(L) DETAIL OF SASH ON THE MUARAJAMBI PRAJNAPARAMITA. (R) DETAIL OF SINGOSARI PRAJNAPARAMITA DEPICTING THE KAIN AND OVERLAYING SASH. PHOTO: L. PULLEN – TAASA Review March 2013
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This article was originally found in the March 2013 edition of TAASA Review (Volume 22, Issue 1, Page 10).
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The present article suggests an alternative interpretation based on analysis of the design pattern, contending that the Muarajambi image may have been made in Jambi in the likeness of the Singosari Prajnaparamita of East Java.
The hypothesis fits well with historical views of the affinities between Sumatra and east Java stemming from Javanese political authority over southeast Sumatra during this period (Lieberman 2009: 793; Tarling 1999: 217) . She sits in sublime meditation on a double lotus base, upon a square platform with a perfectly framed backslab. Both images are depicted richly adorned, each with upper arm bands, bracelets, a necklet and anklets.
They display a crisply detailed belt and long twisted chain of a triple string of beads or upavita around the neck which falls over their folded legs to the asana or base. Prajnaparamita is the goddess of transcendental wisdom...