. astrology and the worship of the planets 243
surrounding Tejaprabha from Kumedera and Hōryūji ,
both dating from the twelfth century.^56 A mandala chart featuring
Mañjuśrī as its main deity is kept in Tōji in Kyoto. This painting is
directly related to the text of the Fantian huoluo jiuyao
(Indian Astrology of the Nine Luminaries),^57 and includes passages
lifted directly from it.^58
Another type of astral chart relates to the cult of Sudṛsti. As we ̣
saw above, this cult is well documented in the Zhenyan material con-
nected with the the Beidou qixing humo fa and other texts, but exactly
how the later Japanese paintings and line drawings are linked to this
text is an open question. Nevertheless, these charts show a four- or
six-armed Sudṛsti standing on one foot on the back of a dragon (or a ̣
turtle) inside a triple circle. Inside these, we find images of the lunar
and solar disks in the process of being devoured by Ketu and eclipses,
together with the astral forms of the twenty-eight constellations. For
each of the major constellations talismans are provided. This particular
form of Sudṛsti indicates that it was primarily worshipped in connec-̣
tion with eclipses.
Another chart depicting an astral divinity is the Liuzi Tianwang
(Six-character Heavenly King). In iconographical terms
this divinity is an almost exact replica of Sudṛsti: the figure is in the ̣
same one-footed pose and is holding of sun and moon disks. In this
case, however, the god has six arms and is depicted as a controller of
the animals of the Oriental Zodiac, for each of which talismans are
given.^59
(^56) A survey of these astral mandalas can be found in ten Grotenhuis 1999, 116–21.
While slightly different in terms of composition, these mandalas are identical in over-
all conception and iconography. For details of these and related mandala charts see,
Hayashi 1997, 57–70, pls. 8–13.
(^57) T. 1311. Strictly speaking, this text is not by Yixing but recapitulates instructions
said to have come from him. For a study of this important text, see Niu 2005.
(^58) Discussed with translation in Howard 1983. See also Birnbaum 1980, 12–15.
(^59) Cf. Manabe 1971. Since we do not have any original paintings or drawings of
these charts that are of Chinese origin, it is an open question whether or not these
astral divinities and their iconography should be seen as reflecting Tang originals. It is
actually highly likely that they reflect Japanese iconographical development from the
late Heian, rather than from the Tang. Further research is needed in order to clarify
this interesting question.