The
Lokapalas are royal guardians of the four directions, protectors of the dharma
in their concentrated purity and power. Each commands a legion of supernatural
creatures and is traditionally placed as anchor points at the entrance of Buddhist
temples.
This
antique white marble statue from 14th century China is a depiction of Virupaksha,
the Guardian from the West, the one “who sees all’. Virupaksha’s color is red
his followers are the Nagas. His traditional accouterments are a small stupa,
the pearl and the serpent. Here sitting in royal ease and riding a lion, Virupaksha
holds a stupa representative of the cosmos, the world and the five elements that
sit in the palm of his hands. This statue, which conveys the dignity of time and
the vitality of the deity, would have been found at the entrance of temples an
object of ongoing adoration and notice over the last 500-600 years.