Invoking the goddess along the southern silk roads: A transregional survey of Prajñāpāramitā protective texts
Issued Date
2024-01-01
Resource Type
ISSN
13561863
eISSN
14740591
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85195167767
Journal Title
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (2024)
Suggested Citation
Bianchini F. Invoking the goddess along the southern silk roads: A transregional survey of Prajñāpāramitā protective texts. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (2024). doi:10.1017/S1356186324000014 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/20.500.14594/98699
Title
Invoking the goddess along the southern silk roads: A transregional survey of Prajñāpāramitā protective texts
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Abstract
This article brings together various textual materials relating to the worship of Prajñāpāramitā in mediaeval Monsoon Asia. In particular, it covers sources from South Asia, mainland Southeast Asia (Angkor), maritime Southeast Asia (Java and Bali), and Southern China (Yunnan). The aims of this critical survey are twofold. On the one hand, the article argues for the importance of ritual language within wider discussions on cultural and linguistic cosmopolitanism within and beyond the so-called ‘Sanskrit Cosmopolis’. These discussions have too often focused on royal epigraphic eulogies, neglecting religious literature. On the other hand, it highlights the key role of Prajñāpāramitā as a protective deity, and the transregional heritage of her invocatory texts. These texts strike one for their traditional choice of imagery and associations, thus reminding of the importance of exoteric traditions within the history of Southeast Asian Buddhism.