Author: Ines Konczak-Nagel | AAV 38 (2025) | Pages: 85–105 | https://doi.org/10.60018/AcAsVa.shxr9079 
Abstract
This study analyses the iconographic motif of the “Visit of the Sixteen Brahmin Ascetics” in Kuchean cave paintings, depicting the Buddha surrounded by Brahmin ascetics. While Alfred Foucher identified analogous representations from the Gandhāra region as visual translations of the Pārāyaṇavagga, the Kuchean murals reflect distinctive Central Asian narrative traditions preserved in the Xianyu jing, Maitreyasamitināṭaka and Maitrisimit. Characteristic iconographic elements include a pairing of elderly and youthful Brahmins (possibly Bāvari and Maitreya) alongside prostrating ascetics. Examining seven examples, the study demonstrates how the narrative was adapted to emphasise Maitreya’s significance within local Buddhist traditions, particularly in the decorative programme of Kizil Cave 114, which reconfigures conventional iconographic hierarchies.
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T = Taishō shinshū daizōkyō 大正新修大藏經 [Taishō Edition Tripiṭaka]. Ed.: Takakusu et al. (1924–1934).
T 201 = Da zhuangyan lun jing 大莊嚴論經, Kumāralāta’s Kalpanāmaṇḍitikā (Nj. 1182, trans. Kumārajīva 鳩摩羅什 between 402–412 ce), ed. vol. 4, pp. 257a–348b. French trans.: Huber (1908).
T 202 = Xianyu jing 賢愚經, *Damamūkanidānasūtra (Nj. 1322; compiled by Huijue 慧覺 et al. 445 ce), ed. vol. 4, pp. 349a–445a.
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