Book Cover from a Manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This painted cover for a palm-leaf manuscript belongs to the Pala- Nepalese tradition. It comes from a palm-leaf edition of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra (“Perfection of Wisdom in 8,000 Verses”). Seated at center is Prajnaparamita, the goddess of transcendent wisdom and the personification of the text she holds in a raised hand. Two seated bodhisattvas, Padmapani Lokeshvara and Vajrasattva, attend her. At left are two miraculous events from the life of the historical Buddha: his birth in the Lumbini grove, and his subduing of the enraged elephant Nalagiri at Rajgir. Depicted at right is the Buddha’s first sermon at Sarnath, where he preached to an assembly of monks and bodhisattvas, and the miracle at Shravasti, where he caused a multiplicity of Buddhas to appear.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art