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 has a third eye of wisdom (jñana netra) and wears copious princely ornaments (bodhisattva abharana), including the Brahmanical sacred thread (yajñopavita) over his left shoulder. He is bare chested, barefooted, and wears a patterned dhoti with decorated borders and a sash tied diagonally across his thighs. His left hand rests beside his thigh and holds the long stalk of a blossoming lotus growing out of the now-missing lotus base. 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). See also M.80.222 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).
Pratapaditya Pal misidentified the bimba image as Amoghasiddhi (Pal 1985, p. 108, no. S29).
