the Sanskrit for Hand held attribute

[Hartmut Buescher]

Dear John,

as your question indicates that you are not yet familiar 
with Gudrun Bühnemann's recently published standard 
works on iconography, I cannot resist to refer you to this 
source of sheer delight for an indological iconologist:
(omitting the diacritics)

Gudrun Bühnemann
The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities
Volume I:
The Pantheon of the Mantramahodadhi
Volume II:
The Pantheons of the Prapancasara and the Saradatilaka

Groningen [Egbert Forsten]
2000 & 2001

Given the heavy interchanges/mutual dependencies of 
Hindu and Buddhist Tantric iconographic features (as 
demonstrated e.g. by Sanderson and Bühnemann herself), 
also someone specialized in the Buddhist Tantric field will 
surely profit from these volumes. Confirming Robert Goldman's 
present reference to the term Ayudha-, Bühnemann, en passant, 
speaks of "iconographic attributes (Ayudha)" (e.g. II: 150), while 
clarifying the range of this notion as follows:

"The deities in the MM [= Mantramahodadhi] are described as 
holding a variety of iconographic attributes, called "weapons" (Ayudha). 
Besides actual weapons, Ayudhas include objects such as vessels, 
manuscripts, flowers and animals. All of the attributes are listed in 
appendix 1, section 5.4 of this book." (I: 49)

Cf. also MVy 6104 [Sasaki] ; CXLI (34) [Csoma de Körös]

Best wishes,

Hartmut




>  The term usually used is AyudhaH/Ayudham as in epithets such as 
>halAyudhaH for BalarAma.. 


>  Dear Colleagues, 
> 
>Does any on the list know of a generic term for attributes in 
>Sanskrit or Buddhist hybrid Sanskrit?  The various weapons tools and 
>symbols held by Buddhist persona, all have names of which we are well 
>aware but after forty-six years the generic term, if there is one, 
>still eludes me. 
> 
>Thank you all 
> 
>John 
> 
> 
>-- 
>John C. Huntington, Professor 
>    (Buddhist Art and Methodologies) 
>Department of the History of Art 
>108 North Oval Mall 
>The Ohio state University 
>Columbus, OH 43210-1318 U.S.A. 
> 
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