[INDOLOGY] Iconography of Brahmā

[Paul Thomas]

Thanks to the colleagues who reached out to me with suggestions about
Brahmā's *sūciḥ*.  I have more or less decided that it must be simply a
needle.  I have also found a depiction of Brahmā as he appears in the
Kālacakra maṇḍala online, as part of a painting held at the Rubin museum (
https://www.himalayanart.org/items/9320).  Unfortunately the image online
is too low-resolution to make out exactly what is in his first right hand,
but it very well could be a needle.  I will get in touch with a friend who
works at the Rubin to see if I can get a higher-resolution image:

[image: Kalacakra Brahma.png]

Meanwhile, another colleague has asked me if I could read this
inscription that was given to him, and if I could say anything about its
provenance.  I can't read inscriptions really, so I wonder if anyone on
this list could read it, date it, or locate it.  I think it is at the base
of an image of a Buddhist deity:

[image: IMG_2196.jpeg]

Many thanks,
Paul




On Mon, Jul 13, 2026 at 5:31 PM Paul Thomas <paulfthomas at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello Colleagues,
>
> I have three questions about the iconography of Brahmā.
>
> First, in the Buddhist *Laghukālacakratantra *and its commentary the
> *Vimalaprabhā*, Brahmā and Brahmāṇī are consistently described as holding
> a *śūciḥ *in one of their hands.  This is translated by the Tibetans as
> *khab*, which means "needle," so they, possibly with the input of Indian
> scholars, understood it as *sūciḥ* (all the mss. I am using are Bengali
> or Nepalese).  Along with the editors of these texts, I wonder if this is
> some kind of obscure form of *sruk*, as that makes sense as something
> Brahmā or Brahmāṇī would be holding.  I'm not sure why they would be
> holding a needle.
>
> Second, they are also described as holding a *pātram*.  What kind of
> vessel would this be, a platter of some kind?  Would it contain anything?
> Why carry an empty vessel?
>
> Finally—and this one should be easy—they are of course also sometimes
> described as carrying a *kamaṇḍaluḥ*/*kuṇḍī*/*kuṇḍikā*.  Thus is of
> course more well-known.  I have seen this translated as "water-pot" or
> "water-pitcher," but was this vessel really only intended to carry water?
> Also is it more of a "pitcher" or "flask" (*kalaśaḥ*), or is it something
> else?
>
> Thank you and best wishes,
> Paul
>
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