Patravahaka yaksha

This nature-spirit personification—a yaksha—is a sculptural tour de force. He is a commanding presence, wearing a finely detailed hairband and a heavy necklace distinguished by back-to-back makaras (mythological sea monsters) framing a central jewel. His powerful chest gives way to a corpulent stomach, emblematic of wealth, that hangs over his tightly drawn knotted waist-sash. Such a fully realized figure, with equally pronounced musculature on the reverse, marks an important moment in the early development of Indian freestanding sculpture. The raised arms suggest that he had a caryatid- or architectural load-bearing-type function. He likely held aloft a sculpted bowl filled with intoxicating liquids and perhaps the ritual drink soma. Yakshas of this type would have been honored by name, but few have their identities preserved.