The Indian Buddhist Iconography
by Benoytosh Bhattachacharyya | 1958 | 51,392 words | ISBN-10: 8173053138 | ISBN-13: 9788173053139
This page contains an iconography image of 108 forms of Avalokiteshvara (56): Mahashankhanatha Lokeshvara and represents of the book Indian Buddhist Iconography, based on extracts of the Sadhanamala English translation. These plates and illustrations represent either photographs of sculptures or line-drawing reproductions of paintings or other representations of Buddhist artwork.
108 forms of Avalokiteśvara (56): Mahāśaṅkhanātha Lokeśvara
Fig. 56A: Mahāśaṅkhanātha Lokeśvara
This is figure 56 in a series of 108 forms of Avalokiteśvara from the Macchandar Vahal, Kathmandu, Nepal.
56. Mahāśaṅkhanātha Lokeśvara. He is identical in all respects with No 55, except that he bears different symbols. Here the god shows the Namaskāra mudrā, and the two Vajras in his three right hands, while his three left hold the noose, the arrow and the Ghaṇṭā.
55. Mahāratnakīrti Lokeśvara. He is three-faced and six-armed and stands on a lotus. He holds the fruit, the Utpala and the conch in his three right hands, and displays the bow, the whip and the Namaskāra mudrā in his three left.
The Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (The Watchful Lord) also called Padmapāṇi (Lotus bearer) is the spiritual son of the Dhyāni Buddha Amitābha. He is one of the most popular Bodhisattvas of the Buddhist Pantheon having as many as 108 different forms [viz., Mahāśaṅkhanātha Lokeśvara].