This book is an attempt to present a comprehensive work on the Buddhist iconography of India and is mainly based on Sanskrit text prepared from seven recessions of the Sadhanamata alias Sadhanamuccaya. The text has been illustrated by pictures representing images in several museums in India and elsewhere in the collection of numerous Nepalese monasteries.
In the present work, an endeavour has been made to identify the images of Buddhist deities by means of Dhyanas given in the Sadhanamata. Wherever images could not be procured, the Sadhana has been illustrated with the help of sketches or drawings prepared by Nepalese chitrakaras of Buddhist origin from the ancient albums of their forefathers. No drawing could be obtained, and only the original text was quoted with a translation. The importance of Indian Buddhist iconography lies not only in its being one of the earliest authentic accounts but also in its being one of the most outstanding works on the subject, withstanding the change in perception due to new material and research.
The Mighty Gods and Goddesses of the Buddhist Pantheon wish to reveal themselves before the world once again through the pages of the Buddhist Iconography. Their Will is supreme. After overcom-ing difficulties, delays and obstacles, the Buddhist Iconography at last is presented to the scholarly world in a second edition after a lapse of full thirty-four years. It is pleasant to live these long years to see my favourite book pass through a second edition. This is an occasion when I should remember with gratitude two of my illus-trious preceptors, Professor A. Foucher and my father Mm. Haraprasad Shastri both of whom are no longer in the land of the living. I believe in my heart of hearts that their invisible care and blessings are in a large measure responsible for this happy ending. It gives me immense satisfaction.
When the first edition of this book was published in 1924, my studies were much hampered owing to paucity of material. But since then such a great volume of information has been published that it appears almost overwhelming. I never could think that it would be possible for me to handle such vast material in a manner befitting this serious subject. Thus the second edition goes to the world with all its imperfections of which I am conscious more than my critics.
After 1924, the texts of the Sadhanamala and the Nispannayogavali were published. Both these texts proved to be veritable mines of information on Buddhist gods and goddesses. Between the two publications, the edition of the Advayavajrasangraha and the Guhyasamaja followed in rapid succession, and the information furnished in these two excellent texts not only added to my difficulties, but also changed materially the whole outlook underlying the classi-fication and arrangement of Buddhist deities. These Sanskrit texts were published in the Gaekwad's Oriental Series when I was the General Editor under my erstwhile Master, the late His Highness Maharaja Sayaji Rao III, Gaekwad of Baroda and his illustrious Dewan Sir V. T. Krishnama Chariar, now Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission for the Republic of India.
Later, publications such as the Elements of Buddhist Iconography by Coomaraswarny, the second edition of the Gods of Northern Buddhism by Alice Getty, the Iconography of Tibetan Lamaism by Mrs. A. K. Gordon and the Iconography of Buddhist and Brahmanical Sculptures in the Dacca Museum by my friend and colleague Dr. N. K. Bhattasali, Curator of the Dacca Museum, made my work of revision still more difficult and embarrassing!
Professor Walter Eugene Clarke of the Harvard University by publishing the two sumptuous volumes of the Two Lamaistic Pantheons served to put the proverbial last straw on the camel's back. This book published for the first time photographs of an unbelievable number of Buddhist statuettes in the Royal Temple at Peiping in Manchuria. If the statues had been entirely Chinese in character it would not have affected me in the least, because I am connected palpably with the Indian branch of Buddhist iconography. But an examination of the published photographs showed that the Peiping collection was exclu-sively inspired by Indian tradition, depended entirely on Indian texts, and faithfully followed the directions given in Sanskrit texts such as the Sadhanamala and the Nispannayogavall. The remarkable Indian character of the Chinese statuettes led me to include a large number of them in this book, and their study made the task of revision not only difficult but also delicate by forcing me to include Chinese specimens in a book which is chiefly concerned with the Indian branch of Buddhist iconography. I must thank the learned American author Professor Clarke for imposing on me this additional labour and responsibility!
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