Scenes from the Lotus Sutra. An Old Uygur Temple Banner with Cartouche Inscriptions

Abstract

The temple banner IB 4781 of the former Ethnological Museum in Berlin (today: Hermitage Museum ВД 585) originates from Qočo (Dakianusšahri: afterwards D 222). A. Grünwedel gave its detailed description, but after his publication in 1905 it remained more or less untouched. The picture is based on an overall composition in which individual passages from the sutra have been integrated. The groups of figures arranged in the cloud scenes were examined in detail in Grünwedel's description. They are mostly bodhisattvas. In depicting the figures sitting around the Buddhas the painter has included figures seen from behind, so that one can correctly imagine a circle, which of course should indicate that all the figures are concentrated on the Buddha. The 10 text cartouches contain quotations in Old Uygur based on the Chinese text of the Lotus sutra. They are read here for the first time. In the paper these cartouche texts are studied as well as the names of the donors on the bottom of the temple banner.