Railing pillar with naga Mucalinda protecting the Buddha
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.This enclosure railing pillar, from a monumental stupa some 135 feet in diameter, dates to the very beginning of the Buddhist figurative sculptural tradition in the Deccan. Its decoration is an inventory of early Buddhist imagery—the lotus, snake, tree, empty throne, and worshippers—and bears stylistic links to the early rock-cut caves of the Western Ghats mountain range. The monastery to which it belongs was likely founded in the third century BCE, at the site of the ancient kingdom of Vidarbha (modern Nagpur). Its capital, Kundina, is described in the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata as a great and beautiful city, and is also referred to by the Greek scholar Ptolemy in Geography (mid-second century CE).
Artwork Details
- Title: Railing pillar with naga Mucalinda protecting the Buddha
- Period: Satavahana
- Date: 2nd–1st century BC
- Culture: India, Pauni, Bhandara district, Maharashtra
- Medium: Sandstone
- Dimensions: Overall: H. 43 5/16 in. (110 cm); W. 21 5/8 in. (55 cm); D. 19 1/2 in. (53 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture
- Credit Line: Lent by National Museum, New Delhi
- Rights and Reproduction: Photo by Theirry Ollivier
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art