川北石窟中的天龙八部群像

四川北部地区广元、巴中、成都蒲江飞仙阁等石窟中约当7至8世纪出现了较多浮雕在洞窟壁面上的天龙八部群像。其布局为两种组合形式:一种有主次之别,龙众与阿修罗众的地位较其他部众突出;另一种似无次序之别。前者集中在广元和巴中石窟,时间大致在7世纪末至8世纪初;后者多见于巴中、蒲江飞仙阁石窟,时间大致在8世纪初叶以后。

Images of the Eight Classes of Brave Divine Beings in Grottoes within Northern Sichuan

Eight classes of brave divine beings includes Deva,Naga,Yaksa,Gandharv,Asura,Garuda,Kinnara,Mahoraga.During the Tang periods,many relief sculputures with the motif of eight classes of brave beings can be seen in the cave sites from the northern Sichuan region.The layout can be mainly divided into two forms,one is dominated by the Deva and Asura,whose positions are different from others;while the other form is without any certain order.The first form was mainly distrbuted in Guangyuan and Bazhong area from the later of 7thcentury to the beginning of 8thcentury.The latter form has Bazhong as center,and expanded to the central Sichuan area later.