Avalokiteshvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, stands gracefully in the Triple-bend Posture (tribhanga sthanaka) with his head slightly inclined, the hips jutting to one side, and the shoulders leaning in the opposite direction, conveying dynamic movement and compassion. He has a tripartite crown with a diminutive identifying image (bimba) of the Jina Buddha Amitabha, who is the emanation source deity of Avalokiteshvara. He wears copious princely ornaments (bodhisattva abharana), including the Brahmanical sacred thread (yajñopavita) over his left shoulder. He is bare chested, barefooted, and wears a plain dhoti with decorated borders and a sash tied diagonally across his thighs. His left hand rests on his hip and holds the long stalk of a blossoming lotus. Accordingly, standing sculptures of Avalokiteshvara with two arms are commonly called Padmapani (lotus-bearer). His right hand is extended in the gesture of charity (varada mudra). A small lug on his upper back below his neck indicates that he originally had a separately cast nimbus. Long square pegs under his feet would have been inserted into a lotus base when the sculpture was displayed. See also M.81.8.1 and M.82.40.
Comparable Nepali images of Avalokiteshvara are in the Asia Society Museum, New York (1979.51 and 1979.47) and Rubin Museum of Himalayan Art, New York (C2005.16.8).
