sculpture at its back end and rich wall paintings
that are mainly variants of the Vajradhatu-mandala
based on the Tibetan translation of the Sarvatathagata-
Tattvasamgraha(Symposium of Truth of All Buddhas).
The three-storied temple, with three colossal clay sculp-
tures of bodhisattvas in the niches, has similar mandalas
in its murals. The temple also houses representations
of Taraand Avalokites ́vara, along with many tathagatas
and secular figures. A series of images of priests in the
second upper story ends with ’Bri-gung-pa (1143–
1217), which leads to a date of around 1200 C.E. The
stylistic elegance and sophistication of the murals has
its roots in Kashmir. The so-called Great Stupa is in
fact a chapel in pañcayatanaform housing a stupa and
decorated with “thousands” of buddhas and a group
of priests. Tibetan inscriptions in all three buildings
give the names, though no dates, of the founders, who
apparently belonged to the ruling families of the
Ladakhi kingdom. The murals in the smaller New Tem-
ple show a different iconographic tradition and clearly
belong to a slightly later Tibetan style.
See also:Cave Sanctuaries; Himalayas, Buddhist Art
in; India, Buddhist Art in; Monastic Architecture
Bibliography
Goepper, Roger. Alchi: Ladakh’s Hidden Buddhist Sanctuary:
The Sumtsek.London: Serindia, 1996.
Pal, Pratapaditya (text), and Fournier, Lionel (photographs). A
Buddhist Paradise: The Murals of Alchi, Western Himalayas.
Vaduz, Liechtenstein: Ravi Kumar, 1982.
ROGERGOEPPERAMBEDKAR, B. R.
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar (1891–1956), leader of In-
dia’s Dalits (untouchables) and principal draftsman
of India’s constitution, led millions of his followers
to Buddhist conversion. After earning doctoral de-
grees from Columbia University in New York and the
London School of Economics, Ambedkar passed the
English bar and launched a campaign of legal and
moral challenges to the Hindu caste system. In The
Buddha and His Dhamma(1957) and other writings,
Ambedkar combined elements of Buddhist ethics,
American pragmatism, and Protestant “social gospel”
theology to formulate a socially and politically engaged
Buddhism that he called “New Vehicle” (Navayana)
Buddhism.
See also:Engaged BuddhismBibliography
Ambedkar, Bhimrao Ramji. The Buddha and His Dhamma.
Bombay: R. R. Bhole, 1957.
Queen, Christopher S. “Dr. Ambedkar and the Hermeneutics
of Buddhist Liberation.” In Engaged Buddhism: Buddhist Lib-
eration Movements in Asia,ed. Christopher S. Queen and
Sallie B. King. Albany: State University of New York Press,
1996.
Sangharakshita. Ambedkar and Buddhism.Glasgow, UK: Wind-
horse, 1986.CHRISTOPHERS. QUEENAMITABHAAmitabha (Sanskrit, limitless light) is one of the so-
called celestial or mythic buddhas who inhabit their
own buddha-field and intervene as a saving force in
our world. According to the LargerSUKHAVATIVYUHA-
SUTRA, in a previous life Amitabha was the monk Dhar-
makara, who vowed that as part of his mission as a
BODHISATTVAhe would purify and adorn a world,
transforming it into the most pure and beautiful
buddha-field. Once he attained full awakening and ac-
complished the goals of his vows, Dharmakara became
the Buddha Amitabha. He now resides in the world he
purified, known as Sukhavat (blissful). From this
world he will come to ours, surrounded by many bod-
hisattvas, to welcome the dead and to lead them to
REBIRTHin his pure buddha-field.
The figure of Amitabha is not known in the earli-
est strata of Indian Buddhist literature, but around the
beginning of the common era he appears as the Bud-
dha of the West in descriptions of the buddhas of the
five directions. The cult of Amitabha most likely de-
veloped as part of the early MAHAYANApractice of
invoking and worshiping “all the buddhas” and imag-
ining some of these as inhabiting distant, “purified”
worlds, usually associated with one of the cardinal di-
rections. The myth of his vows and pure land may have
developed in close proximity to, or in competition
with, similar beliefs associated with other buddhas like
AKSOBHYA(another one of the early buddhas of the
five directions, whose eastern pure land is known as
Abhirati).
Although Amitabha shares many of the qualities as-
sociated with other buddhas of the Mahayana, he isAMBEDKAR, B. R.