Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum

Sculpture from the Angkor National Museum: The famed Angkor temple of Ta Prohm was dedicated to Jayavarman VII’s mother in 1186 in the form of Prajnaparamita, just a few years before the temple of Preah Khan was inscribed on behalf of his father, to the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara. It’s therefore a little surprising to see a number of female statues were found at the latter, while this sculpture of a seated male deity Lokeshvara was prominent at Ta Prohm. The temple was cleared, though deliberately kept in a semi-wild state, by Henri Marchal in 1920 but excavations continued beyond that period and a decade later, pictures of this statue were taken by the EFEO team in-situ. It now resides in the Angkor National Museum, since 2007, having previously been in storage at the Angkor Conservation depot. It has suffered damage to its shoulder and left arm though other than that, it’s in good condition. With a downcast gaze, Lokeshvara is seated in a meditating pose with the palm of his right hand uppermost and his fingers pointing downwards, in what is known as the varada-mudra, or a gift-giving compassionate gesture. The left-hand is holding something which is hard to identify, perhaps a flask. The nose has been chipped since the photos from 1930, but the Amitabha Buddha on the front of his chignon of braided hair, clearly identifies him as Lokeshvara, the god of compassion.