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Railing pillar fragment: yaksha with lotus vine emerging from its mouth

ca. 150–100 BCE
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Water and plant imagery is at the heart of early Indian art. On this railing pillar from the Bharhut stupa, a profusion of aquatic imagery evokes renewal, celebrating the beneficent power of the monsoon. The coming of life-nurturing rains, typically in June across much of the subcontinent, marks a new cycle of crops, harvests, and prosperity. A seated yaksha, the personification of a nature spirit, is immersed in a watery landscape of lotus buds, blooms, and leaves. He is readily identified by his corpulent body and pointed, nonhuman ears. The sculptor modeled the flowers with care, using blue lotuses as space fillers and honeysuckle in the vases above.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Railing pillar fragment: yaksha with lotus vine emerging from its mouth
  • Period: Shunga
  • Date: ca. 150–100 BCE
  • Culture: India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna district, Madhya Pradesh
  • Medium: Sandstone
  • Dimensions: H. 35 7/16 in. (90 cm); W. 23 5/8 in. (60 cm); D. 16 9/16 in. (42 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Lent by Allahabad Museum, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh
  • Rights and Reproduction: Photo by Theirry Ollivier
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art
Railing pillar fragment: yaksha with lotus vine emerging from its mouth - India, Bharhut Great Stupa, Satna district, Madhya Pradesh - Shunga - The Metropolitan Museum of Art