This is a wonderful talk by Osmund Bopearachchi about the iconography used to portray the Bhikṣuṇī Utpalavarṇa in Buddhist art, and most particularly her place in the important scene of the Buddha’s descent from the Tāvatiṁsa Heaven after teaching the Abhidhamma to his mother, who had been reborn as a Deva.
The interesting thing is that an uninformed person would quite possibly not be able to identify her, as she first takes on the form of a Cakravarti king so as to gain access to the staircase on which the Buddha descends, and only then throws off the transformation and becomes a woman and a Bhikṣunī before worshipping at the foot of the staircase.
This scene, which is represented all across the Buddhist world, is expertly explained by Prof. Bopearachchi, and the different stories from the various texts are delineated, allowing us to understand that the sculptures follow most closely the texts found in the Pāḷi tradition.
if the video does not appear on the page, try reloading the page; and if that doesn’t work, leave a comment so I can update the page (the comment is not published)
to see an album of screenshots click here