Himavanta.org
Menu

Art & manuscripts

Look at an object before you look for a legend.

The previous site used two unlicensed manuscript images as wallpaper. This collection uses only rights-cleared objects, every one tied to a date, holding institution, source link, and statement of scope.

Compare Japanese mapsVisit Neak Pean
Detailed historic Japanese Buddhist world-map canvas with colored continents and mountain rings.
1710 · National Diet Library, Japan, 10.11501/2542466 Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu — canvas 1 National Diet Library, Japan, Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu (1710), DOI 10.11501/2542466. Public Domain Mark · source · One canvas from a multi-canvas object, shown as an object-specific map witness.

Public visual library

Ten objects, ten explicit credit lines.

These images are visual witnesses. A caption says what object you are seeing; a boundary says what it cannot prove.

Painted Burmese cosmology manuscript panel with a forested mountain world and figures.
1857–1885 · British Museum 2010,3003.1 Himavanta in a Burmese cosmology manuscript British Museum, 2010,3003.1; public-domain reproduction via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain Mark 1.0 · source · A nineteenth-century Burmese visual witness. It does not illustrate every earlier textual account.
Vertical Thai manuscript painting for the Vessantara Jātaka showing a lush forest setting.
nineteenth century · Walters Art Museum 35.265 Vessantara Jātaka: Himavanta Forest Walters Art Museum, Walters 35.265; public-domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain · source · A Thai Jātaka painting, not a direct visualization of an early Pāli topographic system.
Stone-lined water basin and towers at Neak Pean in Angkor.
photograph 2018; monument late twelfth century · Jayataṭāka / Rājyaśrī complex Neak Pean, Angkor Photo by Christophe95, 2018, via Wikimedia Commons. CC BY-SA 4.0 · source · The image records a restored archaeological monument, not an untouched twelfth-century appearance.
Red and gold Garuda sculpture on a building in Bangkok.
modern photograph · Bangkok public sculpture Garuda sculpture in Bangkok Photo by Random username 083794703875938 via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · source · A modern sculpture, useful for visual recognition rather than early textual reconstruction.
Green Nāga sculpture with extended serpent body at Wat Baan Den in Chiang Mai.
modern photograph · Wat Baan Den, Chiang Mai Nāga at Wat Baan Den Photo via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · source · A modern temple sculpture. It does not identify a named nāga in an earlier manuscript or text.
Thai painting of a bird-bodied Kinnari figure in a landscape.
nineteenth century · Walters Art Museum 2010.1232 Thai Kinnari painting Walters Art Museum, Walters 2010.1232; public-domain image via Wikimedia Commons. Public Domain · source · A later Thai depiction. It conveys an art-historical form, not a universal kinnara anatomy.
Carved stone makara architectural sculpture from Candi Sewu.
eighth–ninth century object; modern image · Candi Sewu, Central Java Makara from Candi Sewu Rijksmuseum / Leiden University Libraries image via Wikimedia Commons. CC0 1.0 · source · A Central Javanese object, not a proof of one Thai Himmapan category.
Colorful circular Japanese Buddhist world map with mountains, rivers, and labeled regions.
1364 · Hōryūji, Nara Gotenjiku zu (Map of the Five Indias) Jūkai, Gotenjiku zu (1364), Hōryūji, Nara; via Wikimedia Commons. Public domain · source · One fourteenth-century Japanese map witness, not a universal Buddhist cartographic template.
Detailed historic Japanese Buddhist world-map canvas with colored continents and mountain rings.
1710 · National Diet Library, Japan, 10.11501/2542466 Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu — canvas 1 National Diet Library, Japan, Nansenbushū bankoku shōka no zu (1710), DOI 10.11501/2542466. Public Domain Mark · source · One canvas from a multi-canvas object, shown as an object-specific map witness.
Tall detailed Japanese Buddhist map in muted reds, blues, greens, and black ink.
1828 · Kyoto University Library, Muroga Collection RB00022886 Tenjiku yochizu Tenjiku yochizu (1828), Kyoto University Library, Muroga Collection RB00022886. Kyoto University Library free-license terms · source · The institutional credit and source link are retained. Any crop or alteration must be disclosed.

Read with the object

Three object-led guides

Art & manuscripts

Neak Pean: Sacred Water at Angkor

How Neak Pean’s island, basins, animal outlets, inscription, and later Anavatapta interpretation fit together.

Late twelfth-century AngkorK. 908