https://jurnal.ugm.ac.id/jurnal-humaniora HUMANIORA Vol. 33, No. 2 (June 2021) INTRODUCTION Mañjuśrī is a bodhisattva associated with prajñā (insight) in Mahāyāna Buddhism. He appears in several diferent forms in today’s Bihar, Bengal and Bangladesh, and in Central and East Java. His name means “Gentle Glory” in Sanskrit, and the fuller name also knows him as Mañjuśrī Kumārabhūta, literally “Mañjuśrī as a youth/ prince”. Mañjuśrī is one of the oldest and most signifcant Bodhisattva in Mahāyāna literature. In early Sutras, such as the Prajñāpāramitā sutra, he was known from the 4th century on both sides of the Himalayas, with images found in Sarnath, Magadha, Bengal, and Nepal. He wielded signifcant infuence on the Buddhists, and the Mahāyānists worshipped him in various forms. As a spiritual leader who originated from south Nepal, Mañjuśrī rose to popularity in China rather than India (Bhattacharyya, 1958:101; Gail, 1995:13; Maxwell, 1997:170; Miksic, 2006:208). 1 In his study on Indian Buddhist Iconography, Bhattacharyya reports that no fgural representation of Mañjuśrī was found in the Sarnath or Gupta School up to the 6th century. Snellgrove suggests that the Chinese monk Xuanzang mentions only one image of Mañjuśrī in the record of his pilgrimage to the Indian Subcontinent (Snellgrove, 1987:314). Moreover, according to Bhattacharyya, Mañjuśrī is one of the sixteen male bodhisattvas of the Buddhist pantheon and is second in the group headed by Maitreya. He and Avalokitésvara are the two most important gods of learning and two of the most widely venerated bodhisattvas (Bhattacharyya, 1958:94 & 102; Maxwell, 1997:170). From the 4th century, Mount Wutai became regarded as the home of Mañjuśrī, with which he is associated. It became one of China’s premier Buddhist pilgrimage sites from the end of the 5th century, attracting https://doi.org/10.22146/jh.66294 page 157—168 Re-Interpretation of Mañjuśrī in Central and East Java Lesley S. Pullen Post-Doc Research Associate, SOAS, University of London, United Kingdom Email: pullen.london@btinternet.com ABSTRACT This article will begin with a brief look at the origins of Mañjuśrī from south Nepal, his popularity in China and the many depictions of him in eastern India and Java. More importantly, it will re-interpret a selected group of the Boddhisattva Mañjuśri in the human form with one head and two arms. The statues produced in both bronze, silver and stone, all with similar attributes identifying him as Mañjuśrī. The theoretical framework follows the various representation of Mañjuśrī statues from eastern India to a Kumārabhūta form only in Central Java and a single form of Arapacana in East Java. Within this framework, it will evaluate the stylistic features, attributes and the sartorial style of statues from both regions of Java, with details not previously discussed by past scholars, particularly looking at the textile patterns found on several of the statues. When the Mañjuśrī statues appeared in Central Java, various forms of the youthful Kumārabhūta or royal prince emerged, where he appeared to be particularly popular. Despite past knowledge of these statues, this paper allows for a new research direction and highlights the change in Mañjuśrī styles from Central to East Java. Similarly, various forms of Mañjuśrī Arapacana from eastern India transpire in East Java with this one unique statue of Arapacana from Caṇḍi Jago. Keywords: art history; dress; iconography; Java; Mañjuśrī; sculpture; textile patterns