Yakshi, pan-Indian female nature spirits, are often depicted on the facades of monuments, as they are symbols of fecundity. This yakshi figure is carved on a railing pillar, indicated by the almond-shaped sockets on either side. The sockets would have accommodated horizontal stone crossbars, suggesting that masons looked to wooden structures as models for early stone monuments.
Although this yakshi is depicted with voluptuous contours and is gesturing in a suggestive manner, she was likely part of a Buddhist stupa (reliquary mound). It was not unusual to see yakshi imagery on Buddhist monuments, as they were important pan-Indian deities.
Details
- Title: Railing Pillar with Yakshi
- Date: 2nd century
- Medium: Sandstone
- Dimensions: 28-1/2 x 7-1/2 x 2-1/2 in. (72.4 x 19.1 x 6.4 cm)
- Credit Line: Norton Simon Art Foundation, from the Estate of Jennifer Jones Simon
- Accession Number: M.2010.1.17.S
- Copyright: © Norton Simon Art Foundation
Object Information
- Leoshko, Janice, Asian Art: Selections from the Norton Simon Museum, fig. 3 p. 8
- Saidenberg Gallery, Beyond Europe, 1971,
- Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 1: Art from the Indian Subcontinent, 2003, no. 49 p. 86
- Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 897 p. 349
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