188 linrothe
Kashmir to neighbouring Ladakh and Zangskar. The subject matter—mainly
Maitreya65 but also Avalokiteśvara66—and the way of presentation—over life-
size sculptures, either free-standing or embedded in a cliff—certainly suggest
a bodhisattva cult in Kashmir and the Western Himalayas, one which may line
up with similar patterns elsewhere in the Himalayas or Central Asia. Whether
they were driven by popular understanding or by imposition of elites of politi-
cal or religious power probably depends on local circumstances rather than a
universal movement during this time. In the case of the Western Himalayas,
the spread of systematic Esoteric Buddhism (Tantrism) did not take place
until the first half of the eleventh century, well after the more exoteric Mahāyāna
bodhisattva cult imagery studied here, was established. The study of these
examples also underscores the fact that the Western Himalayan regions were
literally on the periphery of the much more highly organised and complex
Kashmiri dynasties, dictating the direction of transmission. Their geographic
proximity but environmental distinctiveness fostered the processes of both
transfer and localisation of Buddhism. The latter process built on imported
Kashmiri foundations, but developed within an increasingly Tibetanised cli-
mate. In that sense, over time, Ladakh and particularly Zangskar found them-
selves uniquely centred on the periphery of both Kashmir and Tibet.
65 The Buddhological significance of the Buddha-to-come in bodhisattva form cannot
be investigated here because of space considerations. In brief, he signals present and
future presence of the Buddha’s teachings in the human realm, and played an important
role in Kashmiri and Gandhāran Buddhism; Luczanits, Christian et al., Gandhara, The
Buddhist Heritage of Pakistan: Legends, Monasteries, and Paradise (Berlin: Kunst- und
Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 2008), 249–253.
66 In fact there is an early Kashmiri-style low relief carving of Avalokiteśvara in the Suru
Valley not discussed here, and it will be recalled that the Maitreya at Dras is mentioned
along with an Avalokiteśvara. Thus, there was not an exclusive emphasis on Maitreya
Bodhisattva; for examples of early stone sculptures of Avalokiteśvara sculptures, see
Dorjay, “Embedded in Stone,” figs. 2.3, 2.4, 2.11, 2.22.