Simhanada Lokeshvara Copper alloy with inlaid silver Eastern India, Pala Period

Avalokiteshvara seated on a flower patterned cushion supported by a lion crouching on a lotus pedestal, the animal’s head turned back with snarling mouth and bared fangs, a flower head bearing a flower-filled kapala issuing from the pedestal at the rear of the simha, and the snake-entwined skull head trisula rising from the seat-cushion to his right shoulder, the bodhisattva resting in regal posture, rajalilasana, his left hand resting on the cushion behind and holding the stem of a lotus, the right hand elegantly poised over the raised right knee, the youthful deity with a flower patterned sash over his naked torso, a yajnopavita falling from his left shoulder, then brushing the right heel and draping the right thigh, a tight fitting floral pattern dhoti tied at the waist, long hair tresses falling to the shoulder, with Avalokiteshvara’s spiritual progenitor Amitabha seated before an elaborate jatamakuta, the knotted hair enlaced with strings of jewels and tied with a diminutive crown, the heavily lidded eyes and urna inlaid with silver.

J. J. Klejman, New York.

This rare sculpture highlights the finesse of the medieval eastern Indian sculptors and metalworkers with its attention to miniature detail and mastery of poise. Simhanada, or ‘Lion’s Roar”, Avalokiteshvara is associated with medicine and is invoked in the treatment of disease, particularly leprosy. In this form Avalokiteshvara resembles Shiva the Ascetic, unadorned with sumptuous bodhisattva jewelry and having the snake-entwined trisula that is common to both deities. Bronzes found at Fatehpur in Gaya Disrict, Bihar, are comparable in style, see Ray et al, 1986, pls. 232a&b, as is a Lokanatha attributed to Bihar, see ibid, pl. 283.