A PAUBHA DEPICTING AN USHNISHAVIJAYA CHAITYACOMMEMORATING A BHIMARATHA CEREMONY 


NEPAL, DATED 1795 CEDistemper on cloth; with a lengthy inscription dated 'samvat 915, in the month of Jyeṣṭha, in waxing fortnight, second lunar day [20 May 1795 CE]'.Himalayan Art Resources item no.61959 36 3/4 x 28 1/4 in. (93.3 x 71.7 cm)
|尼泊爾 1795年  尊勝母佛塔博巴 With rich and vivid colors, this commemorative painting depicts at its center a chaitya (stupa) resting on a lotus in a blue lake with the Buddhist long-life deity Ushnishavijaya. There, she is said to reside within the stupa's womb. Ushnishavijaya is flanked by celestial attendants adoring her, beneath the eyes of the stupa's harmika and its tall, golden spire. A multitude of cloud-borne Buddhist deities abound in the verdant and auspicious landscape. The Five Presiding Buddhas appear at the painting's apex, with white Vairocana at their center, Ushnishavijaya's spiritual progenitor. In the painting's bottom third, Dhanasimha Tuladhar and his wife Jashavati, of Naradevi, Kathmandu, perform the Bhimaratha ceremony with vajracharya priests, celebrating Dhanasimha having reached the special age of 77 years, 7 months, and 7 nights. It is at this advanced age that Dhanasimha has crossed over from human life into divine life, according to Newari belief. Thereafter, Dhanasimha and his wife will be regarded as deities, freed from temporal responsibilities at the onset of seniority. The painting commemorates Dhanasimha's Bhimaratha ceremony in three episodes. Starting in the bottom right corner, Cikidhika of Itumbahal, the vajracharya priest officiating the ceremony, begins with an offering to the fire (agni puja). Then, two assistant vajracharya priests consecrate Dhanasimha and his wife Jashavati with holy water from a conch shell and panchamrita sprinkled from durva grass. Finally, in the bottom left corner, observed by family members and descendants - many of whom commissioned this painting - Dhanasimha and his wife begin a chariot procession through Kathmandu's neighborhoods of Tengal, Asan, Hanumandhoka, and Yatakha, led by a horse symbolically representing their ritual voyage to the realm of the sun god Surya (Suryaloka). With Ushnishavaijaya in the center of this painting, Dhanasimha's family members are wishing him an even longer life. Around its bottom and lower left and right borders, a lengthy dedicatory inscription provides the names of the those in attendance who commissioned this painting to commemorate Dhanasimha's Bhimaratha ceremony: || Oṁ namo bhagavate āryye uṣṇīṣavijayāyai || śreyostu samvat 915 jyeṣṭhamāse śuklapakṣe dvitīyā budhavārakunhu ṅatatola yaṃkulavihārādhivāsita, tulādhara dhanasiṃhaju strī jaśavatī nimhastaṃ, putra mateṅasiṃhaju pautrā bhājusiṃhaju, bekhāsiṃhaju prapautra jñānavantasiṃha, bahādurasiṃha, harṣanarasiṃha, prabhṛti guheśvarīmayī, thikayamatī, bhīmakhvālamayī, dhanalakṣmīmayī, tārāvatīmayī, gunelakṣmīmayī, helamatīmayī | mūlaguru ituṃbāhāyā śrīcikidhikaju, upādhyā taocheyā sīsī, harṣa(..)ju thutisena pratiṣṭhā yāseṃ bhīmaratha jātrā, teṃga, asaṃtola, rājakula, etākhā paryyantaṃ jātrā yāṅā julo śubhaṃ magalaṃ bhavantu sarvvadākālaṃ || śubhaṃ ||  "Om, salutation to the honorable goddess Uṣnīṣavijayā. Let it be good! This paubha (scroll painting) was made collectively by these family members - the son Mateṅasiṃha, the grand-sons Bhājusiṃha, Bekhāsiṃha, the great-grand-sons Jñānavantasiṃha, Bahādurasiṃha, Harṣanarasiṃha, others Guhyeśavarī, Thīkayamatī, Bhīmakhvāla, Dhantalakṣmī, Tārāvatī, Gunelakṣmī (and) Helamatī - for two persons, Dhanasiṃha Tuladhar (and his) wife Jaśavatī, residing at Yaṃkulavihāra of Ṅata locality (Naradevi) on Wednesday, NS 915 in the month of Jyeṣṭha, waxing fortnight, second lunar day (20 May 1795 CE). Blessed Cikidhika of Itumbahal, the main Vajracharya priest, assistant priests Sīsī, Harṣa(..)ju of Toache consecrated it. The Bhīmaratha procession was done towards Tengal, Asan tole, Rājakula (royal palace) and even Etakhā (Yatakhā). Let it be auspicious in all times. (Let it be) good!" A Lakṣhachaitya paubha dated 1808 CE, previously in the Jucker Collection, is from the same locality in Naradevi, Kathmandu, and was possibly produced for the same Tuladhar family; some of the names on its inscription match those of the present one. The paubha shares a similar presentation of the central stupa, landscape, and placement of its deities (Kreijger, Kathmandu Valley Painting, Boston, 1999, p.82, no.28). Bonhams would like to thank Ian Alsop and Kashinath Tamot for their research of this painting and translation of its inscription. Provenance Private European Collection, acquired 1970s/80s Sotheby's, New York, 21 March 2012, lot 310