印度的佛教與印度教在發展的過程中相互影響，佛教受到在西元四世紀興起的印度教密教影響而逐漸密教化。十一世紀時，印度佛教已密教化進而逐漸走向消逝之路；十二世紀末，伊斯蘭教徒入侵印度，佛教寺院遭受嚴重摧毀，僧徒逃往國外而消聲匿跡，佛教遂在印度失去其版圖。印度教密教發源於印度東部，其性力崇拜與對母神的重視加強了女性神祇的地位，在如此的氛圍之下的宗教藝術造型自然顯得比較細膩。宗教藝術造型的表現皆是反映當時流行的宗教義理與藝術風格表現，在討論東印度的觀世音菩薩造像之前必須先了解東印度佛教的發展。因此，本文將先探討曾統治東印度的王朝與佛教間的互動，並兼論當代的佛教藝術發展。本文主要將藉助一些收藏在英國大英博物館與印度新德里博物館的波羅王朝時期東印度觀音造像，作為探索密教化的印度佛教藝術，而將同時代的東印度印度教神祇造像作為比對的樣本，有助於我們理解佛教與印度教之間藝術風格的交互影響。 Buddhism and Hinduism had influenced each other in the course of their developments in India. Buddhism became esoteric progressively under the influence of Tantric Hinduism which rose and developed in the fourth century. Buddhism had already become esoteric and faded away in the 11th century. When the Muslims invaded India at the end of the 12th century, Buddhist temples were seriously destroyed, the Buddhist monks ran away to foreign countries, leading to the fall of Buddhism in India.Tantric Hinduism rose in the east of India, the śakti worships and the respect of mother goddesses enhanced the significance of goddesses, making the religious art more exquisite. The form of the religion arts represented both the religion theory and art style of the time. As an understanding of the development of Buddhism in east India is a must before moving on to the discussion on Avalokiteśvara Iconography, therefore this paper will also discuss the interaction between the dynasties who ruled over east India and Buddhism, as well as the development of Buddhist art of the time.Our study will refer to some of the Pāla dynasty Avalokiteśvara statues housed in the British Museum and New Delhi Museum. We will also compare these statues with Hindus goddesses of the same period so as to better understand the mutual influence of the artistic style between Buddhism and Hinduism.
