Sarasvati & Indra Playing the Lute - Confusion
Sarasvati and Indra: a confusion over appearance and context. Sarasvati in her most basic Buddhist form appears as a beautiful goddess playing the lute. The Abhidharmakosha commentaries describe the world of existence and the heavens in some detail which is depicted in the Wheel of Life paintings. Indra (Shakra) is described as seated in the highest heavens and playing a lute - stringed instrument. A confusion has arisen as to the identity of the figure (Indra) placed at the top center (heaven realm) in these paintings because of the similarity to the iconography of Vina Sarasvati. It is an understandable confusion because the only real difference between the two forms is the artistic convention of drawing a horizontal hairline for male figures creating a more square face and an oval form for the face of female figures. Although this convention arises quite late in Tibetan art and is certainly not universal, it is often reliable when used in conjunction with other iconographic and contextual indicators.