Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Ratnasambhava, the Buddha of the Southern Pure Land
Not on view
Ratnasambhava means “born of jewels”—not surprisingly, one of his prominent emanations is Jambala, a god of prosperity and wealth. As in the thangka of the Amoghasiddhi at right, the top of this thangka is filled with rows of bodhisattvas who display a variety of attributes and mudras and listen to the words of the central Buddha. Later, this position is occupied by teachers and patriarchs associated with the various Buddhist schools active in Tibet. In both thangkas, the five fierce deities at the base ward off evil forces and protect the sacred space of the thangka. The presence of these protective deities is a feature shared with the Tibetan manuscript covers and perhaps helps explain the distribution of the illuminations found in the early palm-leaf manuscripts of north India, as all protect sacred objects.
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