Devotees Wait for Priests to Come and Receive Alms on the Buddhist Festival of Panjaran in Kathmandu

28, 29, 30. White Tara, Amitayus, Six-Syllable Lord of the World (Shadakshari Lokeshvara)

Amitayus (Center), China, Qing dynasty, 18th century; gilt bronze; H. 7 1/8 in.; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Gift of Daniele Selby ’13, 2014.31.4.

White Tara (Left), Sino-Tibetan, 19th century; bronze with cold gold and inlays; H. 7 in.; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Gift of Daniele Selby ’13, 2014.31.1.

Six-Syllable Lord of the World (Shadakshari Lokeshvara) (Right), Tibet, 18th century; gilt bronze; H. 5 3/4 in.; The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, Gift of Daniele Selby ’13, 2014.31.3.

Devotees Wait for Priests to Come and Receive Alms on the Buddhist Festival of Panjaran in Kathmandu

Nepal, 2012, photo: Kamal Ratna Tuladhar, Wikimedia Commons.

In Nepal, the Panjaran festival is an occasion for giving alms and displaying piety. Outdoor shrines built for the occasion, like the one seen in this photograph, include sculptures and paintings that depict various figures in the tantric Buddhist pantheon. The table overflows with offerings of fruit, flowers, lamps, and other symbolic substances. Worshippers have wrapped the buddha on the table in honorific garb; behind are paintings of both Green Tara and White Tara. Not only distinguished by color, the two female bodhisattvas take different seated postures. White Tara sits in yogic padmasana while Green Tara assumes the relaxed position with right leg extended.