Dancing Apsara

Icon making is a laborious, time consuming and concentrated job and demands extreme skills. The wax model is a factor on whose technical and aesthetic excellence depends the ultimate perfection of the end product. Vishnu happens to be one of the most prominent Brahmanical Hindu gods with numerous iconic manifestations. The idea of swift motion is consistently associated with Vishnu in the Vedas. Thus, Garuda, the king of birds, is his vehicle. This eagle is also called Suparna. In the Rig Veda, Suparna is the attribute of the sun. This indicates the solar origin of Vishnu. Garuda is semi-human and semi-bird. In this brass image, his face is completely human, minus his bird-like beak but his wings and feathers are wonderfully carved. Kneeling in respect to his lord, Vishnu, Garuda waits with folded hands. Wearing a short loin cloth, he is adorned with snakes forming his necklace, armlets and bracelets. Buddhism being a religion of Indian origin, could not avoid the impact of Hinduism. Buddha was considered the ninth incarnation of Vishnu, Buddhism also has deities like Vishnu in its pantheon; together with Garuda, his vehicle. The Buddhist art has its own style and iconography though. Therefore, this image of Garuda is different from the Pauranic description; nevertheless an elegant image cast in brass. This description by Kiranjyot. Bungalow Rose