “seven royal insignia” (Tib. rgyal mtshan sna bdun):
1) precious palace (Tib. khang bzang rin po che);
2) precious robes (Tib. gos rin po che);
3) precious boots (Tib. lham rin po che);
4) precious elephant tusk (Tib. glang chen mche rin po che, nor bu glang mche ba);
5) queen’s precious earrings (Tib. btsun mo rna rgyan rin po che);
6) king’s precious earrings (Tib. rgyal po rna rgyan rin po che);
7) precious stone (Tib. nor bu rin po che). |
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18. Bowl filled with bilva fruit (Sanskr. bilva, vilva, śrīphala; Tib. bil ba; Aegle Marmelos), the fifth of the “eight blessed offerings” presented to the Buddha by Brahma. |
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19. Offering bowl with a sacrificial cake, balin or gtor ma (cf. No. 192) (Sanskr. zhal balin, naivedya; Tib. gtor ma zas). This is how the seventh of the altar offerings may be represented; it may be personified by the female deity of the same name. The seventh of the “eight blessed offerings” may be similarly represented. The gtor ma is a commonly employed ritual implement and appears as an attribute of a few minor deities in thangkas. |
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20. Palace (Sanskr. prāsāda, kūṭagṛha; Tib. khang brtsegs, khang bzang), an attribute of the Buddha Shailendraraja. This number is also used for offering bowls differing from Nos. 15–19. |
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