Glossary

Pagoda is an architectural form found all across South and East Asia. Pagodas are tall, tower-like structures with multiple tiers of sloping eaves, usually square or octagonal, and often get smaller with height. In Nepal and Tibet pagodas are usually used as temples. In China many pagodas functioned as stupas. Other pagodas are used as mosque minarets (towers used for the Islamic call to prayer).

Pakmodru is a monastery in south-central Tibet, as well as a branch of the Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism associated with this monastery. The leader of Pakmodru, Changchup Gyeltsen (1302–1364), was able to take control of central Tibet in 1354, thus ending the hegemony of the Mongol Empire and the Sakya tradition in the Himalayas. The power of the Pakmodru faded due to internal conflicts in the fifteenth century.

Pakpa script, or Mongol square script, was invented in 1270 by Drogon Chogyel Pakpa (1235–1280 CE), a Tibetan lama and leader of the Sakya tradition who served as imperial preceptor to the Mongol emperor Qubilai Khan (1215–1294). In 1271, Qubilai decreed it the official script of the empire, and that all officials had to learn it, and be referred to as the Mongol script. The Pakpa script adapts the letters of the Tibetan alphabet, squared off to be written vertically, in order that they could be placed alongside the Uygur-based Mongolian and Chinese scripts, both of which were written top-to-bottom. The Pakpa script was intended to be a universal alphabet for all the languages of the Mongol Empire, and employed on official documents, monuments, and passports.

The Pala dynasty ruled in northeastern India from the eighth to the twelfth century, and is known for its patronage of the great north-Indian monastic universities of Nalanda, Vikramashila, and Odantapuri. Pala kings and queens were patrons of Buddhist art. Pala period sculpture, paintings, illuminated manuscripts, and sites inspired Newar and Tibetan artistic production in the twelfth to thirteenth centuries. A famous Pala period Indian scholar figure was Atisha, who traveled and taught in Sumatra and in Tibet, where his teachings led to the founding of the Kadam tradition of Tibetan Buddhism.

Palden Lhamo, also known as Shri Devi or Remati, is an important deity among wrathful protector goddesses in Tibetan Buddhism, and the only female of the eight great protector deities. Although she is worshiped in many Tibetan Buddhist traditions, she is especially important in the Geluk tradition, and is considered the fierce guardian of the Dalai Lamas, the Ganden Podrang state, and the city of Lhasa. Palden Lhamo takes many different forms, which are considered wrathful forms of different deities. For instance, as Makzor Gyelmo “Queen who Repels Armies” is considered as a wrathful emanation of Sarasvati. Palden Lhamo is usually depicted as a wrathful dark blue figure with flames for hair, riding on a mule with an eye on its rear flank, watching out for enemies of the Dharma. A bag of diseases and divination dice are slung from her saddle.

The Palola Shahis were a Buddhist kingdom that flourished between the sixth and eighth centuries CE in what is now the Hunza Valley of northern Pakistan. Military control over this strategic kingdom was contested between the Tang Dynasty of China and the Tibetan Empire, and most of what we know about the Palola Shahis comes from the chronicles of these outside forces, as well as the travel accounts of East Asian pilgrims. The Palola Shahis are known for their patronage of elegant bronze sculptures, a sculptural tradition shared with the nearby Swat Valley and Kashmir.

The Pancharaksha is a Vajrayana Buddhist text that provides five dharani spells for protection against worldly harm. These five dharanis are also personified as five goddesses who are worshiped as guardian deities. The Pancharaksha text and deities are most popular in Nepal, where many households keep copies of this text and images of the goddesses. They were also employed in Tibetan, Tangut, and Chinese contexts to protect the state, prevent suffering, diseases, and drought.

The Panchen Lamas are an important tulku, or reincarnated lama lineage, in Tibet considered second in prestige within the Geluk tradition only to the Dalai Lamas. The Fifth Dalai Lama (1617–1682) declared that his tutor Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570–1662) was the incarnation of Amitabha and granted him the title Panchen. Three “pre-incarnations” were identified, making Lobzang Chokyi Gyeltsen formally the fourth in the lineage. A special teacher-student relationship exists between the Dalai and Panchen lamas, when one passes away the other takes charge of identifying and educating the new incarnation. The traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas is Tashilhunpo Monastery in Shigatse.

Pandita is an honorary title for a highly learned Buddhist scholar. Tibetans reserve this title for great scholars who were also teachers, for instance Sakya Pandita or the Panchen (“Great Pandita”) Lama tulku lineage.

Papier-mâché is a sculpting technique that uses wet paper mixed with an adhesive. The paper can either be pulped and used to form a sculptable mass around a wire frame, or spread in strips over a pre-made backing. When the paper dries it forms a hard, light surface. Many Himalayan temple images and cham masks were made from papier-mâché, although due to the perishable nature of the material, fewer of these survive than sculptures in stone or metal.

In Buddhism, individuals become awakened or achieve enlightenment (nirvana) but continue to live out the remainder of their natural lives. They pass on into the final state at their deaths, called “parinirvana.” Most importantly, this term refers to the Buddha Shakyamuni’s parinirvana at Kushinagara when he lay down between two trees and died. The event accompanied by many miracles is one of the Eight Great Events and one of the Twelve Deeds of the Buddha’s life, and is a very common topic for Buddhist illustration.

Parvati is an important goddess in Hinduism. Parvati is the wife of Shiva, and the mother of Ganesha and Skandha. Other groups see her as a central form of the Great Goddess (Mahadevi), and hold that all other goddesses are her avatars, including the wrathful forms known as Kali, Durga, and others. Parvati is often worshiped together with Lakshmi and Sarasvati as part of a trinity of goddesses. Parvati has many iconographic forms, but often appears together with her husband and children.

A practice of hiring and commissioning artists to create works of art. In religious context patrons were often rulers, religious leaders, as well as ordinary people. (see also donor)

Religious painting, usually on cloth, in the form of a hanging scroll.

A pecha is a traditional form of Tibetan book, a format developed from Indian palm leaf manuscripts (pothis). Pechas usually have long, narrow, horizontal pages. The pages are not bound, but instead are placed between wood covers and then wrapped tightly with cloth. When pechas are read, they are placed on a flat surface and the unbound pages are flipped over away from the viewer. Pechas can be manuscripts or printed.

Pehar is an important protector deity in Tibetan Buddhism. The origins of the deity and the meaning of their name is unclear—legends claim that Pehar was an indigenous spirit tamed by Padmasambhava, or a deity from from Tangut lands in Eastern Central Asia that was defeated and brought to Tibet by the emperor Songtsen Gampo. Pehar is the main deity of the Nechung Oracle, Tibet’s most important state oracle.

A petroglyph is an image cut into a stone. Such images are usually from the prehistoric period, and depict animals, hunters, and symbols related to early ritual.

In weaving a pile is a portion of yarn that protrudes above the surface of the backing fabric, creating a soft and deep texture for a carpet or garment. A “knotted pile” carpet is one in which the pile is created by knotting yarn into the warp and weft to create loops of protruding fiber. Pile loops can sometimes be cut open to create an even more springy texture (a “cut-pile” carpet).

In Hinduism, a pitha is a sacred place, generally a shrine where an image or emblem of a deity is worshiped. Pithas are especially associated with goddess worship, either of Sati/Parvati (the wife of Shiva), or of other forms of shakti, the divine female energy.

A pothi is a traditional form of Indian book. Pothis generally have palm-leaf pages. The pages are bound along their long edge with loops of string, and then kept between wooden outer covers. Both the pages and the covers can be beautifully illuminated. Indian and Nepalese pothis were the basis for the development of Tibetan pechas, a related form of book that uses unbound paper instead of palm leaves.

The Prajnaparamita sutras are fundamental early Mahayana texts dating from the first few centuries of the common era. These writings propound a Madhyamaka philosophical view, which sees reality as impermanent and empty of true nature. Prajnaparamita texts continued to be important in the early Vajrayana tradition, in which Prajnaparamita was personified as a goddess seen to embody wisdom. She is usually depicted a goddess of yellow color usually with four arms, one of which holds a book representing this sutra.

In Buddhist philosophical thinking, pratityasamutpada is an explanation of the continuous processes of causation that create the cycle of rebirths. A simple explanation of pratityasamutpada is that no thing or thought exists eternally and of itself; everything that exists arises in dependence on causes and conditions, and passes away, producing further effects. Buddhist logic posits twelve links in this cycle of causation, beginning with ignorance and ending with death. These links are depicted as the outer circular band in the Wheel of Life paintings.

Most Tibetan monasteries will have a designated temple or chapel for the wrathful protector deities. Called “Gonkhang,” these chapels are often adorned with terrifying representations of ferocious spirits, flayed human bodies, and impure substances. These shrine spaces are used for rituals and offerings to protectors of the teachings and lineages, as well as local protectors who have been converted and bound by oath as protectors of Buddhism.

Proto-Sharada script is the earliest form of the Sharada script, which was used in medieval Kashmir to write Sanskrit and Kashmiri. The Proto-Sharada script is attested in a few manuscripts and inscriptions from northern India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan from the first millennium CE.

Historians divide the past into prehistoric periods—before the invention of writing, and historic periods, which we can know by reading the texts people wrote. On the Tibetan Plateau, the historic period proper begins in the seventh century CE, when the Tibetan script was developed, and Tibetans began to write about their own present and past. Historians also speak of a long “proto-historic” period, during which we have writings in the languages of surrounding cultures like India and China, who sometimes described their Himalayan neighbors. Events in the “proto-historic” period sometimes appear as legends and tales in later histories.

In Vajrayana Buddhism and Bon, a purba (Skt. kila) is a ritual three-bladed dagger or stake used to subdue or pin down the spirits of the earth during rituals, or when demarcating sacred space for mandalas or temples. Purba daggers are also personified in the deity Vajrakila, the “Vajra Dagger.”