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Source Description
Sixteen pairs of paintings depict monks meditating on human corpses during different stages of decomposition, ranging from swollen bloated bodies not long dead, and skeletons and dry bones. This unusual manuscript is written in Cambodian Mul script in Pali, with some notes in Thai. It is a commentary on the Abhidhamma scriptures. The study of corpses is a primary focus of Buddhist meditation, teaching the impermanence of our material existence. Meditation on corpses is often included in illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, particularly Phra Malai manuscripts, and is here extensively treated in many scenes. The last opening depicts the lighting of a funeral pyre.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
31670
label
Abhidhamma-varana-pitaka
core
obj
dtoType
object
citationUrl
pageCount
3
Source metadata
id
31670
sourceUrl
contentType
object
stage
normalized
title
Abhidhamma-varana-pitaka
description
Sixteen pairs of paintings depict monks meditating on human corpses during different stages of decomposition, ranging from swollen bloated bodies not long dead, and skeletons and dry bones. This unusual manuscript is written in Cambodian Mul script in Pali, with some notes in Thai. It is a commentary on the Abhidhamma scriptures. The study of corpses is a primary focus of Buddhist meditation, teaching the impermanence of our material existence. Meditation on corpses is often included in illustrated Buddhist manuscripts, particularly Phra Malai manuscripts, and is here extensively treated in many scenes. The last opening depicts the lighting of a funeral pyre.
provenance
-1935
date
1750-1775
citationUrl
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
folding book manuscript
imageCount
3
pageCount
3
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Overall (folded) 66 x 137.8 cm
Source extras
med
Water color on Paper;98ff.black lacquer covers30 watercolor illustrations
creator_ids
2501
collection_ids
none
exhibition_ids
none
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
55f9a7d87c57165d
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
d688419668913d67
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
3
type
photo
mediaId
928b5900c2fa5169
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no