Rediscovering Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara with Dr Osmund Bopearachchi: A Lecture Review by Nidhi Patel

Mumbai.

The city that never sleeps.

Nurtured by this city for the past 19 years, I am thoroughly familiar with the warm wind and smell of the mud when it rains. It summons the whole city and is now etched in my memory. The city which I saw merely as a place of old colonial buildings, irresistible street foods (so delicious that getting diabetes is preferred) and a home to millions of people with dreams, I never thought that one fine Saturday evening, a lecture would forever change the way I view my city. Who would have thought that a girl who has always been in awe of history would be working on her research paper and would, in the span of six months, attend the lecture about her own city by a scholar she always looked up to as a human bible for archaeology?

Was it a coincidence? Destiny? Or is this some kind of trick done by Avengers ? That we will never know.

I still remember that while researching for my paper, I came across many articles and went through them carefully till my eyes burned because of the amount of time I spent reading on my laptop. I wished how fortunate I would be to hear someone talk about it! And here I was, on a rainy day, watching Dr. Osmund Bopearachchi- a man with a warm, smiling face ready to break my notion of the city I had grown up in.

                Watch Complete Lecture Here: 

The title itself ‘Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara as a protector of Traders: A study of the Indian Ocean Trade through his Iconography’ was enough for me to be exhilarated by the lecture. The lecture started with an explanation about the significance of iconography and how it can open a portal to different areas of research. Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara was considered as a protector of sailors and traders. Among several Bodhisattva figures, the one whose turban crest bears a small seated meditating Buddha is assumed to be Amitabha as Padmapani Avalokitesvara. Avalokitesvara, destined to attain Buddhahood, was seen as the consequence and thus the son of Amitabha Buddha. This evidence suggested that the cult of Avalokitesvara started from Gandhara around 3rd century CE. 

His lecture then highlighted the origin of Avalokitesvara in Maharashtra by showing the sculpture from the Ellora caves. He explained the sculpture to us with absolute detail and pointed out the features that distinguish Avalokitesvara. Other such depictions can be seen in Pandu Leni caves of Nashik and the Kanheri Caves in Mumbai. I remember visiting Kanheri caves at the really mature age of 5 years old, where caves were just meant as another picnic spot for me. I only read about Kanheri while finding my passion in history. I found that hardly any author went beyond their area of work and I was always playing tag with the same information in different books which had beautiful pictures of Kanheri on their cover. Dr Bopearachchi's lecture not only gave me insights beyond the books I had read but also showed how one must approach a sculpture. He further explained about the caves of Kanheri as trading centres connected to other trading establishments such as ports of Sopara, Kalyan, Nashik, Paithan and Ujjain. 

Kanheri Cave no. 41 has several sculptures of Avalokitesvara such as Astamahabhaya Avalokitesvara, Ekadasa Avalokitesvara (the eleven headed Avalokitesvara) which made their way up to Nepal, Tibet and all the way to the silk road. Through Dr Bopearachchi’s meticulous research we were able to see the depiction of Avalokitesvara beyond the borders of Indian subcontinent. At the same time, he went into the finer details of the depictions making us understand how the iconography developed. It was fascinating to see how the iconography that originated in Kanheri went all the way to Korea, China and other places. 

Astamahabhaya Avalokitesvara is known for his role in protecting sailors and traders. The presence of sculptures of Astamahabhaya Avalokitesvara in Maharashtra Caves clearly demonstrates that land routes were taken by the traders for trading and they looked upon Avalokitesvara as their protector. The fear of the unknown gave rise to the perils and the traders appealed to Avalokitesvara for protection. It is astounding how human emotions can give birth to something unusual and in this case the fear of traders gave rise to Astamahabhaya Avalokitesvara. Dr Bopearachchi patiently explained the iconography of Astamahabhaya, elucidating the eight different types of fear and showing the parallel images from late Tang dynasty. The only image of Astamahabhaya in Indian subcontinent other than Maharashtra is of Tara in Orissa. When the word Astamahabhaya Tara hit my eardrums I was like a cat on hot bricks! At the same time, I was pumped up because somewhere I was glad that I took this subject for my research and that even in the midst of a pandemic, separated by miles, it felt as if he was there in person teaching us because of the way how engaging he kept the whole lecture. 

It was with the burst of trade activity between China and the Middle East in the 8th century that Sri Lanka began to play a crucial role in maritime trade. It was during this momentous movement that the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Tara became well known as the saviours of sailors across Asia. Dr Bopearachchi gave a comprehensive explanation about Buddhist monasteries and its connection with the traders. He further showed that the inspiration of Avalokitesvara came from Maharashtra and from there, it spread all over Asia. He was kind enough to show us all the pictures of the sculpture of Avalokitesvara from Sri Lanka and put it in context of the trade relations. He concluded the lecture by elucidating the influence of Shaivite iconography on Avalokitesvara and that Avalokitesvara is a valuable testimony to the religious exchanges from India to Sri Lanka and further to South East Asia. 

The lecture took me back to the 5 year old very mature Nidhi for whom caves were nothing but picnic spot. Now I wonder about those caves, especially Kanheri- both of us nurtured by the same city or at least the same region. I like to think about the structure standing tall under the star filled sky waiting for me to explore it with eyes wide open- which makes sense. After all, it is part of the city that never sleeps.