origins of the kashmiri style 173
near Baramula, Kashmir.47 Other differences between the Mulbek and Kartsé
sculptures include the treatment of the eyes without such sharply delineated
lids, plain earrings instead of beaded ones, the more slender body type, the
lesser degree of relief on the nipple, a more delicate, string-like upavīta (conse-
crated thread), the regularity of the ripple of the garment hem between the legs
(fig. 5.16), and the disposition of the arms, hands and attributes. The slight
shift of the stance towards his right, with the left leg engaged and the right
turned out, is too subtle to register in most overall photographs, but is clear in
a detail of the hips and thighs (fig. 5.16). The legs themselves are not as thick as
either the Dras or Kartsé Maitreyas, suggesting an elongation of proportions.
The form of the nāgapuṣpa flower (fig. 5.15) is quite similar to the one above the
right shoulder at Kartsé), but it is held by the upper left hand, also ringed, at
Mulbek, as, presumably, was the case at Dras. The kuṇḍikā, as already indi-
cated, is also held in the lower left arm, outstretched but gently bent outwards.
The lower right hand is in the gift-giving gesture, dāna mudrā, while the main
right arm, instead of being placed against the chest, as at Dras and Kartsé,
holds up an akṣamālā (string of prayer beads).
The traces of the construction of a triangular pediment-like framing device
enclosing the rounded niche is quite prominent in the Mulbek composi-
tion. The rock outside the niche is cut away, so the outline projects slightly.
Square and rectangular sockets were drilled into the rock, presumably to fix
wooden beams by which to support a porch or façade of some sort. Triangular
pediments above rounded trefoil niches is a distinctively Kashmiri approach
to architecture and niche construction, found on a spectrum of scales from
monumental ones at Mārtāṇḍa to small ones on wooden shrines.48 This helps
reinforce the Kashmiri affiliation of the image and its sculptors.
There are seven donor-like figures depicted at the level of Maitreya’s ankles.
They all stand in a déhanchement, with feet splayed at different angles and with
various types of headgear. Four of them might actually be Lokapāla, guardians
of the directions. Although they are of two different sizes, all seven are dressed
similarly, with belted robes ending mid-shin over boots. The dress of the one
on the far right is the clearest of the group (fig. 5.17), and the lapel of his robe
wrapped from his right to left with a belt tied at the waist. It seems to cover a
47 Granoff, Phyllis, “Maheśvara/Mahākāla: A Unique Buddhist Image from Kaśmīr,” Artibus
Asiae 41.1 (1979): fig. 1; Pal, “Addorsed Śaiva Image,” 19, fig. 6; Siudmak, Hindu-Buddhist
Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir, pl. 57a.
48 Siudmak, John, “Religious Architecture (500–1200),” in The Arts of Kashmir, ed.
Pratapaditya Pal (New York: Asia Society, 2007), figs. 41–42.