Mandala of Chandra

STYLE: In this mandala of Chandra, the personification of the moon, there is no palace to accommodate the deities. The main deity sits on an elaborate chariot with a complex arch framing his head. The mandala is places against a uniform black background with the corner depictions evenly distributed. Stylistically the Buddhist paintings of Nepal and Tibet are closely related, but there are some features that are characteristically Nepalese. The tree and rock shapes are typical for Newari painting. Most characteristic, though, is the expansive depiction of ritual action and veneration in the bottom of the painting and the use of alternating background colors.

CONTENT: This mandala is centered on Chandra, the white moon god, who holds the stalks of two white lotuses. He is flanked by his two cohorts, and the charioteer Ambara sits directly in front of him controlling the seven white ganders pulling the chariot. The inner circle also houses the eight planets. The sixteen deities in the second circle all mirror Chandra in iconography and likely represent the phases of the moon. The outer circle houses the twenty-eight constellations (nakshatra). In the corners around the mandala are the signs of the zodiac and two narrative scenes in which animals seem to offer food to human figures.