Abstract
This thesis explores developments in the iconography of Vaiśravaṇa that took place between the fourteenth and the eighteenth centuries in Tibetan Buddhist art. The iconographic analysis of dated murals from Shalu Monastery and Derge Parkhang (Ganzi prefecture, Sichuan) murals, Dunhuang scroll paintings, and twentieth-century prints, along with the translation and interpretation of Butön Rinchen Drub (1290–1364)'s prescriptive ritual texts and manuals, demonstrates how different iconographic traditions crystallised into a standard image of Vaiśravaṇa by the eighteenth century. While different art styles and traditions associated with Vaiśravaṇa lineages have co-existed in many Tibetan Buddhist schools since the arrival of Buddhism in the eighth century, by the eighteenth century, the Vaiśravaṇa iconography that first appeared at Shalu under the direction of Butön was disseminated by his lineage and appears in the eighteenth century at Derge Parkhang. This authorised iconography was carved into woodblocks and thangkas, widely distributed throughout Tibet and beyond. The enduring iconography of Vaiśravaṇa shows how, in Tibet, visual elementshave interacted with textual prescription across time and space.