188 Journal of the American Oriental Society 124.

1 (2004)

that ti'-nouns remain closest to the actional processive type, whereas other noun of action categories
tend to become concretized or to move in other ways away from designations of pure process.'
As for other features of the text, Niederreiter is a beginner, and it shows;"* but he also reveals phil-
ological strengths and a good foundation for working with the Rigveda. As he matures as a scholar,
we can hope to see him take on larger and more challenging projects.

JARED S, KLEIN
UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA

3. Nouns in -tu of course undergo grammadcalization of their accusatives into infinitives, a development which
vouches for their purely actional value. Unfortunately, the direct confrontation of Rigvedic forms in -n'and -tu built
to the same root does not reveal to us this value.
4. A few examples: on p. 23 Niederreiter cites VII. 18 but translates X.66.10, which should rather have been the
passage cited. Again, on p. 60 he indicates that 1.89.9 will follow and indeed translates this passage, but the passage
he cites is III.2.13. All his Rigvedic citations are broken at the (functional) distich, not the pada, an objectionable
practice which obscures the rhetorical structure of the Rigveda and leads to errors in his citations, such as on p. 21,
where he has omitted the Sam no which begins VII.35,7b, no doubt because it appeared in his proofs to be dittog-
raphy following the sdm no which ends 7a. Niederreiter several times identifies datives showing -ya in sandhi for
-yai as instrumental (39 §rutya[i] [wrongly written srutyd], 51 bhrtyd[i], referring here to a category of "finaler
Instrumental" which nowhere exists in the Rigveda). Similarly, on p. 40 pityd is translated 'zu trinken' in 1.46.13
vavasand. . . / somasya pityd gird/. . . d gatam "Come hither clothed with the drink of soma (and) the song."

The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities, vol, 1: The Pantheon of the Mantramahodadhi. By GUDRUN
BuHNEMANN. Gonda Indological Studies, vol. 9. Groningen: EGBERT FORSTEN, 2000. Pp. xxix +
280. €80.
The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities, vol. 2: The Pantheons of the Prapancasdra and the Sdra-
ddtilaka. By GUDRUN BUHNEMANN, Gonda Indological Studies, vol. 9. Groningen: EGBERT FOR-
STEN, 2001, Pp. xviii + 389, €82,

Professor Buhnemann has written an important, precise, and highly useful contribution to the schol-
arship of Hindu Tantric Studies. These two volumes present "pantheons" of Hindu tantric deities as
elaborated and described in three important medieval Sanskrit texts. Studied here are selected passages
from three encyclopedic compendia of the Hindu Tantra: 1) the Mantramahodadhi (MM), a sixteenth
century North Indian text composed in Varanasi by Mahldhara; 2) the anonymous Prapancasdra (PS)
composed in the tenth century; and 3) the Sdraddtilaka (ST) of Laksmaiiadesika composed in the tenth
to eleventh centuries. Buhnemann tells us that each of these texts is a compendium, a gathering up of
materials from prior textual sources of Hindu Tantra, They were probably meant for use by tantric pre-
ceptors as a resource from which to select appropriate mantras and deity visualizations for their initiate-
practitioners (vol, I, p. 5). In particular, the focus here is on a detailed study of almost three hundred
dhydna-slokas or "deity descriptions" to be found in these three texts. Volume 1 presents extracts from
the MM, and volume 2, divided into two separate sections, presents passages from the PS and the ST.
In her prefatory comments, Buhnemann demarcates her field of study as follows:
In the present context, I define iconography as the study of icons meant for worship, in which the
icons are described, classified and interpreted with respect to their meaning. Iconography, which
is connected to mythology and theology, addresses the content rather than the form or style of
art and thus forms an important part of the study of religion, (vol, 1, p. v)
This important precision sets the stage for the textual study of deity icons. Thus, even though it con-
tains many illustrative plates and much else that will be of interest to the Indological art historian, this
is a study of texts that describe the visualization of deities. Such were composed, it seems, not for the
 Reviews of Books 189

purpose of assisting in the artistic creation of sacred sculptures or other artistic forms of the represen-
tation of the deities in question, but rather in order to assist tantric practitioners in the visualization of
said deities. These two volumes thus center on what are known in the Sanskrit texts of the Hindu Tantra
as dhydna-slokas, literally something like "verses for meditation" or perhaps "visualization verses" or,
as Buhnemann terms them by extension, "deity verses" or "deity descriptions." Buhnemann says:
As in other Tantric texts, the deity descriptions of the MM are not presented for their own sake
but are included in the context of ritual worship to enable the worshipper to visualize the deity.
Each description follows an explanation of the mantra of the deity and precedes instructions for
ritual worship of the deity, (vol. 1, p. 21)
Drawing from these three important tantric texts, Buhnemann here presents a very broad range of such
dhydna-slokas. In each case, she has first critically edited the Sanskrit text of each deity description.
She then offers clear translations followed by detailed annotations for each. In addition, Buhnemann
has gathered a number of illustrative plates, some of which accompanied the published versions of
these texts, and some of which are drawn from other sources.
In terms of the organization of the book, the three separate extracts from the Sanskrit texts are care-
fully organized and presented along similar lines. Buhnemann first offers a detailed introduction which
includes comments about the text and its context, including other texts of a similar nature which extract
deity descriptions from the Tantras; a discussion of the author or authorship problems of each text; the
overall structure and content of each text; a discussion of any extant commentaries; existing pub-
lished editions of the texts as well as translations; an analysis of sources for the deity descriptions
compiled and gathered in each text.
In the first volume, a consideration of the problem of the sources for the dhydna-slokas in the MM
(which is the latest of the three texts) is taken up, for, as Buhnemann tells us (p. 13), the MM does not
usually indicate its sources. This leads to a detailed analysis of the possible relationship of the MM to
Ndrada-PUrdna, the later Mantramahdrnava, and several other relevant texts. In addition, the first
volume also includes a more general overview of the nature and characteristics of such deity descrip-
tions, their ritual context, and their diverse metrical forms and patterns (for, as Buhnemann tells us
[vol. 1, p 26], the term sloka in the compound dhydna-sloka more often conveys a generic meaning
of "verse" rather than being exclusively an indication of the composition in the Anustubh meter). The
first volume also includes overview comments about the deity pantheon (which for the MM reveals an
emphasis on forms of goddesses); a discussion of tantric forms of Ganesa; of Buddhist deities in the
Hindu pantheon; of the Mahavidya Goddesses; of specific iconographic attributes and their distribu-
tion; and much other pertinent matter.
Then, each set of extracts of deity descriptions is first presented in a compact and readable tabular
presentation which gives an overview and summary of all of the deity descriptions in that extract and
their primary iconographic features. Then there follow the actual deity descriptions. Next there is a list
of illustrations and then the actual plates (in both color and black-and-white) for many (though not all)
of the deity descriptions. A series of useful appendices are added containing cross-referenced lists of
iconographic characteristics of the deities, including lists of body colors, postures, hand gestures, attri-
butes, seats and mounts, and locations. These are followed by other kinds of appendices, including
translations of other relevant sections of the texts:' in volume 1, a new edition and translation of MM
chapter 25 (which deals with the six rites of magic); in volume 2 a new edition and translation of ST
chapter 1 (dealing with the cosmic manifestation of deities and mantras through the agency of the kun-
dalini); and a new edition and translation of S r chapter 25 (dealing with the astdngayoga). An index
of first lines of the Sanskrit verses and a general index conclude volume 1. Volume 2 has two indices
of first lines of Sanskrit verses—one for each set of extracts—and one general index.
The three sets of deity descriptions (from the MM, the PS, and the ST) form the heart of all of this
considerable and impressively organized scholarly apparatus. In each case, the deity descriptions are
presented in the order that they appear in the original texts themselves, and are numbered for ease of
cross-referencing in other sections of the volumes. Each such entry is organized along similar lines.
Here for example is a deity description drawn from the MM (vol. 1, pp. 72-75):
190 Journal of the American Oriental Society 124,1 (2004)

2 Pranasakti
Text
pdsam cdpdsrkkapdle srnisun chulam hastair bibhratim raktavarndm/raktodanvatpotaraktdmbu-
jasthdm devlm dhydyet prdnasaktim trinetram

Translation
One should meditate on the Goddess Pranasakti, who holds with (her) hands a noose, a bow, a
skull (filled) with blood, a goad, arrows, (and) a spear/trident, who is red colour (and) is on a red
lotus on a boat in the Ocean of Blood,

In the body of this entry, this description is followed by a list of the attributes held in each hand of this
deity, and then a series of explanatory remarks detailing ritual contexts; discussion of attributes found
in the autocommentary to this text; a discussion of similar deity descriptions found in other texts; a
discussion of deities by other names but with similar iconography; and a discussion of line drawings
and other illustrations of this deity that are included in the back of the volume.
All of this is presented in the recognizable style and methodology of a European (sometimes termed)
"scientific" Indological style, Buhnemann's comment (vol, 1, p, 213) that Rao's six-volume study en-
titled Pratimd-Kosa: Encyclopedia of Indian Iconography "is not an academic work" is telling and re-
veals the underlying (but mainly unexpressed) methodological and theoretical assumptions that buttress
and imbue her approach, Buhnemann, who identifies herself as a "philologist" (vol. 1, p, v), limits
herself quite strictly to presenting the material from the texts in a very orderly, detailed, and cross-
referenced fashion, and to gathering interpretations and other useful data from commentaries and other
useful scholarly sources. Throughout, the tone is restrained and impersonal, in a style that altogether
eschews any wider interpretations or speculations about the many possible meanings of these deities,
Buhnemann has organized this work as a reference tool to be accessed by various kinds of specialists
and other interested students, and as a result, there is considerable, useful repetition and reiteration of
information in various locations.
Certainly, these two volumes will be of great interest to many, including numerous scholars in re-
ligious studies and the history of religions, who will now have additional and very substantial and de-
tailed material from which to draw for the wider and pressing task of the interpretation of the many
meanings of such Hindu tantric deities. Buhnemann herself outlines and suggests a wide array of re-
search desiderata that arise from the study of these deity descriptions, saying;

Problems to be investigated by students of iconography include the developments and changes in

deity pantheons from earlier to later texts; the position of a deity within a pantheon; the identi-
fication of certain textual traditions and their relationships to particular regions; special rites con-
nected to the worship of a deity; and the question of Buddhist and Hindu mutual influences,
(vol. 1, p, 212)

And, from the perspective of scholars of religion, these three texts will have to be interrogated along
additional and different lines than those of the strictly philological and/or text-critical. They will need
to be read and analyzed as religious documents, and as constructs and artefacts of particular religious,
geographical, and chronological moments or niches in the evolution of the many Hinduisms and many
Tantrisms, What are the historical, theological, and sectarian contexts in which these three compendia
of tantric lore were first gathered up and assembled? Who employed such texts and why? And who
did not use such texts and why? It may be speculated that the selection of deities that is presented by
each of these texts represents the tastes, predilections, and sectarian proclivities of its author(s), or al-
ternatively, an impulse toward a certain kind of "catholicity" that strives for a certain kind of non-
sectarian inclusiveness. For the MM, for example, the "principle of selection" seems to respond to
certain forms of highly assimilated and perhaps quite conservative tantric worship and practice
within the sphere of sixteenth-century, brahminical, smarta culture in Varanasi. All of this demands
and deserves further investigation.
Naturally, it is important not to overgeneralize about "The Iconography of Hindu Tantric Deities"
from these three texts. Despite the fact that they are important texts that gather up materials from many
 Reviews of Books 191

central sources, they still represent "snapshots" of Hindu tantric pantheons at different historical mo-
ments, and in different geographical locales. Additionally, there are clearly many other Hindu tantric
deities who receive no substantial mention in any of these three texts (for example, the Trika deities:
Para and Malini, or the Kaula goddess, Kubjika), Moreover, as Buhnemann herself notes (vol, 1, p, 5),
the modem notion of "pantheon" should not be taken to mean that there was a preexistent theological
coherence or unity that combine these particular deities into a single cult of worship. There is some-
thing artificial and synthetic in the way that the authors of these texts gathered together, from what must
have been disparate and highly differentiated sources and lineages, these many deity descriptions (and
their accompanying mantras, rituals, and so on). Nevertheless, the appearance of a kind of artificial
unity imposed by the inclusion of these many deities in a single text must have historically imposed
and projected a certain kind of subsequent coherence onto such a textual grouping of deities. Thus, it
would be interesting to study how the processes of appropriation and inclusion (or conversely, the
process of exclusion, whether deliberate or not) of any particular deity contributed to its subsequent
mainstreaming or sidelining. These texts also present us with concrete examples of the later evolution
of Hindu Tantra, which permitted this kind of encyclopedic "mining" and assemblage of such deity
pantheons. More than this, it seems that the continuing popularity of the MM, for example, gives testa-
ment to a later unfolding of Hindu Tantra, which has succeeded, in its many accommodations and pro-
gressive rapprochements, to an "ownership" of the mainstream and center of Hindu religious life.
The work will also serve as a foundation for numerous other kinds of studies and inquiries that can
be made on its basis. For example, it will be interesting to study these three texts statistically, and to
inquire into which deities are mentioned and with what frequency. In addition, these volumes will add
much rich information to any study of the major deities herein presented: a whole study of the forms
of Ganesa (which Buhnemann has focused on elsewhere) and Siva could be done on the basis of these
texts. Similarly, the volumes provide a wealth of information with regard to the many tantric goddesses
and their various groupings. Certainly, there are here rare deities (Triputa, Bandi) about whom little is
known, but there are also here forms of the more well-known deities who here show themselves in
their "tantric" guise and usage. Thus, a study of these texts assists in the investigation of processes of
appropriation into a tantric context and usage of both early deities of the tradition (Agni, Varuna) as
well as of widely known pan-Indian, Hindu deities (Siva, Krsna, Rama, Laksmi, Sarasvati, Anna-
purna, etc.).
Thus, it is interesting to ask, on the basis of these texts, what is it that makes any given deity "tan-
tric"? Or alternatively, how are we to understand the very notion of "deity" which, as in prior periods
of the Indian tradition, here spans the spectrum from quite mythologically fleshed out and personified
gods and goddesses, to rather abstract, and at times patently artificial deification of philosophical prin-
ciples and ritual elements (Vac, Papapurusa), and also includes along the way a few (albeit superior!)
humans (Vyasa), a disease (Sitala), and the odd planetary orb (Guru, Sukra), Moreover, are there deities
mentioned here that first appear (or only appear) in recognizably tantric textual and ritual contexts?
So we are left with any number of different kinds of questions that arise from this work; for exam-
ple: 1) Why, and in what sense, are these deities understood to be "tantric" (other than the fact that
they are so identified by the tradition itself, and that their descriptions appear in texts sometimes termed
"Tantras")? 2) Why, and in what sense, are these texts understood to be "tantric"? (That is to say, we
confront here again the complex questions surrounding the historical evolution and construction of this
adjective, particularly in the face of modem "orientalizing" critiques of the enterprise of the modern
construction of "Tantrism." This is certainly not a settled issue, nor is the precise denotation and con-
notative range of the notion of "tantric" [as employed in these volumes] either obvious, already estab-
lished, or non-controversial.) 3) The whole curious issue of the study of iconic "images" in texts. This
is a particularly crucial and important facet of this study: that there exist these many visualization or
deity descriptions and that, vis k vis, the art historical materials of the silpa-sastra, for example, offer
important variations and differences. 4) Again, the larger and wider forms of interpretation of the mean-
ings of these deities. Part of the larger work of scholarship certainly centers on the difficult task of
hazarding interpretive forays into what these deities convey (and this in both senses: what did they
mean or convey then, and what do they mean or convey now to modem interpreters?), 5) Finally, the
whole issue of the forms of relationship between the mantras of these deities (not here studied) and
 192 Journal of the American Oriental Society 124.1 (2004)

their visualization: are these arbitrary, or are these interesting domains of meaning to be explored be-
tween the mantric and the visualized forms of the deities (particularly in light of tantric ideological
assertions of connections between these two)?
In closing, it is important to reiterate what an impressive work of scholarship this is—highly de-
tailed, precise, and very careful in its approach! It is a great contribution, which teaches us much about
these materials. And it will, no doubt, serve as the platform upon which much additional investigation
may be based. With this publication, the study of Hindu Tantra makes an important and very welcome
advance.

PAUL E. MULLER-ORTEGA
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

Silk Road Art and Archaeology, vol. 6: Papers in Honour of Francine Tissot. Edited by ELIZABETH
ERRINGTON and OSMUND BOPEARACHCHI. Kamakura: INSTITUTE OF SILK ROAD STUDIES, 1999/
2000.

This special issue of the journal Silk Road Art and Archaeology serves as a model Festschrift
dedicated to the much esteemed scholar of Gandharan arts and culture, Francine Tissot.' The volume
comprises twenty-two articles which, as a whole, can be characterized as exemplary products of care-
ful research by scholars of the finest caliber. Their methodologies are in general unapologetically tra-
ditional and focused on examination and analysis of archaeological evidence. Art historians,
archaeologists, numismatists, epigraphers, and philologists contributed papers that lead us toward a
clearer understanding of the art and cultural history of Gandhara and its associated regions. While
most of the topics concern issues in the art of Gandhara and Bactria (regions within modem Pakistan,
Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan) from the first century B.C. to the third century A.D., some involve aspects
of Buddhist iconography. Central Asian textiles, Kushan and Hun numismatics, Indian epigraphy,
Buddhist art in early Medieval Gujarat, and more. Such diversity of topics at first glance may detract
from the cohesion of the volume; however, when one reads the introductory note by Francine Tissot
and refiects upon the nature of her own publications, a certain unity becomes apparent, in that the ar-
ticles address three major concerns of Mme. Tissot: contextualizing works of art, identifying objects
used in everyday life, and discerning interregional connections.
In her "Refiexions a propos de l'art du Gandhara," which opens the volume, Francine Tissot under-
scores the importance of knowing the original architectural context in which an object was placed and
the archaeological context in which an object was found, in order to understand more accurately its
meaning, function, and surrounding historical circumstances. Her own extensive work on the archae-
ological site of Sahrl-Bahlol in Gandhara reflects this conviction. Marianne Yaldiz concurs in her ex-
cellent paper which discusses the enigmatic depictions of Buddhas with multiple emanations found in
the art of Gandhara and Central Asia. She convincingly identifies the images in Cave 123 at Kizil as
pratyekabuddhas, who have the power to multiply themselves and who also serve a protective func-
tion. Although she did not address the difficult and controversial question of the dating of Cave 123,
her identification of what she calls the "Hinayanist Pratyekabuddha concept" at Kizil is an important
contribution to our understanding of the art of these caves, which constitute the greatest collection of
Hinayana, possibly Sarvastivadin, art in Central and East Asia.

1. The admiration and respect felt by the authors for Madame Tissot are palpable throughout the articles in the
volume, since many include reverential as well as affectionate remarks. Martha Carter writes: "There is no scholar
who deserves more praise for her copious and invaluable contributions to the study of Gandharan art" (p. 9). Ze-
maryalai Tarzi calls her "la plus grande spScialiste du Gandhara" (p. 83), and Michael Alram refers to Mme. Tissot
as "the outstanding scholar and charming Grande Dame of Gandharan art, to whom we owe so much for her work
towards a greater understanding of Indian culture" (p. 129).