The Metropolitan Museum of Art - Seated Four-Armed Mahakala

Art Object

Japan and the Culture of the Four Seasons: Nature, Literature, and the Arts

Part of a Sunday at the Met held in conjunction with the exhibition Designing Nature: The Rinpa Aesthetic in Japanese Art, on view May 26, 2012–January 13, 2013, this lecture features Haruo Shirane, the Shincho Professor of Japanese Literature and Culture, Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures at Columbia University.

Recorded September 30, 2012

The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation.
The catalogue is made possible by the Richard and Geneva Hofheimer Memorial Fund.

Video/Audio (3)

Cambodian Rattan: The Sculpture of Sopheap Pich
(00:02:07) 2225 views

Sunday at the Met: Cambodian Rattan Discussion
(00:57:05) 64 views

Sunday at the Met: Cambodian Rattan Performance
(00:28:04) 55 views

Seated Four-Armed Mahakala

Period:: Pala period
Date:: 11th–12th century
Culture:: India (Bihar)
Medium:: Black stone
Dimensions:: H. 23 in. (58.4 cm); W. 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm); D. 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
Classification:: Sculpture
Credit Line:: Gift of Samuel Eilenberg, in memory of Anthony Gardner, 1996
Accession Number:: 1996.465

This artwork is currently on display in Gallery 238

Description

Mahakala is sometimes considered a fierce manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. He is the guardian of the dharma (Buddhist law) and the sangha (Buddhist community).
See also
What
Sculpture (24,350)

Stone (7,986)

Figures (5,008)
Where
Asia (68,071)

India (3,611)

Bihar (47)
When
A.D. 1000-1400 (7,084)
In the Museum
Asian Art (35,222)
Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History
South Asia: South, 1000–1400 A.D.