Several Tanguts received mantra-dIkSha from nAstika-mantravAdin-s from va~Nga. They also acquired the art of making pala-style images of deities direct from the pAla realm rather than an intermediary. This is how that tradition was in part transmitted to chIna. Some of their karmapas had been directly trained in the universities of the pAla empire.
(They in turn influenced Mongols and Chinas.)
Pala aesthetics had made their inroads into the Yuan court. We find the very famous Miaoying Temple built by the Nepali artist Anige, titled the Duke of Liang, in Qubilai’s court shares design with Pala ones & some Indian architecture treatises seem to be translated into Chinese. We also find the Han sktist Cheng Jufu writing that the Phagpa was was particularly interested in hiring Indian artists at Anige’s word bcos they were considered superior to those found in China. The demand was so great that the king of Nepal couldn’t keep up. Anige’s exceptional portraits of Qubilai & Chabi even influenced Ming-Qing aesthetics apart from the regular hold on Tibet.
- shailesh
We get glimpses of pAla metal work among chIna-s.