The Demons of Māra's Army – Online Lecture for Zhejiang University
Alexandra Vanleene
2/27/2025
2 min read
About this Lecture
Presented on 27 February 2025 online for the History Department of Zhejiang University (浙江大学历史系), this lecture by Dr. Alexandra Vanleene is given in English with Chinese translation.
The assault of Māra is one of the most spectacular and most frequently depicted episodes in the life of the Buddha. At the moment when Siddhārtha is about to attain Enlightenment beneath the Bodhi tree, Māra – the lord of desire and death – launches his terrifying army of demons to prevent it. This lecture analyses how this textual episode was translated visually in Gandhāran art.
Key Topics
- Canonical texts: descriptions of Māra's army in the Lalitavistara, Buddhacarita, and other sources
- The demonic bestiary: typology of Māra's warrior-demon sons and their visual representation
- Gandhāran imagery: how artists interpreted these textual descriptions in relief and stucco
- The specificity of Haḍḍa: the exceptionally expressive representations of demons in Haḍḍa stuccos
- Comparisons with ancient India: parallels with Indian artistic traditions
Explore Demons in HADB
Discover representations of demons from Māra's army in our database:
- 👹 All Haḍḍa demons – explore the complete bestiary
- 🧘 Buddha representations – the protagonist of the assault scene
Haḍḍa sites with demon representations:
- Tapa Kalan – numerous narrative reliefs
- Tapa-i-Kafariha – expressive stuccos
- Tapa-e-Shotor – remarkable narrative panels