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Lot Essay
Just a small number of comparable paintings are known to be so densely packed with stupas or caityas. The rows of minute stupas covering most of the painting likely revere to the Lakshacaitya rite. The donor, here placed in a cartouche on the lower register of the painting, earns spiritual merit by donating hundred thousand (laksha) caityas or stupas. Normally in such paintings the central deity is Ushnishavijaya rather than Buddha making this example a rare exception. The goddess of Long Life is possibly depicted in the centre of the bottom register flanked by a pair of Taras.