Tibetan - Buddha Shakyamuni and Prajnaparamita - Walters W8561 (2)

This is a leaf from a "Prajnaparamita" (Perfection of Wisdom) manuscript. The text, written in Tibetan language and script, is a translation of a Sanskrit text that was produced in India as much as a thousand years earlier. The translation of hundreds and hundreds of texts into Tibetan was an immense cultural achievement.
On the left appears the Buddha Shakyamuni on the night of his enlightenment at Bodhgaya. The tree under which he was enlightened appears above the temple. The goddess at right is Prajnaparamita, a personification of the text or an embodiment of its words. This is the first leaf. The last leaf includes a statement that this sacred object was commissioned by two children for the use of their parents, following their rebirth on earth.