Durga represented as Mahishaasuramardini, recounting the legend of her fight against the buffalo demon Mahisha. Durga, mounted on a lion, with ten arms in which she holds the weapons granted by the gods of polytheistic Hinduism, will figh...
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Hindus spread through Maritime Southeast Asia and took their culture with them, including Ganesha, statues of whom are found throughout the region, often beside Shiva sanctuaries. The forms of Ganesha found in Hindu art of Java, Bali, and Borneo show specific regional ...
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Ganesha worship was brought to Japan by early Buddhists through China. In Japan the Ganesha cult was first mentioned in AD 806. Scholars commonly date the presence of Ganesha in Japan with the age of Kukai (774- 834), the founder of the Shingon sect of Japanese...
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When posed in this powerful and exuberant manner, the image of Hanuman stood at the top of a standard. As the son of the wind god and the most powerful of the primeval forest-dwellers, who are depicted with the head and tail of a monkey and th...
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A sandstone figural relief of Surya
Central India, 10th/11th Century
The solar deity standing in a frontal hieratic pose with both hands raised and holding a stylized blossoms, a small figure of his consort standing between his boots and accompanied by his two sons Shani and Yama standing on the...
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Afghanistan or Pakistan, Gandhara, late Kushan Period (1st century-320)
Stucco
By this period, individual bodhisattvas were beginning to be revered as ideal figures who would deliberately postpone their own enlightenment and entrance into final ni...
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Seated Sakyamuni, late 1st century - early 2nd century A.D.
India, Mathura, Kushan Period (1st century-320)
Red mottled sandstone
This Buddha is placed on a lion pedestal, part of which is broken off. The pedestal was undoubtedly flanked on both sides by seated lions in profile; its center is d...
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Ayyanar (also spelt Aiyyanar, Ayanar or Iyenar) is a Hindu village god of Tamil Nadu also worshipped by Sri Lankan Tamils. He is primarily worshipped as a guardian deity who protects the rural villages. Most officiating priests are derive from local potter community, but other caste members also ...
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