In an early publication, Pratapaditya Pal tentatively identified this brass sculpture as the Bodhisattva Samantahadra based on his interpretation of the handheld lotus having as wheel (chakra) on the bloom (Pal in Rosenfield 1966, p. 77, no. 75). Later, he equated about whether the object on the lotus is actually a wheel or part of the lotus flower itself. Consequently, he theorized that the figure is "some other bodhisattva." He also maintained that the attribute in the figure’s right hand cannot be identified (Pal 1983/1990, p. 204, no. S15).
The figure is now reidentified as the Bodhisattva Maitreya (Benevolent One) on the basis that the "unidentified" attribute is a dome-shaped votive stupa (funerary monument; see M.70.18, M.76.130, M.79.67 and M.85.224.6). The rounded topknot of his ascetic’s piled hair may also be in the form of a stupa. Further, the large blossoming lotus flower on the long stalk held in the figure’s left hand is the blue lotus (Utpala or Nymphaea nouchali). Both the stupa and blue lotus are attributes associated with Maitreya. The figure wears a five-point tiara representing the transcendental Five Jina Buddhas, otherwise standard jewelry, dhoti, and scarf around his shoulders. He sits in the lotus position (padma asana) on a lotus base.
Maitreya can be represented as the Buddha of the Future or as a Bodhisattva because before his manifestation on earth as the future Buddha he is believed to live in Tushita Heaven as a Bodhisattva (one who postpones their own Enlightenment to assist all sentient beings in their quest for Enlightenment).
