This carved and embellished temple door panel has survived the structure it once adorned. Virtually every portion of a Nepalese temple--every cornice, lintel, pediment, and pilaster was carved to represent scenes from Hindu or Buddhist mythology. The most important relief carvings are almost always found on lintels, along the tops of doorways since to enter and leave the various temple chambers signifies the entering into and departing from a spiritual state, a vulnerable passage. This heavy lintel piece is carved with a frieze of Gandharvas, male nature spirits who are part animal, often a bird, as in the case of these winged guardians. The design is punctuated with three engraved brass mandalas.