Buddha Standing

Velippalayam, Nagapattinam. Height 29.3 cm. About 12th Century AD.

A long sanghati with wave-like horizontal lines hangs from neck to feet covering entire body, the ends of the sanghati in elegant zigzags giving it a fantastic or swallow-tail like appearance at the bottom. Ear lobes are empty and elongated. Right hand shows abhaya, the mudra of protection and palm is marked by a cakra placed within a geometrical figure formed by four bands, each hand consisting of two parallel lines. The design of this palm-mark is referred to as one of the uttama or mahapurusa-laksanas or marks of Great Beings. The left hand shows varada or the mudra of boon-conferring and its palm presents the same cakra design as noticed on the right. The mouth is firm suggesting determination and the lower lip is prominent. The eyes open though not fully, disclosing downcast eye-balls placed within silver whites. A hook-like mark made of silver called urna, which is also a mahapurusa-laksana is embossed on the forehead; its stem touches the hair. The hair in the head is eight rows of stud-like curls--the curls are so conventionalized that it is hardly possible to call them curls--and is surmounted by a tapering and flame-like cranial protuberance called usnisa indicative of supreme knowledge which is also a mahapurusa-laksana.