The image of Buddha, located at Nakabahi, Patan, was placed in front of a chaitya, as seen in the photograph (PI. 37). The Buddha stood on a rectangular base decorated with a floral design, and held the tip of his robe in his left hand, while the right was stretched in the varadamudra. With a slight thrust of his right hip, the Buddha was portrayed standing gracefully and wearing a diaphanous robe similar to the Vinchey-bahal Buddha (PI. 35). The tip of his nose and his right palm were slightly damaged. The oval stele was bordered with pearl and flame motif, of which the left side of the Buddha was partially mutilated (PI. 38).
An unusual feature to be seen in this image was the representation of a single female devotee who knell with folded hands to the right of the Buddha. In most cases, a female devotee with folded hands is represented on each side of the main divinity. Therefore, very few Buddha images are represented with a single devotee as seen in this image. This beautiful image (PI. 37) was stolen in the mid 1970’s from Nakabahi Chaitya (PI. 39) where the Buddha image was originally kept.
It must be noted here that besides the Standing Buddha discussed above, there was another Buddha image installed on the left of the same chaitya which will be discussed later.
PUBLISHED
A.W. Macdonald and Anne Vergati Stahl, Newar Art.
(Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd. (New Delhi, 1978).
PI. 44.
Mary Shepherd Slusser, Nepal Mandala, Princeton
University Press, (New Jersey, 1982), PI. 459.
Details
- Title : Standing Buddha
- Year : 10th century A.D.
- Medium : Dark grey limestone
- Dimension : Ht. 24 inches
- Accession No : Stolen in the mid 1970's
- Country/ Geo-location : Nakabahi, Patan
- Collection : Stolen Images of Nepal – Lain S.Bangdel