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This mandala is centered on Chandra, the white moon god, who holds the stalks of two white lotuses. He is flanked by his two consorts, and the charioteer Ambara sits directly in front of him controlling the seven white ganders pulling his chariot. The inner circle also houses depictions of the eight planets. The sixteen deities in the second circle all mirror Chandra in iconography and likely represent the phases of the moon. The outer circle houses a group of twenty-eight constellations (nakshatra) that correspond to a group of goddesses. In the corners around the mandala are the signs of the zodiac and two narrative scenes in which animals seem to offer food to human figures.
Mandala of Chandra
OriginNepal
Dateca.1500
Dimensions21 1/2 × 19 3/4 in. (estimated)
MediumPigments on cloth
Classification(s)
Credit LineRubin Museum of Art, Gift of Shelley and Donald Rubin
Object numberC2010.23
Himalayan Art Resources Number100016
DescriptionIn this mandala of Chandra, the personification of the moon, there is no palace to accommodate the deities, as is typical of other mandalas. The main deity sits on an elaborate chariot with a complex arch framing his head. The mandala is placed against a uniform black background with the corner depictions evenly distributed. Stylistically the Buddhist paintings of Nepal and Tibet are closely related, but there are some features that are characteristically Nepalese. Most characteristic is the expansive depiction of ritual action and veneration in the bottom of the painting and the use of alternating background colors. This mandala is centered on Chandra, the white moon god, who holds the stalks of two white lotuses. He is flanked by his two consorts, and the charioteer Ambara sits directly in front of him controlling the seven white ganders pulling his chariot. The inner circle also houses depictions of the eight planets. The sixteen deities in the second circle all mirror Chandra in iconography and likely represent the phases of the moon. The outer circle houses a group of twenty-eight constellations (nakshatra) that correspond to a group of goddesses. In the corners around the mandala are the signs of the zodiac and two narrative scenes in which animals seem to offer food to human figures.
19th century
late 18th or early 19th century
16th century
17th century
dated by inscription, 1871
17th century
ca. 1415-1435
14th century
late 19th or 20th century
17th century