A red sandstone sculpture of Indra, king of the Vedic gods, surviving in two fragments, a head and a lower body from the waist down, carved in India's Uttar Pradesh region, either at Mathura or nearby Ahicchatra, in about the 2nd century AD. What sets the piece apart is an inscription carved directly into its own pedestal reading "Indra, King of the Gods," a rare instance of a sculpture naming its own subject rather than leaving identification to iconography alone. The figure is further recognizable by a decorated crown and a third eye engraved on the forehead. By this period Indra had been absorbed into Buddhist cosmology in several roles at once: as a witness to the Buddha's birth, as an attendant and protector of the Buddha during his life, and as ruler of the Trayastrimsha heaven, the god-realm just above the summit of Mount Meru, so a Buddhist-context Indra sculpture such as this one reflects that Vedic king of the gods carried forward, subordinated, into a Buddhist cosmic order.
Facts
Origins
Date of CreationAbout the 2nd century AD 1 RegionMathura or Ahicchatra, Uttar Pradesh 1 Physical Form
DimensionsHead: 9.4 cm high; lower body (waist down): 28.9 cm high 1 Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectIndra, the Vedic king of the gods, self-identified by his own pedestal inscription, shown in a Buddhist devotional context as protector and attendant of the Buddha. 1 Custody
Current LocationThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession 1987.218.12a, b 1 Current CustodianThe Metropolitan Museum of Art 1 Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightThis atlas describes and cites the sculpture rather than reproducing a photograph of it. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Mathura directly: "Uttar Pradesh region, either at Mathura or nearby Ahicchatra, in about the 2nd century AD."
This source names Mathura directly: "Uttar Pradesh region, either at Mathura or nearby Ahicchatra, in about the 2nd century AD."
This source names Uttar Pradesh directly: "from the waist down, carved in India's Uttar Pradesh region, either at Mathura or nearby Ahicchatra, in about the 2nd century AD."
Depicts
Sources
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