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ARCHITECTURE & ICONOGRAPHY

 

 

 

  maravijaya mudra

 

Thailand

This gilded Buddha image at Wat Wang Wiwekaram is in the maravijaya position, the most common mudra in Thai Buddhist art. This example is a copy of an image from Chaiya in Srivijaya style (fig.).

 

It has a strange combination, in that the Buddha is sitting on the snake Muchalinda whilst performing this mudra, and is understood to represent a summary of the entire story of his Enlightenment, since the position of this mudra refers chronologically to a scene just prior to Siddhartha's Enlightenment, whereas the protection by Muchalinda happens much later, after the Buddha's Enlightenment, almost at the end of his life story.

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