- Title
- The Bodhisattva Vajrapani, Fragment of the Worship of the Fiery Pillar
- Date Made
- 3rd century
- Medium
- Limestone
- Dimensions
- overall: 17 x 7 3/4 x 5/8 in. (43.18 x 19.69 x 1.59 cm)
- Accession Number
- 72.2
- Collecting Area
- South and Southeast Asian Art
- Curatorial Notes
This fragmentary relief depicts the Bodhisattva Vajrapani, identifiable by the thunderbolt (vajra) he holds, and a generic divinity. They are worshipping the fiery pillar and empty throne (now missing) that was an important aniconic symbol of the Buddha Shakyamuni. Two riders on lions are above them. When the relief was complete, two more riders on lions on the opposite side may have represented the four directions.
A contemporaneous complete rendition of this subject from Andhra Pradesh is in the Cincinnati Art Museum (1952.187).
- Selected Bibliography
- Little, Stephen, Tushara Bindu Gude, Karina Romero Blanco, Silvia Seligson, Marco Antonio Karam. Las Huellas de Buda. Ciudad de México : Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, 2018.
- Little, Stephen, and Tushara Bindu Gude. Realms of the Dharma: Buddhist Art across Asia. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2025.
