origins of the kashmiri style 169
belt, second is the thick roundedness of the beads that make up the wristlets
and vanamālā, and lastly is the presence of a diminutive, if plump, yakṣa at the
feet of the deity.
Although not mentioned by Fontein, if one climbs up onto the small flat
area immediately below and in front of the bodhisattva, one finds this yakṣa
almost invisible from below. Directly between the feet and below the low-
est part of the Maitreya sculpture is a tiny lambodara (big-bellied) gaṇa-like
yakṣa. He makes the vandana mudrā of salutation, and appears to be seated
with one leg up, characteristics along with the portly proportions shared by
the early āyudha-puruṣa (attribute personification) and wrathful attendants
to bodhisattvas in Indian sculpture between the seventh and tenth century.37
The rotund, earth-bound imp is balanced by two floating apsarases above
Maitreya’s shoulders (fig. 5.12). Neither of them makes the añjali mudrā, the
gesture of reverence, attributed to them by Fontein who, as he explains in a
note, reached the site when the sun was casting heavy shadows over the sculp-
ture.38 These are not the ethereal heavenly wraiths found in Chinese art, but
sturdy males drawing upward and back in a dynamic rush of movement culmi-
nating on, and directing the gaze towards, the face of the bodhisattva of loving
kindness (Skr. maitrī).
Compared to the Dras bodhisattva, the Kartsé sculpture is less obviously
done by a Kashmiri sculptor. The effortless naturalism accomplished by
Kashmiri sculptors is hard to bring into line with the joint-less curves of the
left arm, or the slightly hunched shoulder. The legs, though clearly manifesting
a contrapposto that differentiates engaged and turned out feet, are thicker than
one expects at the shin and calf, though they do maintain the supple shapes
of the thighs. The most unusual aspect is the chunkiness of the jewellery and
the plaits of hair that cascade down along the shoulders. Even the nipple is
raised into high relief above the curving outline of the breast. All of these fea-
tures can be found on Kashmir stone sculptures, however, or accommodated
within a potential range of individual skills, abilities, or eccentricities. Given
the extreme size of the work, for which there are no known stone precedents
in Kashmir (only metal, as mentioned in the River of Kings), and the need to
exaggerate some aspects in order to make an anamorphically legible image
from below, I am reluctant to assume an artistic identity other than Kashmiri.
Fontein is careful to state that the sculpture is “in the style generally associated
37 Linrothe, Rob, Ruthless Compassion: Wrathful Deities in Early Indo-Tibetan Esoteric
Buddhist Art (London: Serindia, 1999), 32–131.
38 Fontein, “Rock Sculpture,” 8.