Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara, early 12th century. Mahavihara Master. Detail of a leaf from an Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra. Opaque watercolor on palm leaf. Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2001.
One of two illuminated palm leaves from a now-dispersed manuscript of the Ashtasahasrika Prajnaparamita Sutra, a text understood to contain the totality of Mahayana ideology in eight thousand verses. Here, Shadakshari Avalokiteshvara, a manifestation of the bodhisattva associated with his six-syllable mantra popular across Tibet, is shown with six arms and sitting with one leg pendant in the posture of a god, referring to his accessible presence in a celestial sphere.