Panel
Unknown (Kushan)
- British Museum
[Museum inv. no.: 1899,0609.17]
Item location
Description
Stupa drum panel showing a nāga king flanked by nāgīs. From right to left are a nāgī drummer and flautist, each with a garment from her left shoulder, a paridhāna round it with a scarf tucked into its girdle, a wreath headdress, necklace, bracelet and anklets; a lutenist in a long tunic under a wide draped overgarment; and a fourth nāgī, playing a trumpet or shawm and wearing a girt knee-length tunic over a paridhāna. A serpent rises from her back and from that of each of the other attendants. The nāgarāja on a draped seat rests one leg on a footstool, the other on a small projection above it. His uttarīya in the open mode over a paridhāna reveals modelled musculature, his turban has a side-crest or knot, he wears the usual ornaments and a moustache, and a seven-headed serpent rears up behind him. His open right hand is tilted back while his left arm rests on the chair back. On his right another nāgī trumpeter or shawm-player is dressed like the first; the next three figures are dressed like the first two; one is a harpist; one, with lotuses in her raised right hand, holds a flat object in the other hand, and the third, the right hand with palm outwards beside the shoulder, holds flowers in the pendent left hand.The top and bottom of the panel are framed by a plain fillet; at each side an oblong panel contains a vertical foliate branch with more or less evenly paired leaves.
Instruments [MIMO Code] (notes)
Harp [3285]Wind instruments [3730]
Lute [3394]
Drum [2585]
Transverse flute [4093]
RIdIM images
