Victor H. Mair
Victor H. Mair is Professor of Chinese Language and Literature at
the University of
Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. He has been teaching
there since 1979, before which he taught at Harvard University.
Professor Mair's interest in Central Asia stems mainly from his
studies of Dunhuang popular narratives, about which he has written
three books and dozens of articles. Developing out of his research
on Dunhuang biànwén 變文 (transformation
texts), he gradually moved into archaeological investigations on the
Bronze Age and Early Iron Age mummies of eastern Central Asia. In
conjunction with the latter extended project, he has travelled to
Xinjiang many times, hosted a major exhibition entitled Secrets of the Silk Road in 2011 at the University of Pennsylvania
Museum, and has published numerous books and articles
about the mummies and their associated artefacts.
Victor H. Mair writes:
The picture scroll depicting the contest of magical conjurations
between Śāriputra and the Six Heretics is my favourite of all
objects from Dunhuang for many reasons. The most immediate
reason is simply its innate charm, the pictures vividly
capturing the excitement of the competition and the details of
the individual scenes.
Above all, however, is the fact
that this unique scroll holds the key to unlocking the
relationship between pictorial and textual narrative that became
a hallmark of popular fiction and drama in succeeding centuries.
What we find is that the verses on the verso of Pelliot chinois 4524 match the verse portions of the
prosimetric transformation text about Mulian (Maudgalyāyana)
saving his mother from the suffering of the underworld.
To
show how the picture scroll relates to the transformation text,
I have devoted one entire book Painting and
Performance: Chinese Picture Recitation and Its Indian
Genesis, parts of two other books Tun-huang Popular Narratives and T'ang Transformation Texts, and several major
articles e.g. ‘Śāriputra Defeats the Six Heterodox Masters:
Oral-Visual Aspects of an Illustrated Transformation Scroll
(P4524),’ Asia Major; 3rd series,
8.2 (1995 [actually published in September, 1997]), 1–52, plus
three plates.
Link to original post on IDP blog.