Indra and Heavenly Dragon General

Little is known about the life or career of the Seon Monk-Painter Haejam who created this and other Buddhist temple paintings in the southeast of Korea in the 1770s. Rendered in brilliant opaque mineral colors traditionally used in such sacred works and enlivened with costly gold pigment, it depicts two major protector deities of the Buddhist faith and a host of secondary gods. Indra sits serenely at the right. His throne, three-panel folding screen, and bejeweled crown all signal his royal status. Originally a god of ancient India, where the historic Buddha was born, Indra became the chief guardian deity of Heaven and Earth when he was incorporated into the Buddhist canon of gods. At the viewer’s left, wearing a fantastic dragon robe for armor, the dynamic Skanda stands with hands clasped in devotion. The warrior Skanda—also called the Heavenly Dragon General—is revered by the faithful as the protector of the Buddha’s Law (in Sanskrit, dharma). Paintings of this type hung originally on the sidewalls of worship halls in Buddhist monasteries, flanking central images of the Buddha over the main altar. The inclusion of both Indra and Skanda in the same compositions sets this work apart, as generally these two guardian figures appear independently in Korean Buddhist paintings.