origins of the kashmiri style 185
5 Apati
Northeast of Kargil towards Hambuting pass, a pass located between Kargil
and Batalik, Rohit Vohra discovered a standing rock-cut bodhisattva, a two-
armed Maitreya like that of Kartsé, and supposedly over seven meters tall
(fig. 5.22).60 I was able to visit and photograph the sculpture in 2012, and esti-
mate it to be less than six meters in height. It is on an escarpment of friable
rock above a stream about a twenty-minute walk across the fields below the
small Apati village North of Kargil. Cursory attempts to find other carvings
nearby failed, perhaps confirming the word of local people that the Maitreya
sculpture is the only one in the vicinity. The bodhisattva faces just a few
degrees West of North, like the Mulbek sculpture, neither of which ever seem
to get direct sunlight. The human figure stands in a trefoil-arched niche that
tightly encloses him. Some ochre coloured pigments clings to the flat backdrop
against which the rounded, deep relief (ca. 15 cm) forms emerge. Maitreya has
long plaits of tight curls, medallion-type earrings, a long vanamālā, and a tri-
ple-crest crown with rosettes at the ears. On close inspection, the middle crest
on his crown has an image of a stūpa carved on it, confirming his identification
as Maitreya. Most distinctive to this form is the tightly constricted waist above
the pouched abdomen at the navel. A ripple-hem hangs between his pulpy
legs, and he holds the kuṇḍikā alongside his leg, with a slight bend at the elbow.
The right hand holds the stem of a nāgapuṣpa flower blooming at his right
shoulder. His knees are outlined projections. A small image of what appears to
be Vajrasattva appears near his proper right thigh.
The torso reveals a conception of anatomy increasingly different from those
of Mulbek, Kartsé or Dras. Here the body depends less on compact solidity
and organic unity than the meshing of preordained forms such as the trian-
gular ribcage and the oval belly. Added to this is an increased frontality and
loss of nuanced contrapposto: the figure stands more flat-footed with hips on
the same level, the right knee pushed slightly forward. Vohra cites characteris-
tics which postdate the sixth century, and suggests that it is “conceivable that
60 Vohra, Rohit, Petroglyphs in Purig Area of Ladakh (Grosbous: Ethnic Unlimited, 2005), 34;
van Ham, Heavenly Himalayas, 23; Mani, Buddha Rashmi, “Rock Carvings and Engravings in
Ladakh: New Discoveries,” Pragdhara, Journal of the U.P. State Archaeological Organisation
9 (1999): 68; Dorjay, “Embedded in Stone,” fig. 2.7. I thank Tara Sharma and Martin Vernier
for useful suggestions in locating it, and Peter van Ham for providing me with a copy of
Vohra’s photograph. A GPS reading for the location of the sculpture is: N 34° 33.804’; E 076°
12.610’; alt. 10,510’.