Images of Monks with the Uṣṇīṣa – from the Kucha and Turfan Regions

Abstract

According to the scriptures, Śākyamuni is supposed to have been born with thirty-two mahāpuruṣa lakṣaṇas (characteristics/body-marks of the Great Person) and eighty anuvyañjana (minor marks). The uṣṇīṣa, “the protrusion on top of the head,” is one of the thirty-two mahāpuruṣa lakṣaṇas. In standard Buddhist iconography, the uṣṇīṣa is almost an exclusive attribute of the Buddha image. However, some monk images are clearly shown with the cranial protuberance. They are mainly found in Buddhist caves and temple sites in the Kucha and Turfan regions in Central Asia and a few are found in the Ajaṇṭā caves in India. These images have long been overlooked until recently when Monika Zin conducted research on this unusual iconography. Yet, the question of why this iconography only appears in limited areas and is absent in the Theravada/Pāli tradition in South India and Southeast Asia and in the Mahāyāna tradition in East Asia is still unanswered.