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An important deity in Newar Buddhism is Namasangiti, the embodiment of
the Manjushri Namasangiti (“Chanting the Names of Manjushri”) literature.
The deity is beautifully rendered in a 13th/14th century gilt copper statue with
inset gems. Manjushri is one of the primordial teachers in the Newar Buddhist
tradition. His prayers are chanted daily in Nepalese monasteries, and shrines
are dedicated to him, including that in one of Nepal’s oldest monasteries, the
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Kva Bahal in Patan. A few examples of Nepalese Namasangiti images are
published, with some variation in their iconography. 8

The key iconographic feature of this twelve-armed deity is the pair of hands
that touches the vase of liquid held in the lower hands. This gesture is
known as kṣepana or tarpana mudra (“the gesture of sprinkling”). While the
full significance of this iconography requires further study, it is likely that the
gesture is meant to signify the abhisekha or initiation ritual which precedes
one’s introduction to Tantric teachings. One eastern Indian medieval sculpture
also depicts Namasangiti with twelve arms, holding different attributes in the
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upper hands but with the same central gestures shown here.

7 Huntington & Bangdell, Circle of Bliss, p.428.
8 ibid., pp.428-9; Ernst & Waldschmidt, Nepal, London, 1969, pl.34; Bhattacharyya, The Indian
Buddhist Iconography, Calcutta, 1968, pp.206-7, fig.151; see also Mallmann, Introduction a
l’Iconographie du Tantrisme Bouddhique, Paris, 1975, pp.274-5.
9 Published in Casey, ed., Medieval Sculpture from Eastern India, Livingston NJ, 1985, p.65

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